President William Ruto delivers a point during an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the IDA for Africa Heads of State Summit in Nairobi on April 29, 2024.
On June 30, 2022, at the launch of the Kenya Kwanza manifesto, President William Ruto, then deputy president, made an impassioned pledge to address human rights concerns if elected into office, amid growing concern over enforced disappearances and security crackdowns.
In his 11-point agenda on fundamental rights and the administration of justice, Dr Ruto who at the time had accused President Uhuru Kenyatta's government of perpetuating enforced disappearances, promised that they would be a thing of the past.
According to the Kenya Kwanza manifesto, Dr Ruto vowed to end all forms of extra-judicial executions by security services, and amend the National Coroners Service Act of 2017 to establish the Coroner-General’s Office.
If operationalised, the National Coroners Service Act which establishes a legal framework for investigating deaths in the country, especially those involving suspicious, violent or unexplained circumstances, would ensure a thorough and independent investigation to ensure accountability and justice.
President Ruto equally promised to establish a special tribunal for gross Human Rights Violations and Enforced Disappearances as well as ratifying and domesticating the International Convention for the Protection of all persons from enforced disappearances and ensuring equal protection for all under the law by implementing and funding the Legal Aid Act of 2016.
But despite the assurance to address such human rights concerns, there appears to be no end in sight to arbitrary abductions, signaling growing alarm over the continuation of forced disappearances and security crackdowns.
Impeached deputy president Rigathi Gachagua has been vocal over the vice that now become rampant in parts of the country.
During a press conference a day before he was ousted by the National Assembly, Mr Gachagua accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of State-sponsored abductions and extra-judicial killings, that they had vowed would never be sanctioned.
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He expressed discontent with the Kenya Kwanza regime, which he is part of, signaling internal rifts over the manner in which the government was operating.
“Despite the police misleading the president to say that there are no abductions, you all know, you have evidence on video and that’s what I commented on and said it is wrong.
“Because I’m a truthful person, I’ll say what is wrong when it happens and even though I am compelled by the principle of collective responsibility to be part and parcel of every decision made by the government, I’ll continue to do so only those decisions that are constitutional and within the rule of law,” he vowed.
Abductions and extra-judicial killings, he said, were unconstitutional, and that he would not support them.
But President Ruto has consistently insisted there were no abductions despite recorded public cases of the kidnappings.
No comment
On Tuesday, Nation reached out to government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura and his police counterpart Resila Onyango for comments over the increased cases of human rights violations and enforced disappearances but none was willing to comment on the subject.
The continued spate has however, raised questions about the state’s role in upholding civil liberties and transparency, given that President Ruto had pledged to reform security forces and protect freedom of expression.
It reflects mounting tensions, as civil society, leaders and international bodies have pressed for greater accountability.
Public outcry has highlighted an urgent call for reforms and resolution, putting pressure on the government to follow through on its commitments and ensure that all citizens are protected from unwarranted detention and intimidation.
The recent ‘abduction’ of human rights defender Boniface Mwangi, coupled with the police’s failure to press charges against him, has only cast a spotlight on the Ruto administration’s persistent crackdown on civil liberties.
“These kidnappings, disappearances and extrajudicial killings targeted on our children and largely Kenya's innocent youth is now signature modus operandi of the Ruto regime. These abductions and killings of our youth is now a worrying trend that must stop forthwith,” Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua argues.
She says that “the unconstitutional abductions, have, since the Gen Z protests, resulted in lengthy illegal detentions like in the case of Bob Njagi and the Langton brothers Aslam and Jamil, or death as in the case of many who include the university student leader, Denzel Omondi, who was murdered and body recovered in a quarry or the more recent abduction, and the murder of John Njuguna Kuria of Kapenguria.”
These, Ms Karua says, are dark reminders of the regime's determination to silence dissent.
The Kenya National Civil Society Centre (KNCSC) Executive Director Suba Churchill also faults the government, noting that the State is entirely to blame for the wave of unprecedented gangland style abductions and killings in the country.
“…individual citizens and criminal elements seem to have taken the cue to join the fray, engaging in similar crimes with impunity after realizing that with the State deeply steeped in the vice and its agents getting away with gruesome murders, there is no one to hold them to account,” says Mr Churchill.
He argues that the “grandstanding seems to have come to a screeching halt and paved way for the establishment of a nameless and vicious squad of officially-sanctioned abductors and killers; tasked with ruthlessly executing their targets.”
Ms Karua sensationally claims that “credible sources indicate the abduction squads consisting of officers from the army and the police mainly from one ethnic group with foreigners possibly drawn from Burundi, Uganda and Congo are part of these squads housed at Karen near the DP residence and Ole Polos in Kajiado.”
“A regime that finds it necessary to form a squad outside the official channels for terrorizing and murdering its citizens is a regime without any moral authority to govern and needs to be forced out of power,” the 2022 Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential running mate holds.
Mr Churchill believes that “from the manner in which even senior police bosses appear helpless in the face of endless gangland abductions and disappearances, the executioners seem to be only accountable to themselves and to those in command, leading to the inevitable conclusion that they must be operating with tacit approval from the inner sanctums of power.”
“The abduction of Sugar baron Jaswant Singh Rai in August 2023 and President Ruto’s ultimatum to sugar barons packaged in the chilling “mambo ni matatu” catchphrase that the Head of State has since patented was the first indication that election promises and the post-election grandiloquence had all but been abandoned in favour of authoritarianism that those in power are historically more inclined to,” the activist says.
Former Safina Party presidential aspirant Jimi Wanjigi says the actions were only synonymous with a failed state which should be sent home.
“As we are talking today, Ruto did not pass his Finance Bill, it was rejected. That is synonymous to a vote of no confidence in his government.
“He is now presiding over a bankrupt government – in terms of money and ideas. He should save us anymore further pain and we literary demand a general election,” Mr Wanjigi told Nation.
Ms Karua says there is need for an impartial investigation into the extrajudicial abductions and killings and a full prosecution of those involved.
“In light of Kenya's obligations as a signatory to the African Charter and other human rights treaties, we call on the African Union, the United Nations, and regional bodies to bring oversight to this matter, ensuring accountability for abuses of power.”
Way back in August, opposition leader Raila Odinga and the United Nations also weighed in on matter.
Mr Odinga faulted the police excesses during anti-government protests.
“These actions are not only unacceptable but also a direct violation of the rights enshrined in our Constitution. The right to peaceful assembly, the freedom of expression, and the protection of journalists are fundamental pillars of our democracy, pillars that we have fought long and hard to establish and must continue to protect,” Mr Odinga said in a statement.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) said journalists are usually the crucial lifelines to verified information for citizens.
The journalists, UNESCO said, facilitate public debate and dialogue, which are pathways to democratic solutions.
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