Missing Voices is a coalition of organizations that together -including with the help of Protection International in Africa- have been documenting cases of police killings and enforced disappearances in a bid to understand the underlying causes of killings. The final aim is to end atrocities and claim justice for the families of the victims.
In the 2022 Report, they documented 130 cases of police killings and 22 cases of enforced disappearances, bringing the total number to 152. This compared to 2021, where Missing Voices documented 186 cases of police killings and 36 cases of enforced disappearances, indicates that police killings dropped by 30.1% and disappearances by 38%. This is a total drop of 31.5 percent.
January 2022 saw the highest number of police killings, with 28 cases from 11 incidents. The second-highest month is July, with 21 police killings arising from 12 incidents. The third highest month is February, with 13 police killings arising from 9 incidents. No enforced disappearance was recorded in April, July, November, and December 2022.
Regarding enforced disappearances, June had the highest number of enforced disappearance cases at six. In June, however, 4 of the six victims were later found dead. These victims were Moses Nyachae, Frank Obegi, Fred Obare, and Elijah Omeka, who were arrested at Kasarani police station only to be found dead. September 2022 has the second highest number of enforced disappearance cases at 4, followed by March with 3 cases and January with 2 cases.
The last quarter of 2022 (October to December) had the lowest number of enforced disappearance cases at 3. This was the same period that the new government consistently condemned cases of enforced disappearances, a pointer to how political goodwill and condemnation of these crimes by the highest office can help reduce these cases.
The report was accompanied by an open letter that remarked the fact that “40 bodies have been retrieved from River Yala with none other than the President himself mentioning that this was the work of the police. We are calling for expedited investigations into those cases to bring relief to the families affected and accountability to the perpetrators of these heinous crimes”.
Download the full report.
English