Uganda Police have denied allegations that they are holding two missing Kenyan activists, Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, who reportedly disappeared in Kampala last week.
Speaking during a State of Security press briefing on Monday, October 6, Uganda National Police (UNP) Spokesperson ACP Kituuma Rusoke said there were no official reports indicating that the two activists were in police custody.
“On the matter of the two Kenyan activists who disappeared in Uganda, I am not briefed by the police that we have them in our custody. So at the moment, I do not have any information to the effect that they are in police custody,” Rusoke said.
He added that no formal reports had been filed regarding their disappearance. “I also do not know whether it has been reported formally whether they are lost persons. I do not have that information,” he stated.
Njagi and Oyoo were allegedly abducted on Wednesday, October 1, at a petrol station in Kireka township, just outside Kampala. Witnesses claim they were forced into a van at gunpoint while attending a political campaign meeting.
The activists were reportedly in Uganda to meet National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Bobi Wine, the main challenger to President Yoweri Museveni in the upcoming general elections.
According to an eyewitness who was also abducted and later released, the two were bundled into a waiting car and driven away, after which their phones were switched off. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Following the incident, Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed it had reached out to Ugandan authorities for clarification. Principal Secretary Korir Sin’goei stated that Kenya’s Mission in Kampala had taken up the matter, seeking information about the activists’ safety and location.
In a formal note, Kenya’s High Commission in Uganda urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala to engage security agencies to establish the activists’ whereabouts and ensure their safe return to Kenya.
