Murkomen calls for punitive action to tame enforced disappearance

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen speaks during a security meeting at Kambi Samaki in Baringo County on May 2,2025. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard] The CS for Interior Kipchumba Murkomen has asked parliament to urgently introduce a legal framework to firmly deal with cases of enforced disappearance and extra-judicial killings. The CS also wants the law to introduce punitive fines to those found culpable of 'self-kidnapping' in the wake of the saga surrounding Juja MP George Koimburi. This came as the CS poured water on the alleged kidnapping of the MP, noting that police investigations had uncovered lies behind the story. According to Murkomen, the recent case was meant to taint the government, yet the MP had not been kidnapped as alleged. He noted that if untamed, such an incident would set a bad precedent, a couple of weeks after Kasipul MP Charles Ong'ondo was shot dead in Nairobi. "We have seen a trend where now MPs are self-kidnapping themselves, and it's time that we introduced a law to firmly deal with such cases and those of enforced disappearance," he said. He reiterated President William Ruto's promise to stop cases of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and abductions in the country. The CS was speaking in Naivasha during an engagement with the parliamentary committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperative on the proposed Strategic Goods Control Bill (2025) that seeks to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the country. On the proposed Bill, Murkomen said the law would help address the import and export of strategic goods that pose security threats to the country. He added that the bill will help the country to combat the proliferation of military equipment and goods that may be used to disrupt national security. Murkomen regretted that due to illicit trade of strategic materials, the country has lost security personnel, civilians through explosives such as IEDs, particularly in Northern Kenya and Mboni forest in Lamu. He tasked the lawmakers to apprentice themselves with contents of the bill to address the rise in misinformation, disinformation and fake news that have in the past crippled crucial bills. The CS said the proposed law will introduce a hefty fine of up to Sh50 million and a sentence of over 10 years for violators of traders of strategic goods On his part, James Potts, the Economic Counselor at the US Embassy in Nairobi, said Kenya will be the third country in Africa to pass the legislation on strategic goods. Once enacted, the law will safeguard Kenya's ability to combat terrorism and trading materials of mass destruction within its borders and on the continent. Potts said the law will also allow investors in critical areas such as semiconductors to set up shop in the country, backed by a legal infrastructure.

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Murkomen calls for punitive action to tame enforced disappearance

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