Kindiki: I will work with new Interior minister to stop abductions

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said on Sunday he would collaborate with his successor in the Interior Ministry to tame the rampant abduction and femicide cases that have rocked the country in recent months.

The former Interior minister who took the DP's office last week following Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment said “unknown people” behind abductions and enforced disappearances would be brought to book.

“I will work with the new Interior minister to deal with enforced disappearances, abductions and killings by unknown people,” the DP told the faithful at a church service in Mwatate, Taita Taveta County.

“The Constitution governs this country; we will not permit enforced disappearances, abductions, extra-judicial killings, femicide or any killings targeted to particular groups.”

Since the height of the June protests against President William Ruto’s government, several outspoken bloggers, activists, and social media users have been violently captured by suspected state security agents, sparking condemnation from rights groups and foreign governments.

Some have ended up being found dead, while the whereabouts of several others remain unknown.

Police Inspector General Douglas Kanja last week told Parliament that 29 of the people reported missing since June are still missing.

He, however, denied the National Police Service’s involvement in the abductions.

Meanwhile, at least 97 women and girls have been killed across the country in the last three months as of October 30, according to police, as the femicide crisis escalates.

In his exit press briefing as Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) last week, Kindiki said he was handing over the responsibility of cracking down on “reports of cases of mysterious disappearances, abductions and femicide” to his successor.

“I wish him well, and I know he will succeed the same way in the past I have been able to handle those other national security challenges,” he said on Thursday.

Under Kindiki’s tenure as the security minister, he and Kenyan police were heavily criticised for the latter's use of excessive force and violence against civilians in the wake of the anti-government protests.

Top of the issues was the opening of fire on unarmed Kenyans, forceful arrests and abduction of vocal personalities in the demonstrations in what was seen as suppression of dissent against Ruto’s administration.

On Sunday, the Deputy President said: “Even if I am no longer the Interior minister, I will work with the new minister to do away with the senseless killing of Kenyans. For everyone who takes another person’s life, the law will take its course.”

Currently, Prime CS and Foreign Affairs CS Musalia Mudavadi is holding the Interior CS post in an acting capacity.