Cases in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania cause fear of a regional tendency

Kenya was affected by a recent wave of repression, belittling her reputation as a beacon of democracy in East Africa.

Critics fear that this slides along the path of her neighbors – Uganda and Tanzania, and both are known for drilling disagreement.

Kenya’s laws are considered more progressive – especially to protect fundamental freedoms such as the right to protest.

But Kenya witnessed a growing repression of protests – the last example is Killing at least 10 people in national demonstrations against President William Ruto’s government As he tried to ban live television and radio coverage of protests.

“Rogue Sikime” – declared the title of the respected standard newspaper of Kenya, as young people were flooding the streets in a challenging memory of those who were shot in a year ago in mass tax demonstrations, but “instead of listening to the auto -row.

But as for the Minister of the Interior, Kipchumba Murkomeni, police showed “remarkable restraint” as they transferred a “coup attempt”.

“We condemn the criminal anarchists who, in the name of peaceful demonstrations, unleashed a wave of violence, robbery, sexual assault and destruction on our people,” he said, accusing the protesters of attacking police and wounding 300 officers.

However, the Kenya Law Society (LSK) has condemned police for the processing of the protest.

“The unnecessary aggression and brute force, which ended with the meaningless loss of life and the senseless destruction of property, have no place in the free democratic society,” the statement said.

The repression came just weeks after A 31-year-old blogger and teacher, Albert Ozwang, died in police arrestS He was arrested after being charged with slander of a senior police officer – and died in arresting attacks with wounds, an autopsy opened.

His death caused a small protest in the capital Nairobi, which the police were pressed and a street seller who was caught in the cross fire – shot at close distance, fighting for his life in hospital.

LSK denied its shooting as unobstructed for “any healthy democracy”.

His comment scored in a sharp focus that Kenya risks losing her status of democracy, to which many tanzan and Ugandis envied – and draws inspiration.

Tanzania’s political analyst Nicodim Mende said that there was a long time “appreciation” among the Tanzanians of the Kenyans’ ability to “speak the truth of power.”

It was a view shared by the main leader of the opposition of Tanzania Tundu Lisu, who told the BBC last year that “we did not press strong enough for democratic reform.”

“What Kenya did to build her democratic space is something we need to do,” he said.

After miraculously, he experienced an attempt at murder after being shot 16 times in 2017, Lisu has become a symbol of state repression in Tanzania.

He is currently in custody charged with betrayal To gather his supporters under the slogan “no reform; no election.”

The government saw this as an attempt by Lisu to start rebellion – and he risks being sentenced to death if he was convicted.

The 57-year-old opposition leader sees his detention as an experience of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party-who is in power after independence in 1961-to clear his way to win the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for October.

This perception is enhanced by the fact that his Chadema party was Forgotten to challenge the poll After refusing to sign the Electoral Code of Conduct, which he believes he will undermine his right to campaign freely.

The opposition in Uganda sees himself in a similar situation, pointing out that President Yvery Museven has been in power for almost 40 years and – – – Along with his son Mukhozi Kinerugaba, who heads the army -The disintegrate with political rivals in the accumulation of elections in early 2026.

Uganda Opposition Politician Kizi Bessigay has been in detention since November, with the government wants to try him for a state treason in a military court after accusing him of intending to overthrow the government, which he denies.

Although Kenya has an independent judicial system and holds regular elections that lead to a change of power, Martha Carua – one of the most respected human rights lawyers in the country, a former minister of justice and leader of a small opposition party – believes that democracy is threatened in all three East African countries.

“We are staring at a regional crisis – not in an economic crisis, not a crisis of commerce, but of democracy itself,” she told a recent press conference.

Activists like her are worried about the fact that More than 80 Kenyans have been abducted in the last year Of people who have never identified themselves, raising fears that it is the latest government strategy for crushing disagreement after protests about increasing taxes against a life -back crisis.

There is also evidence that Kenya is no longer a certain haven for the Ugandians and the Tanzanians, with the security agencies of the three countries clearly colliding in order to break up the opposition.

Bessigay was in Nairobi to start a book in November when he disappeared – Only on the surface four days later in a military court in UgandaS

The Uganda government accused him of trying to negotiate a weapon deal in Kenya to start a rebellion at home and said he was arrested in a cross -border operation carried out with Kenya’s intelligence services.

Initially, the Kenya government denied this, stating that it was not aware of the Ugandan surgery on its soil, although recently the foreign minister of Kenya told local media that there were certain problems “about the visit of Besigay to Kenya and” he had to go. ” He has not developed.

About two months after the test of Bessiga, Expletive Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi Sarung said she had been abducted by armed men in Nairobi, who, of luck, was released for her a few hours later.

Da said -ga. She was managed and suffocated by four attackers who forced her in a vehicleS

“I am sure the reason for the abduction was to have access to my social media and (because of) the work to signal I am doing,” she said, as her abductors were constantly asking how to unlock their phone.

D -Jaji is an unwavering critic of Tanzania President Suluhu Hassan himself and has accused his government of returning the “tyranny” to the country, although he promised reforms when he took office in 2021 after the death of his authoritarian ancestor John Maguful.

Carua said that despite the “retreat” of democracy and human rights in East Africa, there is little anxiety about this internationally, such as the African Union “silent”, the United Nations organization offering “rhetoric – is not eliminated” while the US – “SUMMARY OF THE DEPARTMENT”.

Tanzania deported Carua and two Kenyan activists when they entered the country in May to show solidarity with LisuWhile the Kenyan activist Boniface Muangi and Uganda’s lawyer Agater Atahare were detained after being allowed to enter.

After their release, They both accused the Tanzanian police of sexual abuse of them.

Tanzania police have denied the prosecution, no matter how protest the detention and deportation of foreign activists, the president himself issued a great warning.

“If they were contained in their country, let them not come here to interfere. Let’s not give them a chance. They have already created chaos in their own country,” she said.

To the horror of activists, Kenya Ruto’s President Ruto failed to condemn the alleged abuse and instead apologized to the Tanzania government.

“To our neighbors from Tanzania, if we have been wrong in some way, forgive us,” he said.

“If there is something that the Kenyans have done, this is not right, we want to apologize.”

Macharia Munenen, a Kenyan professor of international relations, told the BBC that Ruto’s apology stems from his “perception of failure to keep people (the Kenyans) under control.”

He added that the Tanzania government has become a “flicker” of the potential influence of the Kenyan activists in the October elections, with the Ruto government under pressure to “contain the creators of problems”.

For Kenyan activists, the deteriorating repression in the three countries simply strengthened their determination to fight.

Mwangi, one of the most famous human rights campaigns in Kenya, summarized it, saying: “If these people are united in the suppression of their citizens, then we must unite in the fight to remove them from power.”