Family in agony as senior National Museums staffer goes missing

John Masika Wafula disappeared in November 2021. [Courtesy]

A family in Kitale is living in agony following the mysterious disappearance of a 60-year-old man who worked at the National Museum of Kenya in Kitale more than two months ago.

John Masika Wafula, who was a senior staffer at NMK, is said to have gone missing in November last year. The family said he had been suffering from arthritis for the past two years.

According to his wife Joy Azenga, Wafula was picked by a boda boda whose identity is unknown from their home in Kibomet.

Azenga told the Standard before the disappearance her husband encountered severe and unbearable pains on his legs.

"I was at work that day, my husband left home to an unknown place. Since then, we have not been able to trace him," said Azenga, a mother of four.

On the material day, Wafula reportedly sent the housemaid to look for a boda boda rider unknown in the area to drop him somewhere.

"When I returned home and found my husband was not around. I inquired from the maid his whereabouts, she told me early in the day, he had instructed her to go and look for a boda boda rider who is not known around the area," she said.

Azenga said that her husband was complaining of severe pains before he left home.

"Before he went missing, he had complained that he is tired of life due to the severe pains," She added.

Azenga said, Wafula was under medication and there were plans to have him undergo a cancer test.

"My husband experienced severe pains despite taking drugs, and we were planning to take him to undergo a cancer test," she said.

She said after his disappearance, the family has made unfruitful journeys searching for him after reporting the matter at Kitale police station.

"We have searched in morgues in Kitale, Bungoma and Eldoret towns in vain. We are undergoing terrible times," said Azenga during an interview.

Police tracked Wafula's movement using phone signals to Eldoret town, but nothing has since yielded fruits.

The family said they are desperately looking for their kin and urged the rider who picked him up from home to come out and help them trace him.

"We are appealing to the boda boda rider who picked my husband from home to surface and he help us trace him. His disappearance is giving is sleepless nights," she added.

Kitale OCPD Patrick Loborio, said they're investigating the disappearance.