It's shameful for the government to ignore the cries of Kenyans abused abroad

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A government that values its citizens should not wait for another country to speak first when one of its own alleges detention, torture and sexual assault abroad. It may choose diplomatic language and avoid reckless confrontation, but it must still show that the safety and dignity of its citizens matter wherever they are. That is why the recent action by the United States over the ordeal of Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire should embarrass Kenya.

On May 21, 2026, the US State Department designated Tanzanian Police Force Senior Assistant Commissioner Faustine Jackson Mafwele under Section 7031(c), citing his alleged involvement in gross violations of human rights against Atuhaire and Mwangi. The two had travelled to Dar es Salaam in 2025 to observe the trial of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu. What followed, according to their accounts and human rights organiSations, was detention, torture and sexual assault.

One does not need to agree with every method used by activists to understand the seriousness of that claim. A Kenyan citizen says he was violated in a neighbouring country after crossing the border in the spirit of East African human-rights solidarity, to observe a politically significant trial and stand with Tanzanians demanding due process and accountable government. The first government expected to demand answers should have been his own. Instead, the most visible public action has come from a country more than 12,000 kilometres away.

Modern states are judged partly by how they protect their citizens beyond their borders. Americans move around the world knowing that, at least in principle, their government will make noise if they are harmed. Israelis know the same. Many powerful states treat the dignity and safety of their nationals abroad as an extension of sovereignty itself.

Kenya must learn this lesson because sovereignty is not only the right to host flags, sing an anthem and issue passports. It is also the obligation to defend the citizen who carries that passport when his rights are violated beyond the border.

I write this with some memory of the civic trenches. As a young activist, I was part of spaces such as Bunge la Mwananchi, where we argued about justice, democracy, Pan-Africanism and the duty of citizens to resist abuse of power. We were not always polished or convenient, but we believed something important: Injustice in one African country cannot be dismissed as “their internal affair” when habits of repression travel so easily across borders.

East Africa is not merely a market. It is supposed to be a community bound by shared values, free movement and regional solidarity. If that language means anything, then citizens must be able to attend trials, observe democratic processes and express solidarity without being treated as enemies of the state.

Mwangi’s presence in Tanzania should therefore not be reduced to meddling. He was there in a tradition of regional civic solidarity. One may debate his style, politics or temperament, and many people often do. What should not be debatable is that no Kenyan citizen should be left exposed when he alleges serious abuse by foreign security agents.

The Kenyan government’s posture has been too cautious for the gravity of the matter. Diplomacy sometimes works away from cameras, and not every action must be shouted through microphones. But silence also communicates. It tells citizens that they are on their own. It tells neighbouring states that mistreatment of Kenyans may attract little public cost. It tells young people that citizenship is a document, not a shield.

The state has many duties, but protection comes before everything else. Before development plans, investment speeches and regional handshakes, a government must defend the life, dignity and bodily integrity of its citizens. If it cannot do that, the social contract begins to weaken at its foundation.

Kenya should have demanded a transparent investigation from Tanzania. It should have publicly supported access to medical, legal and diplomatic assistance. It should have raised the matter through the East African Community and the African Union mechanisms. It should also have made clear that friendship between states cannot mean silence when citizens allege torture.

This is not a call for hostility toward Tanzania or for reckless diplomacy. It is a call for seriousness in a region where Kenya sees itself as a regional power, yet governments too often prefer quiet accommodation to uncomfortable accountability.