Pressure continued to mount on President William Ruto’s administration to resolve the spate of abductions targeting dissidents.
Top government officials on Friday put security agencies on the spot demanding answers on who is behind the abductions and killings of Kenyans.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi separately challenged the police to probe the matter.
They want the security agencies to produce those behind the vice that has been blamed on the Kenya Kwanza administration.
The leaders spoke on the day the body of one of the three men who went missing in Mlolongo, was found at City Mortuary in Nairobi.
Justus Musyimi was found dead in Ruai and the body was moved to the City Mortuary.
He was reportedly abducted alongside Martin Mwau and Karani Muema on December 16, 2024, and their whereabouts remained unknown.
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Directorate of Criminal Investigations Director Mohamed Amin appeared in court on Thursday over the matter.
They denied claims that the deceased and two others - who are still missing - were in their custody.
The abduction of government critics, mainly vocal youths on social media, has threatened to reignite the Gen Z protests.
The upheavals, which culminated in the storming of Parliament Buildings during a vote on the tax law last year in June, almost pushed the government to its knees.
Speaking in Khwisero constituency, Kakamega county on Friday, Wetang’ula said police must explain who is behind the forced disappearances and murder of innocent Kenyans.
He said the vice is denting the country’s image and must be addressed as a matter of priority.
“I want to take this opportunity to urge the agencies of administration of justice, the office the IG, the Office of DCI, the office of DPP and the internal security organs to investigate thoroughly and come to the root cause of who is kidnapping people and later they are found dead,” Wetang’ula said.
“The police say they are not the ones doing it, we want them to investigate and tell Kenyans who are these criminal elements in our midst who are unlawfully arresting people causing their disappearance and eventually they are found dead.”
He warned that the country should not be allowed to slip back to the past days when bodies of victims of extrajudicial killings were being dumped in River Yala.
“The government of Kenya Kwanza promised Kenyans that it will respect human rights, IG, DCI, DPP must move with speed and conduct thorough investigations to get to the root cause because this issue is giving the country a bad image,” Wetang’ula said.
In Nairobi, CS Muturi demanded that the government suspend all activities and address the cases of abductions. Muturi warned that the issue of abductions is a ticking time bomb with the potential to plunge the country into chaos and anarchy.
“This is murder most foul, what has been described is something quite gruesome. It is only fair that at this point in time, the country should shelve all other business they have and discuss this matter of abductions and extrajudicial killings,” Muturi said.
“When I called the press conference on the 12th of January, I ended by saying that this matter if left unchecked will plunge this country into chaos and anarchy and called for a national dialogue and indeed a commission of inquiry to inquire into these gruesome murders.”
Speaking at Nairobi’s City Mortuary, Muturi said it is meaningless working on revamping the economy when young people get abducted and killed in cold blood.
“It is not right that parents and relatives can stay for a period in excess of 40 days looking for their young ones and we sit somewhere claiming that we are discussing the economy of this country, the economy for who when we are killing them so who are we doing the economy for?” posed Muturi.
“This matter needs to be taken with the seriousness it deserves.”
“Otherwise, we should be told whether there is a policy, I am not aware, I sit in government I am not aware of any policy that supports abductions and extrajudicial killings.”
Muturi said it should no longer be taken as normal that young Kenyans are killed and no action is being taken to fully address the matter.
“The buck must stop with the government. Mr President, I am calling upon you now to order an end to these abductions and open an inquiry to examine how these things have been happening. We cannot normalise this. These are very young lives that have been taken away. Their parents have been agonising,” Muturi stated.
The commission of inquiry, he said, should involve people from all sectors including religious leaders, the Law Society of Kenya, and civil rights groups should examine and inquire into how these incidents have been happening.
“We cannot take it as business as usual. We must address this matter to its finality to get to the root cause of it,” Muturi told the press at City Mortuary where he had joined the families of the two Mlolongo victims.
He said he was lucky that his son who had also been abducted was released immediately after he reached out to the President.
This is the second time Muturi has publicly come out to censure the government in which he is serving over the abductions.
The CS, however, was noncommittal when asked about his plan to resign from his office due to his continued attacks against the government.
“That is a side issue. This is a serious matter. It suffices that I have made a point,” he said.
The CS was accompanied by Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo, who also doubled as the lawyer of the missing Mlolongo brothers.
The lawmaker said the mortuary attendants at the facility had informed them there were unidentified bodies that were delivered there on December 19.
Maanzo said the killed men were innocent and called for justice.
“The total number of those abducted from Mlolongo was four. Two
have been identified while two remain unidentified and are believed
to be here,” he said.
