By Betty Luke
An Isiolo poet has accused Governor Mohamed Kuti of deceiving him in public by promising to finance him to publish his books.
Waqo Abdi Waqo, who has already published three books namely Dafina ya Insha and Swahili guides for Kigogo and Tumbo Lisiloshiba originally authored by Said A. Mohammed and Pauline Kea respectively, has in the last one year been wallowing in poverty due to lack of funds to publish his work and sustain the books in the market.
Governor Kuti on October 10, 2020 during the launch of the Kenya School of Government’s Innovation Centre in Isiolo promised to support Mr Waqo but is yet to honour the promise six months later.
“I have severally traveled to Nairobi where he lives hoping to see him (as his phone is unreachable) to no avail,” Mr Waqo said.
Having lost his mother in 2017 after a short illness, the first-born in a family of four from Tuluroba has despite publishing the books continued to struggle to provide for his siblings and father.
Lacking resources to publish the Dafina ya Insha book, the 26-year-old was forced to strike a deal with one of the publishing companies to publish his books where he earned a paltry Sh100 for every for Sh500 copy sold.
Though he earned little from the first 1000 copies that were published in 2017, the 224-page book for Standard six, seven and eight pupils endeared him to younger readers.
“Due to the challenges exacerbated by Covid-19 pandemic, I have had to beg to at least put food on the table because my siblings look up to me,” he said during an interview with thepresspoint.com.
He has had to contend with the embarrassment of having their rental house locked over late payment of rent on several occasions due to the dwindling business.
Besides Dr Kuti who openly and willingly promised to assist him, the poet has countless times approached other local leaders to help him produce copies enough to sustain his subsequent publishing but most of them do not pick his calls neither do they respond to his messages.
If supported, Mr Waqo says he would be able to comfortably provide for his family that continues to struggle to afford a meal and provide job opportunities for local youths to prevent them from indulging in drug and substance abuse.
“I wish the Governor did not promise me anything because I wouldn’t have been this expectant. It obviously was a political game. I would much appreciate if supported to procure a printing machine to cut on the production costs,” he appealed.
