Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has called for the expeditious arrest of those involved in the abductions of young Kenyans from June 2024.
Speaking to the press on Sunday, Muturi stated that the series of abductions has gone unchecked and the vice needs to be nipped in the bud.
Muturi noted that he still reels from the emotional turmoil his family was subjected to after the disappearance of his son in June 2024.
Leslie Muturi was released after being reportedly kidnapped in Nairobi’s Lavington area.
“I have personally suffered as my son was abducted leaving my family in turmoil,” he said.
He added that despite being the Attorney General at the time, and having links to the national intelligence, he has never received details behind Leslie’s abduction.
“I’ve not gotten any answers as to why my son was abducted, held incommunicado and nobody gave any reasons for that abduction,” he added.
Muturi noted that the silence from the government has eroded public confidence in the security organs and those involved should be held to book.
He therefore demanded that national security should reveal details on how many youths have been taken in by the abductees, how many have been released, and how many are missing.
Human rights groups report that over 80 Kenyans have been abducted since Jun 2025, during the anti-government protests.
The most recent cases of abductions include the disappearance of 5 Kenyans who were making social media posts aimed at criticizing President William Ruto and the state.
They included Billy Mwangi, Peter Muteti, Bernard Kavuli, Rony Kiplangat and cartoonist Gideon Kibet, alias Kibet Bull.
The National Police Service distanced itself from the abductions, claiming that it had no involvement in the cases despite narrations from the victims hinting that the abductors were servicemen.
Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen, Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin and Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja snubbed court summons on January 8.
Kenyan security forces accused of abduction, deaths of protesters
November 06, 2024
Kenyans killed after abductions by Ruto Police include Rex Masai.
Rex Masai bled to death after being hit in the thigh by police bullets.
Mr Masai’s killing has not yet resulted in the any prosecution of the killers.
Muturi to state: Allow youth to express themselves freely
“It is our cardinal duty as a government to ensure that everybody lives freely including saying what they think.”
“The youth are part of the Kenyan society, we cannot just segregate them. If they have issues they want to raise with the government, let them raise and let us allow them to raise it,” CS Muturi said.
“That is all what democracy is all about, we are a democratic country.”
Muturi said during their campaigns, the government promised Kenyans that they would be guaranteed freedom of speech.
“It is our cardinal duty as a government to ensure that everybody lives freely including saying what they think; including saying that they don’t like me. That’s an opinion,” he added.
In a bold statement delivered at the Serena hotel, Muturi strongly criticised the Kenya Kwanza government over the abductions, saying all indications were that the vices were going on with the blessings of the government.
He said young Kenyans have gone missing since the Gen Z-driven June 2023 protests and in some instances, ended up dead under unexplained circumstances.
The former AG said it was wrong for the government to claim that it’s not involved in the abductions but on the other hand fail to explain who was bejind the abductions.
“The cardinal duty of the state and the government is to protect the lives and livelihood of its citizens and cannot claim to be unaware of such serious breaches of the rights of Kenyans to live free from wrongful confinement and the violation of their inalienable right to life,” he said.
Muturi said he particularly is concerned since his own son was abducted by unkown people when he was serving as the Attorney General but six months since his release by his abdcutors, no one has been charged.
“I have personally suffered as my son was abducted and disappeared, I was not sure whether he was alive or dead, making us anxious and leaving me, my wife and my family in turmoil,” he said.
“I was unable to trace my son despite making several requests and demands to all levels of the security apparatus.”
Muturi explained that despite his attempts to reach out to senior security figures to help him get his son, all he got was a cold response from those mandated to issue answers.
The abductions, he noted, are happening despite President William Ruto having vowed to ensure disappearances and extra-judicial killings don’t recur.
“One of the things we had accused the past regimes was the existence of disappearances and extra-judicial killings and we vowed that we would never, under our watch, condone or allow it anymore,” the CS said.
He further told security officers to come clear on the number of youths who have been released and the number of those still missing.
“Kenyans want to know how many of our youth have been taken since the abductions started, how many have been released, how many are still being held and where it is they are being held,” Muturi said.
He asked the President to take a decisive action on the matter as he has always assured Kenyans.
The CS said if left unchecked, abductions have the potential to plunge the country into chaos and anarchy.
“I have taken this unusual step so that the matter can be debated honestly and openly in the country with a view to finding a lasting solution to this issue which if left unchecked.”
DCI invites CS Muturi to record statement over son’s abduction
DCI boss Mohamed Amin.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has invited Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi to record a stament over his son’s abduction.
DCI boss Mohamed Amin said the case is still active but had slowed since the son was the only one who recorded a statement.
Amin was responding to a statement by the CS on Sunday where he called to question security and investigative agencies’ commitment to resolving abductions cases and averting further disappearances.
“The alleged case of abduction involving CS Justin Muturi’s son is active before DCI Kilimani,” Amin said in statement signed by John Marete.
He told the CS to record a statement with the officers at the same station to help in the conclusion of the matter.
“Considering that only the son volunteered to record a statement, we wish to invite CS Muturi and any other person with information on the incident to record statement with DCI Kilimani,” he said.
During a press conference at Serena hotel, Muturi said his family underwent suffring and turmoil after his son was abducted and disappeared with no information from the police.
This, he said, despite making several requests and demands to all levels of the security apparatus to help trace him.
“I was not sure whether he was alive or dead, making us anxious and leaving me, my wife and my family in turmoil,” he said.
Muturi said more than six months after that ordeal and the release of his by his abductors, no one has been charged and nobody has explained why his son was abducted and held incommunicado.
Amin reassured the public that all reported abduction cases have been successfully investigated and are now pending before court, adding that “investigations into the current cases will be no exception”.
The top sleuth said they have so far opened several inquiry files that are at various stages of investigation, and set to be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions upon conclusion of investigations.
Amin further appealed to the public with any information that can assist in the investigations to share the same with us in confidence.
“The DCI reaffirms its steadfast commitment to ensuring that all abduction cases are thoroughly investigated and the culprits brought to book.”
Tanzania rights activist kidnapped in Kenya: Amnesty
Tanzanian rights activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai. Image/Amnesty Intl.
Renowned Tanzanian rights activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai was kidnapped on the streets of Kenyan capital Nairobi on Sunday, Amnesty International and her organisation said.
Tsehai campaigns for political change, freedom of expression and women’s rights in Tanzania and has 1.3 million followers on X.
Amnesty’s Kenya branch said she was “kidnapped by three armed men in a black (Toyota) Noah” around 3pm in the Kilimani area of central Nairobi.
Tsehai’s movement, Change Tanzania, wrote on X: “We believe her abductors are part of Tanzania security agents operating beyond Tanzania borders to silence… legitimate criticism.”
Her “courage in standing up for justice has made her a target, but we won’t let this moment silence her voice,” it added.
Kenya has a history of allowing foreign governments to kidnap their citizens and forcibly extradite them in violation of international law.
In October, the United Nations said it was “deeply concerned” over reports that four Turkish refugees had been abducted in Nairobi and forcibly returned to Turkey.
The following month, Uganda said it had worked with Kenyan authorities to seize a Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, in Nairobi and take him back to Kinshasa where he faces a military trial condemned by rights groups.
Amnesty International warned it was part of a “growing and worrying trend of transnational repression” in Kenya.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
