NAIROBI, Kenya July 27 – Is there a secret deal between Kenya and Tanzania to crush dissent throughout borders?
That’s the query gripping East Africa after Kenyan activist Mwabili Mwagodi was discovered deserted and shaken in a thicket in Kwale County on Sunday, days after he vanished mysteriously in Dar es Salaam.
Mwagodi, a fierce critic of President William Ruto’s church fundraising drive and a frontrunner within the #OccupyChurch motion, had disappeared in Tanzania on July 23, 2025.
His final identified act was a social media put up tagging prime Kenyan safety chiefs and the president, accusing them of corruption and repression.
Days later, he surfaced shaken, having walked for kilometers to security after being dumped close to Diani.
Now, civil society teams and political observers are questioning whether or not Kenya and Tanzania are engaged in “silent collusion” an unstated pact to take care of political dissenters exterior the regulation.
The indicators are disturbing.
Just months in the past, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan lawyer Agather Atuhaire have been arrested, tortured, and deported from Tanzania below murky circumstances.
In each instances, Kenya supplied little greater than silence.
“This isn’t nearly one man,” mentioned one person on X. “There is a transparent, worrying sample of cross-border repression and Kenya seems complicit.”
Kenya’s prime officers failure to touch upon Mwagodi’s disappearance has solely deepened suspicions.
Critics say Tanzania could also be performing as Kenya’s enforcer doing what Nairobi sometimes does albeit unlawful: abduct activists.
In May 2025, President Ruto issued a public apology to Tanzania “If we’ve wronged you, forgive us.”
Human rights teams now say that assertion raised extra crimson flags than it settled, particularly given the absence of any protest over the therapy of Kenyan residents overseas.
Meanwhile, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu warned international activists to “keep out” of her nation, branding them “chaos creators.”
For many, the message is evident: dissent won’t be tolerated, whether or not at house or from throughout the border.
Civil society organisations throughout the area are demanding pressing investigations, with calls rising for the East African Court of Justice to intervene.
