Many years ago, Kenyan politicians who were always defending the government, party leader, or the president at public events were said to be suffering from foot and mouth disease.

This was not just because they could not remain in one place and keep silent, but also because they always put their foot in their mouth, thus contradicting themselves and the person they were defending.

With the democratic space opening up and advancement in communication technology, we all thought the fumbling and bumbling would end, but that does not seem to be happening.

Nowadays, when they do not see a microphone before them, they think with their fingers, and inundate social media platforms with statements explaining what the government, party leader, or the president said, and how the public and the media misunderstood the remarks.

For the past several months, Kenyan politicians have been busy explaining to Kenyans what abductions are, and in the process proving that they indeed are suffering from foot and mouth disease.

Starting with President William Ruto, politicians have been trying hard, and failing, to explain the abductions of younger Kenyans, which started mid-last year during the protests against the 2024 Finance Bill in particular and bad governance in general.

President Ruto has issued several contradictory statements on the abductions that even his communications team must be confused and does not know if he is admitting that State agencies were behind the abductions, or knew which private entities were involved, but cannot apprehend them.

Whenever he speaks about abductions during his numerous development tours—whatever that means—some of his acolytes come forward to explain what he meant, or how Kenyans took his statement out of context.

The latest politician to take this route of fumbling and bumbling while accusing Kenyans and the media of misunderstanding President Ruto’s remarks on abductions is the Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.

Nothing out of the ordinary for Murkomen to take that route because he is one of those people President Ruto trusts will spin yarns to defend his actions and utterances all the time.

As the Interior CS, he is the right person to address Kenyans’ concerns regarding abductions, but even if her were not, he would still defend President Ruto’s continued contradictory statements on the abductions and any other issue.

While hosting President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, at the State House earlier this week, President Ruto said Kenyans who had been abducted during the anti-bad governance protests had been returned to their families.

That was a simple and easy-to-understand statement that did not require any kind of interpretation. They were abducted and have been returned to their families, and since no one has been arrested or arraigned over the abductions, that means the State was involved.

But Murkomen figured that Kenyans had not understood what the president meant. “Many people misunderstood the president. His remarks were taken out of context. When he said the abductions had stopped and that the victims had returned home, it was in reference to the government’s policy direction, not an admission of guilt,” Murkomen said on Wednesday.

Why do President Ruto’s remarks on the abductions need to be clarified now and then? Why are his remarks about abductions the only ones that Kenyans fail to understand and take out of context?

This is because the president and, ideally, the government have been inconsistent, proof that there is something they are trying to hide, considering that the State law enforcement agencies have been quick to disperse those protesting against the abductions, after which, more abductions are reported.

A State of National Security report presented to Parliament by President Ruto during his State of the Nation Address in November 2024 stated that the country witnessed a 44 percent increase in kidnappings and abductions between September 2023 and August 2024.

The report stated that kidnappings and abductions have become a security concern in Kenya in the recent past, and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) said at least 82 cases of abductions were recorded in 2024 alone.

In August 2024, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) told a National Assembly committee that 19 people were abducted in June 2024, during the protests against bad governance.

The report and the statements come from State or semi-State agencies, and all of them are silent on the abductors or any steps taken against them.

Then comes Murkomen, one of the president’s most trusted acolytes: “The fact that we said the abductions have stopped does not mean we were the ones behind them.”

In all their statements, Murkomen and the president have refused to name who is responsible, but keep denying the State’s involvement. Perfect examples of foot and mouth disease.

— The writer is the Managing Editor of the Alliance for Science (AfS). These views are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the position of AfS or its partners