Westlands Member of Parliament (MP) Tim Wanyonyi is one of the leaders in the country living with disability.
His life took a turn after he was shot by carjackers several years ago, an incident which confined him to a wheelchair. The criminals shot him in the back, injuring his spinal code.
“I heard somebody shouting shoot him. Something hit me at the back and all of a sudden I completely lost myself, I fell down. I just tried to stand up, I couldn’t,” he recalled.
The shooting took place in Ngara, Nairobi at night, before he was taken to the Agha Khan Hospital for urgent medical attention. At that time, the MP was a young lawyer trying to find his footing in the legal profession.
He thought he would be treated and be able to walk again, but that never came to be.
“The surgery was done then I was told after three days that I have got a permanent spinal code injury and I may not be able to walk again,” he said.
Treatment and recovery for the father of three took him all the way to Brussels, Belgium. He came back and managed to open his law firm named Tim Wanyonyi and Company Advocates.
He later joined elective politics, winning the Westlands MP seat in 2013 on an ODM ticket before being re-elected in 2017.
The MP who is a brother to Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula has already declared his interest in the Nairobi gubernatorial seat ahead of the 2022 general elections.