Lawyer-cum-activist Ndiang’ui Kinyagia reported missing as tension builds up ahead of planned Gen Z demos tomorrow

An online lawyer-cum-activist Ndiang’ui Kinyagia is missing after apparently being arrested by police over a six-hour programme he published regarding tomorrow’s planned protest by Gen Zs and families of at least 60 youths killed by police during last year’s anti-Finance Bill 2024.

“Since then, he has disappeared without a trace…his current whereabouts remain completely unknown,” said LSK in a statement.

LSK President Faith Odhiambo and its Public Interest Litigation Directorate met with family who revealed that his house was broken into by people believed to be security agents.

The 1 pm operation on Sunday saw the seizure of electronic devices and travel documents – an old and new passport and a yellow fever certificate.

“According to eyewitnesses, Mr Kinyagia’s residence was surrounded by between six and ten Subaru vehicles. A report was filed at Kinoo Police Station, and an inventory of seized items including laptops, passports, and electronic devices was submitted,” LSK said.

In his post, the lawyer had proposed a march to State House and swearing-in of a transitional council, an apparent indication of a plot to overthrow President William Ruto’s post.

In a social media post by lawyer Wahome Thuku, neither his family nor friends of Kinyagia, also an online activist, know where he has been as the family has indicated that they reported his disappearance at Kinoo Police station yesterday morning. His phone has been off since Saturday.

However, officers at the station allegedly said they had no knowledge of the incident, stating that no report had been made by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), whose officers are alleged to have conducted a raid at Kinyagia’ s residence.

Wahome shared that sleuths from the DCI broke into his house in Kinoo on Sunday after a long standoff with the apartment caretaker.

According to the post shared by Wahome, the detectives are reported to have arrived at the residence at around 2pm in about ten vehicles and camped at the compound for nearly nine hours.

After negotiating with the caretaker for hours, they forcibly entered the house at around 9pm carrying away several of his personal items, including two laptops, two phones, both his old and current passports, and a yellow fever card.

After the operation, they recorded an inventory of the seized items with the caretaker and locked the house using their own padlock.

At the time of the raid, Kinyagia, who is also an information technology expert and the Founder and MD of ARI Limited, an ICT firm in Nairobi, was not present. The officers did not show any court order allowing them to break into the premises.

The lawyer shared that Kanyagia’s mother last spoke to his son on Saturday morning, after which his phone went silent.

Since then, there has been no communication, and efforts by the family and friends to trace him have yielded no fruits.

Wahome accompanied the family of the missing young man to the LSK ffices in Nairobi where they held a meeting with the LSK President Faith Odhiambo, who agreed that they will move to court for intervention.

“I later accompanied the family to the LSK offices where we held a meeting with the LSK president Faith Odhiambo and other officials and agreed to have the society move to court for further intervention,” he shared.

LSK is preparing to file an urgent application today at the High Court seeking to compel the police to produce Kinyagia and explain the circumstances of his disappearance and the raid on his home.

This is the latest incident which adds to the growing concerns around the safety of vocal bloggers and activists in Kenya, with recent months seeing an increase in disappearances and detentions under unclear circumstances.

“This incident bears the hallmarks of an enforced disappearance and a possible unlawful arrest or detention. The LSK views it as a grave violation of constitutional rights and a direct attack on the rule of law in Kenya. We are demanding immediate and transparent action from the authorities. We call on any individual with relevant information no matter how small, to come forward. The Law Society will not relent until Advocate Ndiangui Kinyagia is safely accounted for and those responsible are held to full account,” LSK said.