The family of a 27-year-old man whose body was found in a river in Mwiki area, Nairobi, says he died by drowning.
Ian Singoei went missing on December 31 in the area before his body was discovered five days later on January 4.
He is a son to Elgeyo Marakwet County Commissioner Dr John Korir.
Korir said his son was not an activist as claimed.
He said his son was in the company of his friends on New Year’s Eve in Mwiki area in Kasarani, whereupon he went missing and could not be reached on the phone triggering an extensive search and reports to the police.
His body was retrieved from the river not very far from where he lived in Mwiki and taken to the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) for postmortem and preservation.
The preliminary postmortem indicates the cause of death as was as a result of drowning, Korir said.
He said further investigations of some samples are yet to be analyzed for any toxicity.
“We as a family have entrusted the police to conduct in-depth investigations into this incident and wish to categorically disassociate the demise of our beloved Ian to the speculations, rumours, and innuendos being circulated in the media portraying our son’s case being associated with abduction.
“For avoidance of doubt, our son was such a law-abiding young professional who we have no reason whatsoever to associate with the allegations being erroneously publicized in the media. Our son has never been an activist nor inclined to politics. Those behind these erroneous publications are hurting the family a lot more since it is our honest contention that our son’s demise has no relationship with the cases being referred to,” he said in a statement.
This comes days after Ibrahim Mwiti who had gone missing in November 2024 was buried at the Lang’ata cemetery.
His body was found at the Thika Level Four mortuary.
This was more than a month after he went missing in unclear circumstances.
Mwiti was last seen in Nairobi city centre before he disappeared, prompting a search by his family as his friends resorted to social media platforms seeking help to locate to him.
The family filed a missing person report at Kamukunji Police Station on November 15, 2024, under OB number 80A/13/11/24, they said.
Their search ended in death after identifying his body at a mortuary in Thika on January 2, 2025.
Police and morgue officials said the death was as a result of hit and run.
Mwiti earned a living as a delivery man some 45 kilometres away from where he was last seen.
He was buried on Friday.
Police are yet to issue a statement on the cases.
The deaths come at a time when the State has come under fire over several abductions.
Over the past six months, cases of abductions and enforced disappearances have become common as parents living in fear of their youth disappearing without a trace.
According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, there have been at least 82 cases of abductions since June last year, the period when youths took to the streets to protest against the Finance Bill.
In the last three months of 2024, at least 13 cases of abductions were recorded with December alone accounting for seven, the Commission said last week.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Mulele Ingonga directed the police to inform him on status or investigations into claims of abductions and forced disappearances by January 1, 2025.
He said he is concerned with reports of abductions and forced disappearances in the country hence need for the probe.
He said he is cognisant of the state’s obligation to protect and preserve the right to life and the freedom and security of the person as provided for under Articles 26 and 29 among other provisions of the Constitution of Kenya.
He directed the Inspector General of police Douglas Kanja and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority to probe the matter within three days and forward the probe file to his office for action.
He cited the cases of Steve Mbisi, Billy Mwangi, Peter Muteti, Bernard Kavuli, Rony Kiplang’at and recently cartoonist Gideon Kibet alias Kibet Bull.
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