Seventeen years after the mysterious disappearance of rapper Abdulkarim Mohamed, also known as C’Zars, his family is still in search of answers.
The events leading up to C’Zars’ disappearance have been revealed by his father, Mzee Abdul Makasi, in an interview with entertainment and lifestyle journalist John Muchiri from the UK.
Makasi claims that before C’Zars vanished, he was struggling with a number of issues, including the pressure to do well on his KCSE exams, which were in a week, and an unfulfilled promise from her aunt to move to the UK for music and additional study.
The hit song “Amka Ukatike” by C’Zars is what made him a household name and made him the most talked-about up-and-coming artist from the coastal area.
According to his father, this might not have been well received by some of the area’s well-known performers.
According to Makasi, who is quoted by Muchiri, his son became enamored of the fame that came with it to the point where ‘he got him locked up at a Mombasa police station for truancy.’
Apart from that, Mzee Makasi claims that there were additional incidents that preceded the rapper’s disappearance.
C’Zars made headlines at the age of 17 for both his musical career and his academic achievements. Makasi suggested that this might have put him under 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 her 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.
