Meet Officer Bile – the only female police officer in her unit in Garowe, Somalia. She’s fighting to protect women and get justice for survivors of rape and sexual violence in this conservative region.
A widespread government crackdown had many Kenyans worried that their country’s young democracy is collapsing before their eyes, and giving way to a new strain of authoritarianism.
A government crackdown on media freedom and political opposition in Kenya are the latest signs that East Africa’s most vibrant economic power is slipping off its democratic path.
As the cornerstone of East African democracy, Kenya is an important economic and political force in the region and a critical U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism. But worrying signs, including a crackdown on press and civil society, police killings committed seemingly with impunity, and threats and attacks on election officials and judges, suggest that Kenya may be veering off its democratic path.
Kenya is experiencing an economic boycott against government-affiliated corporations, just one of many efforts spreading throughout the country and spearheaded by Kenyatta’s primary opposition, the NASA coalition. But resistance is not reserved to NASA supporters: a movement is rising against what many see as a slide away from Democracy in Kenya.
Kenya’s historic Supreme Court decision to void President Uhuru Kenyatta’s August 8 reelection victory based on voting irregularities was widely hailed as a testament to the strength and independence of the country’s judiciary. But a deteriorating political situation and uncertainty surrounding recently enacted election reforms is raising concerns about the country’s ability to hold a fair rerun of the vote on Thursday.
“I think this is Kenya’s wasted opportunity. Because, in contrast to all those other elections, less seems to have gone wrong this time. The question here is why? Why, even when the process is right, can Kenya not seize the opportunity to build public confidence in the state? And that’s the Kenyan conundrum.”
About 80% of Kenya’s population is younger than 35. Observers believe youth voters will move Kenyan politics away from tribal affiliation and towards issue-based voting. But some experts say tribal affiliation runs very deep.
Preliminary results show incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta winning easily. But the opposition has rejected the results, raising the specter of post-election violence in Kenya’s 2017 election.
President Donald Trump’s dramatic expansion of a policy blocking U.S. aid to organizations offering abortion services will have one sure result, say medical workers in this city: more abortions.