Joshua Okayo, president of the Student Governing Council at Kenya School of Law, has shared the chilling details of his abduction and torture during the recent anti-Finance Bill protests in Nairobi.
Okayo was held captive for over 72 hours by unidentified individuals. The ordeal began when he approached what he believed were fellow students at the KSL. Despite receiving three warning calls urging him to go into hiding, he decided to proceed with his plans.
“I received three calls, shared the numbers with my friends, and was advised to leave immediately because some people were looking for me,” Okayo recounted. “About 500 meters from my residence, someone called my name. Assuming they were acquaintances, I approached them and was arrested. They bundled me into a car and drove off.”
He was handcuffed, his head covered with a black sack cloth. After a 30-minute drive, his captors began interrogating him about the protests, their motivations, and organizers—questions he couldn’t answer.
“No one was funding us or organizing us. We were just concerned Kenyans,” Okayo explained.
The abductors also sought information on claims linking the Finance Bill, 2024, to the International Monetary Fund. After two hours of interrogation, Okayo was taken to a locked room, where his captors continued to torture him, hitting his ankles with metal and denying him food and water.
“They kept coming back every two hours, hitting my chest, ankles, and legs,” Okayo recalled. “I was hungry and thirsty, but they refused to give me water because I wasn’t giving them answers.”
Finally, after two hours of continuous torture and being strangled, he was thrown out of the car, left unable to move. Villagers speaking in Kikuyu found him, and he could only muster the word “Nairobi” before losing consciousness again.
His phone had been tampered with, WhatsApp uninstalled, and money withdrawn from his MPesa account. Since the incident, Okayo has struggled with sleep and heightened anxiety.
“I keep fighting and shouting in my sleep,” he said.
Okayo is among over 35 individuals allegedly abducted during the protests. In response, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has vowed to investigate and prosecute those involved in the illegal abductions, emphasizing the government’s commitment to upholding constitutional rights.
“All persons within Kenya are protected from unlawful arrests, abductions, and enforced disappearances,” Kindiki affirmed.