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Fear grips Gusii region over abductions by vigilante groups
- Details
- Published on Monday, 28 January 2008 20:20
The groups were ferried in two police vehicles and roughed up a journalist as police officers watched after he took pictures of the group boarding a police car.
Whereabouts unknown
The fear has been heightened following the arrest of two men, whose whereabouts is still unknown to relatives. Boaz Maranga, 23, was arrested last Monday as he bought vegetables in Kisii town while Momanyi Ogwaro, 24, was arrested the next day.
For one week, Ms Mary Kerubo Maseme says she has not seen her son Maranga. She says her son was arrested by three people, one of them a police officer known to witnesses, and bundled into a taxi with tinted windows. They have the number plates of the vehicle.
But Maranga was not taken to Kisii police station as a search in the occurrence book revealed he was not booked at the station.
The team confiscated his mobile phone and immediately switched it off. He has never been reached on phone since then. They now fear that the abductors might have killed him, as search efforts have not bore any fruit.
Ms Maseme and her relatives have made a frantic search for him in hospitals, mortuaries and police stations without any breakthrough.
“I have not slept since I was informed about Maranga’s disappearance. I have looked for him everywhere. I have visited hospitals, police stations and even mortuaries,” said the 49-year-old single mother.
Ms Maseme says her son was not a criminal although he had been arrested twice and later released. “The first time he was arrested in a nightclub due to underage drinking while the second time he was arrested after he differed and fought with his cousins but was later released after the issue was resolved out of court. I have never known him as a thief or a criminal,” she says amid tears.
“I am hoping that I will find my son alive. I lost one kid and I’m now remaining with one. I’m praying to God to help me find my son,” says the single mother.
She adds: “I’m also requesting the Government to help me find my son because we have the name of the police officer who arrested him. Our efforts to seek help from his bosses have failed because they are unwilling to help.”
And Mr Ogwaro was arrested on Tuesday by the same group in the same vehicle. He was arrested outside Carnivores Wines and Spirits where he used to work as a waiter. He too has not been seen since then.
Searched everywhere
Geoffrey Mogare, the only sibling to Ogwaro says: “We don’t know where he is and we are concerned about his safety. We have looked for him everywhere in the district and the neighbouring districts but we have not managed to find him.”
“We want to know whether he is dead or alive. But surely if he was arrested, he should be in the cells,” says Mogare. After their efforts to seek help from the police hit a snag, they sought audience with area District Commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu who reportedly told them he could not help and advised them to move to court.
Contacted, Kisii deputy police chief Chemonges Ndiema said he was not aware of the case and referred journalists to his boss Augustine Kimantiria. “This is my first day in this office and it is because my boss is in Nairobi on official duty. May be you can contact him over the same,” said Mr Ndiema. Mr Kimantiria declined to comment when he was reached on phone. “I don’t conduct office affairs on phone,” he told the Nation.
But Kisii district criminal investigations officer Shadrack Juma said he was aware of the case. “The relatives came to my office but my officers were not involved in the alleged arrest,” he said.
He, however, promised to launch investigations into the incident as relatives expressed fears that the duo may have been eliminated by the outlawed Kisungusungu in collaboration with some officers.
Police have been accused of working in cahoots with illegal gangs. Chinkororo and Kisungusungu vigilante groups were deployed to guard Gusii stadium which they cordoned off last week for three days.
Declined to talk
Contacted to determine the truth over the police link with the vigilante groups, Kisii police boss Augustine Kimantiria declined to talk to journalists and ordered them out of his office.
The journalists later complained to Nyanza provincial police officer, Mrs Grace Kaindi, over the harassment and promised to investigate the incident. She has since been transferred to Vigilance House in Nairobi.
