Puzzle of two friends from Nairobi missing after supply trip to Kakuma
Two families in Nairobi say they have no one to turn to following the disappearance of their loved ones, whose car was found parked on the Eldoret-Nakuru highway at Salgaa last month.
The two, Derrick Mureti and Lawrence Mawira, were on their way back to Nairobi on June 29 after successfully supplying solar panels in Kakuma, in Turkana County, only to vanish into thin air and have not been heard from since.
Cate Mukami, Mr Mureti’s wife, told the Nation that her husband had informed her that they had slept in Lodwar on June 28 and hit the road early on June 29 hoping to be in Nairobi by evening.
The couple sent each other text messages all through the journey, until around 2pm, when she noticed Derrick was no longer responding. When she called him, his mobile phone was off.
Derrick Mureti who disappeared without trace after he and his friend Lawrence Mawira delivered solar panels in Kakuma, Turkana County.
Did not respond to texts
Like Ms Mukami, Emma Njeri, wife of Mr Mawira, had spoken with her husband that morning as they were passing through Kitale, but she did not think much of it when her husband did not respond to her texts after 2pm.
The two women thought it was phone network issues or perhaps their phone batteries had died, but how wrong they were. This was the last time they ever heard or received a message from their husbands.
Then Ms Mukami received a call from her husband’s cousin, Ms Doreen Thiora, informing her that Mr Mureti’s business vehicle, a white Isuzu D-Max (KCZ 057W), had been found unattended by the police next to the highway.
Ms Thiora had received the message from Mr Mureti’s cousin, identified as Kimathi, who told her that her husband's business partner had called to tell him that the two men had disappeared but their car had been found and was towed to the Salgaa Police Station.
Record statements
The message was hurriedly passed on to relatives and quickly, Ms Mukami and Ms Njeri rushed to the Salgaa Police Station to record their statements. The incident was recorded under OB number 18/30/06/2022.
They returned home, with the police promising to call them as soon as they found out anything regarding the matter.
Witnesses at the site where the car was abandoned told the two women that they had seen someone drive the car next to the road, park it and step out. Within a few minutes, the witnesses said, another car picked up that person. The unidentified man has not been seen since.
Florence Igoki, Mr Mureti’s mother, expressed her frustration at the slow pace of investigations into the disappearance of the two young men.
"Who will we turn to if the police cannot properly investigate this case and give us answers? Why do they now appear disinterested in this case? I want to know where my son is. The police must do something," she said.
Children asking about their fathers
It's has been three weeks of silence from the police, who have not provided the families any update on the case. Mr Mureti has a son who is barely a year and a half, and Mr Mawira has a daughter aged four. The children have been asking about their fathers incessantly. But their mothers have no answers for them.
Before his disappearance, Mr Mureti ran a construction materials and transport business registered as Cantara Enterprises with his partner, identified as Isabel, whom the Salgaa Police Station OCS called to tell her that the pickup truck had been found after officers ran a search on its owners.
Ms Njeri, who described her husband as a calm man loved by all, said he had gone on work trips several times with Mr Mureti to supply cement and other construction materials and this was just one of such assignments.
No police updates
She wonders why the police had not updated them about the case, three weeks since they made their reports.
"It is frightening that the police remain silent on this matter. Our family is very young. What should I tell my daughter when she asks about her father?" she said.
None of the families recalled any incident involving their loved ones that could have prompted anyone to abduct them.
"Derrick is a man liked by everyone, he never had issues with anyone. I just want to get answers from the police. Cases of disappearances have been on the rise recently and I am very worried for my husband and his friend," Ms Mukami said.
Rongai sub-county Criminal Investigations Officer Donater Otieno said she was aware of the matter and that police would get to the bottom of it.
She also said that whereas she could not tell whether the two were alive or dead, she would only be led by the investigations and her hunch was that the two were alive.
"I cannot rule out any possibility on whether the two are dead or alive, but we will be led by the investigations on what and where to look at," she said.
As police investigate the case, the two women stare fearfully into a bleak future, one that may not include their husbands. BY DAILY NATION
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