rqlite: cannot run quries to cluster members - only the leader responds

after a while (a couple of hours/days) our rqlite clusters (V5.11.1) reach a point where we can only query the leader:

for example running the query using any member other than the leader returns:

bash-4.4$ /rqlite -H rqlite-0.rqlite
Welcome to the rqlite CLI. Enter ".help" for usage hints.
Connected to version v5.11.1
rqlite-0.rqlite:4001> select * from rules
ERR! server responded with 503 Service Unavailable: not leader

rqlite-0.rqlite:4001> select * from  issues
ERR! server responded with 503 Service Unavailable: not leader

the status response from one of the followers is :

curl http://rqlite-0.rqlite:4001/status?pretty


{
    "build": {
        "branch": "master",
        "build_time": "2021-04-13T10:24:42-0400",
        "commit": "927611c82c72056a99e20cde3279fac7fdf51484",
        "version": "v5.11.1"
    },
    "http": {
        "addr": "10.233.122.246:4001",
        "auth": "disabled",
        "redirect": ""
    },
    "node": {
        "start_time": "2021-04-22T19:32:14.932309505Z",
        "uptime": "16h38m28.56345708s"
    },
    "runtime": {
        "GOARCH": "amd64",
        "GOMAXPROCS": 8,
        "GOOS": "linux",
        "num_cpu": 8,
        "num_goroutine": 17,
        "version": "go1.15.7"
    },
    "store": {
        "addr": "10.233.122.246:4002",
        "apply_timeout": "10s",
        "db_conf": {
            "DSN": "",
            "Memory": true
        },
        "dir": "/node",
        "dir_size": 14560570,
        "election_timeout": "5s",
        "heartbeat_timeout": "4s",
        "leader": {
            "addr": "10.233.92.133:4002",
            "node_id": "rqlite-4"
        },
        "metadata": {
            "rqlite-0": {
                "api_addr": "rqlite-0.rqlite:4001",
                "api_proto": "http"
            },
            "rqlite-1": {
                "api_addr": "rqlite-1.rqlite:4001",
                "api_proto": "http"
            },
            "rqlite-2": {
                "api_addr": "rqlite-2.rqlite:4001",
                "api_proto": "http"
            }
        },
        "node_id": "rqlite-0",
        "nodes": [
            {
                "id": "rqlite-0",
                "addr": "10.233.122.246:4002"
            },
            {
                "id": "rqlite-1",
                "addr": "10.233.89.103:4002"
            },
            {
                "id": "rqlite-2",
                "addr": "10.233.67.182:4002"
            },
            {
                "id": "rqlite-3",
                "addr": "10.233.100.143:4002"
            },
            {
                "id": "rqlite-4",
                "addr": "10.233.92.133:4002"
            }
        ],
        "raft": {
            "applied_index": 496115,
            "commit_index": 496115,
            "fsm_pending": 0,
            "last_contact": "21.858677ms",
            "last_log_index": 496115,
            "last_log_term": 28,
            "last_snapshot_index": 494286,
            "last_snapshot_term": 22,
            "latest_configuration": "[{Suffrage:Voter ID:rqlite-3 Address:10.233.100.143:4002} {Suffrage:Voter ID:rqlite-4 Address:10.233.92.133:4002} {Suffrage:Voter ID:rqlite-0 Address:10.233.122.246:4002} {Suffrage:Voter ID:rqlite-2 Address:10.233.67.182:4002} {Suffrage:Voter ID:rqlite-1 Address:10.233.89.103:4002}]",
            "latest_configuration_index": 0,
            "log_size": 8388608,
            "num_peers": 4,
            "protocol_version": 3,
            "protocol_version_max": 3,
            "protocol_version_min": 0,
            "snapshot_version_max": 1,
            "snapshot_version_min": 0,
            "state": "Follower",
            "term": 28
        },
        "request_marshaler": {
            "compression_batch": 5,
            "compression_size": 150,
            "force_compression": false
        },
        "snapshot_interval": 30000000000,
        "snapshot_threshold": 4096,
        "sqlite3": {
            "db_size": 22736896,
            "dsn": "",
            "fk_constraints": "disabled",
            "path": ":memory:",
            "version": "3.34.0"
        },
        "trailing_logs": 5120
    }
} 

please notice that in the status metadata there are only 3 nodes and not all 5 members appear under:

.store.metadata

they do however appear under:

.store.nodes

the leader actually does not appear in .store.metadata.

Can yo please assist?

Thanks in advance, L