Who are the powerful figures abducting state critics?

A section of youth held a press conference to push the government to stop abductions and kidnappings on December 28, 2024. [Omondi Onyango, Standard]

Who are the ominous forces defying the President, beyond the reach of the Inspector General of Police and causing sleepless nights across the country as youths quake in their boots?

These are some of the questions Kenyans are mulling over as the year comes to a close with the climaxing of abductions of perceived government critics.

The identity of faceless and nameless abductors remains a puzzle as they pounce on unsuspecting critics of President William Ruto and his administration.

Yesterday, yet another abduction was executed in South B, Nairobi, hours after President Ruto ordered a stop to the worrying trend. Most abductions have targeted social media users by clandestine captors driving unmarked Subaru and Pro Box cars. The National Police Service (NPS) has absolved itself from blame, saying its officers were not involved.

This is despite the Judiciary, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa), and Law Society of Kenya (LSK) among others, condemning the vice.

According to KNCHR, 13 people have been abducted and disappeared mysteriously in the last three months alone, bringing to 82 the total cases since the Gen Z protests in June. According to the human rights watchdog, six victims were abducted in December, adding to 29 individuals still unaccounted for, since June.

A relative of one of the youth abducted ovewhelmed as Kikao Organisation and Civil Rights Activists held a press conference condemning the increased incidences of abduction on Dec 27, 2024. [David Gichuru, Standard]

The six are Steve Kavingo from Machakos, Billy Mwangi from Embu, Peter Muteti from Uthiru, Nairobi and Bernard Kavuli from Ngong, Nairobi. Others are Gideon Kibet, also known as Kibet Bull, from Nairobi, and Rony Kiplang’at from Kiambu. Naomi, also known as @Jabertotoo, is said to have been abducted in Ruaraka and was later found.

READ: Kenyans on social media chide Ruto as he mourns Jeju plane crash victims

On Friday, the President, who has in the past repeatedly denied the existence of abductions and extra-judicial killings, inadvertently acknowledged the abductions, but was quick to urge parents to instil discipline in their children, emphasizing the importance of family responsibility.

“We will ensure we end the abduction which is being talked about in the country. We want every Kenyan to live peacefully. I also urge parents to be responsible in taking care of their children. As a government, we will also do our part,” Ruto said.

And newly appointed Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen maintained that the police had nothing to do with abductions even as he assured Kenyans that the National Police Service does not work under any political leader. “We will not harm people because they hate us, there is no policy for that. Those who violate the Cyber Crimes Act we will bring them before justice,” he said.

He added: “As a country, we must choose the generation we are growing. I find it unfortunate that we as leaders including church leaders are glorifying the kind of things a few children are doing on social media trying to portray bad images such as silhouettes.”

“Even as we do our part as a government to make sure that fairness and justice is seen to be done, I want to ask our society to hold hands together and guide children to the right path,” the CS added.

Leaders images

However, government apologists led by National Assembly Majority leader and Minority leader Kimani Ichung’wa and Junet Mohammed appeared to justify abductions with Junet likening the images of leaders put in coffins to killing them.

“You allow your children to draw images of leaders and put them in the coffin and when the action is taken you start crying and making noise. Why did you allow your children to commit the crime in the first place? Having such images of people put in coffins is akin to killing them,” Junet said.

Ichungwa dismissed the kidnapping claims and called for the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to intensify the crackdown against individuals he accused of violating the Cybercrime Act.

“We have seen people alleging they have been kidnapped only for them to show up out of political expediency. Those who allege to have been abducted should also be arrested and charged,” he said.

READ: Take responsibility for your children, Ruto says on abductions

Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi also dismissed the abductions, labelling many of the cases as false and politically motivated meant to taint the government’s image. “I am also intelligent and have been analysing some of these abduction reports. I’ve come to realise that many of them are just propaganda. Some of these stories are not real. They are being spread to create confusion and weaken the government,” Atandi said.

These claims point out that the leaders could be aware of the ongoing abductions.

Mutahi Ngunyi, a political analyst posed: “What if Gachagua is behind the abductions? The man told us he has connections with the deep state. And that he is being guarded by ex-military men. Who benefits from this disaster? IG Kanja should arrest and investigate Gachagua. It is that simple. And I could be wrong.”

Mwangi Nandi, an analyst, opined that the government was responsible of the kidnappings going by its past apology of the kidnapping of veteran journalist Macharia Gaitho.

“In its apology, DCI stated that it was a case of “mistaken identity”. In other words, “Sorry Mr Macharia Gaitho, we abducted you but we intended to abduct Mr Francis Gaitho.”

The second occasion involved Turkish nationals, whose refoulement was preceded by an abduction by masked men. The government later admitted that Kenyan law enforcement and foreign affairs agencies were involved in their refoulement and forced return to Turkey. This action faced strong criticism from human rights organisations, including the UNHCR.

“The third was the abduction of Ugandan opposition leader, Dr Kissa Besigye, in Nairobi, with the government first pretending to have been unaware of his presence in the country (even though immigration officers perform a surveillance role), and later admitting that there had been contact between Nairobi and Kampala before the incident,” Nandi noted.

Release them

Government critics led by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua also laid blame on the government claiming a police unit operating outside the NPS command was behind the abduction of government critics.

Gachagua, without giving evidence, claimed the unit was being led by a relative of a senior government official. “There is a unit that is not under the command of the Inspector General of Police. It operates out of a building on the 21st floor in Nairobi’s city centre, led by a certain “Mr Abel,” who is a cousin to a very senior official in this government,” claimed Gachagua while threatening to reveal the details of the building used to hold the abductees incommunicado as well as expose full identities of the officer together with his cousin leading the squad.

But in a statement, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja dismissed allegations linking police officers to the recent wave of abductions targeting young Kenyans.

When hooded police officers abducted a protestor along Kimathi Street during the Anti-Finance Bill protests. [File, Standard]

“For the avoidance of doubt, the National Police Service is not involved in any abductions, and there is no police station detaining the reported abductees,” he said.

Yesterday, the former DP called for the release of the four young men allegedly abducted by the police officers.

ALSO READ: Kenyan president promises to end abductions

“We would like these young people to spend the New Year with their families, therefore Mr President you promised to end abductions and these young men are yet to get to their homes. Kindly order their release because saying you will end forceful arrest is not enough but we want you to do it by having the young people released. It doesn’t matter how many you arrest or abduct or disrupt unless you deal with the issues that have made the people of Kenya very angry,” he said.

Gachagua added: “Even if you arrest or abduct the entire country, the issues that are affecting people are still pending and have anything to do with poor economic management, corruption, state capture, and lack of respect for the people and those are the issues ought to be addressed but if the President continues abducting young men, it will not solve anything.”

Former UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala said they have formally joined the opposition while issuing out an ultimatum of 72 hours to the government to release the four abducted youths, failure to which they would call a mass demonstration.

At the same time, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has written to National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula calling for a special sitting to address the state of security following the abductions.

Owino said the matter had raised grave concerns regarding respect for human rights and freedom of expression. “There is growing public anxiety over the role of state agencies in these abductions, particularly the involvement of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the Inspector General of Police, and the role of telecommunications companies such as Safaricom. These agencies and entities are being called upon to answer questions on the safety of Kenyans,” Owino said in his letter.