NAIROBI, Kenya – The Uganda National Police (UNP) has denied detaining two Kenyan activists who allegedly disappeared in Kampala last week, amid growing diplomatic and public pressure over their whereabouts.
UNP Spokesperson ACP Rusoke Kituuma on Monday said the force has not received any formal report indicating that Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo are in police custody.
“I am not briefed by the police that they are in our custody. At the moment, I have no information indicating that they are held by the police, nor that they are facing any accusations,” said Kituuma. “If I had such information, I would share it here without reservation.”
He added that the police had not received any report declaring the two as missing persons.
Njagi and Oyoo have not been seen or heard from since Wednesday, October 1, when they were reportedly forced into a van at gunpoint at a petrol station in Kireka township, just outside Kampala.
The pair had travelled to Uganda to join opposition politician Bobi Wine’s campaign trail ahead of the 2026 general elections.
According to a witness who was with them at the time, four armed individuals — including a woman seated in the front of a grey van — intercepted the activists before speeding off.
The witness, who was briefly detained and later released, said the men’s phones were switched off immediately after the incident.
“I don’t know where Bob is or which police station he has been taken to. I’m just stranded here,” the witness said.
The incident has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights groups and political movements across the region.
Kongamano La Mapinduzi (KLM), a Kenyan activist coalition, described the abduction as “a blatant act of repression” and demanded the men’s immediate release.
“Stop abducting Kenyans! Stop persecuting Africans who stand with progressive struggles like that of Bobi Wine and the people of Uganda,” KLM said in a statement.
The group also urged intervention by the Kenyan government, the East African Community, the African Union, and international human rights organizations.
In a communiqué dated October 3, the Kenyan High Commission in Kampala confirmed it had requested Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist in establishing the activists’ whereabouts.
“Two Kenyan nationals, Mr. Bob Njagi and Mr. Nicholas Oyoo, were allegedly abducted by armed men around the Kireka area, Kampala, on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, and their whereabouts remain unknown,” the statement read.
Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the matter was being handled through diplomatic channels.
“It is the duty of the Government of Kenya to protect its citizens in any part of the world,” Murkomen said.
The disappearance has heightened calls for transparency and cooperation between regional governments amid fears of increasing cross-border suppression of political activism.
