Families’ agony after sons kidnapped

Mr Samson Wangai Gitahi has known no peace since his 38-year-old son and his friend were picked from a hotel room two months ago by people posing as police officers.

The police on their part say they have no clue where the two are.    

Trouble for Mr Gitahi started towards the end of last year when Joel left their home in Nakuru never to return.

“My son is a clothes dealer in Nyeri and often goes to Nakuru’s open air market to get new stock for his business. On November 11, last year, he went there accompanied by his business partner Joseph Mwangi and never came back,” he explains.

Mr Gitahi says Joel and his friend went drinking at Signature Hotel in Nakuru after they had done their shopping and later left the bar for a guest house in the same town.

At around 4am, he called his brother informing him that some police officers had picked them from the guest house.

“He said that people dressed in Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) uniform had picked them from Room One at Kaka Guest House where they had rented a room for the night. That was the last time any of us ever heard from him,” says Mr Gitahi.

Over the next few days, the family conducted numerous searches for the two men but they could not be traced.

They went to all police stations, hospitals and mortuaries in Nakuru.

The police told them that no arrests had been made of people fitting the two men’s description.

A report compiled over the kidnapping by Criminal Investigations Department office in Nairobi noted that Joel was “allegedly picked by four people posing as police officers” and that all “efforts to trace him from any possible destination have been fruitless.”

The case was then referred to the police in Nakuru for further investigations.

Since then, the family has made several visits to Nakuru Central Police Station to follow up the case.

Despite all the assurances by the police that the search is still on track, Mr Gitahi believes they are not doing their best to trace his son.

“The situation has dragged on for so long and I’m afraid the police are not doing everything in their power to find my son. I want to see him, even if he is found dead so we can give him a decent burial. Without that, my family can have no peace,” he says.

However, Nakuru police chief Johnstone Ipara told the Nation the matter was being investigated and they were following all possible leads.

Mr Ipara said that since it was alleged that the kidnappers had been dressed in KWS uniform, the department should also be included in the investigations.

“I would like to urge the family to be a bit more patient. We are doing our best to ensure that the abducted persons are found. We are also trying to get in touch with KWS offices in the area to chart a way forward,” he said.