How Ethiopians are being trafficked, exploited and dumped in Nairobi City

In a heartbreaking scene, twenty-three frail Ethiopian men of varying ages stood unsteadily at the dock, their bodies gaunt from exhaustion and starvation, barely unable to support their own weight. 

Their eyes, hollow with despair after a merciless journey on foot from Ethiopia, reflected a period of deception, captivity, and suffering at the hands of ruthless traffickers. Yet in that moment, a glimmer of hope was pegged on the court’s order, a repatriation. 

According to the investigating officer Police Constable Silas Ochieng’ attached to Obama Police Station, the victims had been callously dumped near the station in Nairobi’s Obama estate on February 21, 2026, by suspected traffickers after they could not extract more ransom from desperate families back home.  

Ochieng’, the lead investigator approached the bench with urgency, informing Senior Resident Magistrate Stephanie Bett that unknown individuals had held these vulnerable people hostage in a suspected  exploitation. 

“On February 21, 2026, patrol officers discovered the group stranded and disoriented in Obama estate,” the officer told the court. “When questioned, they could not produce any legal documents for their presence in Kenya. Unable to communicate effectivelly, they were escorted to the station, booked under Occurrence Book entry 04/21/02/2026, and held for further assistance.” 

The officer pleaded for repatriation orders, emphasizing that these were clear victims of human trafficking, lured with false promises of prosperous jobs in Nairobi or beyond only to endure confinement in cramped Eastlands hideouts like Korogocho and Kayole. 

“They are forced to stay in tiny rooms full beyond capacity, food and water were rationed to the bare minimum while traffickers extorted more money from families, claiming the “lost” relatives needed funds for safe return,” Ochieng said. 

One victim, Samuel Live, was the rare voice able to speak English. In a quiet, halting testimony, he described the grueling reality: forced to trek on foot across borders with scant food and water, enduring unimaginable hardship just to reach what they believed would be the land of opportunities.  

As he translated the proceedings for his companions, the group, especially the youngest teens and the elderly listened with visible sorrow, their frail frames trembling. 

When State Counsel Moureen Mwenesa, interpreting the magistrate’s words, asked directly: “You shall be taken back to your home country as sought by the police officer. Do you agree to that?”  

A wave of visible relief washed over them. In unison, weakened but resolute, they nodded and voiced their agreement. The court granted the repatriation orders.