Arrests and the Accusations
He was taken into custody without a formal booking entry in the police Occurrence Book and without being shown a charge sheet. After 24 hours in detention, Guya was brought before the Bondo Court, where he faced an accusation of 'terrorism-related suspicions'.
The arrest followed the submission of an Access to Information request by Guya’s coalition, the Friends of Siaya Anti-Nuclear Plant (FSANP). The request was aimed at the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) and sought documentation on the environmental impact, seismic assessments, resettlement plans, and public consultation records for the KSh 500 billion nuclear project proposed on the shores of Lake Victoria. The request revealed an apparent pattern—communities have been denied access to essential information about the facility.
Guya is among the eighteen individuals detained for opposing the nuclear plant. At least one of those arrested is a minor. All are Kenyan citizens, with no evidence to suggest any of them are foreign agents or have connections beyond their local communities.
Who the State Labels as Terrorists
The eighteen people arrested are not professional activists or trained organizers. They are local residents. Among them is a single mother who sells porridge and chapati outside a Bondo school, speaking with customers about the nuclear plant. There are also artisanal gold miners, ranging from young men in their early twenties to older men in their forties. Boda boda riders, informal traders, and bar attendants are also part of this group, many of them positioned to hear the full range of community voices as they pass through their daily routines.
One of the arrested individuals is a Grade 9 student, who, in the straightforward and direct way that children often express themselves, worries whether the lake will remain clean. These individuals live along the shore of Lake Victoria, dependent on its water, fish, and ecosystem for their livelihoods and daily lives.
They are asking questions that anyone would ask about a multi-billion shilling project located next to their homes: What will happen to the water? What happens to the waste? Who made the decisions? Instead of answers, they are met with arrest, intimidation, and, in some cases, violence.
A Pattern of Force, Not Dialogue
The escalation of force in the face of opposition is not new in this part of Kenya. On 21 May 2026, residents from Sakwa marched peacefully, carrying banners with the message “We Reject,” yet they were confronted by police rather than given space to express their concerns. That day marked the beginning of a broader conflict, which would only intensify as the weeks passed.
David Otieno Mboya, an artisanal miner from Lenya, was shot in the leg during the police response. He claims he was simply walking home from work and not part of the protest. The local police commander, however, denies the shooting and says officers only fired warning shots into the air.
The following day, a wave of arrests took place across Ka’John, Lenya, and Nango, with seventeen people taken into custody. A magistrate later denied terrorism-related charges and released them on bail. James Guya, however, was arrested separately and is now the sole accused in his case. He remains in custody because he cannot afford the KSh 180,000 bail required for release. Additionally, he suffers from a medical condition that requires regular medication, something he cannot receive in his current prison conditions.
Guya is being held for one reason: he dared to ask questions out loud. His arrest is symbolic of how dissent is being suppressed through legal and physical means, not through dialogue or transparency.
The tactics being used are not unfamiliar in Kenya. The nuclear plant was first proposed for Uyombo village in Kilifi County. That project was moved after a pattern of intimidation and surveillance emerged. In that earlier case, protesters were beaten, arrested, and some had their phones confiscated and communications monitored. The same playbook has now shifted westward to Lake Victoria.
The fight around the nuclear project is not about helpless people being crushed. It is about people being silenced for speaking truth to power, for seeking to understand what is being planned for their land, their water, and their future.
The story is about ordinary Kenyans who live, breathe, and work around Lake Victoria, now caught in a conflict that is as much about transparency and participation as it is about the nuclear plant itself.
These individuals are not terrorists, as the state claims. They are the people of the lake, asking what anyone would ask of a multibillion shilling facility built next to their homes.
The real question is not whether they are dangerous. It is whether the state values them enough to answer.
The real question is not whether they are dangerous. It is whether the state values them enough to answer.