This archive report was first published on 8 August 2019.
On July 27th, 35-year-old Chris Atema, a US Marine Corps member, tragically lost his life after drowning in a swimming pool while on holiday with his family in Arizona. Atema was trying to save a teenage girl of Canadian descent who was also drowning in the pool.
According to Petronilla Munyasa, Atema's mother, she had accused MP Shinali of refusing to involve her in funeral plans for their son. However, MP Shinali has refuted these claims, stating that he traveled to the US alone because Munyasa did not have a passport.
MP Shinali also accused Munyasa of seeking attention and claimed that he had not seen her for the last 35 years. He stated that the child was brought to his home when Atema was in Standard 8, and his family demanded payment for raising him. MP Shinali paid the family cash and started educating the boy.
MP Shinali also clarified that he had not blocked Munyasa from traveling to the US, stating that if she had been blocked, it would be the government's decision, not his. He added that Munyasa should clarify if she had tried to apply for a passport and he failed to intervene.
Shinali impregnated Munyasa when they were still schooling in 1981, and she was forced to raise the child on her own after the MP's family rejected the boy and her mother. After the boy completed primary school, the MP accepted to fund his high school and university education.
MP Shinali, who is still in the US, stated that the body of Atema will arrive in Nairobi on Sunday ahead of burial at his Lihrembe home on August 17th. Atema left behind an expectant wife and two children.
