Matiang’i slams govt’s inaction over missing Bob Njagi, Oyoo

Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has scoffed at the Kenyan government over what he termed as embarrassing inaction in compelling Uganda to explain the whereabouts of two missing Kenyans, Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo.

Speaking during an interview on a local radio station on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, Matiang’i said the government’s silence on the fate of the duo said to have been abducted by Ugandan authorities reflects a deeper failure in Kenya’s foreign policy and regional diplomacy.

“I’m even ashamed to discuss this. Citizens of my country, Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, are arrested by a government in our neighborhood, and then we sleep and wake up with a government where officials, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, are not able to actually say where they are,” he said.

Matiang’i decried what he called the battered image of Kenya in the East African (EAC) region, warning that the country’s long-standing reputation as a diplomatic leader was fast eroding.

I am concerned about our image. I am concerned about how we are faring. Our image is being battered, all of which is a result of bad management of our foreign policy,” the former CS said.

This comes even as the rights group continues to pile pressure on the President Yoweri Museveni-led government to explain the missing Kenyans, even as it denies knowledge of their whereabouts.

The activists are said to have been abducted on October 1, 2025, while attending a National Unity Platform (NUP) rally in Kampala and remain missing.

Njagi, the chairman of the Free Kenya Movement, and Oyoo, the group’s secretary-general, are said to have been picked up by plain-clothed security operatives in Kampala.

But despite widespread outcry and legal efforts, the government has yet to produce them in court.

Already, the High Court in Kampala ordered the state to present the two activists. Authorities failed to comply, prompting the court to postpone the matter to Wednesday, October 22, 2025, at 8 a.m. and demand a written explanation for their continued disappearance.

Disregard for regional treaties?

On his part, Matiang’i traced Kenya’s historical regional stature to decades of strong diplomacy, crediting it to the nation’s participation in the Non-Aligned Movement and its tradition of maintaining solid relations with neighbouring countries.

He lamented that this legacy was being dismantled by what he termed poor governance and mismanagement of foreign affairs.

For a long time, since independence, we maintained very solid relations with our neighbours because our trading life begins with them. But what we are seeing now, where we are even being linked with terror groups and other questionable organisations, is unacceptable. This must be fixed,” he said.

This comes days after Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, scoffed at the President Yoweri Museveni-led government after it failed to present two abducted Kenyan activists before the court as ordered.

In an X post on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, Bobi Wine decried the violations of human rights with impunity from the Ugandan authorities.

“Like it did with comrade Sam Mugumya, whom it abducted 2 months ago and remains missing to date, the shameless Museveni regime has also denied having in its custody our Kenyan comrades Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo,” he declared.

Despite these efforts, Ugandan authorities remain silent, further fuelling fears of state-sanctioned enforced disappearances.

“A regime that came to power 40 years ago, promising to end gross human rights violations, is now blatantly engaging in even worse! We must end this impunity once and for all, fellow Ugandans!” the X post read.