Where is Mwabili? Family demands answers over missing activist Mwabili Mwagodi

Family of missing activist Mwabili Mwagodi addresses the press outside Kilimani police station on July 26, 2025. /SCREENGRAB

The family of Mwabili Mwagodi is calling on both Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities to urgently account for his whereabouts, four days after his alleged abduction in Tanzania.

Mwagodi, a Kenyan activist critical of church‑linked political fundraising, was reportedly seized on the night of Wednesday, July 23, around 10 pm in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam.

Witnesses said he was walking with his driver near Amani Beach Hotel, where he works, when a vehicle intercepted them.

Armed men are said to have bundled him into the vehicle and sped off.

The family previously said his car was left behind after the alleged abduction.

His phone went off shortly after, and no contact has been made since.

CCTV footage from the area was reportedly confiscated by Tanzanian authorities, frustrating efforts to trace him.

Back in Nairobi, his family is growing increasingly distraught.

“It’s day four, we don’t know where our brother, a husband, father to his children, is,” said his sister Isabella Kituri.

She addressed the press on Saturday outside Kilimani police station, flanked by other family members, including Mwagodi's wife, Eunice.

“We have not heard any information. Four days is a long time.”

Kituri added that despite lodging a report at Kileleshwa police station on Friday and receiving an OB number, they have faced frustrating delays from investigators.

“We were sent to Kilimani for the DCI to let us write a statement. We even went to DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road, but still, nothing is coming from them.”

The family has demanded that both Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities account for his safety and whereabouts, including producing him in court if detained.

“We are asking Kenyan and Tanzanian governments, how can someone be held for all this time and no action, no reaction. Just something to give us hope that he is alive.”

Kituri said Mwagodi's continued disappearance was taking a heavy toll on the family, especially their elderly parents.

Rights groups have drawn parallels with past cases of cross-border disappearances involving activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan journalist Agather Atuhaire in Tanzania.

Vocal Africa urged for diplomatic intervention.

As of Saturday, July 26, no government statement has been issued, and Mwagodi's fate remains unknown.