Please come back home: Kakamega family pleads with teen daughter missing since 2020

A family in Malinya in Ikolomani Constituency, Kakamega County,  has been in agony since their daughter went missing over  a year ago.

Albert Balisenaka and his wife and children have known no peace from when  Margretta Mukhabi, then 17 and a Form Two student at Kenya High, disappeared in July 2020 when schools were closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Her mother, Nancy Maloga described her as a bright and hardworking child. 

“She was busy with online classes while at home, I was confident she would have passed her exams as she was among the top five students in a class of 300 learners,” said Maloga.

 Mukhabi scored 426 marks in the KCPE examinations at Kakamega Hill School in 2017.

“She had told me that she wished to become a pediatrician in future,” said Maloga.

But during the long school break in 2020, Maloga says her daughter became unruly and unpredictable. On the day she went missing, she says they had quarreled and she ended up beating her because she had become rude and disrespectful.

Margretta packed her clothes in a school bag and left while her mother was busy at her boutique at Malinya market.

“I was informed that she left on a motorcycle without saying a word. We have never heard from her since,” said Maloga.

Margaretta would have been among other candidates sitting KCSE examinations in April.

“I am confused. I don’t know who to run to for help. I beg my daughter to come back home because we love her. We might have had our own ups and downs but I am suffering and worried and would like her to come back home,” she added.

Judy Nandemi, one of her sisters, said she misses her elder sister and urged her to go back home to end their suffering. Balisenaka said there are other girls who also disappeared from their homes in the village the same time she left.

“I know several girls whose whereabouts aren’t known as that of my daughter. Some of them have come back home with babies,” he said.

He said their efforts to search for their girl have hit a brick wall. 

“We have looked for her everywhere without success. The last time we heard about her, we were told she was seen at one of the hotels in Kakamega town,” said Balisenaka.

The parents have reported the case at Malinya Police Patrol Base but so far they haven’t received any feedback from the officers.

A while back,  Balisenaka says her friend led the police to a place she was believed to be hiding “but it was too little too late, she had already left the place by the time officers arrived.”

Balisenaka said they found young girls and boys partying during the raid. 

“They told the officers that they had a disagreement with my daughter and she left in a huff.”

“We have no idea where she is and the pain is now becoming unbearable. I believe she is alive and in good health, I just plead with her to come back home, I am ready to take her back to school because she is intelligent and hardworking,” he added.

Balisenaka told The Nairobian that he has decided not to cut his hair until the day he will find his daughter.

“It is easier to come to terms with the death of a child than agonizing over a missing one,” says Balisenaka.