The family of missing rapper Abdulkarim Mohamed, popularly known as C’Zars, is still seeking for answers 17 years after he mysteriously went missing.
In an interview with UK-based entertainment and lifestyle journalist John Muchiri, C’Zars’ father, Mzee Abdul Makasi, has opened up on the events leading to his disappearance.
Makasi says prior to C’Zars going missing, he was battling, among others, the pressure to perform in his KCSE exams that were due in a week, and an unfulfilled promise from her aunt to relocate to the UK for further studies and music.
C’Zars is famously remembered for his hit song ‘Amka Ukatike’, which catapulted him to national fame, and saw him become the most talked about fast-rising artist from the coastal region.
This, according to his father, may have not gone down well with some of the already established artistes in the region.
Muchiri quotes Makasi saying the fame that came with it got into his son’s head, and at some point ‘he got him locked up at a Mombasa police station for truancy.’
That aside, there were other events leading up to the rapper’s disappearance, according to Mzee Makasi.
At 17 years, C’Zars was already in the headlines for his music, and his school performance as well. This, according to Makasi, might have put him on pressure.
“With his truancy cases, media had already started focusing on his performance in school. Was he afraid that he would not perform well and disappoint his fans?” Muchiri writes.
Makasi also questions whether his handling of C’Zars may have pushed him to the limit. He admits he was hard on him, having been a musician himself and understood the pressure and temptations that came with it.
“I am a former musician, so I know the pressure that comes with fame. It was very easy for C’Zars to get into wrong company with his stardom. I just wanted to keep him on check,” Muchiri quotes Makasi.
The worried father also revealed that C’Zars’ aunt who lives in the UK had promised the young rapper that he would help him relocate to the UK together with his cousins (her daughters) for studies and music.
However, after the daughters relocated, the aunt could not pick calls and C’Zars was left devastated.
“But when it came to C’Zars’ turn, the aunt stopped communicating with us. That broke C’Zars’ heart. His aunt is still in the UK with his daughters and we have not communicated since,” Makasi told Muchiri.
Mzee Makasi further points to industry sabotage and broken promises as some of the factors that led to the disappearance of his son.
He said C’Zars’ fast-rising star did not go down well with some of the top artists in the coastal region.
“No musician liked him out here in Mombasa, it was very evident. They all felt threatened by his instant success,” Makasi said.
He also says there were promises of record deals, a trip down to South Africa and a Ksh100,000 cash prize reward which were never fulfilled.
Makasi believes these, among many other factors, may have led to his son leaving school early than usual on Friday, October 23, 2006, and taking a walk out of their compound to see a friend and nature, only to disappear to date.
If C’Zars walked back into his father’s compound today, he would be 34 years old.
“Three governments later no one cares anymore. He disappeared during President Kibaki’s term. I reported the case at Bamburi Police Station. The then Coast PPO, Mwangi King’ori, sent some officers to investigate the matter. I was introduced to him by the late Changamwe MP Ramadhani Kajembe. Nothing came out of the investigations,” Makasi told Muchiri.
“Even after all those painful days, I am still hopeful and waiting patiently. Either he shows up or at least I get to know what happened to him,” Makasi optimistically conclude.
