Unresolved abduction cases taint wildlife service image
By Zadock Angira, March 14, 2025On August 28, 2021, a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) intelligence officer Francis Oyaro was abducted by armed men in Naromoru while travelling in a public service vehicle, from Marsabit to Nakuru.
Evidence from other passengers show that it was clear to Oyaro, 45, that he knew his abductors, and even asked them why they were still following him yet they were together the previous day.
In March the following year, his body, which was among the 21 retrieved from River Yala, was positively identified.
For almost six months, the body remained at Yala Sub-County mortuary, just 60km from his rural home in Maramba village, Uyoma in Siaya County, an indication that the detectives were either reluctant to investigate or were complacent.
Investigations, however, later revealed that the team that abducted him included his colleagues from KWS.
One of the officers, an investigation report states, was also involved in the abduction, and presumably the killing, of a Kenyan and some foreigners.
“The victims are said to have been subjected to inhumane, cruel and degrading treatment,” an investigation report stated.
In one of the cases before court, a senior KWS officer has also been said to be the one who led the team to the location where some of the bodies of abducted Kenyans are disposed of.
Even as the National Police Service faces a baccklash for either being behind the abductions or not doing enough to end them, investigations reveal that a number of other disciplined services have also been involved in the abductions, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
In one of the latest cases that has put KWS in the spotlight, a team of Nakuru Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers on January 23 arrested six KWS Lake Nakuru National Park officers for abduction.
The case had earlier been reported at Bondeni Police Ptation, vide OB 24/19/01/2025.
The family reported that Brian Odhiambo Makori, 31, and a resident of Kivumbuni went missing on January 18. According to witnesses, he was last seen being beaten by KWS rangers who later dragged him into the vast park.
Odhiambo, a porter at the Nakuru Main Wakulima Market, was a part time fisherman at Lake Nakuru which is within the larger Lake Nakuru National Park.
It was later established that he was arrested by KWS officers for “entering a protected area” but was never charged and has not been seen since then.
The arrested officers were identified as Senior Sergeant Francis Wachira Gachoki, Ranger Isaac Ochieng Odhiambo, Ranger Abdirahman Ali Sudi, Ranger Evans Maiyo, Ranger Michael Wabukala and Ranger Alexander Lorogoi.
A habeas corpus case was later filed in a Nakuru court against DCI and KWS seeking that Odhiambo or his body be produced. The Independent Medical-Legal Unit and Odhiambo’s mother, Elizabeth Auma, moved to the High Court in Nakuru seeking orders to have him produced in court dead or alive.
According to the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, a suspectshould be brought to court or the nearest police station within 48 hours.
Investigations have revealed that Kenyans are abducted for various reasons.
In most of the recent abductions, the victims were critics of President William Ruto and his administration.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen however said the government does not target critics.
“We will not harm people because they hate us, there is no policy for that. Those who violate the Cyber Crimes Act we bring them to justice,” Murkomen said.
The abductions have also targeted suspects, especially in cases involving robberies and illegal poaching,.
In the last few years, over 15 people who had cases pending before court have been killed in mysterious circumstances. None of these cases has been successfully investigated.
Nyeri businessman Gerald Guandaru, has been missing since his arrest in broad daylight by officers believed to be from KWS in June 2021 along Kanisa road in Nyeri town.
Guandaru has been abducted more than once, and reports indicate he was involved in illegal ivory trade. Over ten other people, said to be close associates of Guandaru, were also reported missing in the region.
When contacted, KWS declined to comment.
In December last year, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Director of Criminal Investigations Mohammed Amin admitted that abductions wer happening but denied being involved.