Changed Padlock at Owili’s Residence: The Inside Edition (Ukweli wa Mambo)
One positive thing about the planned funds drive to transport the remains of the late Philip Owili Ongaro to Kenya is that despite the existence of certain disagreements between Mr. Owili’s brother and the family, plans for the funds drive have been finalized without major hitches. So far, there has been no indication that the brother is planning a parallel funds drive while the family differences are in no way threatening the smooth flow of the harambee process.
An elder sister of Owili’s wife arrived from London last Friday to be with the family while Kenyans, friends and well-wishers continue to stream into Owili’s flat at Drakensbergsgatan 37 in Hörnstull to condole with the bereaved family. An aura of solidarity with the family has filled the air, condolences continue to pour in while the late Owili continue to be mourned at different forums following his abrupt and untimely departure.
The family has welcomed everybody concerned at the residence at any time while a “Funeral Committee” headed by Mrs Hellen Opwapo, the Chairlady of ODM Scandinavia, has been set up. In fact, the fund raising has began at the residence as a major funds drive is planned for the coming Saturday, 5th December. It is estimated that at least 70.000 kr is needed to transport the body and family members to Kenya for the funeral.
After Mr. Owili passed away, deep anxiety began to rise among a cross section of Kenyans within the Owili circles when information filtered across that the Owili family in Stockholm had summoned a locksmith and changed the key-lock of the flat where Owili’s brother has been residing with the late, the same flat where Owili’s body was discovered on Tuesday last week. The burning issue was that as a result of the padlock change, Owili’s brother had effectively been rendered homeless and left to sleep in the streets. Because of the seriousness of the allegations, KSB decided to investigate in order to bring out the “Inside Edition”.
According to our findings, the fact is that the door-lock had indeed been changed and Owili’s brother had indeed been locked out of the flat. This information was confirmed by Owili’s brother whom KSB spoke to. According to the brother, he was very disappointed that the Owili family had locked the door, making him unable to gain access to the flat. He told KSB that he could not therefore access his room together with his property because the door keys had been changed. He had not even been able to read KSB because his lap-top was in the flat.
He said that he could not understand why the family was doing this to him when he was the person who had been living with the late Owili. He is officially registered at the Owili address and the lock-change appeared bizarre, given that it was being done by his relatives and at a difficult time when Mr. Owili had just passed away. Just like other Kenyans who heard the storo, KSB could not help sympathizing with his situation.
How Police got involved in door-lock change
He disclosed that the wife of the late Mr. Owili had tried to get the key from him when police was still at the residence but that he refused to surrender it. At that time, he said that even the police intervened on his behalf, arguing that he was registered at the address and so he had a right to keep custody of the keys. However, when KSB took contact with the Owili family to find out what was happening and why they had locked Owili’s brother from the flat, the story was as different as the sun is to the moon. Luckily, the two sides were talking to KSB and investigations were easy.
According to the family, the brother had refused them access to the house even though they wanted to retrieve certain important documents and information as they began contacts with the Swedish authorities. This could only be done if they could have access to the flat. Another issue was that Owili’s four children wanted to view the site where their father died because they were not present at the scene before the body was removed, leave alone entering the flat. Only the wife managed to get to the flat before the body was removed.
A third point was that Owili’s eldest son is also a signatory to the lease contract of the flat and since his father had passed away, it was important that he gets custody of the keys for any eventuality. When the brother refused to hand over the keys, the family decided to turn to the Swedish authorities for help. Since Owili’s eldest son is a signatory to the contract, he led the way with contacts with authorities.
When the Swedes looked at the case, it was decided that the lock be broken so that the family could have access to the flat. Johan Petersson, a police officer who spoke to KSB but who was not involved when the lock was changed said that in such circumstances, the person whose name appears on the contract holds much of the influence. In Sweden, it is impossible to change the standard lower and upper locks of a door without police involvement.
While it is easy to change the upper lock without problems, only a contract holder or a person mandated to do so by the contract holder can change the lower lock. This is one reason why the lower lock is normally referred to as “Police lock”. Even when you sublet someone in your flat, you do not share the “Police key” because you can use it to dictate stuff in times of crisis. During a complete lock-change, police presence is recommended to allay any concerns by any observer that a crime is being committed and to protect the person or persons changing the lock from any consequences.
When Owili’s brother came back to the flat, he discovered that his keys had been rendered useless. It is at this point that news began to circulate in Stockholm that the Owili family had locked his brother out of the house.
Intervention by Prisca
In fact, some Kenyans got really concerned about the situation and decided to take matters on to their own hands. Without digging into the details, they were concerned that it was wrong for the Owili family to lock his brother out of the house when the whole family had just been plunged into deep mourning. In the meantime, KSB kept its agents “on high alert” to sniff for any bits of information that could help piece the puzzle.
We soon got wind that a Kenyan lady called Prisca was so concerned that she went to the residence of Owili’s family to try and convince the family to give Owili’s brother the keys so that he could access the flat. Prisca is not just an ordinary person when it comes to the Owilis. She is also related to the family and she was the perfect person who could have intervened in the situation. KSB therefore decided to follow events by tracking Prisca’s steps towards a resolution of the crisis.
According to Prisca, she discovered that the family’s intention was not to lock out Owili’s brother from the flat. After changing the lock, gaining access to the flat and sorting out what they wanted to sort out, the family was open and wanted talks with Owili’s brother to give him a copy of the keys so that he could access the flat but the brother allegedly refused to meet the family. The family also told Prisca that they wanted to personally apologize to Owili’s brother for having found themselves in a situation where they had to break the lock but he allegedly refused to meet them.
Although they were ready to meet their uncle, Owili’s sons insisted that the only conditions were that a witness be present during the handing over of the keys and that the brother sign an agreement that he had received the keys. Part of the deal was that the brother would be given time to sort himself out as plans to transport Owili’s body to Kenya also got underway.
According to Prisca, who spoke to KSB, the family was ready to meet the brother anywhere if he was not comfortable with meeting them at Owili’s official residence where an “Open House” had been set up by the family and where Kenyans continue to meet daily as plans for fund raising also continue. To quote Prisca, “Owili’s sons were ready to meet their uncle even at the Central Station” to hand over the keys but he allegedly refused to meet them.
At this point, Prisca told KSB that she personally approached the brother as an intermediary so that the issue could be resolved but the brother insisted that he would not meet members of the Owili family. This situation created a deadlock with the brother remaining homeless and the sons holding onto the keys with a stern condition that they would not hand over the keys to a “Second party” as a way of getting them to their uncle.
At the time we went to blog, it was reported that progress was being made and that the brother was in the process of meeting Owili’s sons although further information is not available as to the outcome of the expected meeting.
Despite the key-circus, plans for the funds drive are rolling and Kenyans will meet at a venue located at Drakensbergsgatan 2 in Hörnstull on Saturday 5th December to collect cash. Take bus number 4 and alight at Varvgatan. Further info can be obtained by calling Mark Gaya at 0737394258.
Okoth Osewe
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A real key-circus indeed. I hope this will be resolved amicably so that Kenyans can focus on the fundraising. Why couldn’t the uncle be bold enough to face his relatives? Sounds like he is the confused coward here because customarily, he should now act as a father to his late brother’s sons.
Is there a bank account number to send donations for those who cannot attend the fundraising?