Cases in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania raise fear of regional trend
Kenya has been hit by a recent wave of repression, tarnishing its reputation as a beacon of democracy in East Africa. Critics fear that it is sliding down the path of her neighbours - Uganda and Tanzania, both of which are notorious for cracking down on dissent. Kenya's laws are widely regarded as being more progressive - particularly in protecting fundamental freedoms like the right to protest.But Kenya has witnessed an increasing crackdown on protests - the latest example being the killing of at least 10 people in nationwide demonstrations against President William Ruto's government while it attempted to ban live TV and radio coverage of the protests."Rogue Regime" - declared the headline of Kenya's respected Standard newspaper as it pointed out that young people had flooded the streets in defiant remembrance of those gunned down a year ago in mass anti-tax demonstrations but "Instead of a listening ear they were met with razor wire, armoured trucks and the cold grip of repression". But as far as Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen is concerned, the police showed "remarkable restraint" as they foiled an "attempted coup"."We condemn the criminal anarchists who in the name of peaceful demonstrations unleashed a wave of violence, looting, sexual assault and destruction upon our people," he said, accusing the protesters of attacking police stations and injuring 300 officers.However, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) condemned the police for their handling of the protest. "The unnecessary aggression and brute force that culminated in the senseless loss of life and senseless destruction of property have no place in a free democratic society," it said. The crackdown came just weeks after a 31-year-old blogger and teacher, Albert Ojwang, died in police custody. He was arrested after being accused of defaming a senior police officer - and died in detention of assault wounds, an autopsy found. His death triggered a small protest in the capital, Nairobi, which police clamped down on and a street vendor, who was caught in the crossfire - shot at close-range, is fighting for his life in hospital. The LSK denounced his shooting as unbefitting for "any sane democracy". Its comment brought into sharp focus the fact that Kenya risks losing its status as a democracy that many Tanzanians and Ugandans envied – and drew inspiration from.Tanzanian political analyst Nicodemus Minde said there had long been an "appreciation" among Tanzanians of the ability of Kenyans to "speak truth to power". It was a view shared by Tanzania's main opposition leader Tundu Lissu who told the BBC last year that "We have not pressed hard enough for democratic reform". "What Kenya did to build its democratic space is something we need to do," he said. Having miraculously survived an assassination attempt after being shot 16 times in 2017, Lissu has become a symbol of state repression in Tanzania. He is currently in detention, charged with treason for rallying his supporters under the slogan "No reform; no elections". The government saw this as an attempt by Lissu to launch a rebellion – and he risks being sentenced to death if convicted.The 57-year-old opposition leader sees his detention as an attempt by the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party – which has been in power since independence in 1961– to clear its path to victory in presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for October. This perception has been strengthened by the fact that his Chadema party has been barred from contesting the poll after it refused to sign an electoral code of conduct that it believed would undermine its right to campaign freely. The opposition in Uganda sees itself in a similar situation, pointing out that President Yoweri Museveni has been in power for almost 40 years, and – along with his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who heads the army – is cracking down on political rivals in the build-up to elections in early 2026. Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye has been in detention since November, with the government wanting to try him for treason in a military court after accusing him of plotting to overthrow the government – a charge he denies.
Although Kenya has an independent judiciary and holds regular elections that lead to power changing hands, Martha Karua – one of the country's most respected human rights lawyers, a former justice minister and the leader of a small opposition party – believes that democracy is under threat in all three East African states."We are staring at a regional crisis – not at an economic crisis, not a crisis of trade, but of democracy itself," she said at a recent press conference. Activists like her are alarmed by the fact that more than 80 Kenyans have been abducted in the past year by people who never identified themselves, raising fears that this was the government's latest strategy to crush dissent after the protests over moves to increase taxes amidst a cost-of-living crisis.There is also mounting evidence that Kenya is no longer a safe haven for Ugandans and Tanzanians, with security agencies from the three states apparently colluding to crack down on the opposition.Besigye was in Nairobi for a book launch in November, when he vanished - only to surface four days later in a military court in Uganda.The government in Uganda accused him of trying to negotiate an arms deal in Kenya to launch a rebellion back home and said he had been arrested in a cross-border operation carried out with the knowledge of Kenya's intelligence services. Kenya's government initially denied this, saying it was unaware of the Ugandan operation on its soil, although Kenya's foreign minister recently told local media that "there were certain issues" about Besigye's visit in Kenya and "he had to go". He did not elaborate.
