Expose’: Kenyan authorities shut down ‘torture’ rehab in Nairobi

Kenyan authorities have shut down a rehabilitation centre in Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate following an expose by BBC on torture and inhumane conditions being subjected to patients in the facility.

The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) said in a statement Tuesday it had shut down Daru Shifa Centre and will prosecute the owners of the facility.

“Just to inform you that Darufisha Center in Eastleigh has been closed and the perpetrators arrested,” NACADA director Victor Muasya said.

The government agency dissociated itself from Daru Shifa noting it was not accredited for Substance Abuse Disorders treatment. “We urge the relevant security agencies to close the facility with immediate effect and legal action be preferred against the criminal acts perpetrated by Darushifa,” a statement signed by NACADA Chief Executive Victor Okioma read in part.

In the expose by BBC’s investigative programme Africa Eye, patients are shown undergoing mental and physical abuse by staff of the facility. Some of the patients also take part in beating newly arrived patients according to the report aired Monday.

The owners of the facility claimed they only performed Islamic prayers and rituals to the patients denying there was any abuse but secretly recorded incidents showed patients being severely beaten and forced to drink a concoction of herbs which forced them to vomit.

The documentary also features women who are said to have left their husband being locked in tiny rooms within the facility. According to the documentary, parents paid up to $500 to the facility to ‘treat their children’ of drug abuse.