A nation on edge: Kenyans no longer afraid to express anger

Kenyans are angry. This anger has been demonstrated by the wave of attacks on police stations. On Thursday, thousands of angry villagers descended on Mawego Police Station in Homa Bay, which they razed to the ground. They were angry because this was the police station where teacher Albert Ojwang was first locked up after being arrested, before being transferred to Nairobi, where he was killed in a cell.

And Friday, during the burial of Ojwang’ the message was loud and clear: government-leaning politicians should address the crowd cautiously. ODM Chairperson and Homa Bay governor Gladys Wanga had a torrid time in her backyard as mourners preferred listening to ODM rebel MP Babu Owino and not her speech. 

The agitated mourners called for the arrest and prosecution of Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat.

The recent protests have not only targeted police stations but also a court of law, where defiant activists have been chanting freedom songs in the temples of justice—where aggrieved people come to seek redress—a sign that Kenya is a nation fed up.

The anger has also been directed at police officers, the most visible symbol of authority, as many have been involved in acts of brutality and abductions.

The response by the government—especially from President William Ruto and Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen—regarding shoot-to-kill orders has only fuelled public fury, with Kenyans feeling exposed by the very leaders meant to protect them.

On Thursday, Mawego Police Station was set on fire as irate mourners hijacked the body of the slain teacher, Albert Ojwang, carried it to the police station and set it ablaze. They demanded justice for the slain blogger, who was arrested and killed inside Central Police Station in Nairobi by officers acting on a complaint filed by Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat.

The world has been watching Kenya, and The Economist has captured the global view of a country long regarded as a citadel of democracy and human rights.

The London-based Economist, in its July 3, 202,5, edition, reported that Ruto has responded to demonstrations with brutality and censorship, noting that a spiral of riot and repression is eroding civil liberties and may jeopardise economic reforms. The publication urged the President to change tack.

“Kenyans’ fury reflects their country’s deeper problems. In contrast with the past, protesters are not divided along ethnic lines, but united by frustration over their poor living standards and their lack of opportunities...” The Economist reported.

According to the publication, the situation could worsen, with unrest becoming more violent, and met with more deadly force and further midnight abductions of government critics by hooded men wielding batons and handcuffs.

“The best way out of the spiral would be to take the protesters’ demands seriously...,” the article added.

It concluded: “Given the damage to Mr Ruto’s reputation over the past three years, a less tainted successor would have a better chance of getting the reforms Kenya needs... Unless one emerges, there is a grave risk that Mr Ruto will continue to take his country backwards.”

In another story, The Economist observed that the President’s authoritarian instincts are propelling a spiral of violence, noting that Ruto’s allies “have, misleadingly, begun painting anti-government activity as a largely Kikuyu affair, pitting Kenya’s largest ethnic group... against the rest of the country.”

Democratic institutions

“Mr Ruto has also weakened Kenya’s democratic institutions. The judiciary has been undermined by the government’s frequent flouting of court orders,” noted the story, quoting Nora Mbagathi of the Katiba Institute. Alleged interference in appointing Kenya’s electoral board has further dented Ruto’s democratic credibility.

The fury of protesters has been witnessed in Nairobi, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Makueni, Kajiado and Nakuru counties, where anti-riot police struggled to suppress demonstrations. Protesters destroyed around 20 police vehicles and vandalised road furniture.

The Kikuyu Law Courts in Kiambu County, along with several national and county government offices, also came under attack. The law courts were reduced to ashes, with the inferno destroying the registry, customer care desk, succession and records offices, procurement and accounts departments, mediation offices, children’s cells, and exhibits.

In Ol’Kalou sub-county, Nyandarua, protesters set fire to the offices of the Assistant County Commissioner, the education department and county enforcement, consuming 33 vehicles, 10 motorcycles and a tractor.

Protesters attacked Villa Police Station in Nairobi with stones and crude weapons, bringing down the perimeter wall, torching two civilian vehicles and injuring 10 police officers. A 19-year-old boy was shot during the melee. In Mathira East, Nyeri, demonstrators shattered window panes of the sub-county education office, looted the Administration Police canteen and attempted to torch Karatina Law Courts.

Other incidents occurred in Soy sub-county, Uasin Gishu, where a police canter was reduced to a shell and three officers were injured. In Machakos, five officers sustained injuries during running battles.

The protests, mainly driven by the high cost of living, aim to pressure the Kenya Kwanza administration to end police brutality and enforced disappearances while commemorating the Gen-Z protesters killed during last year’s anti–Finance Bill demonstrations.

However, the government’s failure to address demonstrators’ grievances—while accusing shadowy figures of inciting protests—has only deepened public disillusionment. Many Kenyans now say they no longer fear death at the hands of police; they carry eulogies and deposit morgue fees in preparation.

Activists say Kenya Kwanza’s response to dissent is worsening the situation. Instead of addressing corruption, the economy, and police violence, leaders have built walls between themselves and their electorate.

According to Gitile Naituli, a professor of management and leadership at the Multimedia University of Kenya, the country stands on the precipice—battered by political deceit and economic sabotage, and teetering dangerously close to the edge of anarchy.

“When a government abandons the rule of law and begins to govern by terror, it signs the death warrant of the very state it purports to defend. The recent wave of abductions, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings are not just an isolated act of state brutality. They have calculated tools of repression aimed at silencing dissent, striking fear into the hearts of the defiant, and snuffing out the last embers of democratic expression,” Prof Naituli noted.

He added that such actions have left Kenyans fed up.
He cautioned that repression is not governance and brutality is not leadership, further warning that silence, however brutal its enforcement, is not peace.

According to the don, the government must change tack, or risk continued resistance from its citizens.

“During anarchy, cities become slaughterhouses. Urban areas become ungovernable war zones. Essential services grind to a halt. Supermarkets run dry. Hospitals become morgues. Schools shut down. Jobs vanish. Crime explodes. And the few remaining goods—fuel, food, waterfall under the control of warlords, army generals, and criminal gangs who peddle them at extortionist prices to a desperate, starving population,”
He said.

Michael Ndonye, the Dean of Kabarak University’s School of Music and Media, maintains that President Ruto must learn to speak Gen Z’s language if he hopes to govern peacefully and legitimately in their time. He describes the current protests as the birth of a generational movement that the government cannot afford to ignore, suppress, or underestimate.

“Instead of the government deploying military tactics to quell these commemorations, they must recognise that Gen Z is an awakening generation. Gen Z is not simply protesting against the Ruto regime; they are rejecting a system that they believe has failed to listen to them.”
He observed that Gen Z has been raised in an era of endless promises but limited opportunities, and is navigating a world marked by economic hardship, social disillusionment, and political exclusion.

“Moreover, their fight is not just about constitutional liberties, but about the daily right to self-expression, to dissent, and to be different. Their aesthetic, language, and mode of organising may appear disruptive, but it is a genuine attempt to redefine civic participation. They are not interested in the past structures, such as civil society and opposition politics,” he opined.