Kenya becomes regional abduction hub

Tanzanian opposition activist Twaha Mwaipaya was abducted in Kamulu, Machakos County. [Coutersy]

The chilling sound of three vehicles screeching to a halt was the last thing Twaha Mwaipaya's friends heard before the Tanzanian opposition activist vanished into the Nairobi afternoon. More than two days have passed since the October 25 abduction in Kamulu, Machakos County, and the silence from Kenyan authorities is becoming as deafening as the act itself.

For a nation that has long styled itself as a sanctuary for those fleeing persecution in the region, the disappearance of Mwaipaya, a former youth leader of Tanzania's opposition CHADEMA party, is not an isolated incident. It is the latest and most glaring symptom of a terminal illness eating away at Kenya's constitutional fabric.

According to a report by Amnesty International, Kenya is rapidly degenerating from a place of refuge into a hunting ground for foreign regimes seeking to silence their critics.

The details of Mwaipaya's abduction read like a scene from a spy thriller, yet they are tragically real. According to eyewitness accounts verified by Amnesty International, Mwaipaya was travelling in a taxi to visit friends when his vehicle was intercepted by individuals in three cars, including a Toyota Land Cruiser hardtop.

Amnesty International's East Africa researcher, Sikula Oniala, said five masked individuals wearing dark sunglasses intercepted the taxi in a double-cab vehicle. Mwaipaya's companion reportedly escaped after pushing through the front passenger door, but Mwaipaya was unable to leave the back seat before being taken.

Oniala confirmed the organisation had verified the incident and reported it to the police, but as of Monday evening, there had been no official response from the government. "The Kenyan authorities must find Mwaipaya and hand Mwaipaya back to family and friends in Nairobi," Oniala stated, emphasizing the state's duty to protect everyone within its territory.

Human rights lawyer Abel Nabutola said the abduction exposed a fundamental failure of the state's protective obligations.

"When a man can be plucked from a taxi in broad daylight and the only thing missing is the government's urgency, then we have not lost a person, we have lost the principle that Kenya is a country of laws," Nabutola said. "The Constitution does not freedoms in half, but in totality. the laws are clear and that is enough."

The government's initial response has been one of bureaucratic distance. The Government Spokesperson's Office said it had not received any official information from any institution regarding the alleged abduction. The Tanzanian Embassy in Kenya similarly said it had not received any information regarding the alleged kidnapping.

The Amnesty report paints a grim picture of impunity. It notes that Mwaipaya had fled to Kenya slightly more than a year ago, seeking safety after using his social media platform to demand accountability for alleged violations during Tanzania's 2025 elections and to call for the release of opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Instead of finding asylum, he found a trapdoor where he could be hunted.

Tanzania's October 2025 elections were sharply criticised by African regional election observation missions, including those of the African Union and the Southern African Development Community. The elections were followed by widespread protests and a violent crackdown by security forces.

An inquiry into the election violence found in April that at least 518 people died, though the chair of the inquiry said the toll was likely higher. The United Nations had earlier called for an investigation into the killings and reports that police removed bodies from mortuaries to undisclosed locations. Opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who has survived a 2017 assassination attempt in which he was shot 16 times, was arrested in April 2025 and charged with treason, a capital offence and He remains in detention.

Mwaipaya's party, CHADEMA, has not minced words in a statement. The party called on President William Ruto, "in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, to intervene in this matter and ensure urgent action is taken to trace and locate Twaha Mwaipaya and secure his safe return alive, following his reported abduction on Kenyan soil." The party condemned what it described as acts of abduction and intimidation targeting its leaders and members, warning that such incidents create fear and threaten the safety and security of citizens.

 The Amnesty document meticulously catalogues a series of abductions and renditions that have turned Nairobi into a transit hub for authoritarian retribution. The report states "This incident is particularly alarming because it comes against the backdrop of repeated reports of abductions and attempted abductions of foreign nationals on Kenyan soil. These incidents point to a disturbing pattern of transnational repression, in which governments or their suspected agents seek to silence critics beyond their own borders."

Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye was abducted in Kenya in November 2024. [Coutersy]

Perhaps the most infamous case is that of Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye. On 16 November 2024, Besigye was abducted in Nairobi. Four days later, he resurfaced in Kampala, arraigned before a military court alongside his associate, Haji Obeid Lutale, on terrorism-related offences and illegal possession of weapons charges.

