Vincent Oluoch Omondi returned home on January 19 after watching Manchester United lose 3-1 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Despite being a Manchester United fan, Oluoch's happiness was not affected by the result, perhaps because he had made peace with the outcome after similar defeats in the past.
It was around 8pm when he returned to his home in Kisii village, a densely populated slum in the South B area.
“Let me leave this phone here as it charges. I will be back for it.” Those were Vincent Oluoch Omondi's last words to his wife before stepping out.
As Oluoch, 27, left the house, there was no sign of a fight between him and his wife. In fact, he was in a good mood.
Two hours elapsed without him showing up. Fears and anxiety started to cripple Nakahoya. Dinner was ready and had started getting cold as she waited for her partner.
However, she remained optimistic that her husband was still meeting up with friends around, discussing football matters just a few metres away from the hall where the match was being screened.
That hope has turned into trauma, and the wait into a nightmare. Twenty-one days later, Oluoch is yet to return.
“Since that day, I have not seen him. I’m confused. We have a child who is one month and two weeks old now. I’m really praying that he is found because I just feel like I’m now being blamed for this,” Nakahoya told the Nation at the weekend.
Saida Nahoya, the wife to Vincent Oluoch Omondi alias Olano who has been missing since January 19, 2025.
Photo credit: Evans Habil| Nation Media Group
What she recalls is that her husband had hinted having quarrels with his colleagues at his workplace.
“He was working in certain company along Baricho Road. What he told me is that he was being stressed by his colleagues at work but he did not explain more to me.”
Paul Oduor, Oluoch’s uncle, said they had since visited all the hospitals and police stations hoping to find his nephew.
They reported the matter to the South B Police Station on January 21, and the case was registered under OB number 17/21/01/2025.
“We have gone to Kenyatta National Hospital and City Mortuary and even to the DCI. We have visited even the police stations outside Nairobi County but we have not seen him,” Oduor said, adding that “we are appealing to the government or to anybody who has abducted our son to bring him back.”
Kisii vilage in South B, Nairobi residents holding a banner with a picture of Vincent Oluoch Omondi alias Olano on February 6, 2025.
Photo credit: Evans Habil| Nation Media Group
According to Oduor, his nephew was not taking any sides when it comes to politics of the day and neither was he active in social media debates.
“He was a footballer and I don’t know where footballers are being found after disappearing. We cannot say that it is abduction or something to do with the government but if the same government is aware of his whereabouts, please, help us to find him. That is all we are asking.”
Oluoch's brother Stephen Otieno Omondi said Oluoch’s disappearance had left them traumatized and that they are still hoping to find him alive.
“We have been searching for him since January 20 up to date and we have not given up. We believe that he is okay wherever he is,” Omondi said.
His friends told the Nation that Oluoch was in good spirits as they watched the match. Reports of his disappearance, they said, left them shocked.
“He was in a jovial mood when we were watching football and he left us as he headed to his house. After that, we have not seen him. We don’t know what happened to him and we are asking the government to help us to find him. We want to see our brother because you never know what happens in this government, especially for us the youth,” Aggrey Makali said.
Oluoch has been described as an easy person, and his friends say they were rooting for him to vie for the MCA seat in the near future.
“Vincent is a good guy. He has never been to any demonstration. He only minded his business and he has never fought with anybody around. He was not a blogger either,” another of his friends said.
Oluoch’s case comes on the backdrop of increasing cases of missing persons in Kenya amid calls on President William Ruto to fulfil his promise of ending enforced disappearances, abductions and arbitrary arrests.
Kenya Human Rights Commission reports that since the onset of anti-government protests in June 2024, 89 Kenyans have disappeared, out of which 29 are still missing.
The commission’s statistics indicate that 63 Kenyans have since lost their lives at the hands of police.