About two months after Besigye's ordeal, exiled Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai said she was abducted by armed men in Nairobi who then, luckily for her, released her several hours later.Ms Tsehai said she was manhandled and choked by four assailants who forced her into a vehicle."I am sure that the reason for the abduction was to get access to my social media and [because of] the whistleblowing job that I do," she said, as her abductors kept asking how to unlock her phone.Ms Tsehai is a staunch critic of Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan, and has accused her government of bringing "tyranny back" to the country, despite promising reforms when she took office in 2021 following the death of her authoritarian predecessor, John Magufuli.Karua said that despite the "backsliding" of democracy and human rights in East Africa, there was little concern about this internationally, with the African Union "silent", the United Nations offering "rhetoric - not redress", while the US - "a self-declared champion of liberty" - was facing its "own issues of liberty" under the administration of President Donald Trump. Tanzania deported Karua and two Kenyan activists when they flew into the country in May to show solidarity with Lissu, while Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan lawyer Agather Atuhaire were detained after being allowed to enter.
Following their release, both accused the Tanzanian police of sexually abusing them. Tanzania's police denied the accusation, however amidst the outcry over the detention and deportation of foreign activists, President Samia issued a stark warning."If they have been contained in their country, let them not come here to meddle. Let's not give them a chance. They have already created chaos in their own country," she said.To the dismay of activists, Kenya's President Ruto failed to condemn the alleged abuse and instead, apologised to the Tanzanian government."To our neighbours from Tanzania, if we have wronged you in any way, forgive us," he said."If there is anything that Kenyans have done that is not right, we want to apologise."Macharia Munene, a Kenyan professor in international relations, told the BBC that Ruto's apology stemmed from his "perceived failure to keep people [Kenyans] in check". He added that the Tanzanian government had become "jittery" of the potential influence of Kenyan activists on the October elections, with Ruto's government under pressure to "contain troublemakers". For Kenyan activists the worsening repression in the three states has merely strengthened their resolve to fight back.Mr Mwangi, one of Kenya's most prominent human rights campaigners, summed it up by saying: "If these people are united in oppressing their citizens, then we must be united in fighting to remove them from power."
You may also be interested in:
'We live in fear' - forced expulsions taint Kenya's safe haven imageBBC identifies security forces who shot Kenya anti-tax protestersCould this be the end of the road for Tanzania's great survivor, Tundu Lissu?Why Kenya's president has so many nicknamesUganda's Yoweri Museveni: How an ex-rebel has stayed in power for 35 year
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NBC News
6 hours ago
- NBC News
Death toll from Kenya's anti-government protests rises to 16
NAIROBI, Kenya — The number of Kenyans who died during Wednesday's nationwide protests over police brutality and bad governance has doubled to 16, according to the state-funded human rights commission. Property was also destroyed in the protests that attracted thousands of frustrated young Kenyans. At least two police stations were razed down by angry protesters. Kenyans demonstrated Wednesday in 23 of 47 counties across the country, calling for an end to police brutality and better governance. Thousands chanted anti-government slogans, and the protests morphed into calls for President William Ruto to resign. Many protesters were enraged by the recent death of a blogger in custody and the shooting of a civilian during protests over the blogger's death. The country's interior minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, on Thursday assessed damage to businesses in the capital, Nairobi, where goods were stolen from multiple stores. He said police would follow up with owners whose CCTV cameras captured the looters to ensure swift arrests. At least two families have identified their deceased kin at the Nairobi mortuary. One relative, Fatma Opango, told local media that her 17-year-old nephew was gunned down in the Rongai area in the outskirts of Nairobi. 'I came across his photo in a group online and I started searching for him at the hospitals hoping he had survived,' she told journalists at the mortuary. Murkomen on Thursday defended the conduct of police officers during the protests, saying the 'government has your back.' 'There is no police officer who committed any excess yesterday, they foiled a coup and they deserve our defense,' Murkomen said, adding that police 'don't carry guns as toys.' In downtown Nairobi, businesspeople counted their losses after looters raided their shops and set some shops on fire. In one of the buildings where smoke was still billowing on Thursday morning, a phone seller told journalists that she lost stock worth 800,000 Kenya shillings ($6,000). Kenyans mobilized Wednesday's protests on social media platforms to mark the one-year anniversary of huge anti-tax protests, when demonstrators stormed parliament and at least 60 people were killed. Twenty others are still missing. Parliament and the president's office were on Wednesday barricaded with razor wire and protesters were unable to use the roads leading to the two establishments.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
