Boniface Mwangi

Activism is a dangerous vocation in Kenya. Over the past two decades, Boniface Mwangi has been in and out of jail, charged with resisting arrest, unlawful assembly and contempt of court. His house has been burned down by armed men, he has been brutally assaulted and, at one point, his family fled abroad.

- Fred Harter

Not long ago, Mwangi likened himself to a “lone voice in the wilderness”. No matter how many protests he organised, despite all the stunts he pulled, there was no mass awakening of young Kenyans. No longer. In the past few years, the country has been gripped by huge waves of unrest led by young people organising online and fed up with high taxes, corruption and police brutality.

With his huge social media following — he has more than 2 million followers on X and 670,000 on Facebook - Mwangi has been at the forefront. In June, protesters took to the streets across the country, commemorating a demonstration a year earlier against a new finance bill. According to an Independent Policing Oversight Authority report released last week, 23 were killed. More than 40 died at another protest earlier this month. Hundreds have been arrested and the police carried out enforced disappearances, according to Kenya's human rights council.

Mwangi was among those swept up in the crackdown. He was arrested last week, accused of the “facilitation of terrorist acts”. These charges were quickly dropped for lack of evidence. Instead he faces a lesser charge of possessing ammunition without a licence, after the alleged discovery of a blank round and three tear gas canisters during a police raid on his office.

His arrest was roundly condemned. Dozens of rights groups issued a statement saying Mwangi had been subject to a campaign that appears “to be part of a broader effort to intimidate lawful dissent”. Hussein Khalid, another prominent Kenyan activist, called the use of terrorism laws evidence that Kenya “has decided to follow the path of authoritarian regimes”.