This morning (12.02.19) Twitter is awash with the news of the disappearance of Ficha Uchi initiative founder Billian Ojiwa.
Through the trending hashtag #FindBillianOjiwa concerned Kenyans are sharing the news in order to help in locating him. Police at Nairobi’s Kilimani Police Station are investigating circumstances under which the community mobilizer and politician who went missing on Sunday noon and has not been seen since.
According to a report by Nairobi News, his wife Nerima Wako, the CEO of Siasa Place and a columnist with The EastAfrican, said that she was with him at her parent’s house on Sunday when he stepped out at around noon. Ms. Wako said he walked out without carrying most of his possessions.
“He didn’t have his phone, his car keys or his office keys. I thought he had gone to the shop. I haven’t seen him since then,” she said.
The vocal Mr. Ojiwa, who is in his early 30s, is best known for the Ficha Uchi Initiative, a programme he founded that gives school uniforms to needy children. He is also the chairman of the youth congress of the Kenya African National Union (Kanu).
After Kenyans on Twitter mobilized, lots of support came up online, in a bid to locate the young leader. According to Nairobi News, the social mobilizer has been found. Joseph Towett, the Kanu national executive director had earlier said: “The information we have is that Billian is in touch with the family members and the same has been reported to the police and therefore we’d give police time to find out the circumstances that came out of that social media circulation.
Mr. Ojiwa hails from, a slum area that nurtured him after completing his high school education. He was recently on popular The Trend TV show hosted by Capital FM’s Amina Abdi where he revealed that he was orphaned at 14 and grew up in poverty, and his star started shining when he moved to Mathare to help his aunt run a restaurant. It is in Mathare that he started the Billian Music Family, an initiative that helps children record and market their music. He started the Ficha Uchi Initiative after a parent asked him to help buy a uniform for her daughter in 2013.
In the 2013 General Election, Mr. Ojiwa was one of the nine aspirants gunning to be Mathare MP, a race that was finally won by ODM’s Steven Kariuki after a by-election in 2014.
In light of Mr. Ojiwa’s disappearance, many Kenyans are concerned over the recent cases of missing persons. Another mobilizer has been missing since Thursday. Ms. Caroline Mwatha, who worked with the Dandora Community Justice Centre, took her daughter to school last Thursday and has not been seen since.
Details of where Ojiwa was during his disappearance are yet to be made known.
