Soldiers' families demand to know fate of kin

Families of Kenya Defence Forces soldiers, who were serving in Somalia at the time of the Al-Shabaab attack in El-Adde, Tuesday asked the government to help them know the fate of their kin.

In Eldoret, family, friends and relatives, some of whom had come from as far as West Pokot and Trans Nzoia counties, camped at Moi Barracks the whole day; while in Kakamega and Homa Bay counties, three families asked the national government to come clear on the fate of their sons.

Some complained that they were not getting proper information from the government in regard to the fate of their sons and daughters serving under the African Union Mission to Somalia (Amisom).

Neither Amisom nor the Kenyan government has released a death toll, but Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo said the soldiers affected by the attack are “a company size force.”

“I have been making frantic calls to my son who has been in Somalia for almost one year in vain and yet the government is not coming out to tell us the status of our relatives who are serving in the war-torn Somalia,” said one of the parents.

NO TANGIBLE INFORMATION

But on Tuesday, officers at the barracks said they had no tangible information as they were relying on their bosses in Nairobi.

“We have been directing anyone who comes here seeking to know the fate of their kin to the Department of Defence in Nairobi, but in case of any information, we will use the laid down procedures,” said a senior officer who declined to be named saying he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He said that many people from the North Rift and western Kenya had been flocking the barracks in the wake of the deadly Friday morning attack.

Mr Zebedayo Furukha from Kakamega, who was one of the parents camping at the barracks, was full of joy on learning that his son, who has served in the force for the last 15 years, was still alive.

Mr Furukha said he was allowed to call his son in Somalia directly after his efforts to get information from the barracks bore no fruit.

“I was forced to call my son, Douglas Moi Rengo, and talked to him and he assured me that he was safe and continuing with his duty of pursuing the enemy,” he said.

At Lwanda village in Kasgunga, Homa Bay County, Mr Nicholas Ouma Ajuang and his wife Ascar Owino are frustrated that for five days, they have tried in vain to get a word from the government.

Their son Michael Okoth, 21, joined KDF in 2012,  and unsuccessfully tried to get information from Eldoret camp, DOD and Forces Memorial Hospital.

At Koguta also in Homa Bay, William Oguta, a brother to missing KDF soldier 26-year-old Wycliffe Oguta, also demanded that they be told the fate of their brother.

“Tell us even if our brother is dead so that we move on instead of torturing us,” he said .

“We have been told that the only survivors of the attack have been flown back. Our fear then is that my brother is among the casualties,” he added.

In Ichina village, Kakamega, a distraught Ephraim Madula Anjere and his wife Grace Mwenesi said their third-born son, Private Stephen Ngota Anjere, contacted them from Somalia on Tuesday last week and sounded cheerful.

The 29-year-old joined the army in 2010 and had planned to marry his fiancée Gloria Kwatenje this July.