📅 Date: Friday, 5th September 2025
⏰ Time: 5:30 PM (EAT)
📍 Location: Rex Masai Assembly Hall, Amnesty International Kenya, Ground Floor, 197 Lenana Place (Opposite Astro Petrol Station), Lenana Road, Kilimani, Nairobi and Live-streamed
Event Briefing Note
Tragically, what should have been a peaceful Saba Saba celebration of Kenya’s fight for human rights and democratic governance turned into a harsh show of state force on 7 July 2025. To stop protests, the government used excessive force, made arbitrary arrests, and sealed off public spaces. Roads into Nairobi were blocked, especially affecting low-income areas like Githurai, Mlolongo, Roysambu, Kitengela, and Ruaraka, effectively denying many Kenyans their right to protest. While hundreds were injured, at least 43 people died from gunshot wounds suspected to be from police issued firearms. The incident included 12-year-old Bridgit Njoki, who was shot dead by police while watching TV at home.
Over 1,500 people were arrested and charged with a range of offences, including malicious damage to property, robbery with violence, theft, sexual assault and unlawful assembly. For the first time, 71 people were charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (2012). Families of the injured and the dead continue to struggle with exorbitant hospitalisation, mortuary bills as well as funeral and legal costs. Despite public efforts to raise bail for those arrested, many others remain in jail simply because they can’t afford bail, and some have even been charged under anti-terror laws for protesting.
This upcoming Kikao will explore how the protests, urban spaces and class are being treated by the criminal justice system in Kenya. Key questions the panel will lead the conversation include:
- Does the criminal justice system police people from low-income neighbourhoods differently from high-income neighbourhoods?
- Did the police decision to block access to the city and restrict protesters to their high-density, low-income neighbourhoods contribute to the relatively high number of deaths and injuries?
- Will the charges and bail terms being preferred against people arrested during protests inevitably trap lower-income people in remand?
- How has the Interior Ministry Directive on Firearms and the Use of Force changed the policing of protests? Has this happened in practice?
Panellists
- Dr. Barack Muluka: Publishing Editor, Strategic and Political Communications, and Leadership Communications Consultant
- Wangui Wanjora: Convener, Ngong Social Justice Centre
- Dr. Mutuma Ruteere: Director. National Crime Research Centre