A rights lobby wants the government to empanel a judicial inquiry team to look into the enforced disappearance menace in the Coast region.
It made the plea during the burial of four young men whose bodies were recovered from Tsavo National Park. They disappeared in November and December last year. Their bodies were discovered between January 14 and 20 this year by police officers and taken to Makindu Hospital mortuary.
Haki Africa executive director Hussein Khalid on Monday said the increasing trend of abducting people, mostly from the region, and dumping their bodies in Tsavo National Park was worsening. He said an independent judicial inquiry into the matter will help unearth the underlying problems with a view to finding a lasting solution.
"It is concerning that people are getting abducted, or even taken by people identifying themselves as police officers, never to return or be charged in court, only to be found lifeless in a wild animals' park," he said.
Noting that this was not an isolated case, Khalid said it has become almost a norm for police officers, mainly from the Anti-Terror Unit, to kill or take away young men they assume to be terror suspects or al Shabaab returnees, never to be seen again.
"It is unimaginable that this is happening after the 2010 Constitution and the so-called police reforms," he lamented.
"Haki Africa, in partnership with Human Development Agenda (Huda), has discovered at least four bodies of persons who disappeared from Kwale county within the months of November and December 2019. Family members have positively identified the bodies."
The four were identified as Juma Said Sarai, Khalfan Linuku Abdalla, Nassir Gatana (who disappeared on December 22, 2019) and Usama Nassir (who disappeared on November 30, 2019).
The condition of the bodies exhibited signs of torture, including burns, gagging and strangulation. Some had ropes and burnt nylon around their arms, legs and neck, Haki Africa said in a statement.
"The bodies had signs of strangulation by a wire besides other torture marks such as body bruises and burns," Khalid explained to the Star on the phone.
The discovery of the four is a stark reminder of the six bodies retrieved from the same park in March last year. The decomposing six bodies were found naked and discovered by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers.
Officials at the time said the KWS rangers were patrolling Kanga area within the park when they encountered a foul smell and sought the source before stumbling on the burnt bodies in a thicket.
The police said the six were likely murdered elsewhere before being dumped in the park. And just like the four, the six were also moved to Makindu Hospital mortuary for postmortem and identification.
