What distinguishes Kenya, and East Africa more broadly, is the degree to which repression has become both institutionalised and, in some cases, exported. Kenya is not a military junta, nor a post-conflict state clinging to fragile authority. It has functioning courts, a vocal civil society, and a constitution widely praised at its 2010 drafting. That the state is nonetheless deploying anti-terror laws against protesters and directing autopsies to be contradicted by police press releases suggests something more troubling than a governance failure. It suggests a deliberate choice.

The list spans a sobering breadth of violations: extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and abductions, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), arbitrary evictions, loss of property, and loss of livelihoods.

The night’s top honour—Human Rights Defender of the Year—went to Larry Madowo, whose reporting has persistently spotlighted governance failures, civic unrest and the lived realities of ordinary Africans.

By Wahome Ngatia There is a particular kind of silence