Questions have emerged over the fate of Kenyan police officer Benedict Kabiru, who was reported missing in Haiti earlier this year, after conflicting statements from the Multinational Security Support (MSS) commander and President William Ruto.
Kabiru disappeared in March 2025 following an ambush during a peacekeeping mission under the MSS force in the crisis-hit Caribbean nation.
Since then, senior security officials and the president have offered contradictory updates, fueling confusion about whether he is missing or dead.
On Saturday, April 5, MSS Commander Godfrey Otunge confirmed Kabiru had gone missing during an operation, noting that efforts were underway to establish his whereabouts.
"The officer that we are talking about, Benedict Kabiru, was involved in an operation and that is when he went missing. As a commander, one of the first things is that you must account for all officers who are in the operation. As we speak, we are still establishing where the officer is," he said.
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More than five months later, on Thursday, September 18, Otunge maintained that Kabiru’s was still missing in, while emphasizing ongoing efforts to locate him.
"One officer is still missing in action and as we are speaking we have put all the mechanisms in place to ensure that we get our officer back. That is the soft and hard approach which we are using to ensure that we get our officer who is still missing back in action," he stated.
However, on Wednesday, September 23, Ruto appeared to contradict the MSS commander during his speech at the Opening Session of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
He stated that Kabiru, alongside two other Kenyan officers, had died in the line of duty.
"I must use this occasion to honour Kenyan officers Samuel Tompoi, Benedict Kabiru and Kennedy Mzuve who lost their lives in the line of duty," he said.
When Kabiru went missing, a viral video of the officer in the hands of Haitian gangs emerged but MSS spokesperson Jack Ombaka was quickly to flag it.
Speaking on Saturday, April 6, during an interview, Ombaka dismissed the video, saying it was part of propaganda by the gangs in Haiti.
“One thing that is clear here in Haiti is that many of the gangs thrive on propaganda. That video is in circulation, and more so in the advent of AI, it is very unlikely that it is a video of Benedict circulating.
"When we came here, the gangs were thriving on propaganda, and a lot of mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that they don’t use social media to spread the same propaganda," he said.
Mobaka noted that the search was still ongoing and they were working with locals, the Haitian government and international partners to locate the officer.
"We are still establishing where the officer is, he is still missing in action, and we are using all the available resources.
"I am happy to report that we are making good progress, and all the actors, the local Haitian population, the Haitian government, and international partners are helping us to trace the officer," he added.
