Uncertainty and agony grip KDF families over fate of their loved ones in the army

There is a possibility that no other place has borne the brunt of the attack in Somali more than Lelmokwo village in Nandi, where close to 10 families do not know the fate of their sons, who cannot be accounted for.

Here, a group of families have been gathering next to a canvas tent at Samson Sirikwa's home. Parents seeking to know the fate of their sons meet every day to update each other with 'no information'.

Lost in their thoughts, occasionally conversing in low tones, the villagers point at homesteads whose sons were in the ill-fated camp.

Sirikwa's family says they are yet to receive information about their son, Wesley Kimeli, who was part of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) troops that were ambushed by Al Shabaab militants at El Adde Camp in Somalia last week.

"We have not received any communication from the Government about my brother because he is neither among the bodies that were brought nor the survivors," says Kipkemoi Kisorio, Wesley's brother.

Kisorio states that everything at their home is at a standstill as they wait for the news of his 22-year-old brother. "We are anxious to know what happened to him, whether he survived or he died," he adds.

This agony is replicated in a number of families across villages in Nandi and Uasin Gishu counties. In Kamagut village, a few metres from the Moi barracks, where the 9 Kenya Rifles Formation came from, the family of Charles Ekidor is mourning and attempts to secure an interview initially flops as his wife weeps hysterically at the mention of the attack.

She later says she is yet to sleep as she awaits any news on the fate of her husband.

"I spoke with Charles on Thursday last week and when I heard about the attack the following day, I tried to call him but his phone was not going through," she says, adding: "We are still optimistic that he is well and hope that the Government says something about him, just anything because the suspense at the moment is traumatising."

A group of families is camping at the barracks, hoping to get information on their loved ones.

Elsewhere, a family in Sakali village in Kakamega is worried. Ephraim Anjere is yet to receive information as to the whereabouts of his son, Stephen Anjere. "He wanted to serve Kenyans by joining KDF in 2010. In fact when soldiers were going to Somalia, he was anxious to go because it was his dream," Anjere says.

"He got the opportunity in 2012. He has been to Kismayu and has been stationed in Mandera for the last one year before he left for Somalia the second time," he adds. Ephraim's fiancee, Gloria Cheprotich, is optimistic he will come back alive and continue with the plans of visiting her parents.

Report by Michael Ollinga, Kevin Tunoi and Jackline Inyanji