We have not seen our kin since 2014, Kapsabet familiy says

Towards end of 2014, lady luck came knocking twice for Joseph Bor and it appeared that his long wait for economic empowerment was finally going to be a reality.

His elderly parents and siblings at Kolong village in Kapsabet, Nandi County, were full of joy after Bor was shortlisted as a first candidate to interview for the position of assistant chief barely two months after securing another contract with a firm dealing with plumbing in Nairobi.

Bor had not secured permanent employment for close to 11 years after concluding a course in plumbing at the Kenya Water Institute (Kewi) in 2003 and the two chances coming almost concurrently was viewed as his defining moment. This was, however, never to be.

According to Bor’s elder brother Phillip Korir, they spoke on December 16, 2014 and Bor said he intended to travel for the interview from Nairobi to Kapsabet on the night of December 19. This was the last time they spoke.

“He was first in a list of five candidates invited to interview for the position of assistant chief for Kamobo sub-location that was set for December 22, 2014,” Korir said.

His younger brother Ben Kimutai says before this, Bor had in October 2014, secured a contract in Nairobi and had only been at the place for two months before he disappeared.

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“While working in Nairobi, our brother Joseph who was then 40, came home twice and had sent money to support our parents and also his family,” Kimutai said.

The family was aware he was to make that journey to Nairobi on December 19 but his phone went off and efforts by the family to trace him have not yielded fruit.

After he failed to attend the interview in Kapsabet, they reported the matter at Kapsabet Police Station on December 24, 2014 before proceeding to Nairobi where they also reported at Langata Police Station.

“Our brother was quite conversant with Nairobi, having undertaken his training there, and we are sure he did not get lost,” Kimutai said.

The family has since searched for their missing kin in hospitals, mortuaries, forests, culverts in a venture that has cost them a tidy sum of money yet yielded nothing.

“We are desperate. He is a young man with three children, one in form one, another in class seven and a last born who is yet to start school.

We are still looking for him and appeal for support from authorities. We suspect foul play in his disappearance and there is need for thorough investigation,” Kimutai said.

Magdalena Chelel, their aging mother, recalls how her son stayed home managing an acre of tea plantation in a farm allocated to him by the family until he went to Nairobi for the job where he worked for just two months before his disappearance.

“My son was disciplined, honest, humble and would not pick quarrels with anyone. I hope he is fine wherever he is and believe he will one day come back home.

We are appealing for assistance to locate him,” she said, adding that the family is now struggling to support Bor’s family.