There’s a sense of quiet anger in the air following the death of Susan Njoki, a young businesswoman whose voice, quite literally, was silenced despite her final desperate attempts to be heard.
Njoki, the CEO and founder of Toto Touch, died just a day after what she described as a horrifying ordeal at her home in Kileleshwa.
In her own words recorded in audio clips and posted on Facebook, she explained how two men and two women stormed her house, held her down, injected her with an unknown substance, and dragged her to a private hospital in Lavington.
Now, FIDA-Kenya, the Federation of Women Lawyers, is demanding a full investigation, calling her death not just tragic, but a result of systemic failure.
In a statement released Wednesday, FIDA didn’t hold back, saying the circumstances surrounding Njoki’s death show clear violations of her rights.
Their call follows a postmortem result that found manual strangulation, not medication or mental illness, as the cause of death.
Before her death, Njoki spoke out. She made it clear she had once struggled with depression but was doing better, even saying she had landed an interview with an international company.
“Do you think an international company would call a madwoman for an interview?” she asked in one of her last voice notes, aired on KTN. “Why are you trying to take me back to my past?”That past, according to Njoki, included a previous instance where she felt she’d been pressured especially by her husband to stay in hospital when she didn’t need to. Her recent ordeal felt like déjà vu, only this time it turned deadly.
Silence in the System
Njoki’s family says they tried to see her after she was taken to the hospital but were denied access. She died shortly after.
FIDA is now urging the DCI, ODPP, and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) to each play their part.
They want a proper investigation, not just into the people who entered Njoki’s home, but into the hospital that accepted her without consent, and any medical staff who may have ignored protocol.
“This is a woman who knew her rights,” FIDA said in its statement. “She cried for help. She documented everything. And still, no one stopped it.”The story has raised alarm far beyond Njoki’s inner circle. How could a grown woman be forced into treatment without her consent? How could a hospital admit her without asking questions? And why even after she cried out online did no one intervene?
As the days pass, one thing is clear: Njoki knew something was wrong. She said it out loud. And now, the country is watching to see whether justice will be done or whether, once again, a woman’s voice will fade without answers.
