Subukia family in two-decade search for lost son

Simon Siele | NATION
Mr Sebastian Maina and his wife Elizabeth Njeri during an interview at their Subukia Farm on November 13, 2012. Stephen Wachira, who went missing at the age of three, is at the centre of a paternal dispute with the family of former Internal Security minister George Saitoti.

What you need to know:

  • The court will decide whether Mr Zachary Musengi, Mr Saitoti’s son, is actually Stephen Wachira or whether this is a case of mistaken identity.
  • Mrs Elizabeth Njeri Maina said the father asked the boy to go out and get his toy car. He was never seen again.
  • Mrs Maina said her husband had travelled far and wide — Ethiopia, Somalia and Tanzania — in search of their lost child.
  • Mrs Maina alleged that after their neighbour was acquitted, they did not appeal the case because a police officer warned them against it.

A Subukia family on Tuesday recounted their 24-year search for a son they claimed was snatched from them.

The family of Mr Sebastian Maina Ngunju said their son, Stephen Wachira, was almost three years when he disappeared from their rented house at Subukia trading centre in Nakuru county.

His mother, Mrs Elizabeth Njeri Maina on Tuesday talked about the day she says she lost her son, August 31, 1988. The family believes that a neighbour stole their son and gave him up for adoption.

Mr Ngunju has sensationally laid claim to the only son of former Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and has accused the minister’s widow, in court, of confining a kidnapped person.

A source close to the Saitoti family said they were preparing to respond to the claims and that a defence will be entered in the Nakuru court where Mr Ngunju has filed his case.

The court will decide whether Mr Zachary Musengi, Mr Saitoti’s son, is actually Stephen Wachira or whether this is a case of mistaken identity. (READ: Saitoti took my son, claims teacher)

Fighting back tears, Mrs Maina spoke of two decades of futile searching. Her memory is remarkably clear, for an event that reportedly took place so long ago. She can remember the colour of the T-shirt he was wearing and the logo on it.

“Wishing You a Happy day” was the message on the boy’s T-shirt the 55-year-old nurse at the local dispensary said.

Mrs Maina said the two children who had been born by the time Stephen disappeared were too young to know what happened while the other two have never been told of their lost brother.

All of them have now completed school with the lastborn in the family doing his final year at a public university in Nairobi.

“I was warming porridge for Stephen and his two siblings when he started throwing a tantrum because he had been left behind when the rest accompanied their aunt to buy paraffin,” the mother said.

“I told him to go out and play as I warmed the porridge. Just then his father came from the garden and Stephen rushed inside excitedly to tell him he had made a toy car,” she added.

She said the father asked the boy to go out and get his toy car. He was never seen again. “After about 10 minutes, I noticed the boy had taken too long to come back into the house and went out to look for him but he was nowhere,” she said.

She searched at the neighbours’ and the local market but no one had seen him.

Feared the worst

“I had so many mental pictures and fears of what could have happened to my third-born child. I even imagined he had drowned because the day was rainy. We searched for him along the banks of Kianyoro River all the time hoping that I would not find him dead,” she said.

Speaking at the family’s home, built on four acres at Kijabe farm in Subukia District, Mrs Maina said the family reported the incident to the local police station on the same day.

Police, she said, made light of the matter and asked them to go back and look for him in the neighbourhood.

“Little did I know that a close neighbour had been scouting for a child to be adopted by a rich family and that she was working in cahoots with the police,” she said.

“Mine have been long terrible days of anxiety, pain, expectations, and unanswered prayers but being a staunch Christian, I was hopeful that one day I would meet my son and that day seems to be near,” Mrs Maina said.

After taking the matter to CID headquarters in Nairobi, a neighbour was arrested, tried and acquitted. She moved to Kiambu. Mrs Maina said her husband had travelled far and wide — Ethiopia, Somalia and Tanzania — in search of their lost child.

“One police officer handling the case made us believe that our son was far away, beyond Kenyan borders. My husband was led on a wild-goose chase with CID officers saying the boy had been spotted in so many places,” she said.

Mrs Maina alleged that after their neighbour was acquitted, they did not appeal the case because a police officer warned them against it. “The officer hinted to us that our son was happily living with a VIP family and if we continued following the matter we would be killed,” she claimed.

The couple’s firstborn daughter is a lecturer at a public university pursuing her PhD; the second is doing his masters in Medicine. The fourth born is graduating next month from Egerton University while the lastborn is a commerce student at Kenyatta University.