If there is one thread that runs through the first quarter of 2026, it is that accountability is no longer a distant promise. It is being demanded, delivered, and defended.

A week before World Press Freedom Day 2026, the Zambian government did something that cut against every word of this year’s theme. Days before RightsCon was scheduled to open in Lusaka on May 5, with thousands of activists, technologists, journalists, and policymakers already en route, the government announced it was postponing the event to ensure “full alignment with Zambia’s national values, policy priorities, and broader public interest considerations.”

In April 2026, Davine Kwamboka, a mother of two in Migori County, was brutally killed, with CCTV later revealing her husband and two men attempting to dispose of her body. Her case is not isolated but part of a disturbing pattern of femicide marked by violence, silence, and grief. Anita’s killing in Nakuru, murdered by her husband, a Kenya Defense Forces soldier, in front of their young child, mirrors the same reality. These are not just individual tragedies, but stark reminders of a systemic failure to protect women before their lives are reduced to statistics.

Amnesty International Kenya welcomes the opportunity to submit our views on the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) Reparations Draft Guidelines (2026). This memorandum provides recommendations in line with Amnesty International’s positions, policy guidance, and advocacy experience over the last decade, both globally and within Kenya. Amnesty International has consistently affirmed that reparations are not discretionary acts of charity but binding human rights obligations flowing from violations of international and domestic law.

As of the 2019 national census in Kenya, over 900,000 Kenyans lived with a disability, representing 2.2% of the general population. According to the United Nations Population Fund in Kenya (UNFPA), mobility-related disabilities account for about 42% of this total. In comparison, visual-related disabilities account for 36.4%, cognitive disabilities for 23.2%, and hearing-related disabilities for 16.7%. It is also noted that more than 80% of persons with disabilities live in rural areas. These Persons with disabilities continue to face a myriad of challenges living their day-to-day lives, with children missing school, parents can’t access opportunities, and the elderly remain confined to their homes, simply because assistive devices seem to be a luxury rather than a necessity. 

Easter weekend finds me in Laikipia, apparently one of Kenya’s happiest counties. Amid public tensions between Senators and Governors, dissatisfaction with the cost of living, and a looming global crisis in fertilizer, oil, and exports caused by the US war on Iran, Easter’s message of renewal and hope feels timely, especially a few days before the Africa Urban Forum opens in Nairobi. 

The cheers, screams, and shouts by the children in Nyakichiwa Primary School in Bomet, describing the joy of having newly equipped classrooms as well as free lunch, all courtesy of a philanthropist commonly referred to as Mr. Beast, bring my attention to the Draft 2026 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) that has recently undergone public participation. As the BPS heads to the National Assembly for review and approval, questions linger about the significant reductions in allocations for key Education programmes in the Financial Year 2025/2026.   

Nairobi, 10 March 2026: Over 900 Kenyans, persons with disabilities, advocates, and allies within the broader disability inclusion movement, have today called on the Social Health Authority (SHA) to review its benefits package to include assistive devices. As it stands today, the current SHA cover does not provide comprehensive coverage for assistive devices such as prosthetic limbs, orthotics, wheelchairs, hearing aids, crutches, and other essential mobility and rehabilitation products. This exclusion places an unbearable financial burden on persons with disabilities and their families.As the Authority approaches the mandatory two-year review of its benefits package, we urge the Social Health Authority and the Ministry of Health to give serious consideration to this petition and the voices behind it, and to use this review process as an opportunity to address a structural barrier that deepens inequality and entrenches poverty.

The 2025/26 Supplementary Budget went public this week. A quick read suggests that while the Government of Kenya does not lack money, it does lack consequences for intentionally deepening debt and impunity in our name. 

Does the midnight detention, interrogation, and dawn deportation of a senior staff member from one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations signal an early tactic in the Kenyan government’s playbook for the 2027 General Elections?

This column is more personal than usual. This week’s Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman) ruling in the case of Coldstone Investment Ltd. Vs. Khaleej Towers Ltd. created a buzz in my home and several neighbourhoods negatively impacted by building and planning violations. 

I recently visited an Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) county and spoke with a teacher from a day secondary school. What I experienced will forever be ingrained in my memory. I wondered how and why the only secondary school in a sub-county would have a dismal performance with a mean score below 3 in the national examinations, while similar day schools performed well in the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.