Following recent reports that Kenyan activists were arrested and badly tortured by the Tanzanian police in Dar-es-salaam, the Senator of Nairobi, Edwin Sifuna wants his government to retaliate.
Senator Sifuna pointed out that the next retaliatory step should be to withdraw from jointly hosting the Confederation of African Football (CAF) events alongside Tanzania and Uganda.
The East African nations are set to jointly host the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2027, a monumental feat for the three countries.
The senator now wants Tanzania to be dropped out due to the country’s human rights abuse.
“Kenya and Uganda must retaliate against Tanzania due to torture, sexual molestation and violation of human rights against Kenyan journalist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan Activist Agather Atuhaire,” the senator stated.
Addressing the media in Nairobi, Sifuna demanded that the Kenyan government ban the leadership of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Tanzania’s ruling party, from entering Kenya.
The senator also advised that President William Ruto’s administration should move the East Africa Law Society (EALS) annual conference away from Zanzibar, because Kenyan and Ugandan lawyers will be arrested by Tanzanian officials if they travel there for attendance.
The East Africa Law Society is a gathering of legal practitioners which usually brings together over 800 lawyers from across East Africa to discuss business, create networks and get updated on the latest trends in the profession.
According to the senator, the final nail in the coffin is President William Ruto retracting his apology and instead demanding that Tanzania issue one.
During the National Prayer Breakfast celebrations held on May 28, 2025, President Ruto apologized to his neighboring countries for any unresolved tiffs.
“Our neighbors from Tanzania, if we have wronged you in any way, forgive us. Our friends from Uganda, if there is anything that Kenyans have done that is not right, we want to apologize,” he noted.
Sifuna’s statement comes amid calls by human rights groups for Kenya and Uganda to hold their governments accountable over the incident.
“We think that a private member’s bill in the two countries will be sufficient to have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the two countries come and outline,” Houghton Irungu, Executive Director, Amnesty International, noted.
“We are not prejudicially arguing that they have done anything wrong, but they need to tell the national assemblies what they did to keep Boniface and Agather safe and secondly, what action they will take following the horrendous actions we heard yesterday.”