A family in Maralal town, Samburu County is going through agony after a form two student, aged 16 years went missing four weeks ago.

According to Mrs Hadija Aden, a family member, 16-year-old Munira Abubakar disappeared from their home in the evening of January 2, 2021, while washing clothes.

“She was washing clothes at home at about 3pm and since then we don’t know where she is, we don’t know if she went willingly or was taken, what's worse we don't know whether she is alive,” she said.

Munira’s mother Fatuma Abdilahi said her daughter left home only with a mobile phone which was being used by police to trace where she was before it was switched off.

She said her daughter's mobile phone was first traced by police at Yare area in Samburu west Sub-County and then 180 kilometres away in Nyahururu before it went off.

“They (police) called me and told me that they were going to use help from Safaricom Company to find out the people whom Munira communicated with last in efforts to trace her but I have been going to the police and no progress has been made since January 8,” she said.

She lamented how conmen have started taking advantage of the family's situation by pretending to be police officers, asking her to send fuel money to enable them to transport the girl back home.

“I have not been sleeping since January 2. I was sending money so that I could get my child back. Maybe the criminals asking me to send money are with my daughter,” she added.

However, the family and police officers’ efforts to search for Munira in Isiolo, Nairobi, Kajiado and Bungoma have not borne fruits.

The family has sent a distress plea to members of the public and anyone with information about their daughter to report to the nearest police station.

Samburu central Sub-County police Commander, Alex Rotich said police have launched investigations into the incident and there is hope that positive results will be announced in the next one week.

KNA by Robert Githu