The alarming rise of US officers hiding behind masks: ‘A police state'
Some wear balaclavas. Some wear neck gators, sunglasses and hats. Some wear masks and casual clothes. Across the country, armed federal immigration officers have increasingly hidden their identities while carrying out immigration raids, arresting protesters and roughing up prominent Democratic critics. It's a trend that has sparked alarm among civil rights and law enforcement experts alike. Mike German, a former FBI agent, said officers' widespread use of masks was unprecedented in US law enforcement and a sign of a rapidly eroding democracy. 'Masking symbolizes the drift of law enforcement away from democratic controls,' he said. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has insisted masks are necessary to protect officers' privacy, arguing, without providing evidence, that there has been an uptick in violence against agents. But, German argued, the longterm consequences could be severe. The practice could erode trust in the US law enforcement agencies: 'When it's hard to tell who a masked individual is working for, it's hard to accept that that is a legitimate use of authority,' he noted. And, he said, when real agents use masks more frequently, it becomes easier for imposters to operate. German – who previously worked undercover in white supremacist and militia groups and is now a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, a non-profit – spoke to the Guardian about the dangers of officer masking, why he thinks officers are concealing themselves and how far the US has deviated from democratic norms. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Were you surprised by the frequent reports of federal officers covering their faces and refusing to identify themselves, especially during the recent immigration raids and protests in Los Angeles? It is absolutely shocking and frightening to see masked agents, who are also poorly identified in the way they are dressed, using force in public without clearly identifying themselves. Our country is known for having democratic control over law enforcement. When it's hard to tell who a masked individual is working for, it's hard to accept that that is a legitimate use of authority. It's particularly important for officers to identify themselves when they are making arrests. It's important for the person being arrested, and for community members who might be watching, that they understand this is a law enforcement activity. Is there any precedent in the US for this kind of widespread law enforcement masking? I'm not aware of any period where US law enforcement officials wore masks, other than the lone ranger, of course. Masking has always been associated with police states. I think the masking symbolizes the drift of law enforcement away from democratic controls. We see this during protests. We see this in Ice raids. And we see this in the excessive secrecy in which law enforcement has increasingly operated since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. How does masking fit into the post-9/11 trends in American policing? After 9/11, there were significant changes to the law – the Patriot Act, expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, changes to FBI guidelines – that allowed mass warrantless surveillance. Those changes rolled back reforms that had been put in place to address law enforcement abuses, including the targeting of disfavored political activists. As the federal government greatly expanded its authority, state and local law enforcement adopted a similar approach they called 'intelligence-led policing'. That included the creation of 'fusion centers', in which state, local and federal law enforcement share information with each other and private sector entities. Roughly 80 fusion centers exist today, and there is very little oversight and regulation, and they operate under a thick cloak of secrecy, often targeting disfavored protest groups. Once police think of themselves as domestic intelligence agents rather than law enforcement sworn to protect the public, it creates this attitude that the public doesn't have a right to know what they're doing. And now that includes even hiding their identities in public. Why do you think some officers are masking? I have not had conversations with current officers, but I imagine some are masking because they don't normally work for Ice or do immigration enforcement, but are now being sent to do these jobs. [The Trump administration has diverted some federal officers from agencies like the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to support Ice, reportedly