6 January 2025
Disappearance of cartoonist and influencer Kibet Bull
Gideon Kibet, alias Kibet Bull, a cartoonist and social media influencer and critic of Kenyan President William Ruto, has been missing since meeting opposition senator Okiya Omtata in Nairobi on 24 December. A student, he was due to travel to Israel on 27 December to study at Tel Aviv University, but has not been heard from since his disappearance. His brother has also been reported missing.
In a press release published on 28 December 2024 and quoted by the Kenya Times, the East African Cartoonists Society (KATUNI) expressed its concern at his disappearance and condemned it as a kidnapping, one of a series of disappearances of dissident voices from the regime, particularly young social media influencers. The organisation condemns a climate of intimidation that is harmful to freedom of expression and urges the national police to be held to account, while the police deny any involvement in the cartoonist’s disappearance. According to press reports, police officers have already raided Kibet Bull’s home in Nakuru, a town around 150 km from the capital, in an unsuccessful attempt to arrest him.
In an opinion piece published on Aljazeera on 3 January, Patrick Gathara, editor-in-chief of The New Humanitarian, expressed alarm at this targeting of a cartoonist by the Kenyan authorities, pointing out that ‘even during the worst days of Daniel Arap Moi’s dictatorship, which lasted 24 years and ravaged the country from 1978 to 2002, cartoonists were not directly targeted by the State’.
On 30 December, many Kenyans took to the streets to protest against a series of recent and unexplained kidnappings of government critics. Numerous cases had already been recorded last summer when young Kenyans took part in a march against the tax hikes proposed by the Ruto administration.
In a press release published on 26 December 2024, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) expressed alarm at the worrying phenomenon of kidnappings in several regions of the country, carried out clandestinely by unidentified armed persons. The KNCHR stresses that the abductees are dissidents who make their voices heard, particularly on social platforms. It has recorded 82 cases of abduction or enforced disappearance since June, including 7 cases reported in December. A total of 29 people have been reported missing since June.
Last July, Irungu Houghton, Executive Director of Amnesty International Kenya, was alarmed by clear cases of abuse and illegal arrests, including torture.
Although Kenyan President William Ruto publicly acknowledged, for the first time, abuses of power by his security forces, admitting that there had been ‘cases of excessive and extrajudicial actions’ by the security forces, he did not specify what these actions were.
Cartooning for Peace is calling for the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Kibet Bull to be fully clarified, in a context that is very alarming for the physical integrity of the cartoonist.
