Kanja denies police have hand in abductions amidst public outcry

Police IG Douglas Kanja when he appeared before the National Assembly Administration and Internal Security Committee to shed light on rising abductions across the country, at Bunge Towers, Nairobi, on November 7, 2024. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has denied allegations that police officers are behind recent abductions, which have fueled widespread concern among Kenyans and drawn condemnation from human rights lobby groups.

Appearing before the National Assembly’s Administration and Internal Security Committee for the first time since taking office, Kanja was pressed on the fate of numerous missing Kenyans.

But holding his ground, Kanja insisted that his officers conduct only lawful arrests and detain suspects in police facilities, stating, “Police do not abduct; police do not kidnap. We arrest and detain within legal bounds.”

Despite claims by activists that the police have forcibly disappeared individuals-particularly during the Gen Z-led protests earlier this year-Kanja described these accusations as “sensationalised.”

Citing cases such as the detentions of activist Morara Kebaso, politician Jimmy Wanjigi, and journalist Macharia Gaitho, Kanja argued that these were lawful arrests mischaracterised as kidnappings.

He was joined by senior police officials—his Deputy Eliud Lagat, Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations John Onyango and the Deputy Director of Investigations Bureau Paul Wachira.

He disclosed that the force had received 57 reports of missing persons, with six later found dead, 22 located alive, and 29 still unaccounted for. 

When quizzed on the identity of university student Rita Waeni’s killer, Onyango said that they are yet to find him.

The officer added police are still looking for Collins Khalusha Jumaisi, the man detectives said was behind the Kware murders.

“We are still hunting down that serial killer and we are appealing to Kenyans to give us information that may lead to his arrest,” said Kanja.

When pressed to give more information on the motive behind the rising cases of femicide and homicide, the top cops could not give a conclusive answer, saying that motive is determined by the outcome of investigations.

“The motives are varying,” said Onyango.

For instance, in the gruesome killing of Wells Fargo Human Resource Manager Willis Ayieko, Onyango said that it was a case of robbery.

While offering details into the killing, the Deputy DCI boss said that there were speculations that police officers were behind the killing because his body was handcuffed and some police uniforms were recovered.

But he said further investigations had established that the men in custody for the killing of Ayieko would use the police uniforms and handcuffs to carry out criminal activities.

Onyango also told the MPs that robbery could also have been the motive in the gruesome murder of Mombasa taxi driver, Victoria Mumbua.

Mumbua went missing after taking a customer on a ride of a taxi-hailing app from Mombasa town to Samburu, days later her body was found at the City Mortuary.

According to the Deputy DCI boss the main suspect behind the killing, Edwin Ng’etich, is connected to other killings. The detective told MPs that Ng’etich is connected to six vehicles whose owners were found dead and others alive.

From their investigations, they established that he was targeting people with a certain type of vehicle that he would later use to carry out criminal activities like trafficking of persons, drugs and contraband goods.
He said that in one instance, Ng’etich was trafficking people to a certain village, where the locals raised alarm and they were forced to flee and the vehicle burnt.

He said that in the case of Hashim Dagane who is suspected of killing four women in Kenya and one in Ethiopia, it was a case of intimate partner violence.

“These are cases that are still in active investigations, meaning we are going to establish much more,” said Kanja.

Onyango said that a team of officers from the Anti-Terror Unit is pursuing the abductors of two Korean nationals Hwisook Cheon and In Lee, who were abducted on August 12, 2024 in Moyale.

The IG was told by the MPs to eliminate what they said were bad apples in the service after it emerged that an officer was involved in a kidnapping incident in Kasarani.

According to Onyango, DCI officers responded to a report of a kidnapping incident where a Sh19 million ransom was demanded and after a breakthrough, they arrested two people and one turned out to be a police officer.

“There is no person who is above the law,” said Kanja while confirming that the officer has since been interdicted.

The police denied that there were rising cases of femicide, saying that some of the investigated cases showed it was individual cases and not collective violence against women.

“As security apparatus, we cannot say that we have femicide apart from the few cases that we can identify,” said Onyango.

“If you compare the deaths of males and females, males are more.”

The MPs wondered why it was taking the police so long to solve cases, particularly murder.

In response, IG Kanja said that they were working hard to solve them while at the same time calling for more funding to train and enhance the homicide and investigations departments and for the adoption of new technology.