End worrying trend of kidnaps and murders

What you need to know:

  • That some individuals brazenly went to the children’s homes, enticed, seized and killed them illustrates a society that has lost its soul.
  • That some individuals brazenly went to the children’s homes, enticed, seized and killed them illustrates a society that has lost its soul.

Reports of rising numbers of people disappearing without trace are extremely frightening. Data shows that some 2,350 individuals have been recorded missing since last December, and that must be a conservative figure because there are many that go unreported.

Often, the missing are later found dead and hidden in some weird places. A case in point was in Athi River this week, where two young children, aged three and four, who went missing sometime last month were found dead and their bodies dumped in the boot of a car parked at a police station.

That some individuals brazenly went to the children’s homes, enticed, seized and killed them illustrates a society that has lost its soul.

INTERVENTION

As we have reported this week, we have a crisis of monumental proportions that requires urgent and strategic intervention.

This is a manifestation of a society gone haywire and a defective security system. Clearly, there are organised gangs that kidnap and kill people for whatever reasons. They are demented, sadistic and hell-bent on causing total misery and pain to families.

All these raise the fundamental question of safety of citizens. Take the Athi River case, where the bodies of the children were dumped in a car at a police station; it smirks of perverted thinking, extreme sadism and spite.

The crooks wanted to pass the gory message that not only can they kidnap and kill, but also outsmart the police even within their premises.

Looking at all reported incidents of missing persons, there is a serious concern that the police have not done their job.

MISSING INDIVIDUALS

They have failed to trace the missing individuals or their tormentors. Yet in this day and age, investigations are high-tech.

When investigators set out to track criminals, they cannot miss them. But it seems there is less interest in pursuing these matters.

It is telling, for example, that the families of three people who went missing on their way to Thika in April, and who met with Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai three weeks ago, still do not know what happened to their kin.

Who else can save these traumatised families? Does it mean the criminals are so smart that they cannot be caught by the police? Are they connected to some security officers and therefore are able to escape dragnets?

The government must bring to an end the rising spate of kidnaps and killings, for it has the sacrosanct duty of protecting citizens. Citizens should also be on lookout and report suspected kidnap cases.