pushing agents who would be tackling violent crimes to instead handle civil immigration violations]. When these officers go home at night, they may not want people in their communities to know it was them. Maybe they have upstanding reputations because of the work they do for the FBI or ATF, and they don't necessarily want to be identified with this kind of indiscriminate targeting of immigrants. And that reluctance to be identified as engaging in those activities really highlights the illegitimacy of those actions. Are there concerns about having masked officers from other agencies working for Ice? Officers from other federal law enforcement agencies are used to operating within specific authorities, and they may not recognize that Ice enforcement actions don't necessarily allow for those same actions. When an FBI or ATF agent is seeking to arrest someone, they typically have a warrant signed by a judge and can go after that person even on private property. Ice's civil enforcement powers don't give them that authority. If Ice doesn't have a judicial warrant, they can't go into someone's home. So if the FBI is doing Ice enforcement, they have to understand their authority is limited in important ways in order to not violate the law. That's also why it's critical for agents to identify what agency they are with. Otherwise, it's hard to understand under what authority an action is being taken. Who is this person shoving a member of the public who is just asking questions? Historically, what are the basic standards and training for law enforcement showing their faces? I'm not aware of any general authority authorizing an agent not to identify themselves during public law enforcement activity. As a former FBI undercover agent, I tried to avoid getting my picture taken as much as possible. But it is a small number of individuals who engage in undercover operations who would require any kind of masking, and they have the option of not participating in arrests where they are going to be in public. A lot of training is about police safety. And part of that safety is having a clear indication that you are a law enforcement official when you're engaging in some type of activity that could involve use of force or arrest, including protest management. The badge was intended to protect the officer, to make it clear you're acting under the authority of the law and not just shoving somebody you don't like. As an FBI agent, if I was going to talk to a member of the public, I'd identify myself and display my credentials. It was routine. And anytime I would write up the interview for evidentiary purposes, the first thing I'd write was, I identified myself and let them know the purpose of the interview. Do you think lawmakers can address this issue with legislation? Some Democratic US senators have pushed Ice to require that agents identify themselves, and California lawmakers have introduced state legislation to ban law enforcement from masking on duty, arguing public servants have an obligation to show their faces – and not operate like Star Wars stormtroopers. Having clear laws, regulations and policies that require law enforcement to operate in an accountable fashion is critical. But a lot of this is about leadership. Law enforcement leaders are justifying masking as some dubious security measure instead of ensuring officers act in a professional manner at all times and holding them accountable when they don't. That has been a significant problem over time when police engage in illegal or unconstitutional activity. It's great when federal, state or local legislators pass laws requiring accountability, but those measures cannot be successful if police aren't expected by their own leaders to abide by those rules. What are the ongoing consequences of officers hiding their faces? The recent shootings of two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, by a suspect who allegedly impersonated an officer, highlights the danger of police not looking like police. Federal agents wearing masks and casual clothing significantly increases this risk of any citizen dressing up in a way that fools the public into believing they are law enforcement so they can engage in illegal activity. It is a public safety threat, and it's also a threat to the agents and officers themselves, because people will not immediately be able to distinguish between who is engaged in legitimate activity or illegitimate activity when violence is occurring in public. What are people supposed to do when they're not sure if an officer is legitimate? That question highlights the box that these tactics put Americans into. When they are not sure, the inclination is to resist, and that resistance is used to justify a greater use of force by the officers, and it creates this cycle that is harmful to people just trying to mind their business. And that can mean that these individuals are not just subject to use of force and very aggressive arrests on civil charges, but they could also face more serious criminal charges. The more illegitimate police act, the more resistance to their activities will result. And if the public doesn't trust officers, it becomes very difficult for them to do their jobs.
