An 87-year-old man from Rabai, Kilifi County, has been on a hunger strike for 16 days over what he terms injustice by the courts and the Kenya Ferry Services.
The family has been waiting for more than 15 years for compensation promised to 272 victims of the ferry that capsized. Other families have been paid.
Paul Chidzambo’s family says he has refused to eat until the government and KFS compensates him for his son’s death.
“I will not eat or drink even a single drop of water even if it means dying until those people pay me for the loss of my son,” Chidzambo said, struggling to speak.
His daughter Salome Mutta said her brother Samuel Mbwele died in April 1994 in the Mtongwe tragedy.
She said Mbwele was the breadwinner and the family has never been the same after his death.
Mbwele said a commission of inquiry led by Justice Msagha Mbogholi ordered the families of deceased and survivors be compensated. She said a family friend who also lost his son in the tragedy has been compensated.