NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 10- Kenya is now on its way to claim the title of gangster land following a spate of abductions and forced disappearances of citizens.
On November 8, 2021 lawyer Hassan Nandwa was found abandoned in Mwingi town after going missing for weeks, ending a terrible nightmare for his family. Nandwa’s client, Elgiva Bwire who was abducted alongside him in Nairobi on October 28, is yet to be found. Bwire had just been released from Kamiti Prison where he served jail term on terrorism charges.
On the same October 28, Jecinta Bwire, mother to Elgiva Bwire was kidnapped with her driver and their vehicle abandoned in the middle of the road with the engine still running. Jecinta has since been released.
The choreographed abductions and accompanying silence by the victims after their forced disappearances point to the hand of the state and are only the latest in a spate of abductions that have thrown countless families into despair as loved ones vanish in the hands of unknown assailants.
Abductions are becoming a daily occurrence revealing a systemic and deeply entrenched ring of gangs terrorizing dwellers of both cities and villages.
The disregard for the rule of law by government agencies has not only raised alarm about increased extrajudicial disappearances and killings but also opened a new frontier for criminal elements to detain and execute Kenyans at will.
Statistics realised by Missing Voices – a human rights Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) paints a forlorn picture of the state of forced disappearances in Kenya. As of July 2021, over 20 cases of extra-judicial killings and three cases of enforced disappearances in 15 separate incidents had been reported in 2021 alone.
Among those still missing is Mwenda Mbijiwe, a security analyst who regularly commented on Kenya’s national security and counterterrorism.
Who is holding Mbijiwe or where he is being held remains a mystery. A pattern is emerging where a white double cabin car appears to have been used in recent abductions –signaling a singular actor behind the atrocities that clearly fly in the face of Kenyan laws.
The abduction of Hassan Nandwa has sparked outrage in Kenya’s legal fraternity with the law society of Kenya mobilizing its members to stage a major demonstration. LSK fears spring from past incidents in which practicing lawyers have been picked by gunmen only for their lifeless bodies to be recovered later.
On June 23, 2016, lawyer Willie Kimani of International Justice Mission; his client, and a taxi driver went missing after a court appointment at Mavoko Law Courts. A week later, their bodies were found by a riverbank 73 kilometers away from Nairobi.
It is indeed quite revealing that Hassan Nandwa was released by his abductors just two days to a major LSK demonstration aimed at forcing the state to produce the lawyer.
This can’t be the work of criminals rather a clandestine move by the culpable state agencies to avert the impending demonstrations.
The last five years have particularly proven lethal with police overreach in the lives of ordinary Kenyans. Yet this is happening against the backdrop of renewed commitments by President Kenyatta’s government to secure the lives and property of Kenyans.
The established laws of the land, including arrests and prosecution have instead given way to runaway extrajudicial approaches that are fast-rolling back gains made in the protection and preservation of human rights as demanded by the Constitution.
If criminal elements are responsible for the abductions, how come the investigative agencies have failed to follow up with the victims and make arrests?
Why are the victims of the abductions threatened to perpetual silence about their ordeals? Where is the sense of justice for victims and their families? How can all these be going on when we have a government in place?
This sad state of affairs cannot be let to continue. Kenyans must wake up to the reality of these unfortunate turn of events and demand justice from the responsible authorities.
We just can’t who is going to fall into the heinous hands of the kidnappers.
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