On Thursday, August 17, relatives, friends and political
leaders especially from Nyanza, flocked the Consolata Shrine, Westlands in
Nairobi, for the slain IEBC ICT manager Chris Msando’s requiem mass.
The electoral body’s techie has been a topic in many
discussions since his death just a week prior to the August 8 General Election
whose reparations he played a key role.
Apart from the timing of his death, and considering his
vital undertaking to make the polls credible via all-things electronic, Kenyans
were left speaking in hushed tones because of the drama surrounding his
untimely death.
Msando’s life and the ensuing death plays like the script of
a Hollywood flick, he comes out as a man who lived a double life. A loving wife
and two adorable sons who waited for him to arrive from work so they could discuss
their day at the dinner table.
But unbeknownst to Eva Buyu, Chris Msando’s wife, the IT
expert had some dark secrets that only he and a few other players in his
adventures knew. Like the people he was hanging out with during that fateful
night.
“Chris’ death will not go in vain, we have refused. This is
wrong. Things will never be the same again but I will always treasure the life
I have lived with you,” Eva said during the Thursday mass.
During a recent interview with a local publication, she
painted the picture of a loving husband who always had time for his family,
they talked every breakfast and he always told his family what his plans for
the day were. Almost telling them in detail the day’s schedule.
In the evening, Chris would return home in time, spend time
with his wife and kids and narrate to them what the day was like. That’s what
his typical day was like, unless he had to work late like on Friday July 8.
On the said day, Chris Msando, as the whole country
expected, was busy preparing for the forthcoming election whose credibility
almost solely depended on his magic, and prepare he did. But hours in the
office were not as extended as he made his wife believe that eventful night.
After waiting up on his husband, Eva eventually called Chris
who unsurprisingly said he was working late. By the way, do you know that is
most used excuse by cheating spouses? (It reminds me of Nation‘s old
television advert that went; ‘I’m working late dear’, and ‘The dog ate my
homework’ and other lies the paper doesn’t tell).
It turned out that Chris left office at around 8pm on the
Friday he died and was in the company of a lady by the name Carol Ngumbu alias
Maryanne, and an unidentified man. The three would later go to a Koinange
street club where they partied for hours.
What happened after that is in the public domain so I won’t
dwell on them but what is important to note is that Chris told his wife during
their last telephone conversation late in the night, that he was still at work,
which was believable considering the magnitude of the task ahead and the dry
run of the IEBC systems that he was supposed to steer at the Bomas of Kenya the
following Monday.
Hours after her later calls to Msando went unanswered and
him failing to show up at home, Eva Buyu reported at the Embakasi Police
Station on Saturday that her husband was missing. Kenyans were yet to receive
the biggest news concerning the looming elections at the time.
Chris Msando’s lifeless body was discovered at a forest in
Kikuyu, Kiambu County alongside his female friend, a 21-year-old KMTC Karen
Campus student. According to the sister, the two had been friends since January
and he had even promised to find her (Carol) a job once she graduates later
this year.
But what has left many puzzled, including police, is that
Msando’s car was found abandoned in a Roysambu neighbourhood off Thika
Superhighway and according to witnesses, he was a frequent guest at a nearby
apartment.
It’s a lady’s house who the neighbours described as full of
drama and had even kicked Msando out of the house in the middle of the night
many times.
The unidentified lady is believed to be either a girlfriend
or worse, Msando’s second wife as many suspects.
