Amnesty International Kenya (AIK) and Open Institute (OI) have collaborated since 2020 to advance data governance, data protection, and privacy rights across Kenya and the wider region. Our joint work bridges the gap between data for development and data for human rights, demonstrating that these two critical areas can coexist and complement each other. AIK brings expertise in human rights advocacy, ensuring that data collection practices respect individual privacy and promote accountability, while OI leverages data-driven development initiatives to support impactful advocacy at the subnational, national, and regional levels. This collaboration provides a lens through which the conference discussions were framed, emphasising that trust, inclusion, and human rights must underpin all data governance efforts.

The opening Article of the historic Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948 boldly states that ‘‘All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights’’. This statement is both profound and powerful because it establishes a solid foundation upon which every individual can claim and defend their rights. Subsequently, as citizens of the world, we share a collective civic duty to preserve this extraordinary vision of the 77-year-old global framework, which unequivocally articulates the rights and freedoms to which every human being is equally and inalienably entitled.  

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.   

Kenyans sneaking into Russia is not new. As the Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi heads to Moscow next week, what do we know about the trafficking of Kenyans to fight for Russia in Ukraine, the government’s responsibility to protect citizens, and what options does he have? 

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?

For Immediate Release

Hon. Hanna Cheptumo,

Workplace sexual harassment is an abuse of power that violates bodily autonomy, dignity, and equality. Across sectors, young professionals, junior staff, interns, and those employed within the informal sector endure workplace sexual harassment in silence. Many never report, and those who do find their complaints are processed as human resources issues rather than criminal matters. This institutional separation between corporate discipline and criminal accountability is a core gap that must be addressed. 

Let’s be honest. 

Every day in Kenya, children miss school, parents lose jobs, and older persons remain confined to their homes, not because they lack strength or determination, but because they lack something as basic as a prosthetic limb, a wheelchair, a hearing aid, or crutches.