Kenya’s vanishing rights: Abductions, crackdowns, and constitutional crisis under Ruto’s rule

By Robert Mutasi 

The current government under President William Ruto is battling rising cases of abduction, disappearance, and alleged constitutional violations, mostly those touching on freedom of expression, assembly, and the treatment of political dissidents. 

Various enforced disappearances and abductions have been reported by human rights organisations such as Amnesty International Kenya and the Police Reforms Working Group-Kenya PRWG-K, mostly linked to anti-government activism and protests against contentious policies like #RejectFinanceBill2024.

These incidents have increased public fears that core rights under Kenya's Constitution are being systematically violated.

Article 29 of the Constitution categorically prohibits arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, defining such practices as violations of liberty and security.

Yet, recent reports by PRWG-K indicate that more than a dozen citizens have disappeared after recent protests-a grim trend that is at variance with Kenya's commitment to ensuring the protection of such constitutional assurances.

As these feelings of unease mount, human rights groups called on Ruto to uphold the duty of care to citizens and respect the rights to peaceful protest without retribution. 

Public outcry in high-profile cases has accompanied demands for transparency and justice in the detention without charge of activists such as Bob Njagi and Aslam Longton, before later releasing them.

The abduction and alleged mistreatment of these individuals have raised severe concerns about due process adherence by Kenya and further strained trust in the nation's security agencies.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and World Organisation Against Torture have joined to condemn such incidents as violations of both national laws and international human rights protocols.

Meanwhile, suspicious deaths in cases of disappearance, like the tragic case of Willis Ayieko in Western Kenya, have further added to the mistrust between the police and the public.

The other controversy involved the forced deportation of refugees of Turkish origin-a move condemned in overwhelming ratio by the UN for breaching the principle of non-refoulement.

It has evoked debates on the shifting stand of Kenya on human rights and has also generated much concern that its diplomatic priorities may be overriding its obligations towards international law and protection of asylum seekers.

The public outcry heightens as Kenyans come out in force to demand the government uphold rights enshrined in the Constitution and account for missing citizens.

This increasing trend of targeting activists and dissenting voices speaks to a departure from the democratic ideals Ruto vowed to defend and points to critical tests for the legal and political systems in Kenya over the governance, civil liberties, and human dignity of the country.