From missing to dead: What really happened to Officer Kabiru in Haiti?

The National Police Service (NPS) has finally admitted that its officer, Benedict Kabiru, was killed while in Haiti for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.

In a statement released yesterday, police spokesperson Nyaga Muchiri said that NPS was notified on March 26, 2025, that the officer had gone missing the previous day and they informed his family.

“In a tragic turn of events, the National Police Service (NPS) received information regarding the death of the missing police officer, and the family has been notified,” he said yesterday.

The family, through its spokesperson Daniel Ndung’u, told The Standard that they had been in a meeting with NPS officers after they learnt of his passing via the media, quoting President William Ruto.

This was after President Ruto, in his address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, announced that Kabiru was among three officers who had been killed by Haitian gangs.

“I must use this opportunity to honour the Kenyan officers Samuel Tompei, Benedict Kabiru, and Kennedy Nzumbi who lost their lives in the line of duty,” said Ruto.

This claim by the President came as a shock to Kabiru’s relatives, who had all long believed he was missing, according to information they received from the NPS.

Their efforts to get the true status of their son were met by denials and silence even after a video surfaced online allegedly showing the gangs with his body.

Kabiru was ambushed alongside fellow officers on the Carrefour Paye-Savien main supply route in the Pont-Sonde area of the Artibonite Department.

Tompei’s body was repatriated to Kenya and he was buried in Kajiado County while the body of Corporal Kennedy Mutuku Nzuve, who died in a road accident on September 1, 2025, is expected to arrive in Nairobi today.

Despite Nyaga’s statement that NPS has been updating Kabiru’s family, Ndung’u says the police are not transparent about it.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, in a statement, eulogised the officer.

“The officer lost his life in unfortunate circumstances. We condole with the family. I send our deepest sympathies to the family and assure them of our support following this loss. We will give more details with the permission of the family later,” he said.

Murkomen claimed that a team of officers had been dispatched to the officer’s family before Ruto made the announcement.

The family maintains that a team of officers visited them on Wednesday, yet Ruto made the remarks on Tuesday.

According to Ndung’u, they met the officer in charge of medical at NPS, who had visited their home on Wednesday.

The officer said he had been sent to invite them to police headquarters for a meeting, which was held yesterday.

“When we came he said that he does not have any information regarding Kabiru until next week on Tuesday,” said Ndung’u.

Police IG Douglas Kanja, his deputy Gilbert Masengeli of the Administration Police (AP) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Mohamed Amin have accompanied Murkomen to the Northern Eastern region.

The family is expecting that the Tuesday meeting will be with Kanja and Masengeli.

Ndun’gu adds that when they questioned the officer about the whereabouts of Kabiru’s body, he did not have an answer.

Instead, the officer told the family that he did not know that a statement had been released by Nyaga confirming the death.

“He said he had not been consulted before the statement was released and he did not know when the officer died and where the body is.”

Ndung’u told The Standard that Kabiru’s family wants to learn how he died, but these are the answers to many of their questions that have proved hard to get.

“How can one tell the family that their son is dead and then tell them to wait until Tuesday? That is very insensitive,” he said adding that the officer told them that he did not have any information and he was sent to invite us to a meeting.

The family spokesperson said that the decision to announce Kabiru’s death by Ruto and Nyaga had put the family in a tricky position.

He said family and friends had started visiting Kabiru’s home to condole with them but they do not know what to tell them since they don’t know where the body is.

Ndung’u said the AP Director of Operations Jackson Kangani had informed the family that MSS with the Haitian police were still looking for Kabiru.

“He told us that if they were looking for his body they would have informed us, but for now they were looking for him and that he is alive but in the hands of the gangs,” said Ndung’u.

On Wednesday, lawyers representing the family said their case seeking information about Kabiru’s whereabouts could not continue after Ruto made the announcement.