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By Mary Mwendwa
Nairobi — Activist Davis Lichuma has been found alive after going missing for three days, allegedly abducted, tortured, and dumped at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), according to the Social Justice Centres Working Group. He was discovered in critical condition on Sunday night and later transferred to Nairobi Women’s Hospital for specialized treatment.
Witnesses reported that Lichuma appeared sedated, disoriented, and unable to speak when found. “He looked like he was tortured and looked so confused. I tried talking to him, but he could not respond,” one witness said.
Lichuma’s ordeal fits a disturbing pattern that has become distressingly familiar in Kenya’s current political landscape. He was among seven activists reportedly arrested near Parliament during the June 25 commemorations marking the second anniversary of the Gen Z protests. According to the victims, they were taken to an undisclosed location where they were beaten and tortured.
Six of the activists were later dumped along Lang’ata Road on Saturday morning with injuries consistent with beatings. They were found in various locations across Nairobi and are receiving treatment at Nairobi Women’s Hospital for injuries sustained from alleged beatings while in police custody. Lichuma remained unaccounted for until Sunday.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Collins Otieno, one of the six activists found earlier, described their ordeal: blindfolded, bundled into Subaru vehicles, driven for hours to an unknown location, and tortured. The men interrogating them repeatedly demanded to know who was financing the protests.
The Return of Abductions
Human rights organizations have raised alarm over what they describe as the return of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial abuses in Kenya. The numbers are stark. The Missing Voices coalition documented a staggering 450 percent increase in enforced disappearances in 2024, rising from 10 cases in 2023 to 55. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights recorded at least 63 deaths, 610 injuries, and 74 enforced disappearances during the 2024 protest period alone.
Activist Boniface Mwangi, who had earlier called for Lichuma’s release, accused rogue police squads of operating outside the law. “Davis Lichuma was arrested on Gen Z Mashujaa Day, removed from a gazetted police station by Ruto’s rogue police squad, who drive Subarus, mask their faces, and shoot innocent Kenyans,” Mwangi said.
The Social Justice Centers Working Group has demanded answers. “We will not accept silence, cover-ups, or excuses,” the group stated. “The Kenyan public deserves answers: Who took Davis? Where was he held? Who ordered his torture? Why was he abandoned and left for dead?”
The National Police Service (NPS) confirmed receiving a missing person report for Lichuma filed at Central Police Station. Spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga stated that all allegations of enforced disappearances and torture would be investigated “thoroughly, professionally, impartially, and expeditiously.” Despite photographic evidence of their arrests circulating widely, police at multiple Nairobi stations reportedly refused to log the disappearances in their occurrence books.
Lichuma’s case now adds to growing scrutiny over allegations of enforced disappearances and torture raised by civil society groups in the wake of recent anti-government protests. His reappearance has intensified fears that enforced disappearances are once again being used to intimidate government critics and protesters.
