Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are pursuing several angles as they look into the killing of an official of the electoral agency.
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) returning officer Daniel Mbolu Musyoka, 53, went missing mid-last week, only to be found dead in Kajiado County on Monday.
A sleuth privy to the investigations told Nation.Africa that officers were pursuing a mysterious caller who reached out to Mr Musyoka at the East Africa School of Aviation tallying centre in Embakasi East constituency.
The tallying centre was the last place he was seen alive and his colleagues there will be required to record statements with the police.
Relatives and friends of the late Daniel Mbolu Musyoka mourning at his home in Lanet, Nakuru on August 16, 2022. Mr Musyoka’s body was found in Kajiado after he went missing.
“Currently, the phone records are part of the focus as this investigation goes on,” said the detective, who did not want to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
“It will be important to know who is the person who made the call that saw the returning officer leave his work station never to be seen again until his body was found this week.”
It has also emerged that the signal from his phone was last detected in Mihang’o, Utawala, Nairobi County. That suggests he may have boarded a vehicle from the tallying centre to that location, a distance of 12.4km, before his phone was switched off.
Mr Musyoka’s colleagues described him as a humble, quiet man who was always alert and insisted that everything be done in the right way.
Was found dead
Nation.Africa has established that the official was found dead in Loitokitok, Kajiado County, where he was transferred from in May.
Police said on Tuesday that herders found Mr Musyoka’s body in the Kilombero forest, near Amboseli National Park in Kajiado South sub-county, at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro.
Sub-county police boss Kipruto Ruto said the body was positively identified by Mr Musyoka two sisters – Ann Mboya and Mary Mwikali.
“The body of the IEBC official was dumped into the valley of a dry seasonal river and herders bumped into it as they were grazing,” Mr Ruto said.
Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji on Wednesday said his office was closely monitoring investigations into the death.
“ODPP is following up the case of missing and subsequent death of Daniel Mbolu Musyoka, an IEBC Returning Officer for Embakasi East Constituency, whose body was found today in Loitokitok, Kajiado [South] Sub-County,” Mr Haji said in a statement on Twitter.
Mr Musyoka went missing on Thursday, August 11, in unclear circumstances.
The announcement was made by IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati on Friday night at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi as presidential election results were being verified.
Mr Musyoka’s family then came out and said they had tried to reach him for 48 hours and could not get him on his phone.
Mr Musyoka’s other sister, Ms Veronicah Njeri, said the family first heard about his disappearance when it was announced by Mr Chebukati. BY DAILY NATION