The last conversation missing Embakasi East Returning Officer Daniel Musyoka had with his daughter

Missing Embakasi East Returning Officer Daniel Mbolu Musyoka [Courtesy]

The morning of Tuesday, August 9, was the last time Prudence Mbolu, the daughter of missing Embakasi East Returning Officer Daniel Mbolu Musyoka, talked with her father.

It was a brief WhatsApp conversation because Musyoka was busy running the election in the constituency.

"Praying for you as the D-Day and counting days approach. You got this," reads a message seen by the Standard from Prudence to her father.

Musyoka would respond: "Thank you my dear."

Prudence, who works in Nairobi, had travelled to their rural home in Lanet, Nakuru County, to cast her vote as well as visit her mother, Tabitha Mbolu and younger brother, Isaac Mbolu.

On Wednesday, August 10, Prudence says her mother contacted Musyoka and they also had a brief telephone conversation.

"He seemed busy at the time so their conversation was not too long," she said.

That was the last time both Prudence and Tabitha heard from the family's breadwinner.

"The next day [Thursday, August 11], my mother tried to reach him on phone but he was unavailable. We did not give too much thought to it given that IEBC officials were busy tallying the votes.

"In the afternoon, however, we expected to see him announcing the results for Embakasi East Constituency but it was someone different and not him. Upon seeing that, we tried calling him again but he was unavailable," Prudence said.

Not long after this observation, Musyoka's brother reached out to Tabitha on phone and asked whether she had heard from her husband.

He explained that he had received a phone call from Musyoka's colleagues asking if he knew of his father's whereabouts.

"My uncle was told that Musyoka had been unreachable since 9:30am [Thursday, August 11]. Colleagues at the tallying centre were looking for him and could not find him," Prudence told the Standard.

On Friday night, August 12, IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati announced that Musyoka had gone missing while on duty at the East African School of Aviation tallying centre.

"Reports received by the commission indicate that around 9 a.m. yesterday, he [Musyoka] was escorted from his house to the office, the tallying centre, by his bodyguard. At around 9:45 am, he excused himself to make a phone call but did not return to the office," Chebukati said.

Asked whether her father had complained of facing threats of any kind, Prudence says her father was a protective man who would rarely divulge such information to his loved ones.

"Knowing my father, he would not tell us if he was facing intimidation of any kind because he would not want us to worry," she says.

His colleagues, however, say Musyoka looked fatigued the day he went missing.

"What we are getting is that he looked tired because most of the officers had not slept for close to three days," Prudence says.

Today [Saturday, August 12], Prudence, her family members and friends have visited hospitals and mortuaries in the city in search of their missing kin.

They are yet to find him.

They also visited the Embakasi Police Station to follow up on the progress of the investigation.

"The DCIO says they are trying to trace information from his phone and his registered line checking if his insurance card has been used anywhere," she says.

Prudence has since sent out an appeal, urging anyone who knows the whereabouts of her father to provide information.

"If anyone has seen him, please provide any information you may have, we are so worried."