The family of Wanjiku Thiga, the 34-year-old national youth leader of the Rigathi Gachagua’s Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), is living through a nightmare after she was rearrested on Friday under unclear circumstances, just moments after being granted bail by the Kiambu Law Courts.

Her whereabouts remain unknown. According to her brother Simon Mwangi, Wanjiku was re-arrested at the Kiambu Police Station, immediately after she had secured her release on a cash bail.

“After the verdict had been read and she was supposed to be released on cash bail, we were told the systems were down and an invoice could not be generated,” said Mwangi.

The family, he said, waited for hours until around 3:30pm when the payment was finally processed and the bail cleared. But instead of walking free, according to Mwangi, Wanjiku was taken away from the police station’s backdoor.

“She had not even come out of the Kiambu Police Station. She was taken through the backdoor. We were told it was the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who had taken her,” he said.

Family members said they have been unable to establish her location, with conflicting reports coming from various sources.

“We are just trying to gather information here and there, and we are not getting anything tangible regarding her location. We are not getting a full report on why she is being detained. But from what I am gathering, she was rearrested under the charges of terrorism,” he said.

The allegations, he said, are not only baffling but completely uncharacteristic of Wanjiku.

“Looking at the charges, that cannot be her, it is impossible. There is no way she can be associated with terrorism charges. Definitely, that is not her,” said Mwangi.

Wanjiku’s ordeal began when she was arrested last Tuesday at Kamakis off the Eastern Bypass. She was taken to Ruiru Police Station where she spent the night, before she was transferred to Kiambu Police Station the following morning.

The following day, she was arraigned at the Kiambu Law Courts and granted bail, only for her to be seized again on Friday.

“This is too much for my mother. She is devastated. You know the pain of not knowing where your daughter is and she is the firstborn. It is breaking her heart,” Mwangi said.

The family said they are not opposed to legal action against her, but want transparency and due process.

Meanwhile, the family of Peter Kinyanjui, a DCP youth coordinator who was re-arrested on the same day is also in agony.

Since last Friday, Kinyanjui’s relatives have been moving from one police station to another looking for him.

The DCP official was seized outside the Ruiru Law Courts shortly after being released on bond. Like Wanjiku, Kinyanjui who is now facing terrorism-related charges, was arrested last Tuesday in Limuru.

According to his wife Catherine Wambui, they have looked for Kinyanjui in Kiambu, Ruaka and Ruaraka, and they have not received any official communication from authorities regarding her husband’s whereabouts.

“Let him be brought to court, and face whatever charges they have pressed against him instead of keeping him incommunicado,” she said.