Kenya’s deteriorating human rights record on Sunday came under the spotlight when a Cabinet minister launched a scathing attack on President William Ruto’s administration for failing to arrest the spiralling wave of abductions, illegal detentions, and enforced disappearances.
Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and Human Capital Development Justin Muturi publicly broke ranks with the government in which he serves and demanded an end to extra-judicial operations targeting perceived enemies and critics of the Kenya Kwanza regime.
Mr Muturi, whose son Leslie Muturi was a victim of abductions at the height of Gen Z protests in June last year, on Sunday, accused the government of engaging in the vices it promised to end.
CS Muturi condemns abductions, demands answers over son's ordeal
Speaking at a private Hotel in Nairobi, Mr Muturi, the immediate former attorney-general, lamented that his son was abducted yet he was a member of the National Security Advisory Council (NSAC) and to date, he has not been given answers.
Article 240 of the Constitution establishes the National Security Council, consisting of the President, Deputy President, three Cabinet secretaries in charge of Defense, Foreign Affairs and Internal security, as well as the Attorney-General, Chief of Kenya Defence Forces, Director-General of the National Intelligence Service, and the Inspector-General of the National Police Service.
“I have personally suffered as my son was abducted and disappeared, I was not sure whether he was alive or dead, making us anxious and leaving me, my wife and my family in turmoil. It must be remembered that I was the Attorney-General of the Republic of Kenya at the time, yet I was unable to trace my son despite making several requests and demands to all levels of the security apparatus,” Mr Muturi said.
“Now, more than six months after that ordeal and the release of my son, by unknown forces, he has not been charged with any offense and nobody has explained why he was abducted and held incommunicado.”
Mr Muturi is the first minister in Dr Ruto’s Cabinet to publicly condemn extra-judicial security operations.
He said that even though he was aware of the doctrine of collective responsibility in government, he was also a victim of the abductions and needed answers from the State.
“I am fully aware of the doctrine of collective responsibility, but since I am also a victim of the abductions and serving in this government I have not gotten any answers, I have taken this unusual step so that the matter can be debated honesty and openly as a country to find a lasting solution to this issue which if left unchecked has the potential to plunge the country into chaos and anarchy,” Mr Muturi said.
He attacked the Ruto government, saying “the cardinal duty of the State and the government is to protect the lives and livelihood of its citizens and cannot claim to be unaware of such serious breaches of the rights of Kenyans to live free from wrongful confinement and the violation of their inalienable right to life.”
“Therefore, the security forces should arrest and bring to book all those that are involved in the abductions without fail and all the young people being held in illegal captivity should be freed.”
The CS went ahead to state how he had been warned against joining the Kenya Kwanza at the height of the 2022 elections but defied.
“Many friends and political colleagues at the time warned me about joining the coalition, but I was persuaded that we would be driven by the ideals that the coalition stated as a hustler Nation to do the best for the people of Kenya.”
He said the Ruto camp had accused the past regimes of the existence of disappearances and extra-judicial killings and he hoped the vices would come to an end.
“We vowed that we would never, under our watch, condone or allow such. We stated this time and time again in the lead-up to the last general election.
“Today, there have been a number of abductions and in some cases unexplained deaths since the Gen Z revolts in June last year. It is unfortunate as most of the people being abducted are our youth leaving the parents and other family members in a state of confusion and loss.”
He accused the security sector of failing to stop abductions which have been happening in full public glare.
“The President has equally said that he would want the abductions to end. Kenyans want to know how many of our youth have been taken since the abductions started, how many have been released, how many are still being held and where they are being held,” he charged.
Mr Muturi had last week while attending a funeral in Embu, stated that the government couldn't say that it did not know anything about the abductions because that amounts to shunning its responsibility for accountability.
“That is why I took issue with the statement made by the IG that he did not know where the abductees were. The government cannot be excused for abdicating its duty of protecting the lives and property of the people of Kenya. I note that after my statement several young people were released, but from the reports we see many are still being held,” added Mr Muturi.
In a concerning development, five young men who had been reported missing under mysterious circumstances were released at various locations across the country on Monday last week.
They included; Billy Mwangi, Ronny Kiplangat, Peter Muteti and Bernard Kavuli who had been abducted in December 2024.
Mr Muturi insisted that the cardinal duty of the state and the government is to protect the lives and livelihood of its citizens.
