Kenya: 82 Anti-Government Protestors Have Vanished

The Disappearing Acts Kenya Last summer, the so-called Gen-Z protests erupted in Kenya against a controversial finance bill pushed by the president to raise taxes on everyday essentials, an attempt to cut the country’s debt burden and bring its finances under control. Kenyans, struggling with high inflation, were outraged by the measure. Tens of thousands took to the streets in protests with the demonstrations turning violent – dozens were killed by security forces. Even though President William Ruto scaled back the bill afterward, the protests became a significant threat to his presidency. Then the protesters began disappearing. “(We) continue to monitor with concern the worrying pattern of abductions in several parts of our country … perpetuated clandestinely, with unidentified armed persons,” wrote the Kenya National Human Rights Commission in a report last month, noting “that those abducted have been vocal dissidents.” The commission documented 82 disappearances of government critics from June to December, further outraging the public, leading the courts to threaten the authorities with jail, and bringing even more protesters out into the streets – and another violent crackdown. One of those people who disappeared was Aslam Longton who had helped organize protests against the bill in the town of Kitengela near the capital, Nairobi. He had been warned by security officials to stop his activism. He didn’t. In August, he was forced into a car, hooded and handcuffed, and taken to an unknown location where he was held in dark cells, beaten, and questioned. “I was very scared,” Aslam told the BBC. “When the door was opened that man would come with a fiber cable and a metal rod. “I was scared he had come to beat me or finish me off.” He was released 32 days later, without being taken to court, given a lawyer, or the opportunity to speak with his family, who were frantic. After being released, he was told he would be killed if he spoke to the media. Three months later, the government said it was a lawful arrest. And Ruto and other government and police officials for months denied any abductions, calling them “fake news.” But in December, Ruto admitted and promised to stop the kidnappings after public protests and concern from Western allies grew. Still, critics say, he has declined to take responsibility for these extrajudicial disappearances, instead admonishing parents to “take care” of their children. These so-called children were the base of voters that propelled Ruto to the presidency in September 2022 as an agent of change, CNN noted. Meanwhile, a high court judge has ordered top security officials to appear in court this week to answer questions on the matter or face jail for contempt of court charges, after they failed to appear twice when summoned to account for the abductions. Already in December, the court had forced two top police officials to produce seven social media activists who disappeared. Five reappeared soon after. Still, the bodies of people showing signs of torture continued to turn up in rivers, forests, abandoned quarries, and mortuaries, wrote Human Rights Watch. And despite the announcement of police investigations into these murders or disappearances, no one has been charged, let alone convicted, for carrying them out, the organization added. In a detailed Reuters investigation, however, killings by security officials were often “mischaracterized” as road accidents or drownings or in morgue logs to cover their tracks, police officers told the newswire. Some Kenyans say they are shocked that such a situation has resurfaced, noting that these abductions were hallmarks of prior Kenyan regimes in the 1980s and 1990s. Still, others note how now, with the advent of social media, Kenyans are far more aware of their rights, able to organize, and far more difficult to repress. Still, even government officials are having issues. After hearing that his son had been seized by armed, hooded men, Kenya’s then attorney-general, Justin Muturi, approached the president. Justin Muturi told the Times that Ruto agreed to phone his spy chief. An hour later, his son was free. Shaken by that episode and now openly critical of the government, he began receiving threats including impeachment but said he must speak out. “We have seen so many young people held, kidnapped, extrajudicial killings,” he told the British newspaper. “We can’t say we don’t know about what is going on.” Muturi said he sympathizes with those families whose loved ones are still missing. “I didn’t know if he was dead or not,” he added, referring to his son’s disappearance. “I try and put myself in the shoes (of those) who can’t access the president and whose children are still missing.”