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| The disappeared blogger Bogonko Bosire. (Photo/NMG) |
Bogonko Bosire's life story starts as an adventure, and ends as a mystery. This is the life chronicle of a journalist who gained notoriety and then vanished without a trace.
Bogonko always stood out, because everything about him could not be tamed. Bogonko was of a medium height and was of dark complexion. He had shaggy beard and a mustache around the edges of his mouth reminiscent of cowboys. For a man in his early 30s, he at times looked much older for his age, following his frequent and binge drinking episodes. He had two of his fore teeth missing that would not go unnoticed.
And he always seems to have fresh wounds on his face, a permanent reminder of his passion for drinking and his an unapologetic, and usually unsolicited opinions. When he walked into any room, he carried with him a stale smell of the bar he seemed to have just left.
He would wear the same clothes for days and this look was never complete without his favorite jacket that seemed to tell the story of his life. But for a man whose physical appearance painted a deeply flawed man, his casual personality and demeanor painted a picture of a man who was comfortable within.
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He had simple needs that he proclaimed to anyone who cared to listen; Guinness and Sportsman cigarette. For a man whose physical appearance seemed ill-suited for any professional engagement, it was his mind that opened doors and gave him a seat at the table and elevated him to be in the company of the most respected men and women in the land.
His quick grasp of issues and insurmountable wealth of knowledge and the unapologetic manner in which he engaged people, would ensure he was always in great company to be around when discussing issues touching on Kenya. This made him the exceptional journalist that he was.
When he could not find stories, stories would find him. And with his unparalleled mastery of the English language, nothing that left his laptop was short of explosive. His longtime friend Carol Kimutai tells of her relationship with Bosire.
"My friendship with Bosire was actually quite intellectual. Apart from when we talked about the stories on his blog, we had intellectually stimulating meetings and discussions," Kimutai says.
Bogonko's friend since their college days at KIMC says he was someone you could hardly ignore.
"I actually don't remember when I first met him, but he was somebody you cannot ignore like if you're in a room or in a class. He was one person I think if you ask anybody from our cohort, they will tell you that he had that urgency, irritation, as if there was something important, he needed to prove or do other than what everybody else was doing at that point in time. Think of him as someone who would either be a genius, or in the right environment or a complete failure in a totally unsuitable environment," his deskmate at KIMC says.
Another collegemate says: "He was friendly to everyone and anyone. Everyone knew him, and he knew everyone at school or wherever we went to. He used to love smoking. He used to love gossiping and making fun of people. And if he knew something was wrong about you, he would try to help in some situation. If it's a gossip then he would somehow use it to get something out of you."
Depending on who you ask, Bogonko was either of these three things; a walking contradiction, a genius, or a loving man to his family. Bogonko was was born in Kuresoi, Molo Constituency, Nakuru County.
He schooled mainly in Kisii County. He joined Standard one when four years old, and graduated from Nyansiongo high school at the age of 17. While in high school, he founded a school magazine. He secured an admission to Egerton University, but turned it down to pursue a childhood dream of becoming a journalist. His mother explains best from here.
"We could tell he was very interested in journalism, and he would say to me, look mum, if you see me writing for these small paper magazines, just know one day.... Then he disappeared, and we were wondering where Bogonko is. He was selling newspapers. So I went to look for him and asked him, should we go home or you will continue selling these newspapers?
"He said he will sell newspapers as 'I want to really be a journalist'. After a short while, he followed up with Kenya Institute of Mass Communication. He was accepted and brought me the letter of admission. He told me he was needed in school by the next Monday and he had brought the news on a Friday. So I asked him, how can it be possible on Monday, do we even have the money?
"He says, 'try and see what you can be able to do by Monday, the fee is Sh70,000, but fine even if it is Sh35,000 and I'll be allowed to study'. After that, he never bothered us with money for fees. He was very active and ambitious, so he would look for his own fees. He would look for computer related jobs or any other and get paid for it."
Bogonko's deskmate at KIMC whom we heard from earlier, tells her story with him from the first day at KIMC.
"I first met Bogonko Bosire at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication at the reception where we were registering ourselves to start classes. I remember it was just the two of us and we got to fill in the application forms together, and we were sent to the same place to go pick up our desks. He was so different. He was not like anyone I had known. And he was quiet. I don't know why I always remember that moment when we met that time," the lady deskmate adds.
This quiet guy would soon show his extroverted side. He was one of the founders of the KMC student magazine, of which he was the editor.
Bosire's contradicting personality is further explained by the collegemate we spoke to earlier.
"Bogonko's was a notorious mass agitator who constantly challenged the administration. I remember two incidents when he was almost expelled from KIMC. And I suspect those were not the only ones. He constantly monitored his classmates, pointing out the flaws and challenging us to be better humans.
