Police officers arrest a protester on Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi during anti-Finance Bill protests on June 27, 2024.
After President William Ruto was sworn into office on September 13, 2022, he disbanded a special police unit accused of extra-judicial killings and pledged his administration would not condone such crimes.
The President, who had been a victim of attack by state security agencies, said under his leadership the police would operate independently and would not be used to harass government critics.
With the unresolved disappearance of two Indian nationals who were part of his presidential campaign team, the president vowed his government would not condone extra–judicial killings.
''Extrajudicial killings must come to an end. It is illegal, it is unconstitutional, and it offends every principle of the right to life," President Ruto said at State House during a meeting with officials of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).
At the time, the president had directed that the Special Service Unit (SSU) that was linked to the disappearance of the Indian nationals- Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan and Mohamed Zaid Sami Kidwa- be disbanded.
Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan (left) and inset, with Mr Mohammad Zaid Sami Kidwai (with beards). The two disappeared in Kenya in July 2022.
He directed police officers implicated in the disappearance of the two alongside their taxi driver Nicodemus Mwania be prosecuted for murder.
Following investigations led by then head of Internal Affairs Unit of the police Mohammed Amin, now the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss, 15 individuals including officers from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) were arrested.
On June 20, 2024, after spending months in remand, Directorate of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga approved murder charges against the 15 officers.
They are accused of the abduction and disappearance of two Indian nationals and their taxi driver on diverse dates between July 22 and July 23, 2022, in Nairobi.
But over 1, 000 days in office, President Ruto’s administration is accused of extra-judicial killings, abductions and disappearances of government critics.
At the height of the anti-finance Bill protests last year, the country witnessed a new wave of state-sanctioned terror including the abduction and torture of youth leaders linked to the countrywide protests.
A report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said 50 people were killed during the protests and 59 others were reported abducted by state agencies during a crackdown on the protests. Another 413 individuals were reported to have been injured by police officers.
“The commission urges proper investigations into the killings and injuries. Those found culpable, whether civilians or security agents, should be charged, “the commission said in its report.
To date, no police officer has been charged with either murder or abductions during the protests.
The only notable case is the ongoing inquest into the shooting to death of a protestor, Rex Masai.
At the height of the protests, a new covert security team was crafted to specifically crackdown on the protestors.
The special team that was led by a former DCI operative now in the NIS was tasked with hunting down alleged financiers and planners of the protests.
The secret squad draws membership from the DCI Operation Action team based at the DCI headquarters and NIS officials.
IT experts from NIS who have been monitoring the social media accounts of people believed to be influential or have a mass following help the squad track the targets.
Sources familiar with the operations told Nation this squad has been using hired vehicles to avoid attracting public attention.
Those abducted were locked up in safe houses within the city where they were tortured for days.
The President revisited concerns about abductions during a meeting with Finland President Alexander Stubb at State House on May 12.
"All the people who disappeared or who were abducted... all of them have been brought back to their families and to their homes and I have given clarity and firm instructions that nothing of that kind of nature will happen again," President Ruto said, sparking public protests because he has always denied knowledge of abductions.
