Grave Concerns Over Continued Intimidation, Harassment, And Attacks Against The Civic Space In Kenya
We, the undersigned civil society organizations, human rights defenders, citizens, grassroots movements and champions of accountability, strongly condemn the escalating, coordinated, and lawless campaign of intimidation leveled against The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), its Executive Director, the entire team and other Okoa Uchumi Campaign members.
Increasingly, we are witnessing a chilling regression towards dark-era police-state tactics specifically targeting defenders of public finance integrity and civic space. TISA is the latest defender of democracy to come under attack – an attack we believe has been instigated by this government. This state-sanctioned assault seems to grow bolder by the day, as illustrated by the alarming incidents documented below:
- The All Saints Cathedral Church attack where state-hired goons targeted a meeting of civil society actors working on public finance management within a sanctuary of prayer. The goons publicly confessed to having been sent by some powerful government officials to carry out the heinous Notably, TISA was one of the co-conveners of the event that was disrupted by goons on June 12, 2026 alongside Okoa Uchumi partners.
- Surveillance and Road Harassment: Since early June 2026, TISA’s Executive Director, Diana Gichengo, has been subjected to a continued pattern of intrusive surveillance and road harassment by tinted Subaru and Prado vehicles, including repeated tailing along routes she regularly uses to and from This came shortly after she was informed that individuals close to a well-known government official had been making inquiries about her, on the basis of TISA’s public finance management accountability work.
- On Thursday, July 2, 2026, at least 13 suspected state security officers in four Subarus attempted to gain entry into the TISA Operating entirely outside of legal procedures, the men aggressively demanded the identification and surrender of “the lawyer” who works at TISA.
- This pattern of state-led attacks and intimidation of vocal human rights defenders is clearly The regime has previously unlawfully rendered KHRC staff member Martin Mavenjina to Uganda, and continues to refuse his return to be reunited with his family. This intimidation escalated further a year ago, when suspected state-hired goons attacked a press conference organized by KHRC and Inuka Kenya at KHRC’s office, injuring one of their board members. The press conference had brought together mothers of victims of police killings and enforced disappearances, alongside journalists, to call on the regime to end the killing and disappearance of their children, an appeal the goons were evidently sent to silence.
- Additionally, the state denied Brian Kagoro of the Open Society Foundation entry into Kenya and unlawfully returned him to South Africa, despite his having legally resided and worked in the country for decades.
- It did not stop there. During the June 25 commemoration, police arbitrarily arrested and forcibly disappeared seven human rights defenders, who were later found abandoned and tortured in different parts of Nairobi. The seven were Fredrick Ojiro, Collins Otieno, Muteti Mulinge, Elisha Alam, Michael Ngugi, Christine Lubanga, and Davis Luchuma. Abdulaziz Duba Molu, Michael Oloo Osura, and Macmillan Kiarie Mugo are still forcibly disappeared even though their unlawful arrest happened before the June 25.
This is not law enforcement; it is organized state-enabled terror against citizens exercising their constitutional rights. The continued deployment of armed, masked, plain-clothes and unidentified security personnel operating alongside or in protection of state-sponsored goons has become a defining feature of the assault on Kenya’s civic space. These actors routinely operate outside the law, conceal their identities, use unmarked vehicles, carry out unlawful arrests, enforced disappearances, assaults and intimidation, while enjoying apparent protection from accountability. This coordinated architecture of repression must be dismantled immediately, and those responsible, whether they planned, commanded, facilitated or protected these operations, must be investigated and prosecuted.
The actions of the security agencies and their proxies fly directly in the face of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. We remind the state and the National Police Service (NPS) of the explicit constitutional boundaries and obligations contained in articles 10, 29, 33, 36 and 244 of the Constitution of Kenya in the ongoing harassment and intimidation of civic actors.
Through strategic litigation initiatives, mostly led by actors here today, Kenya’s Judiciary has repeatedly drawn a line in the sand against rogue police tactics and the closing of civic space. We draw strength from and cite the following landmark judgments:
In Kanchory v Service & 3 others [2025] KEHC 13792 (KLR) at para 62, the High Court soundly condemned the deployment of plainclothes officers in unmarked vehicles to disappear or intimidate citizens, ruling that:
“Given their mandate to serve all, why would police officers conceal their faces and identity and bundle people in unmarked vehicles? It is only criminals engaged in criminal activities who wear hoods and masks to conceal their identity and move in vehicles without registration plates or with false plates to avoid identification and accountability.”
While our courts continue to affirm the state’s obligations to protect women, the reality on the ground tells a different story: women leaders are still routinely targeted with intimidation and violence, including sexual violence.
We note that the police’s failure to stop the goons at All Saints Cathedral Church, KHRC’s office and other reported community meetings, as well as their active harassment of civic leaders, including those from TISA, renders them personally liable for constitutional violations. With credible allegations that security agencies have coordinated with, facilitated, or protected such actors while simultaneously deploying masked, armed and plain-clothes officers to intimidate citizens, these actions and omissions amount to serious constitutional violations and demand urgent, independent criminal investigations into operational commanders and those exercising political authority over these operations.
OUR DEMANDS
We refuse to be cowed into silence and demand the following:
- The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Inspector General of Police must immediately halt the illegal tracking, surveillance, and office raids directed at TISA’s Executive Director and staff.
- The National Police Service must officially account for the fleet of Subaru vehicles used on July 2, identify the officers in black suits, and state the legal basis for targeting a civil society lawyer. Furthermore, the unmarked Subaru used for the illegal apprehension of human rights defenders on July 7 in CBD must also be immediately investigated. Any officers found to have participated in unlawful operations must be subjected to criminal and disciplinary
- IPOA Investigation: The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), together with other competent investigative authorities, must immediately investigate not only the July 2 attempted raid on TISA but also the broader pattern of coordinated attacks involving state-sponsored goons, masked and plain-clothes security officers, unmarked vehicles, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture, assaults on civic meetings and the protection afforded to The investigations must identify those who planned, commanded, supervised and executed these operations and recommend criminal prosecutions where appropriate.
- The state must guarantee the safety of TISA staff, all civil society organizations, and human rights defenders demanding accountability from the political class at all At the same time, there must be immediate investigations into the grave violations that have already occurred, including assaults, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture, illegal surveillance, office raids and attacks perpetrated by state-sponsored goons and security personnel. Those who ordered, commanded, facilitated or failed to prevent these violations despite having a constitutional duty to do so must be held individually accountable. Any further violations committed against civic actors will constitute additional evidence of command responsibility on the part of the leadership of the National Police Service and other responsible state agencies.
- Should any harm, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention, or extrajudicial action befall any member of TISA or the civil society at large, the leadership of the Inspector General of the National Police Service will be held personally and criminally
- The Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security in the National Assembly must convene urgent hearings to investigate the July 2 raid and broader intimidation of civil The Inspector General of Police, Cabinet Secretary for Interior, and IPOA should be compelled to testify under oath, provide full disclosure of operations involving Subarus and other unmarked and irregularly registered vehicles, and outline measures to protect civic actors.
We stand in unyielding solidarity with TISA and the civic actors, citizenry and human rights defenders whose safety and security is being undermined by the escalating deployment and impunity of state- sponsored and protected goons. The Constitution protects our right to speak truth to power, and no amount of black suits, unmarked cars, or state-hired goons will roll back the democratic gains won by the blood and sweat of the Kenyan people. We invite the diplomatic community and development partners to monitor the unfolding situation closely and to publicly report on the ongoing attacks within the Kenyan civic space.
