The family of a KDF soldier who was taken hostage during the January 15, 2016, Al Shabab attack at El Adde in Somalia is pleading with the government to help have him freed.
Abdulahi Issa Mohamed was believed to have died in the attack and the family were issued with a death certificate but it has turned out that he is alive.
Mohamed is with his KDF colleague Gerison Wanyonyi Wasike whose video was also released confirming he is alive and pleading for government support to have him set free by the al Shabaab.
Mohamed family has discovered that he is alive after receiving a call from him and a video message in which he is pleading for assistance to return home.
Mohamed who was based at Moi Barracks in Eldoret had just arrived in Somalia with his colleagues for the security mission before their camp at El Adde was overrun and attacked.
His daughter Katra Ibrahim says his father has been in captivity for 8 years and they had lost hope of hope of him being alive only for her to receive a strange call on one night last month.
The family had after six years, they carried out burial rites believing he was dead and they were issued with a death certificate which they requested to help them for various official purposes.
“At first I was shocked when I received the call and he introduced himself as my father although because I knew him including his voice very well I had already known that it was him,” she says.
She said the soldier said he wanted help to return home and that those holding him only wanted to talk to the government and not anyone else.
Katra said she then asked him to talk to his captors and allow him to end pictures or videos to prove he was alive.
“He told me the captors would soon get back to us with video clips of him and true to that they later sent us a video of him pleading for help to return home," said Katra.
She said as a family they were depressed and were now living as orphans but the new development has given them fresh hope.
“We lost hope and have been living hopeless lives. My mother is now sickly because of that and my two brothers have been suffering from depression. One of them even ran away from home out of frustration”, said Katra.
Katra said they were now pleading with President William Ruto to help them bring their father home.
“The people who have him captive want to talk to the government and not the family. That’s why we are pleading with the president to help," she said.
She said they were hopeful that with Ruto’s intervention, he would be released.
“We beg President Ruto to help us bring my father home," she said.
Katra says when her father called them, she assured him that the government and KDF had been taking care of the family all along.
“We thank God, the government and KDF for standing with us since he disappeared," she said.
He said they were strong believers in God.
“As Muslims, we live everything to God because we had lost hope and thought he had died but it’s God and we thank him
She said the family had even done burial rites for him knowing that he had died because there had been no clue that he was alive.
He said the state had been very supportive helping them where necessary.
“They have stood with us and we can’t blame anyone because he disappeared in the line of duty for the country, " she said.
Katra says they now have strong hope that President Ruto will help to have him freed. The soldier is now aged 61 years.
“The government has been with us physically, emotionally and financially and that is why we have strong hope the president and Kenyans will help," she said.
The family leaves at Maili Nne where neighbours led by Sheikh Abu Kadir said they were happy that on the eighth anniversary, they had learnt that the soldier was still alive.
“We are shedding tears of joy after being said for all that time. We are pleading with the President to intervene as the family has said," he said.
Sheikh Abubakar Bini said they had visited the family to pray with them and thank God for keeping the KDF man alive.
“We have nothing else but thanksgiving because of the news we have received that he is alive. Through the same God we ask our president to intervene and help," said Bini.
