Gen Z protester Davis Lichuma found ill after alleged abduction

Davis Lichuma undergoing treatment at the Nairobi Women's Hospital. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Davis Lichuma was always seen holding the Constitution in his hands in every Gen Z protest. It is always his armour. At the protests, he stood with arms crossed, clutching a copy of the Constitution, a visual that made him one of the enduring faces of the 2025 Gen Z demonstrations.

But the image of Lichuma lying in a hospital bed at Nairobi Women’s Hospital told a different story. The story of a young Kenyan broken by the very State whose laws he sought to uphold and for simply exercising a constitutional right.

Lichuma was abducted on Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Nairobi during the second Gen Z commemoration march. He was among six activists arrested by police officers who later vanished. 

While his fellow detainees were released on Friday, Lichuma remained missing for three days. He was later found on Sunday night at Kenyatta National Hospital in critical condition.

According to his brother, Benson Shikala, unknown assailants dumped Lichuma on a roadside before motorcycle riders discovered him and rushed him to KNH.

“I found him at the emergency section in a very critical state. He was only in his shorts. He was coiled. The riders who took him to the hospital told me they picked him from the roadside, but they did not give much detail,” Shikala narrated, adding that they demanded that he give them Sh5,000.

“He looked frail, in pain and confused. He appeared like someone who had not eaten for days. He could not recognise anyone and he did not want to be touched. He was traumatised,” Shikala added.

Shikala said KNH was the last place he was visiting to check if he could have been dumped there, only to find him at the hospital’s emergency section.

Naomi Misati helps her friend Davis Lichuma drink water in bed at Nairobi Women’s Hospital after he was transferred from KNH by his brother, Benson Shikala. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

“I had gone to inquire at the emergency department if he may have been admitted there because we have been going round different police stations and mortuaries, but he was nowhere to be found. We have been to Kiambu, Mama Lucy Hospital and City Mortuary,” he said.

Shikala then mobilised friends and human rights activists after Lichuma was found.

Sayiela Mankuyo, a human rights defender, said, “We had actually concluded he had been killed and dumped in a morgue.”

According to Mankuyo, the same government that took him through the painful ordeal allegedly still denied him the right to emergency treatment. Mankuyo claimed that at KNH, Lichuma had not been attended to at the emergency section, claiming the medics were demanding money.

“The doctors did not want to attend to him without consultation fees,” said Mankuyo, adding that they transferred him to Nairobi Women’s Hospital for treatment.

At the hospital, Lichuma looked shocked and traumatised. By yesterday evening, he could not speak. Tears freely rolled down at any word of consolation from his colleagues and his face seemingly showed the untold pain of trauma.

His brother, friends and human rights defenders who visited him at the hospital said he would tremble at any touch.

“He can hear, but he’s not speaking,” Shikala said. “My brother will always go to the streets to fight for this country and he always carries the Constitution. He has previously been arrested and released, but this time they abducted and tortured him.”

Shikala pleaded for the release of all the abducted youth, stating that those who are being accused of committing crimes should be arrested and arraigned instead of being abducted and tortured.

“It’s very clear he was tortured for the last three days and it was done by the state. What’s very disappointing is that he was arrested by uniformed police officers, taken to Central Police Station and then was removed from the station and disappeared,” said Boniface Mwangi, a human rights activist.

The other human rights workers who were abducted on Thursday and later released were Elisha Alam, Collins Ochieng, Frederick Odhiambo Ojiro, Muteti Mulinge and Michael Ngige. The six, including Lichuma, were arrested near the Parliament Buildings.

The activists said they were subjected to harassment and torture for more than 24 hours. Ojiro said they were severely assaulted in captivity, claiming their captors repeatedly demanded to know who was financing the protests.

The five were treated at Nairobi Women’s Hospital and were later discharged.

Lichuma underwent several tests and X-ray scans to ascertain if he had suffered physical or internal injuries. “He has undergone some scans to find out if there are any head injuries or broken bones,” said Mwangi.

Mwangi, himself a victim of abduction and torture, said Lichuma’s inability to speak was a result of the severe psychological shock he endured. “Personally, I could not stand people talking around me because I had been blindfolded and handcuffed for a couple of days. What you’re seeing with Lichuma is actually the shock from what he has gone through. Hopefully, by the end of the day, after treatment, he will be able to speak.

“It’s very disappointing that we recruit and train police officers to protect life and property and then the same officers are now abducting and killing Kenyans,” said Mwangi.

So far, all six people who were arrested on Thursday have been accounted for.

Hussein Khalid, Executive Director of Vocal Africa, said the return of abductions and torture is an indication that human rights defenders are being targeted by the government.

“It is evident that human rights defenders are not just a target of arrests, but of torture, but we shall not relent. This will not silence us or make us back down. In the last few days, several other individuals have been abducted and are missing to date. If anyone had any doubt that abductions are alive and back in full force, this confirms it,” said Khalid.

He mentioned Maxi from Mathare, who was abducted a few days ago and Zizo from Kiamaiko, who was picked up from the protests and is still missing.

“We are telling the police; you are not above the law. Kenya is not a police State. Every institution that operates within this country must operate within the confines of the law. If anyone has committed a wrong, arrest them, present them before a court of law,” Khalid added.

He said none of the activists who were arrested was presented in court within 24 hours as per the law.

“That in itself is a violation of the Constitution. We will be following up on this to make sure we don’t allow this rogue police service to continue with its illegal operations.”

The abduction and torture are reported despite the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, saying on Thursday that all the people arrested during the protest would be arraigned or released if there was insufficient evidence against them.

Khalid emphasised that police demanded to know who was financing the protests and who had supplied the body cameras that were being used by the activists during the Thursday march.

They had announced that they would be using body cameras and drones to capture and document police violations during the protest and preserve them as evidence.

Khalid said they will be taking legal action to challenge the atrocities committed against the activists.

“This responsibility now lies with [Independent Policing Oversight Authority] IPOA because these are clear excesses of the police service. And the single institution that is required to investigate police excesses is IPOA and we have not seen them here to date,” Khalid said.

Human rights activists and families of the victims of abduction and torture are now calling for the resignation of Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, Kanja, Director of Criminal Investigations Amin Mohamed and National Intelligence Service Director Noordin Haji.

“We cannot allow ours to become a country of jungle laws and rules,” Mwangi said.

They said the abductions and torture have only strengthened their resolve to fight for rights, demand accountability and to push for better governance. “Even if death comes or death threats, we still keep on fighting. Abduction, torture, arrests, and intimidation, online trolling will not stop us from speaking truth to power, until Kenya is liberated”, Mwangi added.