Kenya School of Law (KSL) Student Governing Council President Joshua Okayo, who was abducted by police last Wednesday during the peak of the anti-Finance Bill demonstrations, was found near Margua River in Murang’a County.
Officials said he was disturbed and most likely tortured.
He was taken to Avenue Hospital in Thika under close observation due to the psychological trauma of the ordeal.
Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo confirmed Okayo’s rescue and that of Regis Wanjala, another student who also went missing on the same day.
“We have confirmation that two comrades have been dumped at unknown locations after their abductions. Joshua Okayo was dumped somewhere in Murang’a after being abducted in Rongai on Wednesday,” Odhiambo said in a statement on X on Friday.
“Regis Wanjala who was abducted on the same day was also found dumped in a tea plantation in Ruiru. The two are safe but currently receiving medical attention and are still shaken up from the ordeal. We shall find recourse for these unfortunate actions of police. Justice be our shield and defender.”
Odhiambo has been vocal in condemning the reported police abductions, drawing parallels to the authoritarian era of the late former President Daniel Moi.
“I feel like we are going back to the Moi era. the last we heard of abductions and torture chambers. Our country is singing about and in the region people are praising Kenyans such abductions coming back. Some of the abducted persons have been released but others remain unaccounted for,” she said.
She called for the immediate release of protesters in detention and urged accountability from law enforcement authorities.
Dozens of people have been abducted by state agents as part of efforts to defuse the protests in the country.
The protesters have forced the deployment of the military to the streets to help police in maintaining security.
This is after some of the protesters breached Parliament in reaction to MPs’ move to pass the bill. President William Ruto later declined to sign the bill.