One activist was arrested while organizing a blood drive for injured protesters. Another said he was abducted while working at home after midnight, with his wife and three children sleeping nearby. A third said he was beaten and blindfolded before being thrown into the trunk of a car.
All said they had been detained by Kenyan government security forces in the past two weeks after they spoke out against a controversial bill to raise taxes in the cash-strapped East African nation.
Some have participated in wave of anti-government protests has rocked Kenya since the bill was first introduced. At least 39 people were killed in clashes with police in June, according to Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
At least 32 people, including activists, medical workers and social media influencers, have been kidnapped or Arbitrary detentionaccording to interviews with human rights monitors and dozens of activists, including five who recounted their arrests. Some spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.
They recounted how armed men wearing hoods and riding in unmarked vehicles dragged them off the streets or their homes in the middle of the night, blindfolded them, beat them and interrogated them about their participation in the protests.
“They were like a swarm of bees,” said Gabriel Oguda, a policy analyst and commentator, referring to the armed, hooded men who abducted him from his home in the capital Nairobi at 2 a.m. the night before a major protest.
He said they slapped and beat him, searched his home, demanded to know if he had received money to organize protests, and then ordered him to unlock his phone. When he said some apps on his phone required his fingerprint to unlock, they threatened to cut off his thumb, he said.
Some of those detained remain missing, lawyers say. The disappearances have rocked Kenya, long a stable anchorage in the Horn of Africa. Activists say the disappearances have left an indelible stain on the government. President William Rutoan important ally of the West Honored by President Biden in May when Kenya was designated as a major security partner of the United States.
Last week, a Supreme Court judge called the incidents “kidnappings” and ordered the police and the National Intelligence Agency, a civilian agency whose director is appointed by the president, to stop, citing the Constitution.
During a live discussion with Kenyans on social media site X on Friday, Mr Ruto was confronted by a political activist who said police had beaten him, stolen items from his home and taken him to an unknown location.
“If that is the treatment you have been subjected to, I apologize,” Mr. Ruto said. “That is not right.” The president also said he promised to investigate “a new issue called kidnapping,” and ensure that police follow legal procedures when making arrests.
Police did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“The kidnappings and killings show how illiberal the Kenyan state, especially its law enforcement and accompanying police force, have become,” said Njoki Wamai, associate professor of international relations at the United States-Africa International University in Nairobi.
One detained activist said a loaded rifle was placed next to his head. Most of those interviewed said they were hooded and shackled for hours, denied water or food, and kept in cold rooms in unknown locations, wearing light clothing.
George Towett Diano, a human rights activist and farmer in the Trans-Nzoia District of the Rift Valley, a stronghold of President Ruto, said he had been receiving anonymous calls for weeks urging him to stop opposing the finance bill.
Fearing for his life, Mr. Diano, 29, decided to leave Nairobi in late June. Before he could flee, he was ambushed by five men with pistols, he said.
Mr. Diano said he was beaten, blindfolded and stuffed into the trunk of a car. After being interrogated for hours, the men dropped him off in a town about 80 miles away, he said. They took his bloody clothes and left him in his boxers, he said. Since then, Mr. Diano said he has lived in fear, with some family members, friends and business partners afraid to associate with him.
“We are being seen and treated as a threat to the nation,” said Diano. “But we started a movement to make this country better, and no amount of intimidation is going to make us back down.”
For many Kenyans, the latest kidnapping is reminiscent of the dictatorship of Daniel arap mewhose 24 years in powerFrom 1978 to 2002, it was plagued by corruption, kidnappings of opponents, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
“A dangerous precedent has been set,” said Faith Odhiambo, president of the Kenya Bar Association, a general bar association. working on release protesters. “The president wants to rule, but he wants to rule through fear.”
Kenya’s deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, who has been increasingly sidelined by President Ruto, has also blamed the National Intelligence Service for recent kidnappings, as well as a series of extrajudicial killings last year. Amnesty International said there had been 136 extrajudicial executions in Kenya In 2023, several victims died while in police custody.
The intelligence agency director could not be reached for comment.
“Ruto has taken Kenya back to the Moi era,” said Ms Wamai, the professor.
The tax increase bill was introduced in May. The revenue from the tax is supposed to help pay off Kenya’s huge debt. But many Kenyans are angry because government excesses and burdened by high living costs, have condemned the law.
After lawmakers passed the bill on June 25, Protesters stormed the parliament and burned part of it. The authorities responded with a violent crackdown, in which hundreds of people were injured and arrested. Mr. Ruto reject the bill the following day, but protesters have since ask him to resign.
On Friday, the president ordered an audit of the country’s debt, cuts to government office staff and spending, and retirement for government employees aged 60 and over.
Government officials say the protests are funded by foreign powers, an allegation the protesters have denied, arguing instead that they are part of a youth-led movement, leaderless across class and tribal boundaries.
“These young people are the gift that Kenya has always wanted,” said Julius Owino, a musician and radio station manager whose song “Cannot be blurred” has become a national feeling in 2002, during the final days of Mr. Moi’s rule. “The children are showing us how to stand up and not be afraid,” Mr. Owino said.
But for many young Kenyans, the price of protest is high.
At least one activist who spoke to The New York Times said they were sexually harassed and threatened. Others were told that they and their families would be harmed if they spoke publicly about what happened. All were questioned about who their leaders were and who was funding the anti-government protests.
One activist who spoke to The Times said he was asked to share the names of other activists. He said his interrogator told him, “‘If you want to continue speaking out about this bill and the government, you’d better seek asylum elsewhere,’” he said.
Today, protesters and human rights activists say a climate of fear remains pervasive among those who continue to demonstrate against the government. Many have changed their phone numbers and gone into hiding. They struggle to sleep, having survived a traumatic experience.
Mr Oguda, a policy analyst and columnist, said that after being dragged into a car by armed men and demanding his phone, he was ordered to lie face down.
“I told myself that if this is the day they have to kill me, then so be it,” Mr. Oguda said. “There is nothing I can do.”
He was eventually taken to a police station in a neighboring district and questioned by five police officers. Mr. Oguda was released after a day, never charged.
