Number of fatalities in Mathare protests now rises to two people

One more person was reported dead on Tuesday following fierce protests in the larger Mathare and Kiamaiko area bringing the number of fatalities to two.

The protest lasted the afternoon as residents pushed authorities to reveal the whereabouts of two young men, Maxwell Kiarie and Abdulasiz Molu popularly known as Zizo from the estate who have been missing for more than ten days.

Parents of the two and the residents claim the two were picked by people believed to be security agencies in what has turned Mathare into a battlefield between the police and Mathare residents.

On Wednesday officials at Mathare Social Justice reported that second person, a know businessman in the area succumbed to in the evening hours. "The man identified as Warqo was shielding a pregnant woman who had been caught up in the melee and we suspect that he was shot on the chest, he was a Muslim and was buried on Wednesday afternoon according to Islamic rites," a witness said.

Kiarie alias Maxi was picked within Mwihoko area within Githurai on June 20, 2026 while heading home, Mathare in the evening hours. Molu on the other hand was picked June 23, 2026 at Juja Farm where he had gone to fence a plot he acquired recently, his family said.

In 2024, Directorate of Criminal Investigations posted him on their platforms linking him to illegal firearms that were stolen from a police officer. The family of the two said their efforts have been futile even as they appealed to Interior Cabinet Secretary Kicphumba Murkomen to intervene.

"Our plea to police is to produce him wherever he is being held because he has a young family, he is a father of 2-year-old child, what we are appealing is, he be brought back or be told what crime he committed," Kiarie's mother said.

Molu's brother said, "our appeal is that he brother produced, we will accept any outcome because we have been searching for him in vain,"

Mathare Social Justice Co-foundet Wanjiru Wanjira said enforced disappearances in the area had sharply escalated in recent weeks, with at least three people going missing in the last month alone. "Mathare must be a safe space for everyone. We are not at peace. We are giving the police an ultimatum to produce them. Failure to which the protest will escalate," Wanjira said.