Anti-Finance Bill demos: 39 people still missing amid fears of police abductions, killings

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya leadership have handed over a report on 39 missing persons from the anti-Finance Bill 2024 protests to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

LSK and Azimio say they continue to receive reports from families of people who participated in the protests and cannot be accounted for.

Several people are still nursing injuries in different hospitals across the country even as LSK vows to seek legal redress on behalf of all who have been affected.

At the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Citizen TV spoke to the family of 20-year-old Annex Kanyi from the Canaan area of Dandora in Nairobi; they had gone to the facility for the third time to confirm whether he was one of the victims nursing injuries after he failed to return home on Tuesday this week. 

He participated in the anti-Finance Bill demos and has been missing since.

“Walikuwa watano, wengine walirudi…yeye pekee yake hakurudi… tukiuliza Kanyi ako wapi wanasema alienda maandamano,” said Kanyi's aunt Mama Njoroge.

The family of Kanyi is one of the more than 30 families in distress after their kin went missing during the protests.

“Kama alikufa tujue kwenye ako kama ako jela tujue juu tunasumbuka bure na hatujui ako wapi na hatujamuona na alitoka tu kwa nyumba vizuri, hakusema kwenye ameenda, tumeambiwa na wengine ameenda maandamano,” she added.

Several others are nursing injuries in different hospitals across the country.

The LSK says it will represent victims of police brutality in court accusing the government of using excessive force.

“We just came to assure them and share our details that once they are discharged they can come to the law society so that we can give the necessary legal support that they may need. We also spoke to one lady who was shot by a stray bullet on her way from work so she will also be coming to the law society so that we can seek legal redress,” LSK President Faith Odhiambo noted.

In Mombasa, a family is demanding justice after their kin, 23-year-old Ahmed Mohammed, was hit by a stray bullet on his way home on Thursday.

In Karambaini village, Kiambu County, emotions ran high as family and friends laid to rest 21-year-old Evans Kiratu who died after a tear gas canister hit him on his private parts a week ago during the protests.

The family is demanding justice for their son who was the second confirmed fatality from the protests.