Court orders State to produce missing security analyst Mwenda Mbijiwe 'dead or alive'

The High Court in Nairobi on Tuesday ordered the Inspector General of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to produce in court missing security analyst Mwenda Mbijiwe, whose whereabouts remain unknown four years and five months since his alleged abduction.

In his orders, Justice Martin Muya compelled the two to within 7 days produce Mbijiwe dead or alive, following an urgent application filed by his mother Jane Gatwiri, who sought the court’s intervention in compelling the government to immediately and unconditionally set him free.

In her affidavit, Gatwiri narrates how Mbijiwe, a former Kenya Air Force soldier turned security analyst, was whisked away by men believed to be security officers, driving an unmarked vehicle in June 2021, never to be heard from to date.

Mbijiwe’s family alleged that he had earlier reported threats to his life and that his last public appearance was during a Muuga FM radio interview on June 10, 2021, where he discussed national security matters.

“The said detention is illegal, irregular, and unlawful and cannot be justified in a democratic society that believes in the rule of law and constitutionalism,” his mother argued in the application.

She further stated that the continued disappearance of Mbijiwe violates his constitutional rights to liberty, health, and freedom of movement, and that the state should be compelled to disclose his whereabouts.

Seven months after his disappearance, his brother Nicholas Bundi, in a bid to pile pressure on authorities, chose to carry out a symbolic walk from Meru County to the DCI headquarters in Nairobi to raise awareness about the family's plight as they awaited news on their missing loved one.