Independent film-maker Nick Wambugu took his final bow this week after battling a rare blood disorder. As the Kenyan film industry prepares its tributes, Nick’s passing deserves wider acknowledgement by the Kenyan public and international community. Unlike many, Nick filmed not only to explain our world but to offer the silenced a voice and to…
Chief Justice Emeritus Willy Mutunga’s rhetorical question “Are African governments in the business of selling Turkish citizens to the dictatorship in Türkiye?” deserves closer attention. With the recent arrests of Mustafa Güngör in Kenya and Emre Çınar in Mozambique, a new wave of transnational repression appears to be rising on African soil. Before his arrest…
ACT NOW STOP TECH-FACILITATED VIOLENCE AGAINST YOUNG ACTIVISTS IN KENYA State-sponsored digital violence is undermining constitutional freedoms and risks silencing a generation, and X and Safaricom must take steps to ensure that they properly investigate these allegations and implement human rights-compliant policies. ACT NOW Kenya: Security services must respect fundamental rights during nationwide protests Amnesty…
16 days of activism against gender-based violence ended on Wednesday, which was also International Human Rights Day. That horrific “initiation” gang rape in Meru reaffirmed how far we are from a society that keeps all women and girls dignified and safe. Less visible, however, is how sexual violence and trauma that follows affects Kenyan men…
Distinguished faculty, honored guests, and graduating students. It gives Amnesty International Kenya great pleasure to celebrate your achievement and step towards being professional mediators. As you graduate, I invite you to reflect on mediation as a pathway to accountable, rights-respecting communities. Mediation is the science of building bridges. It is also the art of finding…
Oxfam’s new data shows Kenya is far from the Kenya Kwanza’s 2022 promise of a fair and prosperous nation. The 2025 Inequality Report offers policies for those leaders still committed to that vision Last month’s State of the Nation Address confirmed the government has no strategy to reduce the debt-driven erosion of essential services or…
There is a dangerous pattern taking root across East Africa: when confronted with uncomfortable truths, governments are increasingly choosing propaganda, denial, and digital repression over accountability and dialogue. It is the oldest authoritarian reflex: bury your head in the sand, deny citizens’ lived experiences, and drown out dissent with noise. Yet history shows that this…
H.E. Dr. Musalia Mudavadi, EGH Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora AffairsMinistry of Foreign and Diaspora AffairsP.O. Box 30551–00200, Nairobi, Republic of Kenya Date: 20 November 2025 Honourable Cabinet Secretary, RE: URGENT INTERVENTION REQUIRED FOR MISSING KENYAN CITIZEN – SALESIO CHABALI Amnesty International Kenya and VOCAL Africa write to request…
*Names changed to protect identities Kenyan authorities systematically deployed technology-facilitated violence as part of a coordinated and sustained campaign to suppress Generation Z-led protests between June 2024 and July 2025 against corruption and the introduction of new tax legislation, a new Amnesty International report shows. The report, “This fear, everyone is feeling it”: Tech-facilitated violence…
Overview Kenya’s historic Gen Z–led protests of 2024 and 2025 showed the power of young people mobilizing online—and the alarming speed with which that power was met with digital repression, intimidation, and violence. This new Amnesty International report documents how technology has become both a tool for civic participation and a weapon used to silence,…
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton may have spoken these words in the 19th century, but their truth echoes across every corridor where authority is exercised today. Power, by its very nature, bends toward self-preservation. It seeks silence over scrutiny, loyalty over competence, and convenience over accountability. And this is not just…
While many celebrated the release and safe return of Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, a section of the public, including a notable Member of Parliament, has chosen a different path. Rather than condemn their abduction and 38-day disappearance, they have defended it. Some have even gone as far as to say, “They got what they…