On December 16 and 17, 2024, four friends disappeared from Mlolongo in Machakos County and have not either been seen or heard from since.
Mr Martin Zyuko Mwau, Mr Kalani Mwema, Mr Steven Mbisi Kavingo, and Mr Justus Mutumwa Musyimi, all aged between 29 and 35 according to their families, went missing in quick succession under unclear circumstances.
Mr Mutumwa, Mr Zyuko and Mwema were last seen by their friends at a local joint on the evening of December 15, 2024 and were all in a jovial mood.
According to their families, the three left their houses on the morning of December 15, 2024 to go to their respective businesses and places of work never to be seen again.
Mr Mbisi, 35, on the other hand, was last seen on the morning of December 17, 2024 before he was seized by four masked men from his house at Kathagaita area, according to his wife.
When Nation.Africa visited the area on Tuesday, Mr Mbisi’s room remains locked.
His wife (name withheld for safety reasons) said that her husband was in the washroom while she was in the bedroom when she heard commotion.
On checking, she met four masked men who were all armed.
“One of the men ordered me to back to the bedroom and lie down and not to look at them,” she recalled.
From the shower, she said, her husband was ordered to wear clothes quickly before they took him away. She has since left Mlolongo after the ordeal.
A neighbour who said he witnessed the suspected abduction described how Mr Mbisi was bundled into a waiting car before it sped off.
“There were four men, one of them was wearing blue, another one pink, and there was also one wearing red. They picked him up and bundled him in the waiting car. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures or record because it looked like something that was urgent as they sped off,” he said.
Mr Ndeti Mwau, the older brother of Mr Zyuko, 35, said after getting information about his disappearance, he went and reported him as missing at Mlolongo Police Station. He was issued with OB No. 58/21/12/24.
“My brother’s wife called me around 10am saying he had not been seen at the boda boda stand. When I tried calling him, his phones were switched off,” Mr Mwau said.
Twenty-two days later, the police are yet to furnish the family with any answers on Mr Zyuko’s whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Kalani’s sister, Ms Susan Nduge Mwema said she had spoken to her brother a few days earlier and had plans to meet that week. Then she received news that her younger brother had gone missing.
The family also reported the matter to Mlolongo Police Station under OB No. 47/26/12/24. Since then, they have been searching for their missing kin in vain.
“We have visited police stations, hospitals and mortuaries in Mlolongo, Machakos and in Nairobi. We are yet to find him,” Ms Mwema said.
Mr Kalani, a father of two, sells sell bags for a living in Mlolongo.
Mr Dancun Kyalo Mwema described his younger brother as a hard-working family man. He wondered why someone would target his brother.
“We will do anything to have him back with us. I beg those holding him to let him return to us. If its ransom you want, we are ready to pay,” Mr Mwema said.
He also said his mother developed health complications on receiving news of her son’s abduction, and is still admitted to hospital.
The family reported the matter at DCI headquarters in Athi River Police Station under OB No. 23/21/12/24.
The families of the four missing men said they are now living in fear over the safety and whereabouts of their loved ones.
The police have said they have no information on the whereabouts of the missing men and that they are investigating the incidents.
