Harold Kaija stood up at the UHRC torture dialogue and said: "Sam Mugumya can't even walk. Lukwago is at Mulago Hospital—not by choice." UHRC blocked him. Silenced him. Told him to stop naming victims.
A commission meant to protect human rights is now protecting the regime from embarrassment.
OPINION:“A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” Proverbs 22:1.
Kenya had a Bill. The Bill had a bill and the bill was paid in insults. Yet the account is still open. That is not a riddle. That is a Tuesday morning in Kenya, where the President took to social media, addressed a media shareholder by name, called his newspaper’s journalism extortion and blackmail, and invited the institution to do its worst.
https://t.co/wtMlTp2ccS
Four armed men in a Toyota Probox attempt to abduct Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich in Nakuru early Saturday, days after President Ruto criticised the media house's news coverage.
🚨📢| Amir Ghalenoei, the head coach of the Iranian national team, has come out strongly
to condemn VAR and the World Cup officials:
🗣Amir Ghalenoei,
“If you don’t want us to participate in the World Cup, just say it,” he effectively said. Disallowing that goal was completely uncalled for-it was a clear goal, not offside. I feel like the entire football world is against us. Iran fought with everything they had, and the world saw it.”
The following active citizens are missing;
1. Fredrick Ojiro
2. Colins Ochieng
3. Muteti Mulinge
4. Michael Ngige
5. Ochieng Alam
They were arrested outside parliament yesterday by @DCI_Kenya, and they haven’t been presented before the court.
Human rights defenders have raised alarm over the alleged disappearance of six activists who were arrested outside Parliament during Thursday's Gen Z anniversary protests.
@R_okenye#WeekendPrime
Kenya Is In The Red As Ruto Mistakes A Revolution For A Security Lapse
From June 2024 to where Kenya stands today, the biggest mistake William Ruto has made is treating a political revolution like a police operation, because what began as anger over the Finance Bill quickly became a national rejection of arrogance, waste, corruption, overtaxation, police brutality and a government that talks too much while listening too little.
The people who went to the streets in June 2024 were not complaining because Parliament had weak gates, police had poor formation or intelligence officers had slept on duty, because they were complaining because life had become too expensive, public money looked like private property for connected people and leaders were behaving as if citizens existed only to be taxed, lied to and beaten into silence.
That is why Ruto is very very wrong if he thinks the lesson from June 2024 was that security failed to stop citizens from reaching Parliament, because the real lesson was that the public had reached a point where fear no longer worked as the main tool of control.
The first stage of a revolution is pain that leaders dismiss, and Kenya went through that stage when citizens complained about food prices, taxes, unemployment, corruption, medical costs, school fees, public debt and the daily humiliation of watching leaders live big while ordinary people were told to tighten belts that had already cut into their skin.
The second stage is shared anger, and that came when Kenyans stopped seeing their suffering as private bad luck and started seeing it as a national pattern created by bad leadership, greedy budgeting, tone deaf speeches and a political class that had lost the shame needed to pretend it cared.
The third stage is the trigger, and for Kenya that trigger was the Finance Bill, because the bill became more than a tax document and turned into a symbol of a government that wanted to take more from people who already felt squeezed dry.
The fourth stage is the breaking of fear, and that happened when young Kenyans faced tear gas, live bullets, arrests, intimidation, online threats and still returned to the streets with phones, flags, placards, chants and a stubborn refusal to be treated like children of a lesser God in their own country.
The fifth stage is state panic, and that is where Ruto’s government moved from political response to security obsession, because instead of accepting that citizens had legitimate anger, the system started behaving as if the main problem was protest logistics rather than the pain producing the protests.
That is how we arrived at this strange place where CBDs are closed, roads are blocked, Parliament is barricaded, police are deployed like the country is at war with itself and strange squads appear around protests as if the State is trying to scare citizens back into silence.
The use of acoustic weapons and other aggressive crowd control tools shows how badly the regime has misread the national mood, because a machine that screams at citizens does not answer why they are broke, why they are angry, why families are burying children, why abducted people remain a national wound or why public trust has collapsed.
Ruto thinks stronger policing can stop the wheel, but once the wheel of a revolution starts rotating, it does not stop simply because a government has bought bigger vehicles, louder machines, darker helmets and more officers to flood the streets.
This is where necessity becomes the mother of invention, because when you close the CBD, people begin to think beyond the CBD, when you block one route, people begin to imagine another route, and when you militarize one protest style, the public begins to create new civic languages that the State has not yet learned how to police.
A revolution does not always move in one straight line, and it does not always announce itself through one big crowd in one big city, because sometimes it becomes refusal, silence, boycott, ridicule, underground coordination, public memory, electoral punishment and a slow national agreement that the people in power have lost moral authority.
