Overshadowed by the Presidential Katiba Day event, businesses, civic and government agencies held the first of eight roundtables ahead of Kenya's inaugural Global Trust Summit in October. With public trust in government at an all-time low, what can be done to rebuild it across all public institutions?

Eight years, 42 witnesses, and a mountain of evidence culminated in the conviction of former Migori Governor Okoth Obado, Michael Oyamo, and Caspal Obiero for the killing of Sharon Otieno. Their upcoming sentencing has revived questions about justice for Sharon and her unborn child, the only people who will not be in court on 16 September.

On 30 August 2026, the world marks the 20th anniversary of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Mature democracies protect the rights of its critics as fiercely as those of its supporters. No activist, journalist, visitor or political opponent should ever vanish into a legal black hole. If the State is serious about moving past one of its darkest constitutional stains, it must ensure that victims of enforced disappearance

For over a decade, Kenyans have buried protesters, treated life-changing injuries and watched cycles of violence repeat on our streets and in our communities. A new draft Freedom of Assembly Bill offers a chance to break this pattern. What does it get right, where does it depart from previous bills, and what must be strengthened to ensure that demonstrations are protected, not punished?

What is more astonishing? Seven citizens allegedly abducted, unlawfully detained and tortured after a march honouring victims of police brutality on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture or the Interior Principal Secretary insisting no enforced disappearances have taken place under President Ruto’s administration?

Now firmly etched in the national conscience, the second anniversary of 25 June 2024 was thankfully commemorated without fatalities and few injuries. The mothers of those we commemorated once again turned private grief into another historical moment of national resistance.

Listening to the State House speeches and reading the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Reparations Framework, I agree with transitional justice expert Tina Alai’s observation. While the moment is significant, it is not yet historic. What clarity does the Framework offer victims and a nation traumatised by state violence and what must the State do next?

With 16 Utumishi Girls Academy students dead and 74 injured, the nation reels from another horrific tragic incident. As feminists are forced to organise another public memorial this coming Madaraka Day, what it would take to keep all Kenya’s women and children safe.

The midnight home arrest of Officer in Charge of Police Station Dishon Angoya during another week of protests, perhaps not wholly surprising, was still unsettling. What does it reveal about how state power is being exercised?

The assault of Senator Godfrey Osotsi is not just an attack on an individual. It is an attack on Kenya’s democratic space. I wish the Senator quick recovery and his attackers, and those that sent them, a day in court as soon as possible. What would a responsible elections security management strategy look like?

With the legal hurdles now cleared, compensation for victims of violent policing during protests is back on the table. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, now affirmed as the constitutional body to deliver the President’s pledge, must define its path and steer clear of fresh obstacles.

Does the midnight detention, interrogation, and dawn deportation of a senior staff member from one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations signal an early tactic in the Kenyan government’s playbook for the 2027 General Elections?