Wafula Buke was in the trenches in the late '90s and survived some of the darkest days in Kenya’s political history.
He knows exactly what it means to be abducted, to live one day at a time unsure if you’ll make it out alive.
Unlike him, many were never seen again.
Others returned haunted, with their their stories a window into the terror of captivity. But few can describe, in chilling detail, what it truly feels like to be in the hands of abductors.
Activist Wafula Buke during interview at Zuri Poa Hotel Kanduyi Bungoma County on June 5, 2025.
Photo credit: Isaac Wale | Nation Media Group
As the country marks exactly one year since the anti-finance bill protests turned deadly leaving 60 dead and several others maimed or disappeared, Buke fears that abductions are quietly becoming the norm.
He went through 24 arrests, each one, he says, a brutal lesson.
“I became learned,” he reflects, “about many things.”
Physical and psychological torture
“Eliminations in modern times may no longer be instant. Dictators have realised that assassinations carry a heavy political price. So now, they inject chemicals into captives, releasing them only to die months later. We may celebrate their freedom, unaware their health has been irreversibly compromised,” he says.
“We cannot talk about justice and hope. When our institutions, and even our industries, are being sold off like they were in colonial times.”
Bob Njagi, an activist abducted on August 19, 2024, spent 32 days in secret detention alongside fellow activists Aslam and Jamil Longton.
They were picked up by masked men in Mlolongo and Kitengela and subjected to both physical and psychological torture.
Kenyan activist Bob Njagi during an interview in Kitengela town, Kajiado County, on May 29, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
“Our abductors never came out clearly and said who they were but I believe they were State agents. Up until today, I still believe they were state agents,” Mr Njagi said.
Despite the ordeal, their resolve remains unshaken.
“Still, mimi bado ni mwanaharakati. Sita lose hope, nitazidi kupigania Wakenya ,” said Aslam Longton.
“It is not easy to fight for freedoms. Those who are oppressing the people have to fight back,” said Njagi.
From left (seated, front row): Jamil Longton, Monicah Mwende, Bob Njagi, Dancan Kyalo and Aslam Longton address journalists at the Kenya Human Rights Commission headquarters in Nairobi on February 2, 2025.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
“I did not actually believe I was being set free. I thought that was the day they were going to finish us,” Njagi recounted.
“I think that we must have regime change a total, complete regime change that can enhance human rights and give justice to all those victims of extrajudicial killings and abductions,” he said.
On September 13, 2022, President William Ruto stood at Kasarani Stadium, Bible in hand and took the oath of office. It was a day laden with optimism after he was elected on the promise of peace and justice, swearing before the nation to end extrajudicial killings and political assassinations.
“There shall never be again extrajudicial killings or political assassinations,” the President declared during the burial of former Chief of Defence Forces Francis Ogolla in April 2024.
“There shall never be another occasion where we have bodies of Kenyans in River Yala. It will never happen again. Not under my watch.”
The past 12 months have seen a spike in human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and police killings, incidents critics say rival the darkest days of past regimes.
“The promise should have been that extrajudicial killings should continue and will continue at high speed,” said Bernard Kavuli, a journalism student and survivor of abduction.
According to the 2024 Missing Voices report, 159 cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances were recorded last year. Of these, 104, about 65 percent were attributed to police action, while 55 were cases of enforced disappearance.
Kavuli, an outspoken voice in the June 2024 “Ruto Must Go” movement, was abducted from a petrol station in Ngong on December 22 and disappeared for 15 days.
“'Ruto Must Go’ is not only my call. It is everybody’s call. 'Ruto Must Go’ is happening. It is there, na si mimi nilianzisha hiyo . It is Kenyans who started that hashtag,” he says.
During his disappearance, he says he was tortured, stripped and starved.
“They told me that their mandate is to protect the presidency under whatever circumstance even if it means death,” he recounted.