Kenya is now in the red because the same issues citizens complained about in 2024 have not been fixed in a way that people can feel in their homes, pockets, hospitals, schools, workplaces, police stations and villages.
The anger is still there, the distrust is still there, the cost of living is still there, the debt burden is still there, the corruption anger is still there, the police brutality question is still there and the feeling that government only listens when people rise up is now deeper than it was before Parliament was stormed.
The danger for Ruto is that he has armed and empowered the security sector so heavily that officers may start behaving with the carelessness that comes when a government teaches them that every angry citizen is an enemy to be subdued instead of a Kenyan to be heard.
That kind of overconfidence can spin things out of control, because once security officers believe they are the last wall protecting a collapsing political order, small confrontations become national tragedies and every excessive response creates new anger for the next round.
The political bomb coming to Kenya is not a cartoon bomb carried by protesters, but a pressure bomb created by the State itself every time it refuses to solve the real issues and chooses instead to add more uniforms, more barricades, more arrests and more threats.
Ruto still has not understood that revolutions are not defeated by closing streets, because streets are only the visible part of a deeper public shift that begins inside people’s minds before it appears on roads, timelines, funerals, markets, campuses, churches, workplaces and ballot boxes.
Kenya is now past the complaint stage, past the awakening stage, past the trigger stage and past the first breaking of fear, which means the country is currently in the state panic stage where government responds to a legitimacy crisis with security muscle.
The next stage is adaptation, where citizens stop relying on the old predictable protest patterns and begin finding new ways to express anger, preserve memory, pressure power and punish arrogance without waiting for permission from the same system they are resisting.
After adaptation comes the judgment stage, where the regime either reforms honestly and lowers the national temperature or continues provoking the country until public anger becomes impossible to manage through police deployments and emergency speeches.
That is why Kenya is in the red today, because Ruto is fighting the smoke while feeding the fire, and a government that keeps mistaking citizens’ pain for a security lapse eventually learns that the real breach was not at Parliament, but inside the trust that once held the country together.
My heart goes out to Maama Dr. Miria Matembe who is being hunted down and our sister @SarahBireete who just got raided. May you still gather the courage to speak your truth during this difficult time.
They have built a throne for fear to reign among us and when they raid our homes and strip our dignity bare, they think they will undress our courage! We condemn every act of cruelty being unleashed on Uganda’s daughters, women and mothers.
To the sisters who have been beaten, raped, raided, left alone to fend for families while the breadwinners are abducted, kept in unknown detention and silenced. Be of courage! Injustice doesn’t reign forever! History will remember your wounds!
For thirty years and more, I looked at Miria Matembe with utmost respect. Even when she was too loud or too bold, I had nothing but respect for her. She spoke her mind with people's interests at heart. She never changed. She is a treasure we must protect. A national treasure. A woman of character. A fighter for a better Uganda. A voice of wisdom and reason. Wherever she is, I hope she is safe and protected. Because, honestly, if Miria Matembe ends up in jail, we will lose the last crumbs of decency as a country.
General Muhoozi Kainerugaba @cdfupdf,
There is a wise Banyankole proverb that carries deep truth for all who lead: “Ahu omukuru agyenda ayinami, iwe torabaho oyemereire.”( Where an elder walks while bending low, you cannot walk while standing tall.) Take a sip on this proverb's strong wisdom.
Elders bend low because they have seen hard times, made big sacrifices, and learned to move with care. They lower themselves so the road stays safe for those who follow. If you stand too tall in their path, you will fall and damage what they built.
You did not build this country by yourself. You did not create the army alone. Many elders fought, suffered, and worked hard long before you. They bent low so you could stand in the position you have today. To forget this is dangerous. The country does not belong to you alone. It belongs to all of us, especially those who came before.
Dr. Miria Matembe is one of those elders. She is a senior citizen who has served Uganda with courage for many years. Army officers under your command raided her home and entered her master bedroom. This was wrong. It was deep disrespect to a mother and elder of this nation. No soldier should treat an old person like that. You carry a big responsibility. True power is not about showing force. It is about showing respect. The uniform you wear carries the honour of those elders.
I call on you to apologise to Dr. Miria Matembe. Do it openly and honestly. Say sorry for what happened. Show the humility the proverb teaches. This one act will prove you understand true leadership.
Walk carefully where the elders bent. Do not stand too tall in their path. This wisdom has protected our people for many generations. Follow it before it is too late.
May these simple words touch your heart.
Ronald Agaba Jr 🏳️🌈🇺🇬
Activist Bob Njagi is being held for 7 days for potential treason. He was arrested at Kitengela Matatu Stage while addressing the youth. He is under investigations for planning to overthrow the government of Kenya.