Gone without a trace: Where do the missing or abducted go?

Where do missing or abducted people go? This is a question that most Kenyans have been asking and answers have been hard to come by, save for a few clues here and there.

When a person goes missing or has been abducted, their family files a report with the police, who should investigate the circumstances behind their disappearance.

The families then visit different police stations and hospitals to check whether they may have been arrested or admitted and after failing to locate them morgues become their last place to visit.

In some cases, the morgues also do not have the answers to their questions.

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Some of the answers to these questions lie in places where normally one would not expect to find a loved one, let alone murdered.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who are mandated to probe crimes in the country are yet to answer who took the missing or in case of death who killed them.

“As a service, we are not aware of any cases of abductions, arbitrary arrest, or enforced disappearance which is a violation of Human Rights and International law,” said John Marete the Director of Liaison and Corporate Communications at DCI.

According to Marete, when the DCI are conducting any arrests, they do so in line with Article 49 of the constitution.

Caleb Wanga from Usalama Reforms Forum says that a look at the profile of the people who have been abducted or disappeared could hold key clues to find out who took them.

“We must understand whether what they were doing saw them get security or political influence and then we could draw some conclusions about why they were targeted.”

On claims by security apparatus that the people behind these abductions are criminals, he says that if that were the case then most people would be set free a short time after they have taken what they want.

“Criminals have very limited capacity to abduct people.”

“You can see some sense of linkages between what the people abducted were doing with security or the interests vested in politics,” he adds.

The cases of people getting abducted are not new to the country and according to Wanga, it is very easy to read between the lines on who is behind them.

“Some of the abducted people get killed but the lucky ones who are released are not able to speak about their ordeal which can only mean the people behind it are powerful and can cause harm.”

Wanga calls on Kenyans to keep pushing for accountability of the security agencies since regime change has not had much effect.

Peter Kiama of the Haki Yetu Organization, a Human Rights Lobby group based in Mombasa says he is concerned about the recent escalation of killings and disappearances of Kenyans.

“It is very clear in my mind given how it has happened that the police are behind these abductions.”

According to the Kiama, the buck stops with President William Ruto on this matter.

"It is very irresponsible for Ruto to stand and say in public that he does not know of any cases of missing people.”

He says that Ruto swore to protect the lives of Kenyans and he has yet to do anything that is in line with his promise.

For the 60 people who were killed during the demonstrations and the documented cases of 30 others who are missing, Kiama says their families should look at the office of the president.

He says that they should also hold them to account through parliament and the judiciary.

“Parliament should seize the opportunity and hold the security apparatus to account, the heads of DCI, National Intelligence Service, Military Intelligence, and the police.”

These tactics have been used to create fear and Ruto’s government is fully responsible.

“The state has a clear record of impunity of disappearing and killing our people.”

Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo said that the lobby group has been at the forefront in litigating cases that seek to hold government officials responsible.

President Ruto said that he was not aware of any cases of missing persons with many Kenyans criticizing him for lack of empathy.

“To be clear, there shall never be extrajudicial killings or political assassinations. There will never be another occasion where we find bodies of Kenyans in River Yala. Not under my watch,” President Ruto told Kenyans during the burial of former Chief of Defence Forces General Francis Ogolla.

Bodies showing up

River Yala is unrivaled in holding dark memories for families who went to witness the recovery of bodies they believed to be their kin.

Some of the bodies that were identified from the area morgue belonged to people who had cases in court and their families believe that the police had a hand in their disappearance and killing.

As the river slowly faded from the headlines, and its waters continued to flow so did the answers of who was dumping the bodies there.

Another river that also played host to several bodies is River Tana.

In 2021, Garissa Referral Hospital Morgue became home to 11 bodies that were discovered wrapped in gunny bags retrieved from the river.

Some of the bodies were tied to huge stones perhaps to make sure that they stayed underwater to never be discovered.

The river perhaps had seen enough and decided to let out the secrets it had been holding in its belly and soon the bodies started floating leading to their discovery.

The question of who was killing and dumping bodies there has never been answered.

Other rivers that saw the discovery of bodies are River Nyamindi as well as River Athi where the body of International Justice Mission (IJM) Lawyer Willy Kimani was found.

Kimani’s body was found alongside that of his client Josephat Mwenda and their taxi driver Joseph Muiruri.

On April 19, 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and with a lockdown within the Nairobi Metropolitan area, four men were kidnapped from Kitengela, Kajiado County.

They would later be identified as the Kitengela Four namely Jack Anyango, Elijah Obuong, Benjamin Imbai, and Brian Oduor.

The bodies of Obuong, Imbai, and Oduor were found in morgues in Murang’a and Kiambu counties while Anyango’s body has never been found.

On May 13, 2021, Somali-American businessman Bashir Mohamed went missing shortly after leaving Miale Lounge in Kilimani, Nairobi County.

The badly mutilated body of the businessman was found a few days later dumped in River Nyamindi and it was identified through fingerprints.

Bashir, 36, worked as a construction engineer and had just relocated to the country from Ohio.

In the runup to the 2022 General Election in the country, two Indians came into the country for holiday and work.

Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan and Zaid Sami Kidwai had been supposedly contracted by President Ruto (then Deputy President) to be part of his election team.

Khan and Kidwai and Kenyan taxi driver Nicodemus Mwania were however abducted along Mombasa Road by DCI officers from the now-disbanded Special Service Unit on the night of July 22 and July 23.

Thirteen officers from SSU as well as two officers drawn from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) are set to face murder charges at the Kiambu High Court.

Several forests within the country have also played home to dumped bodies which can only show that the killers wanted to conceal evidence by having wild animals do it on their behalf.

Other high-profile disappearances that Kenyans are yet to get answers to are that of Security Analyst Mwenda Mbijiwe, Dafton Mwitiki as well as Ethiopian national Samson Teklemichael.