By Mwangi Gaitha and Kamiri Munyaka

A family in Nyeri is calling on well wishers to help them conduct a DNA test on their kin, who they claim  could be the oldest man on earth.

The family of Julius Wanyondu Gatonga says he could enter the Guinness Book of World Records, if it is confirmed he is 136 years as indicated on his identity card.

According to his identity card, he is 19 years older than the current holder of the slot, Kane Tanaka of Japan.

The Guinness Book of World Records recognises Tanaka has clocked 117 years, having been born on January 2, 1903. She was confirmed as the oldest person alive last March.

“As you know, during those colonial days birth date were not recorded. So going by the ancient stories he has been telling us, he could be even older than the dates on his ID,” claimed his 76-year-old son, Jackson Gatonga. 

When we visited him in the sleepy village of Weru, Mukurwe-ini Sub-county, Nyeri, Wanyondu is led out of his house by his son. 

 Standing about five feet, the jovial man  says he belongs to the “Rika ria thimu” (Telephone age), a group that was circumcised in 1908, when the telephone network was being connected in Nairobi and Mombasa.

Going by Wanyondu’s indicated date of birth, he was circumcised at the age of 24 years. 

The patriarch, who has over 150 descendants, says his first wife bore him a boy and a girl. The boy, who was the first born, died at an early age.

The  girl, now an old woman, is married in Kirinyaga county.  He had eight other children with his second wife.

Three are now deceased, but five, including his son  Gatonga born in 1944, are alive.

In his youth, Wanyondu was employed as a houseboy by an Indian in Nairobi earning Sh3 monthly.

He later joined the East African Railways (now Kenya Railways) before quitting and returning home to farm. 

Great dancer

At the rural village, the supercentenarian says he was a great dancer and entertained villagers with Kikuyu traditional dances — Mugoiyo and Gichukia — which attracted huge crowds.

Life changed for the worse when the state of emergency was declared in 1952 and Wanyondu was arrested and detained at the infamous Manyani detention camp for supplying food and other necessities to the fighters in the forest.

He vividly remembers the First World War (WW1 1914-1918), the Second World War (WW2 1939-1945), and the Mau Mau war for independence.

Besides, he says he was already an adult when Harry Thuku, one of the pioneers in the development of modern African nationalism in Kenya, was arrested on March 14, 1922 in connection  to his political activities.

Despite the fact that his hearing is failing and a stomach ailment for which he underwent surgery, he is in good health. 

 The supercentenarian loves traditional foods prepared by family members led by Gladys Mwihaki, wife to his third-born child, John Nguru Wanyondu.

He advises the youths to stop consuming alcohol and smoking if they want to live long.

He tells them to start engaging in activities that would generate  an income and earn a honest living.

He cautions the youth to God-fearing and embrace Christian values.

Gatonga says his father has inculcated in them the value of peace, honesty and hard work.

“He has never had any quarrel with anyone, neither have I heard him being accused of dishonesty.

He has educated us to the highest level we could individually attain,” he said.

The supercentenarian is a staunch PCEA faithful and says only God knows his time to die. 

Wanyondu’s family celebrates his life every August, but due to the outbreak of Covid-19 this year, it was forced to shelve the ceremony. 

“We would not like to expose him to the virus. We are a large family and having only 15 people for such a highly-rated ceremony due to social distancing, would have diminished its importance.

We want would have loved each and every family member to be present,” Gatonga said.