The wife of one of the three men kidnapped by people believed to be police officers in Kajiado has petitioned President Ruto over the whereabouts of her husband.
Ms Salwah Mohammed has written an open letter to the President requesting for his assistance to trace the whereabouts of Jamil Longton Hashim, a human rights activist.
In the letter, Ms Mohammed says the family has a right to know the fate of Mr Jamil, 42, who was abducted alongside his brother Aslam Longton, 35.
They were abducted on Monday, August 19. On the same day, Mr Bob Michemi Njagi was also abducted by men who pulled him out of a Public Service Vehicle (PSV).
“Mr President, you have pledged to end forced disappearances. Sadly, this promise has gone unheeded, and the situation has deteriorated significantly. Now is the time to reclaim Kenya and set it on the correct path. I earnestly appeal to you,” the letter reads in part.
Ms Mohammed said that the family had searched for Mr Jamil in almost every police station in Kajiado and Nairobi counties.
The matter was reported at Kitengela Police Station and recorded under Occurrence Book (OB) number 107/19/8/2024.
Ms Mohammed in the letter said that she was deeply traumatised by the events which she said pose a risk to her pregnancy.
“I can now empathise with the anguish experienced by many Kenyan families who have lost loved ones under similar circumstances,” she wrote in the letter dated August 23, adding that she was pleading to President Ruto to secure the release of her husband.
President Ruto has on several occasions said that he is not aware of any victim of enforced disappearance ever since he assumed office in August 2022.
The Head of State has maintained that he is yet to get any names of persons who have been abducted since the beginning of the anti-government protests in June.
Speaking in Kisumu last Thursday, President Ruto urged any families with missing persons whose disappearance is believed to have a link to the protests to provide their names to the Ministry of Interior.
“If there’s any family whose child, friend, or relative attended a demonstration, whether last year or this year, and never returned, I want to know the names because I will take firm and decisive action,” President Ruto said.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) recorded 66 cases of people who went missing during the anti-government protests in June.
Some of those that had been declared missing have been found alive but do not want to discuss their ordeal at the hands of their captors.
According to the missing persons’ database, which is a website that records disappearances and provides a status of the cases, 37 people have been missing since June 25.
Those who are in custody are 23, while those who have been found alive are 100. Eight were found dead.
