Panic after Eldoret shop owner vanishes without a trace
Meshack Yebei. He went missing in December 2014 and his body was later found in a national park. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- County has been hit by a wave of abductions.
- An advert was even placed in the Nation on April 8.
The mysterious disappearance of a young businessman in Eldoret Town has triggered anxiety among residents.
This is yet another case in the rising wave of abductions in the county.
Mr John Mbugua, who runs an electronics repair shop at the Kogo Plaza on Uganda Road, went missing on March 28. His family and friends are a worried lot following the disappearance.
Since the disappearance of Mr Meshack Yebei, who was to testify in the case against Deputy President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court, in December last year, disappearances in the county have caused panic.
Mr Yebei’s body was later found in a national park.
In the latest case, Mr Ishmael Robert said his 28-year-old friend received a phone call and went to the Kogo Plaza basement to get his car, which he had owned for only eight days.
“Soon after receiving the call, he passed by my shop and said he would be back. That is the last time I saw him,” said Mr Robert, adding that he recorded a statement with the police the next day.
According to information the Nation gathered, Mr Mbugua was supposed to attend a show where US musician Akon was to perform. But he later told his friends that he would not make it due to pressing issues he had to attend to that weekend.
“In the evening, I received a call from another friend who had gone to Naivasha for the show. He had tried to call Mbugua to inform him about the show but failed to reach him,” said Mr Robert.
SIGNAL WENT OFF
Mr Michael Foro, a nephew of Mr Mbugua, told the Nation that the pain the family members were going through since the disappearance was unbearable.
“Police tracked his phone and discovered that it was in Summit on Saturday (March 28) evening and Ruai at 6.30pm the following day. This is where the police say the signal went off,” said Mr Foro.
The nephew said the family has searched for the businessman in hospitals and mortuaries but all in vain.
An advert was even placed in the Nation on April 8.
Mr Mbugua’s car, registration KBZ 510G, is also missing.
Background: Student, scribe fell victim
University of Eldoret Student Association secretary-general Wesley Kogo, who had gone missing, was found abandoned in Burnt Forest in February. He looked traumatised.
A Standard newspaper reporter, Michael Oling’a, was kidnapped a month later over stories exposing land grabbing in the county. He was found in Molo on the Eldoret-Nakuru highway.
