Mombasa Republican Council chairman Omar Mwamnuadzi has been officially declared missing by court, after
months of speculations.
He has been missing since April last year, after absconding court proceedings.
Warrants of arrest have been issued,
but police told the court they have been unable to trace Mwamnuadzi.
Documents produced in court showing that
Mwamnuadzi had been sick and admitted at Coast General Hospital were forged.
The hospital informed the prosecution that the admission number belonged to someone else.
The court summoned Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko, who stood surety for him, to explain his whereabouts.
Sonko was given at least four months to produce Mwamnuadzi
before the court or tell of his whereabouts.
However, on Friday Sonko told the court that he has been
unable to trace Mwamnuadzi.
He told chief magistrate Francis Kyambia he sent private
investigators to neighbouring Tanzania after reports that he
might be hiding there for fear of his life but did not trace him.
He said Sonko had two options of either being discharged
from being a surety or the state to forfeit his land.
Lawyer Yusuf Abubakar, who represents 38 people
charged alongside Mwamnuadzi, including his wife, for allegedly being members of
outlawed group, told the court the family is a worried lot.
He said they have given up hope of seeing him alive. Abubakar said the family believes Mwamnuadzi might have been
abducted and even killed.
