Why Ruto, Museveni and Suluhu must listen to dissenting voices

President William Ruto and Tanzania President Samia Suluhu during the 24th Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State in Arusha. [File, Standard]

Civilised regimes do not abduct people. Persons deemed to offend the law are arrested lawfully. They are arraigned before the courts. If found guilty, they are sentenced, in line with the penal code.

To abduct or detain anyone is abuse of power. It has no place in the civilised world. The three East African regimes of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are handling alternative thought with intolerance that borders on dictatorship. Dissenters are subjects of increased abductions, legal harassment and enforced disappearances. Worse still is the cross-border character of this repression, and a visibly shrinking civil society.