Abductions show Kenya Kwanza's lack of consensus on critical issues

 

When anti-riopt police officers roughed up a section of protestors who had chained themselves at the Aga Khan Walk as they demonstrated against rampant abduction across the country on December 30, 2024. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

The uncoordinated response to abductions by President William Ruto and his allies has exposed the Kenya Kwanza administration as a government with many faces in times of national crisis.

The Head of State’s assurance that he would stop abductions with a rider that parents tame their ill-disciplined children and the assertion by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen that no Kenyan had been kidnapped or killed by police officers since Ruto was elected president are some of the incidents exposing the government’s disjointed approach.

The apparent justification of kidnappings by, among others, Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwah and other government defenders such as National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohammed, show another side.

At the same time, a third wing has emerged comprising government officials such as Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi and President’s senior adviser Moses Kuria who are nauseated by the continued abduction of government critics.

READ: Who are the powerful figures abducting state critics?

Ruto promised the nation that he would bring to an end the increasing cases of abductions at a rally in Homa Bay but challenged parents across the country to take responsibility and take care of their children.

“I want to ask every parent to take care of their children. These children are God-given to us and we must take responsibility. We are going to stop the abductions so that our youth can live peacefully and my government is going to do its part to ensure even the youth are responsible enough so that together we build Kenya,” the President said.

But his Interior CS Murkomen seemed to contradict him when he claimed that no person had been killed by the police during Ruto’s tenure.

“Since President Ruto took the reins of office, there is no single citizen who has been killed by police, nor has there ever been a policy of killing people the way we used to see bodies in River Yala and others in River Tana. Since he took office in two years, nobody has been killed,” said Murkomen.

Murkomen’s statement contradicted damning reports from human rights groups and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), documenting deaths during anti-Finance Bill protests and the discovery of bodies across the country. The inquest into the killing of Rex Maasai, who was shot and killed on June 18 during the anti-finance bill protests, particularly stands out.

“Since taking office in September 2022, the Ruto regime has been implicated in numerous grave human rights violations. Police continue to employ excessive force during peaceful protests, leading to at least 63 civilian deaths, 65 enforced disappearances, and over 1,400 unlawful detentions,” a statement by KNCHR, a State-funded independent commission, dated October 28, 2024, noted.

READ: Police deny responsibility for abductions, promise continued investigations

While Murkomen defended the government against the claims of extra-judicial killing and the abductions, Kingi, Ichungwa and Junet Mohammed seemed to justify the kidnappings and blamed parents for allegedly failing to discipline their children.

Kingi, who spoke at a funeral in Bungoma last week said:

“In this country, we must differentiate between lack of discipline and rule of democracy. Every Kenyan, being a child or elder, has the right to criticize the government, but democracy has boundaries. If you go beyond the boundaries, the law must follow you. You can criticize the policies of this government but you cannot get personal. The children who are misbehaving are in homes. If parents fail to discipline them, nature will. And if nature follows your children, don’t be the first one to scream.”

“We have seen people alleging they have been kidnapped only for them to show up out of political expediency. Those who allege to have been abducted should also be arrested and charged,” Ichungwa said.

And Junet, the latest government apologist, seems to blame the parents for allowing their children to criticize the government.

“You allow your children to draw images of leaders and put them in the coffin and when action is taken you start crying and making noise. Why did you allow your children to commit the crime in the first place, having such images of people put in coffins is akin to killing them?’’ the leader of the Minority in the National Assembly said.

However, Cabinet Secretary Muturi and Presidential Advisor Moses Kuria seemed to differ from the rest of the government on the abductions. They separately maintained that the government could not feign ignorance and pretend it was not aware of the people behind the abductions.

“There can never be a situation where the government says it does not know what is happening. We must own up to our inefficiencies where they have been pointed out or where they have occurred. We cannot be here and talk about young souls that have been taken away all over and allege we do not know who has taken them. We cannot say we don’t know. We are the government,” Muturi said on Friday last week in Embu where he attended the burial of Eric Mutugi, the son to former Embu Senator Leny Kivuti.

Kuria, who spoke during an interview with Citizen TV on Wednesday night, said the abductions spree was a dangerous precedent being set in the country.

Appreciate sycophancy

Kuria wondered why someone within the administration would resort to sorting out issues in a way that is outside the law in a country that prided itself as a bastion of democracy.

 “I have proclaimed myself privately within government circles. I have proclaimed myself publicly, in my social media posts, that I think that abductions are not the way to go. I don’t know who is doing the abductions, but let me add a rider here, for me, it doesn’t matter who is doing it. Irrespective of who is doing the abductions, only one party has got responsibility for the security, safety, and lives of all of us. That is the government, the government that I serve. So for me, I am unequivocal on that, that abduction is not the way to sort out grievances and disputes and unhappiness,” Kuria said.

ALSO READ: Rights defenders urge Ruto's action against abductions.

The former Trade Cabinet Secretary maintained the government was responsible for safeguarding the lives, safety and security of all even as he pointed a finger at the security apparatus. He also maintained that the Inspector General of police Douglas Kanja had no option than go to court to honour the summons.

“I really do hope that the Inspector General just appears in court. It is not a pleasant thing to appear in court but you have no choice.  He should appear in court,” Kuria noted.

However, Kuria opined that the time has come for the country to discuss values, especially between parents and their children

“I think the time has come that we need to have a real bottom-up national dialogue. We need to talk,” Kuria said.

Political analysts noted that the different approach by the government on abductions exposed Ruto’s administration’s soft underbelly, saying it depicted the government as a scattered box government that lacks a comprehensive and cohesive agenda.

“Those who believe that the government may have a hand in the abductions may be interpreted in a variety of ways. They believe that the government may be responsible for abductions because they have not been discussed in government forums but on a militia-like platform,” Barack Muluka, a communications expert, noted.

According to Muluka, the different tones by government officers exposed its dysfunctional nature.

“While the government decides the break the law, it also invites its citizens to do the same and this is a dangerous precedent, the denial by police that they are not behind the abductions may also be interpreted that those trying to abduct them are robbers and this may lead to bad blood between the police or Subaru users and the citizens.

On his part, Edward Kasembeli, also a communication expert, noted:

“The different remarks by the government shows extreme levels of sycophancy, but it also raises the question as to what level the President appreciates sycophancy” Mr Kasembeli said.