DCP leader and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has accused President William Ruto’s administration of presiding over a growing record of abductions, forced disappearances and alleged human rights violations, including the targeting of foreign nationals living or visiting Kenya.
Speaking on Tuesday during an accountability statement and performance audit of Ruto’s four years in office, Gachagua said the government had failed to protect constitutional rights and had allowed security agencies to operate outside the limits of the law.
He cited a series of cases involving Ugandan opposition supporters, Turkish asylum seekers, a Tanzanian journalist and a Zimbabwean constitutional lawyer, saying the incidents pointed to a wider pattern of what he described as transnational repression.
Gachagua alleged that six Ugandans associated with an opposition political party were forcibly taken back to Uganda in October 2024 following a joint security operation.
He also raised the case of seven Turkish asylum seekers who were allegedly abducted from different parts of Nairobi by masked men before being returned to Turkey.
According to Amnesty International Kenya, the Turkish asylum seekers were abducted on October 18, 2024. They were identified as Mustafa Genç, his son Abdullah Genç, Hüseyin Yeşilsu, Necdet Seyitoğlu, Öztürk Uzun, Alparslan Taşçı and his wife Saadet Taşçı.
Reports indicated that the seven were seized separately in Nairobi. Three were later released, while four were forcibly returned to Turkey on October 20, 2024.
Gachagua said the incident drew condemnation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and human rights organisations, which raised concerns over the treatment of the asylum seekers.
He further pointed to the case of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who was reportedly seized in Nairobi on November 16, 2024 while in the country for a book launch.
Besigye was last seen after leaving his hotel in Hurlingham for Riverside Drive. Four days later, he resurfaced in Kampala, where he appeared before a military court and was charged alongside FDC member Haji Obeid Lutale.
The former Deputy President also cited the case of Tanzanian journalist and human rights defender Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who was reportedly abducted in Nairobi on January 12, 2025.
Sarungi was allegedly taken by three armed men travelling in a black Toyota Noah at Chaka Place in Kilimani at about 3:15pm. She was held for several hours before being released later that night.
Gachagua further raised concerns over the treatment of Zimbabwean constitutional lawyer and human rights defender Brian Kagoro, who he said was detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in February 2026 before being deported to Johannesburg.
“Brian Kagoro was detained and deported from Kenya on February 22, 2026, intercepted by migration and national intelligence officers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. He was held for over 10 hours and subsequently put on a flight back to Johannesburg, South Africa.”
Gachagua said the alleged mistreatment of foreign nationals was happening alongside cases involving Kenyans who, according to him, had been abducted or forcibly disappeared.
He listed several activists and other individuals whom he said had gone missing, linking the cases to what he described as a wider failure of accountability and respect for the rule of law within security agencies.
The DCP leader also turned his attention to the media, accusing the administration of targeting journalists and media organisations through online attacks and disinformation campaigns.
He claimed that Nation Media Group, Standard Media Group and Mediamax Network had been subjected to such campaigns during the four years of the Ruto administration.
Gachagua further claimed that 24 cases of violence against journalists were recorded during the 2024 Gen Z protests.
He warned foreign governments, investors and tourists over what he described as worsening human rights and security conditions in the country.
The former Deputy President urged development partners and foreign embassies to take steps to protect their citizens and staff while in Kenya, as he continued his criticism of the government’s record on security, human rights and accountability.