Her son was lured away by a man promising sweets

Mrs Petronila Iminza showing a photo of his lost son who has been missing for three years. [PHOTO: BENJAMIN SAKWA/STANDARD]

KAKAMEGA COUNTY: Three years ago, Petronila Iminza was admitted to a hospital in Kakamega County after falling ill and she was focused on getting well when she received the bad news that her son Ian Masinde, who was playing with his friends at Koramatangi slum in Kakamega had disappeared.

She stopped her treatment to look for the missing child Ian, then aged three, whom she learnt had been picked up by a neighbour who promised to buy him candy at a nearby shop.,

“When I enquired after Ian from the children who were playing with him, they informed me that a neighbour had picked him up to go buy him candy. I visited the neighbour’s home but didn’t find him, I waited for him to return with my child but he did not show up,” says Iminza who is employed as a cleaner in Kakamega.

It is then that Iminza, 33, sensed something sinister was in the offing and decided to report the incident at the Kakamega police station. The widow, a mother of five, also made local efforts with the help of other neighbours to search for Ian from door-to-door but unearthed nothing.

Hours turned to days, days to months and soon they were counting years since Ian went missing. Three years down the line, the man alleged to have disappeared with Ian resurfaced but he didn’t have the boy with him.

With the help of villagers, Imanzi took the man to Kakamega police station believing he would disclose her son’s location. Ian would now be aged six. The man said he would take them to the home where he sold Ian in Amalemba Estate.

“We didn’t find him even after police did a thorough search of the heavily secured home,” Iminza says, “but we got a tip-off from the home owner, a wealthy woman, which led us to Kisii town where my child is suspected to have been sold.”

The man was in July sentenced to two years in jail on a child abduction charge. However, Ian has not been found yet.

Since Ian’s disappearance, Iminza has been separated from her four children who were forcefully taken from her by her in-laws who claim she is incapable of taking good care of them.

Whenever she visits the children during school holidays or on weekends, her in-laws treat her suspiciously, sometimes with contempt, she says.

“My in-laws and some neighbours claim I sold him to get money for sustenance after my husband passed on. It’s double pain because I lost a husband then a son and naturally expected my in-laws to help me trace him but I only get insults,” she says, holding back tears.

She remembers Ian whenever she sees children playing, sometimes thinking that her child may be in their midst. She has spent a lot of money in the search for her son, some of it on seers who claim they are able to bring back Ian, but it has all been in vain.

“I have also been ‘planting’ Sh500-Sh700 of my Sh9,400 earnings, at the feet of apostles and pastors who promised that when I do so and believe, my son will be found, but it hasn’t helped either.” Iminza thinks her son is a victim to child traffickers but believes he is still alive and that one day, they will be reunited.