Man goes missing after Uganda trip

By Job Weru

Some minutes before midnight on July 16, last year, Mr Kinyua Weru was asleep in his house in Kiawara village, Nyeri County, when his ringing phone disrupted his sleep.

He answered the phone and discovered it was his eldest son, David Muriithi, who was calling him from Uganda where he works. This was somehow an unusual call since he was not used to receiving late night calls from him.

Muriithi told his father: "Mzee, I left Kampala for Nairobi. We are approaching the Busia border and I will be in Nairobi tomorrow at 10am."

Weru just went back to sleep, hoping to meet his son the following day.

But the call seemed the last words he was to hear from his son. The following day, the family rose with hopes of welcoming their son.

"I even stopped his children from going to church so that they could wait for their father. Ironically, since then he is yet to arrive home. We have been praying to God that he comes back safely," says Weru.

Muriithi, 38, was a technician and welder with Steel Structures, a company operating in Kenya and Uganda, where he was employed in 2007.

On July 16, he got a three-day off from his employer in Uganda. He planned to spend time with his family in his rural home in Kieni West District.

Muriithi’s journey was, however, not completed. To date he has never been spotted, either in Uganda or his Nyeri home.

Escort home

Weru says Muriithi was accompanied from Uganda by a woman whom he was escorting home after a two-week stint in Uganda, where she was employed as a housemaid.

The woman, identified as Njeri, had arrived in Uganda some 12 days before. But she decided not to continue working in the foreign nation. When she decided to return home, her employer, who was Muriithi’s friend, asked him to guide the woman back to Mugoiri as he was travelling to Kenya."When he called me at night, Muriithi was in the company of Njeri," says Weru.

Njeri has since then been telling unconvincing tales that followed their arrival in Nairobi aboard a Kampala Coach bus. The woman reportedly claimed that upon arrival, Muriithi started developing some health complications, which also led him to suffer convulsions.

"She told us that he started collapsing and he at one time fell and lost consciousness as they walked on the streets of Nairobi as he showed her the way to her rural home’s matatu termini in Nairobi," says Weru.

Foul play

The statement prompted Weru to suspect foul play since he says his son has never suffered epilepsy or related complications.

"He has been healthy all along. Someone claiming that my son had complications appeared a far-fetched lie and a scheme to frustrate getting the truth behind his disappearance," says Weru, who was flanked by his wife Mary Wairimu. Wairimu says late last year, when she called her, Njeri said: "Nilifanya chenye nilikuwa nataka na mtoto wako. (I did what I wanted with your son").

The family reported the matter to Kamukunji Police Station and Njeri, who was the last person with Muriithi before his disappearance, was summoned.

"She took us together with the police through all the routes they followed with Muriithi and even showed us where he allegedly fell. Shoe shiners near the area confirmed that they helped administer first aid on him after he fell," says Weru.

What remains unclear is where they went with the missing man. Njeri told police that she left Muriithi at around 3.30pm, yet they arrived in Nairobi at 10.30am.

"My estimation is that they only spent a maximum of one hour from the time they alighted from the bus to when they were supposed to have parted. She could not elaborate on where they spent the extra hours for them to part ways at 3.30pm," he says.

He continues: "I am frustrated by this search because the woman is concealing a lot of information. She is not telling the whole truth. Police appear unable to pressure her to shed more light."

Police investigation

Central Police Division OCPD Mr Eric Mugambi said police are still investigating the matter. He advised the family to go to Kamukunji Police Station and get an update on the investigation. He declined to discuss the progress of the investigation with this writer.

A member of the Provincial Administration from Murang’a, where Njeri hails from, cast the woman as a suspicious character.

The administrator, who chose to remain anonymous, says: "Based on what she said about their trip and her behaviour, I think she has a lot more to tell since even her statement does not give answers." He says she is a woman of questionable character.

The family has since Muriithi’s disappearance extended their search to hospitals, police stations and mortuaries within Nairobi, Murang’a, Nyeri, Kiambu and Athi River area.

"We have not given up, and we hope that one day, he will walk back home unharmed," says his mother and requests anyone with information on his whereabouts to call Muriithi’s father on 0704542803.