{"id":106273,"date":"2024-12-26T12:06:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T12:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/12\/26\/omtatah-faults-reckless-police-response-to-abductions-vows-senate-inquiry\/"},"modified":"2024-12-26T12:06:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T12:06:31","slug":"omtatah-faults-reckless-police-response-to-abductions-vows-senate-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/omtatah-faults-reckless-police-response-to-abductions-vows-senate-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"Omtatah faults \u2018reckless\u2019 police response to abductions, vows Senate inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 26 \u2014 Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has vowed to introduce a motion in the Senate calling for an urgent inquiry into the growing cases of abductions targeting individuals critical of President William Ruto\u2019s administration.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Omtatah emphasized that the inquiry would address a series of forced disappearances that date back to June 2024, following protests against the Finance Bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Senate must discuss the issue of abductions as a matter of national urgency when we resume our sittings,\u201d Omtatah said told the press on Thursday, expressing concern over the rising number of young people who have vanished under mysterious circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe may need to upgrade this motion into a full-scale inquiry by the Senate,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Omtatah criticized the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), questioning its ability to effectively investigate the abductions. He argued that IPOA, as a civilian body, lacks the capacity to probe incidents involving uniformed police officers.<\/p>\n<p>The Senator held that the only body with the authority and expertise to investigate such matters is the Internal Affairs Unit whose disbandment he dispproved.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Reckless\u2019 response<\/h2>\n<p>The Senator\u2019s remarks came in response to a statement by Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, who denied any police involvement in the abductions, asserting that IPOA is investigating the cases. <\/p>\n<p>Omtatah dismissed the response as \u201creckless\u201d, suggesting it reflected a deeper, more sinister motive. <\/p>\n<p>He claimed that IPOA is largely ineffective in curbing police excesses and that Kanja\u2019s statement hinted at police complicity in the abductions.<\/p>\n<p>The country is grappling with growing alarm over the abductions of young people who have voiced opposition to the government. <\/p>\n<p>Over the weekend, four individuals \u2014 Billy Mwangi, Peter Muteti, Bernard Kavuli, and Naomi \u2014 were reportedly abducted across Embu, Nairobi, and Kajiado counties. <\/p>\n<p>All four victims had been vocal on the social media platform X, sharing satirical or altered images of President Ruto.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 26 \u2014 Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has vowed to introduce a motion in the Senate calling for an urgent inquiry into the growing cases of abductions targeting individuals critical of President William Ruto\u2019s administration. Omtatah emphasized that the inquiry would address a series of forced disappearances that date back to June 2024, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}