NAIROBI, Kenya July 21 – From Raila Odinga’s treason cost in 1982 to the detention of Koigi wa Wamwere and Kenneth Matiba below Daniel arap Moi, Kenya has a protracted, darkish historical past of turning dissenters into enemies of the state.
In 2025, that script appears to have been dusted off, this time, activist Boniface Mwangi finds himself on the middle of the storm.
Mwangi, arrested on July 19, 2025 from his Lukenya dwelling, was initially accused of terrorism and cash laundering, fees that human rights teams dismissed as politically motivated.
Two days later, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) quietly dropped these fees, as a substitute accusing him of possessing ammunition and not using a license, a shift his protection legal professionals say reveals the state’s flimsy case.
Mwangi, who on Monday pleaded not responsible, was launched on a Sh1 million bond.
“Boniface Mwangi will not be a terrorist,” mentioned the Police Reforms Working Group (PRWG) in a press release. “Misusing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in opposition to peaceable dissenters is a harmful try and stifle democracy.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has condemned Mwangi’s arrest as a part of a “disturbing sample of criminalizing protests.”
“Political dissent will not be an act of terrorism,” mentioned LSK President Faith Odhiambo.
“The POTA regulation was crafted to battle teams like Al-Shabaab decreasing it to a instrument of political repression is a harmful abuse of energy.”
The LSK in a press release on Monday warned that the nation’s democracy is on a harmful decline.
“Our nation bleeds, and the phrases of our National Anthem echo in a vacuum, one the place we don’t dwell in unity, peace, or liberty, and justice has ceased being the inherent defend and defender to our most susceptible.”
The LSK known as on the ODPP to rethink all terrorism fees tied to anti-government protests, warning that Kenya dangers turning into a “police state during which dissent is handled as treason.”
Critics say Mwangi, a two-time CNN Photojournalist of the Year and founding father of PAWA254 has been made a handy scapegoat by a authorities below stress to crush rising anti-tax and anti-government protests.
For weeks, senior authorities officers have vowed to “unmask and arrest the financiers” of the unrest.
Yet, as a substitute of naming shadowy financiers, the state has turned its weapons on a person who has brazenly criticized President William Ruto for years.
Mwangi’s ordeal attracts chilling parallels to the Eighties and Nineties when the Moi regime jailed, tortured, or exiled political opponents, journalists, and activists.
Figures like Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia, Koigi wa Wamwere, and Raila Odinga had been branded criminals for daring to demand democratic reforms.
Mwangi’s arrest has sparked public outrage, with Siaya Governor James Orengo brazenly questioning why peaceable activists are being branded as terrorists.
“It is illogical and troubling that somebody like Boniface Mwangi, who stands for justice, might be framed as a terrorist. This is a deliberate assault on freedom.”
The LSK’s assertion underscored the priority, pointing at police and politicians for weaponizing violence and worry.
“The criminalization of protests is unconstitutional, illegal, and unacceptable,” Odhiambo mentioned.
According to critics, the crackdown on dissent right this moment mirrors the Moi playbook, simply up to date with trendy legal guidelines like POTA.
Back then, Raila and Matiba had been locked up for calling for reforms.
Today, Mwangi, a person who has fearlessly criticized energy since 2007 stands as the brand new face of state intimidation.
“Kenya will not be a failed state in anarchy,” the LSK reminded the federal government. “But if this path of silencing dissent continues, the nation’s democratic good points since 2010 can be irreversibly eroded.”
