Kenya is a beautiful country, from the look of things, more so for outsiders. It is often painted in that light, to attract foreigners.
However, a deeper look at it, its non-existent culture, cheap morality, and total disregard for the natives, is always shocking.
The country is broken, mafia rules, and slightly over 8000 people economically control the lives of over 50 million.
In some circles, Kenya has been described as a ‘plantation, with a flag and a national anthem’.
But still attractive to the foreigner.
Dissidents have come and lived here from Milton Obote to Paul Kagame, to Yoweri Museveni, to Idi Amin Dada, and even Tindu Lissu sought refuge in Kenya when John Pombe Magufuli’s bullets failed to take his life.
The musician cum politician Bobby Wine, real name Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu of Uganda has also sought refuge in this country.
Most of those mentioned above have lived to tell their tales, not so for a few others.
Kenya is a lucrative hiding place for foreigners, but some have not been so lucky. We look at recent happenings:
October 2024
The kidnapping of six Turkish nationals who are thought to be against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Kenyan soil brings back bad memories of the same.
Mustafa Genç, his son Abdullah Genç, Hüseyin Yeşilsu, Necdet Seyitoğlu, Öztürk Uzun, Alparslan Taşçı and his wife Saadet Taşçı were the individuals that were kidnapped. The kidnappers later released Abdullah Genç, Necdet Seyitoğlu and Saadet Taşçı
A British citizen of Turkish origin, broke the story after he himself was kidnapped and kept in an undisclosed location for over eight hours. Necdet Seyitoğlu told BBC that he had been held incommunicado and was later released after showing the kidnappers his British passport.
August 2024
Thirty-six (36) members of the Uganda Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) were arrested by Uganda police and deported back to Uganda while having a meeting in Kisumu, Kenya.
Protests by the Kisumu County Government fell on deaf ears.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni is a known friend of Kenya’s William Ruto.
It is easy to see that fact in that light; that Ruto allowed the insult of Kenya’s security apparatus by having his friend breach protocols
A very unfriendly move.
June 19, 2021
Biafra Separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested by Kenya kidnapped by Kenya Police and later handed to Nigeria security agents. Mr. Kanu had gone to pick up a guest at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
As per reports, Kanu’s whereabouts had been unknown since he left Nigeria in 2017, after soldiers attacked his home in Abia state during one of a number of military operations against separatist agitators in the region.
November 19, 2021
A viral video posted on then Twitter (currently X) shows a small scuffle between unidentified men wrestling a man who would later be identified as Samson Teklemichael.
Samson Teklemichael is an Ethiopian businessman, who was abducted in broad daylight in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa area in November 2021.
His whereabouts are still unknown despite his family members and lawyers asking for his return.
Nearly 3 years later, efforts to trace him have proved futile, as the Kenyan state continues the path of destructive extrajudicial killings.
He was abducted while driving his Bentley in Kileleshwa, Nairobi. He was stopped in broad daylight and forcefully taken into a Subaru by men dressed in civilian clothes.
Surprisingly, the traffic police officer did nothing to stop the abductors, and other road users recorded the ordeal on their smartphones. – Media Reports
November 2016
In this month, Kenyan security forces kidnapped two South Sudanese, Dong Samuel Luak and Aggrey Idri handed them to South Sudan security agents where they were later executed in early 2017.
The two were critics of President Salva Kiir’s regime.
South Sudan government denied the claim but United Nations (UN) insisted that the two who were part of peace negotiations were eliminated by the National Security Service (NSS)
The opposition official blasted Kenya for not upholding “international refugee law,” accusing Kenyan government of actively working on behalf of South Sudanese government to locate and kidnap any South Sudanese who opposes ‘Salva Kiir’s tyrannical regime’.
“We have overwhelming evidence that Kiir’s tyrannical regime pays some Kenyan MPs, I don’t think there is any doubt about that,” asserted the rebel official.
16th May, 1998
Seth Sendashonga, a former Rwanda Interior Minister sought refuge in nairobi after falling out with the new president Paul Kagame.
Mr. Sendashonga, though working for United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) a very secure place in Nairobi, was shot dead.
He had paid the ultimate price of believing in Kenya as a safe haven for foreigners who flee their country for this plantation with a flag and a national anthem. Dysfunctional.
The killing of Shendashonga happened at the height of Kenya’s greatness in intelligence, during President Daniel Moi’s time.
It appears Kagame’s smartness was well ahead of Moi. However, it wasn’t easy.
The killing brough about a diplomatic tiff leading to closure of Rwanda Embassy.
To Moi, security was paramount
To the later President’s Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, it was a joke as most of the kidnappings are never followed up with stern warnings or conclusions.
Umoja News warns that such as state of affairs is even dangerous to the political clas itself and in the words of Malcolm X, ‘chicken miht come home to roost’.
