Filmmaker Silas Miami has met his father, renowned journalist Louis Otieno, almost thrice.
In a statement, Miami who resides in South Africa with his husband said he almost met the former KTN news anchor at the age of four.
The next almost connection happened when he was probably at the age of nine, he narrated in response to NTV journalist James Smart’s query.
“I was not hyperbolic when I said I’d only met Louis 3 times in my entire life. And while some might hear the number ‘3’ and think that’s plenty for any present father, it should be noted that the first time we met, I was 22,” said Miami.
https://twitter.com/SilasMiami/status/1496014059950546946
“…Once near Posta when I was 4 – he almost got hit by a KBS running into oncoming traffic. There was the time he narrowly escaped a conversation by using the service elevator at l&M to leave when he got tipped about our arrival. But my favourite ‘missed-connection’ has got to be the time we waited for him at Kengeles for 5hrs. He never showed – it was his invitation. Was I maybe 9?”
Adding that Louis was a “trash father” who abused women physically and emotionally, Miami noted that he met his father at the age of 22.
Then, he was in film school and was told that his father was on his deathbed.
According to Miami, he got on a plane the next day back to Nairobi. For the first few minutes of meeting him, Louis spent them denying that he (Miami) was his son.
Read: Journalist Louis Otieno’s Son Comes Out As Gay And Married in South Africa
“When I get to his bed, he spends the first two minutes denying that I am his son. Until he quickly deduced that he could potentially earn money from me. It was at that moment that it finally dawned on me – I had wasted so much emotional labour on someone who wasn’t willing even to acknowledge my humanity,” he continued.
Noting that his goal was not to embarrass the former journalist, Miami urged people to stop asking him about someone he does not know.
“So I take this opportunity to ask everyone to stop asking me about him because you are asking me about a stranger. I know nothing,” said Miami.
“This man doesn’t know me. And I don’t know him.”
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