The High Court in Uganda has dismissed an application seeking to have two missing Kenyans produced after authorities insisted that they were not holding them.
The court dismissed the habeas corpus application seeking the production of Nicholas Oyoo and Bob Njagi , and advised the applicants to file a missing person’s report with the Ugandan police instead.
The court was informed that the two were arrested by military operatives on October 1, 2025 while on the campaign trail with presidential candidate Kyagulanyi Robert Sentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, in Kaliro District.
Wine has since condemned the abduction of the pair. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen reassured that Kenya's Foreign Affairs officials were working towards their release.
However, the judge hearing the case said there was no evidence that Ugandan police or the military were holding the two missing Kenyans.
“I would therefore categorise the applicants as missing persons. A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown,” said the court.
The court said that in Uganda, the police are the default agency charged with leading investigations into cases of missing persons, hence the lawyers who filed the case should file a report with them.
The court absolved the Chief of Defence Forces, Chief of Defence Intelligence and Security (CDIS) as well as the Inspector-General of Police, saying they had fully complied with the directives issued by the courts, in relation to the application and the orders issued.
“I find that one cannot squeeze blood from a stone. The State can only produce what it has, and it would therefore be unrealistic to expect the desired outcome from circumstances that could not, in any case, yield it,” the court said.
In the application, Koffi Atinda and Lewis David Rubongoya submitted that the continued detention of the two Kenyans without trial was illegal, unconstitutional and amounts to psychological torture.
The applicants added that the failure to inform their families, friends or legal representatives of their whereabouts or condition is unlawful and violates their rights under the 1995 Constitution of Uganda. It was further submitted that the arrest without a warrant and by unidentified individuals was illegal.
On October 14, the court directed the authorities to produce the Kenyans in court, dead or alive.
The court had also directed the government to take further initiative by conducting investigations to ascertain their whereabouts.
In response, Colonel Silas Kamanda, the director of the Joint Staff Services of the Uganda peoples defence forces (UPDF), said Mr Oyoo and Mr Njagi were not in their custody.
The Chief of Defence Forces and the Chief of Defence Intelligence also denied knowledge of their whereabouts.
“In the circumstances, I dismiss this application with no mention as to costs,” said the court.
Several organisations including the Law Society of Kenya, Amnesty International and Vocal Africa had written to the Ugandan High Commission to protest their disappearance.
