Missing activist Collins Otieno found alive and injured along Thika Road

Human rights activist Collins Otieno has been found alive along Thika Road days after he was reported missing, bringing relief to his family and fellow activists while raising fresh questions about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

Otieno was discovered at about 4.30am on Saturday by a boda boda rider who took him to hospital, according to Vocal Africa chief executive Hussein Khalid.

Khalid said Otieno was weak, disoriented and injured when he was found.

He was taken to Neema Uhai Hospital in Kasarani for treatment.

His disappearance had prompted concern among human-rights organisations and activists.

Otieno had reportedly been trying to help establish the whereabouts of fellow activist Boniface Mulinge Muteti when he himself disappeared.

Muteti had also been reported missing after participating in demonstrations in Nairobi linked to calls for the release of Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye.

Muteti was found alive in Lukenya, Machakos County, a day before Otieno was located.

Questions remain

The discovery of both men alive has shifted attention towards establishing what happened during the period they were missing.

Publicly available information does not yet establish who was responsible for their disappearance or the circumstances under which Otieno sustained his injuries.

That distinction is important as activists demand investigations.

Reports indicate Muteti disappeared on September 21 after leaving fellow protesters in Nairobi's CBD to print a petition.

Otieno subsequently became involved in efforts to trace him before he too went missing.

The cases prompted renewed concern among civil society groups over the safety of activists and the handling of people involved in demonstrations.

Vocal Africa and other rights organisations have called for due process when authorities have allegations against activists.

Wider concern over disappearances

Reports of missing activists are particularly sensitive in Kenya because of previous allegations of abductions and enforced disappearances involving people associated with protests or online criticism.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and other organisations have repeatedly called for credible investigations whenever people disappear under suspicious circumstances.

Finding a missing person alive therefore answers only the first question.

Investigators must still establish where Otieno was during the period he was missing, how he travelled to the location where he was found, how his injuries occurred and whether any crime was committed against him.

Evidence potentially available to investigators could include CCTV footage, mobile-phone location records, witness accounts and medical findings.

Such evidence would be important before assigning responsibility.

The circumstances also highlight the role ordinary members of the public can play in missing-person cases.

According to Khalid, a boda boda rider encountered Otieno in the early hours of Saturday and took him for medical attention.

That intervention may have been critical given his reported physical condition.

Calls for investigation

Human-rights organisations are expected to continue pressing authorities for answers despite both activists being found alive.

Their argument is that locating the missing individuals does not eliminate the need to establish why they disappeared.

Kenyan law protects freedom of assembly and expression while also allowing authorities to investigate offences through established legal procedures.

Rights organisations argue that anyone suspected of committing an offence should be arrested through lawful processes, informed of the allegations against them and brought before a court.

For Otieno, the immediate priority remains medical treatment and recovery.

For investigators, however, the case is only beginning.

The central questions remain unanswered: who was with him while he was missing, where was he kept or taken, how was he injured and how did he eventually end up along Thika Road?

Until those questions are established through evidence, claims assigning responsibility should be treated cautiously.

What is now known is that two activists who had been reported missing within days of each other have returned alive.

What happened to them in between remains the story authorities now need to establish.