Erastus Mundia Went to Russia on a Government Work Programme. He Died in Ukraine. His Mother Is Still Waiting for His Body.

Erastus Mundia was 38 years old, a father of three, and the breadwinner of his extended family - a man who had paid his younger siblings' school fees and put them through secondary school out of his own pocket. In June 2025, he left Kenya on a work programme that his own government had arranged with Russia. He was sent to fight in Ukraine. He died there. His body has not been returned.

His mother, Josephine Ngoya, told Mwanzo TV: "This son of mine, if he is dead, the government should make an effort and at least bring his body back to me - so that I know I buried my child. And if he is still alive, I want to know he is alive and that he will come."

She has heard nothing from him since he left.

"Since I received that news, I haven't been the same. Even eating is difficult. When I sit down to eat and I start to think, I find I can't eat. I feel I'm in another world, somewhere I don't understand."

A Job Offer That Led to a Battlefield

Mundia's case is not a story of someone deceived by a social media advertisement or an anonymous broker. His family believes he was sent to Russia through official channels - and holds the Kenyan government directly responsible for what happened to him.

A Kenyan intelligence report seen by AFP found that hundreds of Kenyans promised civilian jobs in Russia were forced to sign contracts with the Russian Armed Forces - in some cases at gunpoint. The pipeline from "government-arranged work programme" to front-line assault unit is now documented at scale. Mundia was one of hundreds who made that journey. He is among those who did not come back.

Families Call for Prosecution of Alfred Mutua

See also: Kenya's Labour Minister Personally Promoted Recruitment of Men Now Dead in Ukraine

Mundia's family and advocates speaking to Mwanzo TV hold Kenya's Labour Minister Alfred Mutua directly responsible. One speaker called for Mutua to be charged and prosecuted, saying that if Kenyan authorities failed to pursue accountability, families would have no option but to take the case to an international court.

The accusations against Mutua are serious and go beyond ministerial negligence - advocates allege he personally benefited from the recruitment pipeline and was "leading a team" of local and international agents profiting from what they describe as modern slavery. These are allegations made by family advocates; they have not been established in court.
Mutua's own response, captured in the same broadcast, was to state that the majority of Kenyans who enlisted did so "with full knowledge and willingly," signing contracts "either as logistics officers or for combat." He added that the Kenyan government is "constantly working to try and rescue these Kenyans, some of whom have deliberately found themselves in this" situation.

That framing - that men who signed Russian-language contracts under duress, in a foreign country, after being promised civilian jobs, did so "willingly" - is precisely what Mundia's family disputes. Josephine Ngoya is not asking how her son ended up in Ukraine. She is asking for his body.

Kenya Has the Highest Confirmed African Casualties After Cameroon and Ghana

Kenya ranks fourth among African countries by confirmed casualties in Russia's armed forces, according to the list published by StopRussianRecruiters.org. The country has supplied Russia with over 1,000 known recruits - one of the largest single national contingent from Africa.

For Kenyan Families

If your relative served in the Russian Armed Forces and has gone missing or stopped making contact - reach out to the "I Want to Find" project.

If you or your relative signed or were coerced into signing a contract with the Russian Armed Forces and are looking for a way out - here is how to safely escape.

Source: Mwanzo TV