The uncertainty and despair of not knowing where your child is is a reality that more and more parents in Kenya face. Like those of 17-year-old Ramzi Karani, who disappeared from his home in Kayole, a densely populated neighborhood of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
“Ramzi never leaves home normally. We pray he comes back”, says his mother, Doris Kamati. The family is joined by hundreds of people across the country whose children appear daily on “Wanted” posters on social media and missing persons databases.
Reports of missing children, kidnappings, human trafficking and child abandonment are attracting increasing public attention and sparking discussion about the effectiveness of the country's child protection system. According to official data, 10,581 cases of child victims were registered between January 2025 and March 2026. Among them, 1,636 were missing, 1,952 were kidnapped, 6,820 were abandoned, and 173 fell into the hands of criminal groups involved in human trafficking.
Human rights activists see this data as evidence of the threats to which children in Kenya are exposed.
Families' concerns grow
In the Kenyan village of Sinendet, concerns for the safety of children have intensified after the death of 12-year-old Mercy Nyambura Mureiti. In May, the sixth-grader disappeared on her way home from school. A frantic search began, and when the girl's body was eventually found, the entire community was shaken. The case has reverberated across the country, and for many parents, abstract concerns have become a real threat.
The mayor of Sinendet, Kiarao Mwangi, told DW that the case has sparked a serious discussion about how children can be better supervised and how municipal authorities can help in this regard. “Children under 17 should never be left alone - they should always be accompanied by an adult to look after them”, emphasizes George Onyango, founder of a children's home in Kayole.
Children's rights advocates point out that in principle there are framework conditions for the protection of minors in Kenya, but their implementation is often lame. Investigations into missing children are regularly hampered by limited resources, late information and insufficient cooperation between authorities.
At the same time, the increasingly intensive use of digital platforms also poses new risks. Child protection organisations have increasingly warned of online exploitation, grooming and human trafficking networks using social media to reach out to these vulnerable children.
Demands for more decisive action
The growing number of cases has sparked a debate on how the country should respond, including some drastic proposals. Pastor John Waunga, for example, says: “Those who kidnap children should be executed”.
That sounds extreme, but it reflects growing public discontent with the high number of unsolved cases. “The government has done a very poor job. How many children disappear every year - over 8,000. Where do these children disappear to?”, asks the pastor.
And according to human rights activist Doanet Mbuga, the issue should become a national priority. “We should all be concerned. According to the “Missing Child Kenya” foundation, between 17 and 24 children go missing in the country every day. And the real number may be much higher. This shows how great the tragedy is for many.”
The families directly affected by the problem do not believe that it can be solved through databases and political debates. As the mother of the missing Ramzi says: “Yesterday it was my child, today it is yours, and tomorrow it could be someone else. We can no longer think that these are isolated cases - our children deserve security”.
Police: “There is no crisis”
The police reject claims that children are disappearing en masse in Kenya. Authorities say social media has been fueling public anxiety by spreading outdated or misleading content.
Police spokesman Muhiri Nyaga said investigators have seen old wanted ads, solved cases and even some AI-generated photos being reposted online, creating the impression of a rapidly escalating crisis. "There is no increase in missing children in Kenya," Nyaga said. "We have seen some of the content being reposted. It is creating a sense of emergency when there is no basis for it."
Police say 139 missing children have been reported so far this year. For comparison: in 2025 there were 754 such cases, and in 2024 - a total of 1276.
Author: Andrew Wasike