BBC News
9 hours ago
- BBC News
Delhi: Rising school fees push Indian families to the brink
Parents in several Indian cities, including capital Delhi, are protesting against what they call "unsustainable" fee raises by private schools. These increases, they say, are stretching household budgets to a breaking point and taking a toll on their Mattey, 14, woke up on 9 May feeling confident about his English father dropped him off at his school in Indian capital Delhi, but Aaditya never got to write his exam."Two or three minutes after I entered the class, guards and bouncers asked me to leave the room," Aaditya father was still standing outside the school gates when Aaditya and a few other students were asked to get on the school bus, which dropped them off at their name was removed from Delhi Public School Dwarka's rolls after his father refused to pay a recent fee hike which he alleges was arbitrary and BBC reached out to DPS Dwarka and the Delhi Public School Society - which runs the DPS chain of schools - for comment, but did not receive a case is not an isolated one and DPS is not the only school which is facing allegations of arbitrary fee the past two months, protests have erupted across Indian cities - from Delhi to Pune to Hyderabad - as a growing number of parents accuse private schools of imposing steep fee raises. In Delhi, which has emerged as the epicentre of the protests, the issue recently made headlines after DPS Dwarka allegedly confined students in the library, hired security guards to stop them from entering classes and expelled them over unpaid dues. Parents have accused the school of punishing children for financial decisions made by their schools operate nationwide but often suffer from poor, inconsistent quality, prompting even many low-income families to choose private schools for better Delhi, rules say that private schools on government-leased land must get Directorate of Education (DoE) approval before raising fees and must admit 25% economically weaker or disadvantaged students - a condition tied to their subsidised BBC has contacted the DoE for comment on the fee rises, which parents have reported to us, but has not received a on the other hand, have argued in court and told parents that they are struggling. They cite inflation, rising staff salaries, delayed reimbursements from the government for economically weaker students and the need for infrastructure upgrades as reasons for raising fees. Divya Mattey says his son Aaditya's annual fee in 2020 was 93,400 rupees ($1,077; £802). This, he says, has more than doubled to 189,096 rupees in Mattey is among dozens of parents who have taken the school to court, alleging it has unlawfully removed students from rolls and harassed families over the fee issue."We never thought a school of this stature would treat children like this - bar them from classrooms, assign bouncers and make them sit in the library for days," he school did not answer the BBC's questions over email and on a phone call. But in court, it reportedly argued that there was no legal obligation to retain students whose fees haven't been paid. According to a report in The Indian Express newspaper, DPS claimed it suffered losses of 490m rupees last year and had to raise fees.A notice on the school's website meanwhile accuses "a small group of parents" of spreading "false and malicious information regarding the school fee structure" in an attempt to "mislead and create confusion".But the controversy reflects a broader problem.A recent survey by online community platform LocalCircles found that more than 80% of parents with children in private schools said fees had increased by over 10% this academic year. In cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, the rise in some schools was as high as 30%.India has no centralised regulation for private schools; each state sets its own example, Maharashtra allows a 15% fee rise every two years - subject to review if 25% of parents object - while Karnataka permits a 10% annual increase with audit justification. Enforcement, however, is weak, and legal disputes over fees often drag on for years, providing little timely relief to Singh, whose son attends Mira Model School in West Delhi, says fees rose 45% last year and another 7% this is willing to pay the earlier DoE-approved fee, but the school has refused his cheque for the current term, which began nearly three months BBC reached out to Mira Model School but received no response."It's not our job to regulate schools," Mr Singh says. "That's what the government is supposed to do."Meanwhile, many parents fear that the DPS case has set a troubling precedent."We don't want our children to be thrown out of their classes, like what happened there," says Pankaj Gupta, whose son studies at Delhi's Maharaja Agarsain Public Gupta said the school increased fees by 25% this year without advance notice."We had no choice. We had to pay," he Gupta runs a small convenience store but has faced declining sales since the pandemic. The rise of online shopping has further squeezed physical stores. Now, rising school fees are pushing his family to the BBC has reached out to Maharaja Agarsain Public School for comment. Another parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she's considering withdrawing her son from the school he attended since childhood due to an "unsustainable" 30% fee hike this year."Both my husband and I work, but our salaries haven't gone up significantly. As a parent, you try to give your child the best but sometimes that comes at great personal cost," she she admits that switching schools also feels risky - what if the next one also increases fees?"It's the same situation everywhere," she uproar has prompted the Delhi government to 10 June the state cabinet approved the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Ordinance, 2025, pending the Lieutenant Governor's approval - necessary for it to become a not yet public, Education Minister Ashish Sood says it will tighten private school fee parents are demanding greater transparency. Last weekend, hundreds protested in Delhi, urging the government to consider their feedback when drafting the Sharma Bagga, Supreme Court lawyer and secretary of a group called Justice for All, urges timely audits: "Schools' finances must be audited before each academic year so parents know what they're paying for."Back in Dwarka, Aaditya is still trying to get back to reports say DPS Dwarka has agreed to reinstate students expelled for not paying fees. But Mr Mattey says they are still waiting."The school has shown some reciprocation, but to this date my child's name is not back on the register," he says, adding that he hasn't received any assignments for the current academic session."My son is only 14. He should be focusing on his studies, not worrying about whether he'll be allowed to sit in class tomorrow."Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
