Protests on extrajudicial killingsLast year, Kenya recorded the highest number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in recent history.
According to a report on Wednesday by Missing Voices, 159 such cases were documented, marking a worrying 25% increase from the previous year.
However, the same report shows a slight silver lining: police-related killings dropped by 12%, from 118 cases in 2023 to 104 in 2024.
32 of those cases were linked to anti-riot operations, with many victims last seen during protests against the controversial Finance Bill.
The report shows that last year saw an alarming spike in enforced disappearances across the country, with 55 such incidents between January and December—a 450% jump compared to just 10 cases the year before.
June was the most affected month, with 15 disappearances reported during the peak of protests against the Finance Bill. October followed closely with 11 incidents, while July and August saw 7 cases each.
Five more disappearances were reported in December. Of the 55 reported cases of enforced disappearance, 23 were adults, 21 were youth, and 2 were minors. The ages of the 9 victims remain unknown.
It’s clear that young people bear the brunt, especially those aged between 19 and 34. Eighteen of them vanished in 2024 alone, compared to just five in 2023.
No county was truly spared from the shadow of enforced disappearance, but Nairobi was hit hardest.
The report shows that the capital recorded 38 more cases than any other region. Kajiado followed with 8 cases, while Kiambu and Machakos each reported 4.
Nakuru had 3 incidents. Counties like Murang’a, Mombasa, Isiolo and Garissa each reported 2 cases, while Tana River, Migori, Mandera and Embu documented one incident apiece.
The report also revealed why holding police officers accountable for enforced disappearances remains nearly impossible.
According to the report, 45 of the 55 disappearances documented in 2024 were suspected to be the work of police officers.
It, however, states that most of the cases were carried out by hooded men in plain clothes, using unmarked vehicles without local number plates, further complicating efforts to trace the perpetrators.
The report released Wednesday further highlights a disturbing pattern, where most of the disappearances were carried out in public and sometimes even in the presence of media.
“This makes it difficult to determine with absolute accuracy the identity of the security officers responsible for the series of enforced disappearances,” the report states.
