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MPs to meet Ipoa over kidnappings, abductions

Among those to appear before MPs are officials from Ipoa and KNCHR

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by Allan Kisia

News04 November 2024 - 20:32
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In Summary


  • Kenya is witnessing an unprecedented wave of abductions and killings targeting various individuals.
  • The abductions and enforced disappearances have been linked to state security agents.


MPs will on Tuesday meet with various stakeholders over cases of kidnappings and abductions that have been reported in various parts of the country.

Members of the Administration and Internal Security Committee will hold the meeting at Bunge Towers in the morning hours.

The Gabriel Tongoyo-led committee will meet the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and Vocal Africa.

Kenya is witnessing an unprecedented wave of abductions and killings targeting various individuals.

The abductions and enforced disappearances have been linked to state security agents.

In August, President William Ruto said he was not aware of any such incidents.

“I do not have a single name of someone who has been abducted or disappeared,” he said.

Since June, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and the Police Reforms Working Group (PRWG-K) have documented 23 deaths, 34 forcibly disappeared, and 164 arrests, including those further released.

They include three political activists: Bob Njagi, Aslam Longton, and Jamil Longton, who were reportedly abducted in Kitengela, south of Nairobi, and released after one month.

The three went missing on 19 August after being taken away by people alleged to be police. The brothers were abducted in the afternoon after they left their house, while Njagi was ejected from a bus by masked men that night and put into another vehicle.

Their disappearances followed deadly anti-government protests that lasted nearly two months and in which dozens went missing.

The Law Society of Kenya filed a case against the government and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations relating to the disappearance of the three men.

The matter caught national attention after the acting inspector general of police, Gilbert Masengeli, snubbed court summons to answer questions about their whereabouts.

Recently, the government was in the international limelight following the “abduction” of seven Turkish refugees in Nairobi.

Necdet Seyitoğlu, who lived in the UK for 18 years before moving to Kenya two years ago, said he was released after eight hours when he showed his alleged abductors a copy of his British passport.

In a statement, the UK Foreign Office said they were "providing consular support to a British man and his family following an incident in Kenya".

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