Forced to declare missing husband dead

By Kevin TunoiDays and months have now turned into 14 years and whereabouts of police constable Richard Kipruto is still unknown. His wife Selly Kipruto has spent sleepless nights with the hope that her husband of 13 years could at one time resurface.Selly has single handedly brought up their four children including their last-born daughter who was under one year when her father disappeared. Constable Kipruto, force number 36446, was of sound health and stationed at Elburgon police station under Molo Police Division.Selly Kipruto with her husband and first born daughter. He was reportedly in the company of other colleagues manning communication transmitters at Mau Summit when he went missing. Fourteen years down the line, the police force and his family cannot explain how he disappeared."It was mid-morning when I got communication from Iten Police Station asking me the whereabouts of my husband," she says.No CommunicationSelly says she was shocked because officers said Kipruto had taken leave without approval."They were demanding to know where he was because he was supposed to resume duty at his post and had not reported," she said tearfully.Selly says that by the time they were contacting her, her husband’s colleagues had already launched a search in the dense forest in Mau Summit. After two days, the search was stopped, as there were no leads on the constable’s location.Selly says she travelled to Molo to get more information about her husband since by then mobile communication was not common. On arrival, she demanded that she joins the search party in the forested area."I accompanied the police since I could not go alone because the area by then was full of wild animals likes buffaloes and it was dark and dangerous," Selly says.Selly then travelled back home to Uswo, Uasin-Gishu County since she had left the children under the care of a relative."My relative had other duties to perform so I had to go back. The children were so young; the first born was in class five while the last born was a toddler," she says.After consultations with my in-laws and other relatives, we decided to sell a bull to raise Sh15,000 to fund a search team. Selly says that while they were busy searching for her husband, they received communication from Londiani forest that a body had been seen hanging from a tree."We abandoned the search and rushed to the forest," she recalls.Need Assistance She adds that the reality of his apparent death hit her hard. With a sigh of relief, the badly decomposed body was not her husband’s."We looked everywhere even in morgues in Molo and Nakuru but with no success. Since the finances were getting diminished, we had to call off the search," the constable’s wife said.She says the pain of losing a loved one is endless but the most heart breaking part was when after seven years since her husband went missing, she had to declare him dead. Selly said that she swore an affidavit in 2004 that she was legally married to the disappeared Kipruto so that she could be given a court order to allow her claim gratuity from the Commissioner of Police since he was dead. "My children randomly ask me about their father and I just have to tell them the painful truth that he disappeared while working," she says.The constable’s wife adds that she has struggled to raise the children since she cannot get a loan from any bank because the title deed is still in her husband’s name."I do not have a death certificate, which is needed to apply for bursary funds or bank loan to assist my children," Selly says as she wipes tears.She says she still waits if he might come back home because any opportunity he got while he was at work he would go home and spend time with his family.

Forced to declare missing husband dead

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