This week’s vicious public attack on Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, captured on CCTV and carried out in a busy commercial space, shatters any lingering illusion that Kenya’s next General Election will be calm, rules‑based, or insulated from violence. Now that we have another example of political violence, what would a responsible security management strategy look like? 

Despite the Kenyan Government’s silence, the detailed accounts of East African human rights defenders Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire at the hands of Tanzanian police officers remains deeply disturbing one week on. Their courage to tell all has opened the world’s eyes to some of the worst human rights abuses in East Africa. The veil lifted, this week international attention shifted to the persecution of prominent religious leaders who have dared to criticize the Government’s behaviour.