Besigye has now been held in arbitrary detention at Luzira Prison for over 400 days and has been denied bail four times. The prison conditions are inhumane, and he has been held in solitary confinement, barred from speaking to other prisoners, and confined to a tiny cell with little sunlight, sleeping on a mattress infested with bedbugs.

On 20 January 2026, he was rushed to his personal doctor's clinic after his health deteriorated severely, appearing extremely weak, shaking, with high fever and severe abdominal pain. Prison authorities have continuously denied him access to a fully equipped medical facility.

But others have paid the ultimate price. The Amnesty report highlights the harrowing fate of South Sudanese human rights lawyer Dong Samuel Luak and opposition figure Aggrey Ezbon Idri. Abducted in Nairobi in January 2017, they were subsequently killed in South Sudan.

A United Nations Panel of Experts report found that South Sudan's National Security Service kidnapped Dong and Aggrey in Nairobi on 23 and 24 January 2017 respectively, flew them to South Sudan on a commercial plane chartered with the help of South Sudan's embassy in Nairobi, detained them at the NSS headquarters in Juba, and then moved them to a training facility on President Salva Kiir's farm in Luri. The panel concluded it is "highly probable" that the two were executed there on 30 January 2017. Their remains have never been publicly returned to their families, and accountability remains incomplete.

The brazenness of these operations is shocking. Ethiopian national  Samson Gebreigzi Teklemichael was snatched on 19 November 2021 at the Kileleshwa roundabout in Nairobi, in the glare of cameras. “The fact that such an operation could occur in a busy urban center without consequence speaks volumes about the shadowy forces operating within Kenya's borders.” says Suba legislator Caroli Omondi

Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai was abducted in Nairobi in January 2025 by armed men but was released hours later following public outrage and intervention by human rights defenders. However, the Amnesty report rightly argues that "the fact that such attempts have occurred at all demonstrates the vulnerability of people who seek safety in Kenya and the need for effective preventive measures, rather than a response that begins only after someone has disappeared."

Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai addresses journalists at Amnesty International offices in Nairobi. [File,Standard]

The report points to the troubling case of Athorbey Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit, a businessman abducted in Nairobi in June 2026 and taken to South Sudan, where he was detained for nearly two months before being released in deteriorating health. Similarly, in 2024, the Kenyan government confirmed cooperation with Turkey in the return of Turkish nationals and asylum seekers, including Hüseyin Yeşilsu and others, a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement.

Amnesty cites Kenya's Constitution, specifically Articles 28 and 29, which guarantee every person, regardless of nationality, the right to dignity, freedom, and security. Article 20(1) explicitly binds all state organs to the Bill of Rights. Furthermore, Kenya's international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1951 Refugee Convention prohibit arbitrary detention and refoulement.

"These safeguards cannot be bypassed by describing a transfer as diplomatic cooperation, deportation or an informal handover," the Amnesty report warns. "The substance and consequences of the action matter, as do the legal protections owed to the individual."

Omondi says the pattern of denials and disappearances pointed to a deeper rot. "A government that only discovers its obligations after the cameras arrive has confused public relations with public protection," he said.

The Linda Mwananchi Movement issued a statement demanding that the authorities disclose Mwaipaya's whereabouts, ensure his safety, and protect him from any forced removal from Kenya. "Under Ruto's watch, Kenya is being turned into a hunting ground for those who wish to silence dissent beyond their own borders," the movement said. It called for an independent investigation into the abduction and accountability for everyone involved, regardless of their position or nationality.

The Amnesty report demands immediate, concrete action. It calls for the Kenyan authorities to establish Mwaipaya's whereabouts, ensure his safety, and protect him from forced transfer to Tanzania. It also demands a prompt, independent, and transparent investigation into the abduction, including examining whether any public officials were involved or facilitated the incident.

Furthermore, Amnesty calls for systemic reforms to prevent cross-border abductions, enforced disappearances, and unlawful renditions. This includes protecting refugees, asylum seekers, and human rights defenders who may be targeted by foreign authorities, and ensuring that any cooperation with foreign governments is consistent with Kenya's constitutional and international human rights obligations.

Kenya has long been a beacon of hope for those fleeing conflict and repression in the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa. That beacon is now dead.