"And honestly, most of the time it felt like a borderline harassment. When confronted about this, he would say, I am not harassing you. It's just that I know you can do better and you're not living up to your potential, so I have to challenge you to do better, and this is the only way I know how.
"College for him was a means to an end, his end goal was to join the ranks of great journalists. He's one of the few people that I know who had clarity on the direction that they wanted their life to take at the age of 19. He did not care for most of the courses offered at school, except for the journalism courses.
"And one day, when asked by a professor why he did not take a marketing seriously he told the professor that his ambition was not to work for Keriget, but to be a journalist. He was not in college to learn, but to network and get his foot in the right door, and that he did by securing an internship to an international news agency."
Interesting that his collegemate talks of a "means to an end", because it becomes a recurring theme with Bogonko as a person, and then in the next episodes, you'll get to hear more about how he would simply move on to situations, because they were simply a means to an end.
But most importantly, this sort of personality helped him to go to the next chapter from KIMC. The French news agency, AFP, hired Bogonko during his final year of college.
Dennis Onsarigo, a top investigative journalist in Kenya and former collegemate, explains his meteoric rise in the world of journalism.
"I can't tell you when I first met Bosire but I can tell you the kind of person he was when I met him first. He was dressed in some torn jeans and some funny t-shirt, and his hair was a bit shaggy. He was a very loud guy. That was the first impression," says Onsarigo.
One of Bogonko's earliest assignments at AFP, was to cover Kenyan constitution reform. He was young and eager to establish himself as a journalist.
A journalist and former Associated Press correspondent who was Bogonko's friend, says he met him as an intern and saw him rise through the ranks. He talked to us about Bogonko's early days as a rookie journalist.
"It was 2005 as the country was preparing for a referendum for the Constitution. And at the time he was an intern at AFP's Nairobi office. I saw him at a news conference that I was also attending by the National Council of Churches of Kenya.
"The secretary general then Reverend Mutava Musyimi was the one addressing the press conference and Bosire was among the few journalists , asking questions. But not only was he asking questions, but he was relentless and kept on seeking clarity insisting that the SG in be more clear about certain issues.
"After the news conference, I walked up to him and encouraged to keep up the spirit. I told him, next time you may need to think about the kind of angles you want to pursue. This was because some of the questions he asked were a bit repetitive."
But it is his love for books that made Bosire one of the finest Kenyan journalist of his generation. He could whip up a news copy fast and effortlessly. This came in handy working at a news agency where milliseconds can be the difference between success or failure.
This is about violence, headlines, scoops. That's all that matters in newsrooms and the adrenaline rush that come with it. One such story that he pursued and covered with passion was the first Sudan peace process. He spent so much time with the principals that they came to trust him.
Journalism, was at the core of Bogonko's identity. His job at AFP was the reason for being. He barely went home. He operated between AFP and Porterhouse Bar and Restaurant on Mama Ngina street, right across International House, where AFP was formerly located. With time, he developed a relationship with the proprietor of Porterhouse as he explains below.
"He was the kind of guy once you knew him you felt like you had known him all of your life. He was having drinks with a lot of AFP colleagues. In fact, my first reaction was, is this guy okay and is he even going to be able to pay these bills? He is being very generous. That was the first time and then that journalism thing is what made a bond between him and me.
"It was kind of mutual respect. A lot of people found him too loud or obnoxious. But I was treating him like a younger journalist, because I've seen a lot of them. A lot of the great journalists of Kenya. I could see Bosire was going exactly the same way he was a young guy, but he was a very sharp journalist."
Porterhouse was not your regular bar. This was a spot where Kenyan bankers congregated after work. Moses, the longest serving barman here told us that the major clientele was from banking and legal fraternities. And that there were many nights of debates about the direction our country was heading. Moses tells us that bartending there was like a crash course on the Kenyan government systems.
Porterhouse or 'Graveyard' as Bogonko had nicknamed the bar, was a second home to him. If the proprietor was like a big brother to him, then the barmen were like cousins.
Moses remembers him as an intelligent and generous person who would surprise him from time to time.
Centering his life around a bar made it easier for Bogonko to become an alcoholic. He became dependent on liquor. His alcoholism, was affecting his work as a journalist. He went from being a top rated journalist, to a man who could not handle liquor.
Around this time, AFP involved his family in staging an intervention and even took him to rehab. Unfortunately, a stint in rehab did not change him. In the end, the drinking cost him his job at AFP.
"Bogonko Bosire: The Itumbi Connection -Part 3" is up next . Click here to read.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was transcribed & edited from the Nation's Afripod podcast.