Kiambu family’s five year wait for their kin’s return

The father of two has been missing since 2010.

KIAMBU: Imagine talking to your brother. The conversation is simple. Probably how his kids are growing faster than tomatoes in a greenhouse.

You talk about home. Talk about his taxi business. Times are hard, what with the shilling flowing as unpredictably as a river about to break its banks. Such is life. Conversation wanes.

You set a date to visit him and his family. Days fly by without any incidence but oblivious to you, this is just the calm before the storm as fate prepares to serve up a cruel hand.

Then your brother goes quiet but you do not think much of it. The panic button remains untouched.

Casually, you decide to reach him. Nothing. A pang of dread begins to germinate after his wife reports that she has not seen or heard from him in a while.

You immediately reach out to your other brother, also a taxi driver, who says he has not heard or spoken to him for a while and that the last time they talked, he was on his way to pick a client.

A dose of positive thinking and incessant prayer, seem to do the trick for now. But then your worst fears are confirmed when days turn into weeks and your brother seems to have vanished like a politician’s promise.

The pang of dread is now full blown. Positive thinking dissipates into a gripping nightmare. The prelude to a grueling ordeal.

Esther Muchai and her family do not have to imagine such a scenario. They have been hostage to this nightmare for five years now.

Her brother, Nathaniel Munene Muchai was only supposed to pick a client at Gitaru Junction and return home. That was on December 22, 2010.

During happier times

“My now 35-year-old brother comes from Muthure village near Kikuyu town where he operated his taxi business,” she tells us.

Five years on and the only lead they have is an unregistered SIM card used to make the fateful call that saw Munene drive off to work.

The investigation has all but hit a dead end and consequently, Munene’s two children have been robbed of a father. His wife a husband. His parents a son and for Esther and her two brothers, a calm and generous brother.

“We still hang on to the hope that one day he will come strolling back into our lives,” Esther says.

As this family hopes that normalcy will resume in their lives, our role is not just to empathise but also to offer help.

Any and all information that can assist to trace Munene should be forwarded to the nearest police station.

Hopefully, two children will not have to grow up without a father.