By Linah Benyawa

When Kenga Samuel Menza was asked to be a best man in a wedding, he decided to buy a car for the big occasion. The 38-year-old man who worked in the forestry department in Kericho County had been at home in Kaloleni for a month’s vacation. He told his family he would meet a friend in Nairobi who would assist him buy the car.

November 10, 2002, turned to be the darkest day for Kenga’s family as he never returned home. As the wedding day drew close, the groom, Ronald Arome, was forced to look for a quick replacement. But before the big day on December 18, 2002, Arome had mobilised a search party. They visited his bank and were told there was a withdrawal on the day he disappeared.

From left: Kasichana Chiringa, Mary Kenga and Philip Kambu in Rabai, Kilifi County. [Photos: Omondi Onyango/Standard]

According to Kenga’s elder sister, Mary Menza, Kenga’s wife went to his house in Belgut where he was working only to be welcomed by a padlock. When she tried to inquire from neighbours and his colleagues where her husband was, she was told he went home on leave and had not returned. She even went to the District Forestry Officer in Elburgon to report about her husband’s disappearance.

Seek help

None of his friends or colleagues in Belgut appeared to know where he was. The wife immediately travelled back to Kaloleni.

They were married for only three years. She reported the incident to Urban Police Station in Mombasa but because it was the festive season, police brushed them off, saying he could have gone to visit friends.

But they didn’t stop there. They sought the help of local witchdoctors who promised them their brother was alive and would return.

“The disappearance of my husband shocked me and the fact that we had a three-month- old baby. I was traumatised and depressed, not knowing what to do,” says Kenga.

The wife says together with his colleagues she even went to check in the wards and the mortuary if they could find her husband, but all was in vain.

They spent the whole festive season looking for Menza. His brothers even travelled to Uganda and Tanzania where the pastors and witchdoctors claimed he had gone. Different people had different theories and out of desperation, they were forced to visit those countries.

But despite counsel from religious leaders the family believes witchcraft was involved.

“What is so sad is that my little girl who is currently in Standard Six does not know who her father is and how he was. She just sees him in pictures. She is the driving force that has kept me going since he went missing nine years ago,” she cries.

Envy

Two years after the disappearance, they posted a notice on a local daily but nobody responded with information. Kasichana Chiringa, Menza’s sister-in-law said religious leaders and witchdoctors told them he was alive but did not want to come home.

“Everywhere we have searched, we have been given many theories. Some say he lost his memory and he can’t come back while some say he would be home soon. But we don’t know how soon because it has been nine years now,” explains Chiringa.

She said the neighbourhood was full of envious people who could do anything just to harm people.

Right now, the family says they have given up finding Kenga because it has turned out to be fruitless, but Chiringa pleads with anyone who knows his whereabouts to let the family know.

“We want to see our brother either dead or alive. We can as well take his remains wherever they are to bury him because that would be the only thing reminding us of him. It’s very sad,” she cries.

“I do believe that the genesis of the disappearance is the village where my husband came from. There are witches who won’t stop until they destroy someone whose is educated and well established,” she states.