Dar es Salaam-The last time anyone heard from political commentator Davidlevi Kindikwa was on the night of June 25, 2026, when he was speaking on an X Space hosted by activist Maria Sarungi. He suddenly said, “There are people listening to me,” before the sound of a phone falling was heard, followed by silence.
Family members later said he was missing, but no one publicly confirmed his whereabouts until August 4, 2026, when lawyer William Maduhu of the Legal and Human Rights Centre told the public that Kindikwa had been in police detention for more than 40 days.
Kindikwa, a member of the ruling party CCM, rose to prominence in 2025 after writing a protest letter to the Registrar of Political Parties, alleging that the party’s internal procedures for selecting presidential candidates had been violated. He has since maintained his profile as a political commentator and activist who comments on a range of issues.
Discussing his client’s detention, Maduhu said Kindikwa had been moved between several police stations since July 27 and had not been brought before a court at any point.
“You will recall that at first, news spread that this man, Kindikwa, had been abducted, that’s how the reports circulated. But later we received information that he was at Oysterbay Police Station, and I personally went to visit him and found that, indeed, he was there,” Maduhu said.
“Kindikwa, known to many as a patriotic youth, was arrested on June 25, 2026, in the Kerege CCM area of Bagamoyo District, Pwani Region, by police officers — or by people identifying themselves as police,” he added.
He explained that after Kindikwa was seized, it was not until June 27, 2026, that he was able to recognize his whereabouts, that he was being held in Kibaha, Pwani Region, where he remained for about three days.
Maduhu said that since then, Kindikwa has been moved across several police stations in the Pwani and Dar es Salaam regions. The movements included:
June 27 to July 9, 2026 — Oysterbay Police Station, Kinondoni
July 9 to July 12, 2026 — Central Police Station, Dar es Salaam
July 12 to August 3, 2026 — back to Oysterbay Police Station, Dar es Salaam
August 3, 2026 — returned to the Cental Police Station in Pwani
Although police have never publicly confirmed that Kindikwa is in custody, it was while he was being held at Oysterbay police stations that various sources indicated he might be in police custody, prompting lawyer from the Legal and Human Right Centre to reach out to the station to offer legal assistance
“Today is day 41 that this young man, Kindikwa, has been in police custody. As his lawyer, after engaging sufficiently with the police force and seeing that those efforts failed to bear fruit, yesterday [August 3] I decided to file a case, a habeas corpus application, at the High Court of Dar es Salaam, in which we are now demanding that the police force either release Kindikwa or bring him before a court of law,” he said.
Maduhu confirmed that the case was registered at the High Court on August 5, 2026, and that he expects to receive a summons for the police on August 6, 2026.
“I have been left wondering, and it troubles me, Section 34 of the Criminal Procedure Act states that the police force is not permitted to hold a suspect in custody for more than 24 hours without bringing them before a court,” Maduhu explained.
He also pointed out that Sections 51 and 52 of the Criminal Procedure Act state that the police force, or the investigating officer, may not hold a suspect for more than four hours without questioning them. If those four hours are exceeded, they may extend the period by another four hours; once those eight hours have elapsed, the officer must appear before a magistrate to request permission for any further extension.
“So you ask yourself: if all of this is already provided for in the law, and the law clearly directs it, why are these powers being misused? The laws exist, but we don’t follow them. Why did we enact these laws in the first place? Who did we make them for?” he asked.
In his effort to establish exactly what Kindikwa is being charged with, Maduhu said he had even asked relatives to inquire; the only response received was that Kindikwa was being charged with unbailable offences.
“Unfortunately, it so happens that the police force’s holding cells don’t have proper facilities for keeping a detainee. What I mean is that every human being has basic human rights, they need to be able to bathe, to change their clothes, and so on,” Maduhu said.
“But the police holding cells lack these facilities; they have no bathing areas, no place to change clothes. You keep someone for 40 days, and they’ve never changed their clothes, never bathed — and you know full well that your facilities don’t have the infrastructure to support that. That is simply not right,” he added.
His lawyer is expected to visit him in Pwani Region on August 6, 2026, as he prepares for the habeas corpus hearing. He has called on the Police leadership to do something in the institution to ensure the habit of following the laws of the Republic is at the centre of police practice, unless the current situation, where he says police officials do as they want.
