The thing about death is that it awaits all of us. It is today that we grieve over who is gone, before long it will be us – others will grieve for us and still move on. As we speak about others today, so shall we be spoken about sooner than later.
He ‘pretended’ to hate the ‘Vickie’ variant of his real name Victor but his name on Facebook is Viq Muisyo. It is after his death (read painful death) that I got to know he was also known as Mr. Mbinda. Viq is no longer responsive to stimuli but he was very responsive when he could.
Twitter DM and the Al-Shabab book
I cannot recall the last time I saw Victor, but I remember exchanging with him over a book I wanted to buy, Inside Al-Shabab, he was away on vacation in Nairobi and I was still in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo; where we worked together in the Africanews newsroom.
I sent him a direct message of Twitter and at the end, it became clear
that Victor had resigned and so I couldn’t get the physical copy of the book, I
went ahead to buy a kindle copy of the book by Harun Maruf.
Facebook DM and Africanews website growth (2017 – 2020)
On Facebook, our last private exchange was when he reached out to alert
me about the baby steps we were making with the Africanews website in terms of
covering specific East African issues, especially Ethiopia.
2025 and the Nairobi meeting that never was
Then on WhatsApp and X, as recently as February 2025, I was asking about his availability for a meeting in Nairobi. I was attending a fact-checking review conference and wanted to see Vickie, if that meeting happened, it would have been the last time we saw.
As things stand, I can only hold on to the many memories and the banter we exchanged relative to football and to Kenyan politics on Facebook.
A boss at ‘beating himself’ with humour
Victor kept these vintage images of his old self that he occasionally reshared on Facebook to mock himself. He would post humour-laden critique of Man United losses and never miss a stinging swipe at Arsenal’s losses.
Vickie hardly missed weighing in on Kenyan political on goings when he was in Pointe Noire, nor when he left to Addis Ababa and finally when he returned back home to Nairobi where he served his family till his end.
If there is one friend whose page I will make it a point to visit occasionally, it is Viq’s because it a witty page by every stretch and oh, the images section is a meme trove, absolutely so! Mr. Muisyo’s witty sense will follow him to the land beyond, that much, I remain convinced.
A one-season Man U fan – Alfa doing the unthinkable for Viq
Viq loved Man United as much, if not more than he loathed Arsenal. Fair game. I was his opposite, an eternal opponent of Man United even as I resigned to the fact that Wenger, through to Unai Emery and Arteta; the season-ending heartbreak was going to continue for a lifetime.
Thanks to Arteta-ball, the 2025/2026 became the jinx breaker as Odegaard and the boys showed Pep Pepper to guard us and to guile Guardiola in his final season of what was a fairytale decade with Manchester City.
Viq lived to see the much dreaded Arsenal win after over two decades, even though it is instructive to note that the last time United also won the trophy was 13 years back in 2012 / 2013 season.
From all the foregoing, and since Man United is losing Viq for the current season, I elect unilaterally to be a one-season Man United fan, all the better to announce it now that the team got hauled off and down by Hull City. Hard to say but in Carrick-ball I trust.
GGMU! Viq is laughing at me from the land beyond but I am here, happy for him! Glory Glory Man United!
And oh Viq, he loved many things:
His kid
Family
The countryside
The country
Football (Man United)
Memes
Humour
Job
Media
Friends
Nature
Good food
Good company
His beer
A final message Mr. Mbinda will never read till we meet again
After Viq's death was confirmed and as we all mourned in the early days of his exit, I revisited my WhatsApp chat with him and at a point resigned to writing him a tribute on WhatsApp. Directed at him but for all intents and purposes to whoever saw it, I wrote and pressed the "send" button. Viq will be missed just as we all will be missed one day, some day.
Robert Kodingo lost a brother, but Viq was a brother to far many people than only Robert.
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