How East Africa's Heads of States unite to tame dissidents

East Africa remains the main hub of modern day civil activism as compared to other regions in Africa.

When Tanzania's opposition figure, Tundu Lissu was presented to court after being detained over treasonous remarks, activists drawn from Kenya and Uganda stormed Tanzania as a show of solidarity to the CHADEMA leader.

This triggered the Tanzania regime under the influence of President Samia Suluhu Hassan to issue constraint orders, in what she termed as interference of their internal affairs by external characters.

Key figures from Kenya the likes of Martha Karua and Willy Mutunga were detained for several hours at Julius Nyerere International Airport before they were deported to Kenya.

In what was about to brew to a diplomatic tiff between Kenya and Tanzania, activist Bonface Mwangi was held incommunicado by Tanzanian authorities for close to four days.

Mwangi's whereabouts sparked protests outside Tanzania embassy in Kenya as Kenyans agitated for his unconditional release.

Both Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda have armtwisted political contests into 'treasonary attempts’.

For instance, in Uganda, Museveni has always been on the neck of his perennial rival, Dr Kissa Besigye.

In 2024, Besigye was arrested in Nairobi and flogged to Uganda. 

In Kenya, immediately after the Gen-Zs protests, there were a number of reported cases of state abductions. 

Some abductees are still missing, while others were found death. Only a handful of abductees were released back to their families.

President William Ruto distanced himself from the abductions, yet those who were abducting Kenyans were police officers who had masqueraded themselves from public scrutiny.

The unanswered question is, under whose order were the police executing such unwarranted and unconstitutional acts?

What Suluhu did to scare external activists

At the course of Tundu Lissu's court hearing, Tanzania president Suluhu Hassan used the security apparatus in her country to torture foreign activists who had entered Tanzania.

The activists had gone there to follow Tundu Lissu's case.

Bonface Mwangi of Kenya and Agather Atuhaire of Uganda were locked up in undisclosed cells, traumatized and subjected to inhumane conditions.

Mwangi alleged that they were stripped off their clothes and remained naked while they were forced to praise Samia Suluhu Hassan as a great woman.

Both Ruto and Museveni are silent on what Suluhu did to their citizens, yet they hadn't committed any crime.