Where is our son? Family demands answers from state

The family of a 22-year-old university student from Mombasa is demanding answers from the government after he was abducted last Thursday evening as he walked home from a mosque.

Mohamed Abubakar Said was picked at gun point at Seven Up area in Majengo at around 8.30pm as headed to their Ganjoni home after the Ishaa prayers at Masjid Azhar.  

He was bundled into one of three cars that were waiting, including a white Toyota Probox, before being driven off at speed, according to Mombasa Senator Mohammed Faki.

“We believe he was abducted by security agents. That is their modus operandi. But they are insisting they are not involved in his disappearance,” Faki  said on phone.

His whereabouts remain unknown despite reporting at the Central police station.

Mohamed is set to complete his diploma in Business Management course in December at the Umma University.

His elder brother, Abdalla Abubakar Said, said Mohamed always returned straight home after the Ishaa prayers.

“On Thursday, we waited up for him up to midnight but he had not returned, which was unusual and got us worried,” Abdalla said.

They tried reaching him on phone but it was switched off.

“We waited till Friday morning when we reported the matter at the Central police station under OB Number 16/15/10/2021.” 

The victim’s cousin Abdulrahman Said Abubakar said the missing 22-year-old is the light of his generation.

“Many youth at the Coast are idle and sit in bases because there are people who have blocked opportunities for them to do something meaningful,” Abdulrahman said.

He said no one would like to see their children abducted and made to disappear.

According to Abdulrahman, Mohamed had never been arrested for anything before Thursday.

Faki said the Senate is set to debate a report of missing persons, especially at the Coast, on Tuesday and Wednesday, giving hope for victims and their families on the way forward.

A planned censure motion over enforced disappearances by Senator Faki was shelved after Mombasa businessman Abdulhakim Saggar, 40, who had been abducted and held incommunicado for over 30 days, was released.

Saggar’s abduction and the consequent admission by security agents that they had held him triggered Faki’s planned motion.

“This Tuesday, a report of the Senate on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, will be debated. It is on the order paper," Faki said in his office on Saturday.

He said the resolution that will be made over the report will determine whether he will push on with the censure motion or not.

Mohammed’s friend, Ali Nassir, was also picked on Friday within the same area but was found abandoned in a street in Nairobi on Saturday morning, looking dazed and confused.

He was rushed to a hospital in Nairobi’s South C for medical check-up by relatives who he had called.

In Lamu county, another man Mursal Mohammed Macharia, 25, and a boda boda rider, went missing on September 28 in Kiunga.

According to Haki Africa executive director Hussein Khalid, he was seen riding a boda boda registration number KMEU 989Y to meet someone at Kiunga police station canteen.

“He was found in Gachie in Kiambu county,” Khalid said.

Faki said in all the cases, police officers within stations that are within a small radius of the incidents were unaware of the happenings.

The senator said no gang at the Coast is known for abducting people.

“We highly suspect these acts are done by security agents from Nairobi. We remind the government that the Constitution provides for any suspect to be arrested and arraigned in court within 24 hours,” he said.

Police have always denied involvement in the disappearances of suspects, who inside sources always indicate have links to either terrorists, terror-related activities or extremist ideas.

In September last year, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai said police officers are always unfairly blamed for criminal activities involving abductions yet there is always no concrete evidence linking them them to such incidents.

“When you start accusing the police for no good reason, you discourage them,” the IG said.

Mutyambai said many criminals use the name of police to hoodwink their targets.

“Police cannot be doing evil in this country, out of the 47 million people, and you are only blamed for any disappearance. Unless you have facts,” he said.

The IG said he has never failed to act on any credible crime report.

“I like specifics. Even if you call me, give me a lead. If it is outside (the police service), I will take action. [But] if you give me blanket statements, it gives me challenges. I am very open and committed to working with the public,” Mutyambai said.

“If you have facts, like a photo, I will have a beginning to the investigations.”

“There is no time that I have refused to take action. Even on my own officers, I have taken action,” Mutyambai said.

He said 96.5 per cent of police officers are good and that the bad apples are only a small fraction.

He said the police are thinly spread and don’t sleep in order to protect Kenyans adding that police now are partnering with the public and have improved their relations with them.

On Saturday, Faki said the police have a responsibility to ensure safety of Kenyans and blame for any breach of that safety has to fall squarely on them.

The family of Mohammed described him as a religious person, who sometimes led prayers at Masjid Ibrahim in Ganjoni.

Faris Rubea, the Norwegian International Society for Justice and Peace ambassador, said they are not opposed to police doing their work, but insisted they must do their work within the confines of the law.

“If anyone among us commits a crime, there are legal ways to deal with the matter. This issue of enforced disappearances has become too much. We only pray for justice and safety,” Faris said.

Senator Faki said those who are released after abduction are usually traumatised so much so that they are usually not willing to speak about the incident.

“Most are usually not ready to speak about their experiences. They are usually threatened against speaking out," Faki said.

“This is not a matter to be left to the victim and their family alone. It is a matter that the government must intervene in.” 

He said those who arrest and hold suspects incommunicado for over 24 hours are as wrong as the suspects who may have committed a wrong.