Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
NAIROBI: Susan Wangari has lost count of the morgues, hospitals and police stations she has visited in search of her son, who went missing at the height of Kenya’s mass protests last June.
She last saw Emmanuel Mukuria, 24, on the morning of June 25, 2024, the day that thousands of Kenyan youths thronged the streets of Nairobi and stormed parliament in protest at planned tax rises and corruption.
“It would be better if my son were dead; at least I could visit his grave,” she told AFP.
Rights groups say at least 60 people were killed during the protests in June and July, and more than 80 abducted by the security forces since then, with dozens still missing.
Mukuria’s friends say he was arrested during the protests in the city centre, where he worked as a minibus tout.
“We do not have peace in this house,” his mother, 50, told AFP during a visit to her single-room home in the Kasarani slum area.
“I sleep lightly at night in case he comes knocking at my window like he always did,” she said.
“Every time we hear that bodies have been found somewhere, we are anxious to know whose they are.”
Two men told her they shared a cell with Mukuria, but they are too afraid to speak publicly about their ordeal.
One was only released in February, giving her hope that her son is still alive in captivity.
“They told me they were beaten and questioned about the protests. They were being asked who paid them to participate,” Wangari said.
Last month, President William Ruto, in a clear admission that security forces had engaged in kidnappings, said all those abducted during the protests had been “returned to their families”.
Rights groups say dozens are still missing and police have shown little progress in investigating the disappearances despite Ruto claiming an “accountability mechanism” was put in place.
Questioned by AFP, the president’s office said the police were “handling the brief”, while a police spokesman referred AFP back to the president’s office.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
