Top Envoy in Hot Soup Over Disappearance of Kenyan Activists in Uganda

A Kenyan public affairs advisor, Francis Wanjiku, has announced plans to file a petition at the High Court of Kenya to remove the diplomatic immunity of Uganda’s top diplomat in Nairobi, Eunice Kigenyi. 

The move follows the mysterious disappearance of two Kenyan activists, Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, in Kampala, Uganda.

The two activists went missing on October 1 while attending a political rally organised by Uganda’s opposition leader, Bobi Wine. 

Witnesses said they were taken away by armed men at a petrol station in Kampala, and their whereabouts remain unknown nearly a month later.

Wanjiku said he would seek to have Kigenyi, who serves as Uganda’s Chargé d’Affaires, stripped of her diplomatic immunity if Uganda fails to release the two Kenyans. 

“Next week, I will petition the High Court to strip Ambassador Eunice Kigenyi of her diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” he stated.

However, legal experts say such a petition is unlikely to succeed because diplomats are protected under international law. 

The Vienna Convention, which Kenya has ratified, gives foreign diplomats full immunity from arrest and prosecution in the host country. 

According to Article 31 of the Convention, diplomats cannot be tried in the receiving state’s courts except in a few limited cases, such as private property or commercial disputes.

Any waiver of immunity can only be granted by the diplomat’s home country—in this case, Uganda—and not by Kenya or its courts. 

The only step Kenya could take would be to formally request Uganda to recall its envoy or withdraw her immunity through diplomatic channels.

The disappearance of Njagi and Oyoo has caused public outrage both in Kenya and Uganda. 

Many human rights groups have condemned the incident and demanded answers from the Ugandan authorities. 

Both the Ugandan police and military have denied holding the two men, even after lawyers filed a habeas corpus case seeking their release.

Kenyans are now urging President William Ruto to raise the issue with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to ensure justice and accountability. 

The case has also renewed debate on how far diplomatic immunity should go, especially when serious human rights concerns are involved.