On the 27th of Apr 2019 at Soko Huru, a group of peer educators working for PEMA Kenya under an ongoing Red Cross Project, were resting and engaged in discussion at the Learning Site. As peer educators their main role is to reach out to their peers with information and refer them to facilities to enable access to health services. Geographically, the area has two levels of reef. The Upper side is bushy and the lower level that is directly on the shoreline. On the upper side there were around 6 peers and on the lower side there were about three.
A verbal confrontation ensued between Philip Okoth, a peer educator and Washington Mike, a homeless goon. During the confrontation, Washington threatened to inform the police that the group was in possession of illegal weapons and departed from the scene.
At about 6pm on the same day, Philip Okoth and Jaffar saw two plain clothes policemen approaching them from the lower side. On the upper side, the peers were also ambushed by Plain clothes Police firing shots in the air. In a flurry of anxiety, Philip Okoth jumped into the sea in a bid to escape the raid. The policemen fired into the water and stayed around to confirm if he has surfaced. After 30 minutes, the police left the scene with peers they captured and questioned. Some were released immediately and others were detained for later release. The raid was conducted by the police in search of the alleged illegal weapons.
A couple of days later, Philip Okoth still had not resurfaced. A small search was conducted to ascertain his whereabouts through family and friends but all was in vain. To date, the whereabouts of Philip Okoth is still unknown. Consequently, a report has been made at Likoni Police Station OB No. 50/29/4/2019 on 29th APR 2019 as a missing person case.
For any information on Philip Okoth’s disappearance, contact us on;
PEMA Kenya Office Phone number: +254 (0) 713 681 341
FACEBOOK PAGE: PEMA-Kenya,FACEBOOK ACCOUNT: Pema Ke Nya
TWITTER:@pemakenya INSTAGRAM:@pemakenya