One of the Kenyans released from Tanzania yesterday, after being arrested on election day, October 29, has narrated his ordeal in Tanzanian police custody.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Frederick Obuya, a lawyer and owner of a tour company, relayed that he was on his way to Zanzibar to explore expansions for his company and simultaneously celebrate his birthday when he was arrested.
After spending a few nights in custody, Obuya said that he sought clarification from a police officer on his and fellow Kenyan detainee John Nderitu's prospective release date, as they had all the legal documents allowing them to be in the country.
It was at this point that Obuya recalls realising they were in a hot spot, as the police officer told him that they would be released at the earliest in two weeks. Supposedly, their case was too hard.
“Your case is hard and it is being dealt with by the bosses, but you might be released in two weeks,” the officer told Obuya.
As he had been expecting to be arraigned in two days, on Monday, this revelation was what finally broke the lawyer, and he admits to crying for the first time that night, on Saturday, November 1.
However, things were about to get even worse as they were moved to Oyster Bay Police Station after spending two nights in a hotel.
Of the ten days they were in custody, one night was spent in a cell, which Obuya grimly described as the place where he finally lost all hope.
From being held together with minors as young as 13 to stinking toilets with no running water and sticky floors, he said that he would not have lasted another night in the bedbug-ridden cells.
They were expected to go to the immigration office the following day, following intense social media pressure, and he recalls telling Nderitu that he would rather get killed than return to the cell after the meeting with the ambassador.
“I told John that when we go to the immigration the following day, it's either we go home that Friday, or we sleep at the immigration, or they just kill us if they want,” he said.
Luckily for them, they would not go back, as after they met the Kenyan High Commissioner in Tanzania, they were taken to a hotel in a diplomatic vehicle to spend the night and then driven the next day to the airport, arriving home on Saturday, November 8.
Although the country had extended their stay for seven more days, neither of the two wanted to stay any longer, fearing they would be rearrested.
The two were among hundreds rounded up in the aftermath of the Tanzanian General Elections that sparked nationwide protests after handing President Samia Suluhu a win of over 97 per cent.
