Five Missing Activists Found Dumped by Roadside After Nairobi Protests as Search Continues for Sixth
Five of the six activists reported missing after anti-government demonstrations in Nairobi have been found alive and are receiving hospital treatment, rights groups have confirmed, while the search for a sixth activist continues.
The activists, who disappeared following protests held on Thursday, June 25, were reportedly discovered by the roadside after more than 24 hours of uncertainty over their whereabouts.
Human rights organisation Vocal Africa announced on Saturday, June 27, that five of the missing individuals had been located and were undergoing treatment for injuries allegedly sustained during their detention.
“Five of the comrades who were violently arrested at Parliament yesterday have been located,” the organisation said in a statement.
It added: “They were found and are currently in hospital receiving medical treatment for physical injuries.”
However, Vocal Africa said one activist, Davis Lichuma, popularly known as “Diffe”, remains unaccounted for, prompting renewed calls for security agencies to disclose his whereabouts.
The six activists identified by the organisation are Davis Lichuma (alias Diffe), Elisha Alam, Collins Ochieng, Frederick Odhiambo Ojiro, Muteti Mulinge and Michael Ngige (alias Kenyatta).
According to rights groups, the activists were arrested near Parliament Buildings during demonstrations commemorating the first anniversary of the 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests, which drew thousands of Kenyans onto the streets demanding government accountability.
Human rights organisations, including the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), raised alarm on Friday after repeated visits to several police stations across Nairobi allegedly failed to establish the whereabouts of the six activists.
Witnesses and fellow campaigners, among them activist Boniface Mwangi, claimed the arrests were carried out by plainclothes officers before the group was reportedly taken to Nairobi’s Central Police Station.
Rights organisations further alleged that officers at the station declined to enter the activists’ names into the official custody register before they were allegedly transferred to an unknown location. These claims have not been independently verified.
The circumstances surrounding the activists’ disappearance remain unclear, and it is yet to be established whether they formed part of the 355 arrests announced by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen following the nationwide demonstrations.
Meanwhile, legal teams representing arrested protesters secured the release of more than 200 demonstrators on Friday after a Nairobi court granted them freedom on a cash bail of KSh1,000 each.
Human rights groups have urged authorities to account for the missing activist and investigate the circumstances under which the five others were allegedly detained and later found with injuries.
As of Saturday evening, security agencies had not publicly commented on the claims regarding the activists’ alleged disappearance or the circumstances under which the five were found.
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