Eldoret activist denies trafficking 56 rolls of cannabis
Human rights defender Benson Juma Akumu was arraigned in Eldoret on 21 October 2026 on charges of trafficking 56 rolls of cannabis and 52 grams of heroin at the central police station three days earlier. He denied both counts, said the drugs were planted to silence his activism, and was freed on bond pending mention on 5 November.
🇰🇪 Eldoret central police station, Uasin Gishu County · Kenya
Eldoret human rights defender Benson Juma Akumu was arraigned before Resident Magistrate Naima Chelagat Kirui on 21 October 2026 on two trafficking counts.[1]The first count charges him with trafficking 56 rolls of cannabis, valued at Ksh2,800 and not in medical preparation form; the second alleges 52 grams of heroin in straw tubes valued at Ksh15,600.[1]The heroin is not cannabis and is excluded from the figures above.[1]
Both alleged offences are dated 18 October 2026 at the Eldoret central police station in Uasin Gishu County.[1]Detectives say they searched Akumu when he arrived at the station to help a detainee who had called him, and found the substances before booking him into the cells.[1]He faced an alternative charge of resisting arrest by grabbing station grills while Constables Collins Rono and Walter Tekei acted in lawful duty.[1]
Akumu denied both counts and told the court the charges were framed to silence his work for victims of police injustice, naming a dispute with the station commander James Lenaso and saying inmates had been incited against him.[1]The prosecution did not oppose bond, and Kirui freed him on a bond of Ksh1.1 million or cash bail of Ksh800,000, with the matter to be mentioned on 5 November 2026.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Only one source for this arraignment could be opened; a video report carrying the same charge details exists but was not opened as a citable source.
No weight was given for the 56 rolls of cannabis, so only the Ksh2,800 street value is recorded.
The 52 grams of heroin in the second count is a non-cannabis substance mentioned only to explain the same case and is excluded from the cannabis figures.
The alternative charge of resisting arrest, naming Constables Collins Rono and Walter Tekei, has no reported outcome.
The person Akumu had reportedly come to help at the station was not identified.
The mention date of 5 November 2026 has no reported outcome.
Authorities destroyed 266 kilograms of cannabis sativa at the incinerator facility of AIC Kapsowar Mission Hospital on 10 November 2026. The court-supervised exercise followed an order from the Iten Law Courts in the concluded trafficking case against Vincent Odhiambo.
Police in Turbo Sub-County arrested two suspects after a violent confrontation during a bhang raid at a house in Bondeni Dip village, Uasin Gishu County. A group armed with crude weapons attacked officers, slashing one policeman's hand with a panga before reinforcements were summoned.
Paul Ogolla Ogutu and Emmanuel Ndoro Chaka pleaded not guilty in a Mariakani court on 24 June 2026 over 333.35 kg of cannabis (Sh10M) seized from Sayusa lorry KDL 220P in a 19 June ANU operation. Bail was opposed; pre-bail directions set for 2 July.
Kenya's High Court in Machakos quashed the trafficking conviction of lorry turn-boy Christopher Mapunda on 24 July 2014 and ordered his release. He had served a 20-year sentence imposed in 2012 over 582 kilograms of bhang found in a lorry on the Namanga-Nairobi road in December 2010.