Garissa leaders, activists urge state to produce two missing men

Political leaders and activists from Garissa have called for the immediate release of two men who have been missing for the last two weeks.

Two young boys from Ijara,  namely 28-year-old Ahmed Abdi Ahmed, a businessman and a bodaboda rider, and 25-year-old Abdi Mohamed Abdi, a header,  have been missing and their whereabouts are unknown.

Ahmed was forcefully abducted from his home and bundled into a vehicle under the watch of his wife while Abdi on the other hand was last spotted in Boni forest looking after his cattle.

The cattle were found but the boy is still missing. The two matters were reported at the Ijara police station.

Efforts to get a comment from top county and sub-county security officials were not successful as they all refused to comment on the two incidents. 

Speaking to the press in Garissa town, ODM-nominated MP Umulkheir Harun regretted the turn of events and demanded the immediate release of all individuals held by security agencies.

She accused the government of applying double-speak saying that it was the same state that promised to end extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance during campaigns.

"The Kenya Kwanza government pledged to end extra Judicial killings, and now we have hit a record of more than 10 missing young men from several counties," she said.

“In this era where all the security departments are headed by Muslims from Northern Kenya, Extrajudicial killings cannot be a subject. During Former President Uhuru Kenyatta's regime, we did not hold the instruments of power, right now we sit in the national security council. But still, we continue to witness such unfortunate incidences."

She was referring to Defense CS Aden Duale and the Director of Intelligence Service Noordin Haji who both seat in the National Security Council and hail from the region.

Both hail from Garissa County.

The MP noted that locals are willing and ready to work with the security agencies but said communities’ fundamental rights and freedom must be respected adding local leadership will continue to speak up against injustices.

On his part Muktar Osman,  a Garissa-based Human rights activist urged the state to produce the two men saying that anyone suspected to have committed any crime should be subjected to a court of law.

“It is unfortunate that in this day and age, we are still talking about people disappearing in board daylight never to be seen alive again. I would call this double speak from the same government that has been telling that such things will be a thing of the past,” he said.

He said that insecurity is high in the Boni forest area which borders Holugho and  Ijara Sub-counties.

On Sunday, residents of Ijara, joined by local leaders held a peaceful protest in Ijara town calling on the government to produce the two.

Ahmed’s Wife Zamzam Ahmed narrated how uniformed officers with their faces covered violently broke into their house in Ijara’s Bula Gora location at 3:30 am before reaching for his sleeping husband.

She said at the time she was awake nursing her sickly 7-month-old baby.

“Am still in shock, those people violently broke the door to our house and aggressively went directly to my husband who was deeply asleep and dragged him outside before disappearing with him,” she told the press in her Ijara home yesterday.

Abdi Ahmed, the father claimed a contingent of security officials in two land cruisers came to his house.

According to Ahmed, his wife Sahara Abdullahi is yet to recover from the disappearance of her son disclosing that she hasn't eaten for two weeks something that has greatly affected her health.

Speaking in Isiolo town at the weekend, during a Prayers and thanksgiving Service for Mohamed Liban, PS – Petroleum, Defense CS Aden Duale said that issues of extra-judicial killing and enforced disappearance will be a thing of the past under the Kenya Kwanza administration.