Six Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers were on Monday May 5 arraigned before a Nakuru court to face charges in connection with the abduction of a fisherman, Brian Odhiambo, who went missing in January near Lake Nakuru National Park.
The rangers-Francis Gachoki, Alexander Lorogoi, Isaac Wabukala, Michael Kimaiyo, Evans Kipsang, and Abdulrahman Ali Sudi — appeared before Principal Magistrate Kipkurui Kibellion and pleaded not guilty to one count of abduction with intent to confine.
The charge relates to the alleged abduction of Odhiambo on January 18 in Nakuru’s Bondeni area.
The prosecution said that the six rangers unlawfully abducted Odhiambo with the intent of secretly and wrongfully detaining him.
The case comes two months after the Nakuru High Court dismissed a petition seeking to compel the Kenya Wildlife Service to produce the missing fisherman, whose whereabouts remain unknown nearly three months after his disappearance.
On March 19, while visiting Nakuru, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen promised that the government would help find Odhiambo.
Murkomen also vowed that Kenya Wildlife Service officers involved would be held responsible of the fisherman’s disappearance.
Murkomen was forced to speak on the matter after Odhiambo’s mother, Elizabeth Auma, interrupted his speech in Nakuru.
“As a government, we will not allow a situation where a Kenyan goes missing without being accounted for. We are here to ensure lives are protected,” stated Murkomen.
Odhiambo,33, has been missing since January 18, 2025, when he was reportedly arrested by the KWS officers at the Lake Nakuru National Park.
According to his family, he was arrested for allegedly trespassing into the protected park
The KWS rangers traced him to his residence in Manyani estate, where they arrested him.
His family has been seeking answers about the whereabouts of their son with his disappearance sparking protests in Nakuru.
The family has searched for him broadly, including in mortuaries and hospitals, but he has never been found.
