He wasn’t always a shambling, tipsy and homeless man collecting plastic bags and sleeping in front of a shop in Mathare.
Vaite, as he was known, once was considered brilliant. He once had a family and a promising future before he descended into alcohol.
And he wasn’t elderly, as he seemed to Mathare residents who knew him for nine years - he was only 51. And his real name was James Mirithi Waitheru.
He once had a home in Meru, a wife and three children. But life started going downhill when they separated, his brother Jamleck Njagi said.
Vaite was shot dead on Monday night in Mathare. Residents blamed police; police blamed thugs for killing the harmless, friendly man. Outraged residents took to the streets.
A post mortem showed he had been shot three times at close range and his leg fratured at the knee, suggesting he had been struck. He was shot in the chest, near the stomach and in the thigh. He died from loss of blood.
His family came to Nairobi and told reporters about him.
James was the youngest of four childrens. “It was around 2010 when he started having issues with his family. His wife and children left and after struggling for some time, he slowly began drowning in depression,” Njagi said.
Vaite’s eldest son is a Form 4 candidate at a school in Meru while the youngest and only daughter is in Standard 8. He also has a son in Form 3.
“I saw him two weeks ago when he visited me in Kayole. He informed me he had moved from Majengo where he used to stay, to Mathare but I had not visited him. He was very well known in Mathare,” his brother said.
Before his life fell apart, Vaite seemed to have it all figured out. He was brilliant and got a division 2 in high school before he joined the National Youth Service.
At the NYS, he studied automotive engineering and then was posted to lecture at Kinyanjui Technical Institute in Riruta.
He was later employed at Optica but left to pursue his dream of private business. He opened a garage in Fedha Estate near Umoja that he ran for seven years. At that time, he was staying at Tena Estate, his brother narrated.
Njagi said even then, things were not going well for his brother and he always sought comfort in alcohol. “He started keeping to himself. His life eventually changed completely and I would see him only once in a long time when he was selling shoes,” he said.
Vaite’s sister Janerosa Mukami said she had last seen her brother in January in Gikomba market buying shoes to sell. “He did not have a phone but would occasionally borrow one from his friends and call me. A friend called to inform me of his death that very night,” Mukami said.
Vaite’s siblings pleaded for justice for their relative whom they described as gentle and peace-loving.
“Witnesses said he was shot by police, but why kill a harmless man?” his brother asked.
