Inside 2025: The year of empty pockets and broken promises

Protesters make signs with their arms in front of Kenya police officers during a demonstration against tax hikes in Nairobi. [AFP] For many Kenyans, 2025 will be remembered as the year of shattered hopes, violent crackdowns and deepening poverty. What began as protests demanding economic relief escalated into one of the worst human rights crises in the country's recent history, with at least 100 people killed, dozens abducted and thousands arrested as President William Ruto's government deployed brutal force against its own citizens. The year's trajectory was set in June when protesters marked the first anniversary of the 2024 anti-tax demonstrations. On June 25, thousands of mostly young Kenyans took to the streets in 27 of Kenya's 47 counties, waving national flags and demanding accountability. They were met with tear gas, water cannons and live ammunition. By day's end, at least 16 people lay dead and more than 400 were injured, according to Amnesty International Kenya. Two weeks later, on Saba Saba Day, July 7, another wave of protests left at least 38 people dead, including 12-year-old Bridgit Njoki, who was shot in the head by a stray bullet while watching television in her home in Kiambu county. President Ruto's response shocked the nation. "Anyone who goes to burn other people's property, someone like that should be shot in the leg and go to the hospital on his way to court," Ruto said. "They shouldn't kill the person, but they should hit the legs to break them." The violence was not random. Human Rights Watch investigations found that security officers in civilian clothing and unmarked vehicles forcibly disappeared protesters and killed perceived protest leaders. The officers came from agencies including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) and the National Intelligence Service. What distinguished 2025's crisis from past unrest was the systematic use of enforced disappearances. Since June 2024, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) has documented 89 enforced disappearances, with 29 people still missing as of year's end. Rights groups documented 97 extrajudicial killings, 18 deaths in custody and 72 cases of torture between January and December 2025. The abductions followed a chilling pattern. Masked men in unmarked vehicles would snatch critics from their homes or off the streets in broad daylight. Some victims were activists who had posted critical content on social media. Others were simply vocal citizens demanding better governance. Albert Ojwang, a blogger and former teacher, was arrested June 6 over a social media post criticizing the deputy police chief. Two days later, he was found dead in police custody. Officials claimed he "sustained head injuries after hitting his head against the cell wall," but investigations showed he was beaten to death. On Christmas Eve, masked men forced 24-year-old agriculture student Gideon Kibet into a car as he stepped off a bus. Peter Muteti Njeru, 22, was dragged into a vehicle while buying breakfast outside his apartment after posting an AI-generated image of Ruto in a casket. Brothers Jamil and Aslam Longton were blocked and abducted on their way to work in Kitengela. Those who returned told stories of blindfolds, beatings and threats. Many were too traumatized to speak. Others, like activist Hussein Khalid noted, "have been intimidated and threatened into silence. They said so openly that they will tone down and won't be as critical as before." The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) expressed alarm over the abductions, noting that 29 individuals had been disappeared since June 2024. The commission called on Kenya to launch thorough investigations and hold perpetrators accountable. Behind the protests lay an economy that had failed its people. Despite official statistics showing gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.7 per cent in 2024, the reality on the ground told a different story. Formal job creation collapsed from 122,900 new jobs in 2023 to just 75,000 in 2024. Meanwhile, 90 per cent of the 782,300 jobs added in 2024 were in the informal sector, offering minimal stability and scant protections. Youth unemployment, measured at 67 per cent for those aged 15 to 34, has become a national crisis. An unemployed 19-year-old in Nairobi captured the desperation: "I didn't care if I died. We have no life as it is. There are no jobs, the cost of living is high and Kenyans are really struggling." Although inflation declined to 4.1 per cent in April 2025, the figure masked deeper troubles. Wages failed to keep pace with the cost of living. More than 130 companies exited or significantly downsized operations in 2024, including multinationals like Nestle and Bayer. Between 2019 and 2023, over 9,400 businesses were deregistered. Food prices remained stubbornly high due to climate-related disruptions. Many Kenyans turned to expensive digital credit, with mobile loan interest rates ranging between 18 and 45 per cent annually, trapping borrowers in cycles of debt. Public debt stood at 70.2 per cent of GDP, with interest payments absorbing about a third of tax revenue. The government missed its 2024/25 revenue target by Sh67 billion, forcing austerity measures that further squeezed ordinary Kenyans. Ruto had styled himself as a "hustler" committed to transforming the economy from the bottom up. He pledged to empower common Kenyans and take on the political and business elite. But the tax hikes he introduced angered citizens, particularly the youth who felt betrayed by a government that had promised to ease their economic burden. Protesters created a website tracking the government's paltry progress on its promises. Ruto broke his promise to reduce the number of advisers by appointing more to his office. His appointment of opposition party members to the Cabinet and a political pact with rival Raila Odinga were seen by many as opportunistic moves that betrayed the reform agenda. The protests united Kenyans across tribal and regional divisions that the ruling elite had long exploited. Using hashtags like #RutoMustGo and #SiriNiNumbers, organizers mobilized via WhatsApp, Telegram and X without backing from major political parties or trade unions. Entire swaths of the country ground to a halt, with businesses, banks and markets closed across urban centers. Regional crackdown Kenya's crisis was part of a broader pattern of repression across East Africa. Rights groups documented what they called an "authoritarian alliance" between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania aimed at suppressing civic freedoms. The most disturbing example came when prominent Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was abducted from Nairobi in a coordinated operation between Kenyan and Ugandan authorities. Tanzania's Maria Sarungi, Uganda's Martin Mavenjina and Kenyan activists Bob Njagi and Boniface Mwangi were among those targeted in cross-border abductions. The deportations illustrated a growing pattern of cross-border intimidation targeting those who speak out against state excesses. By year's end, victims and rights organizations had filed a petition with the International Criminal Court (ICC) demanding investigations into alleged crimes against humanity. The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) accused the government of extrajudicial killings, police brutality and systematic oppression. The KNCHR processed 2,848 complaints of alleged human rights violations during the year. The Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) warned that Kenya was at a critical juncture, with documented violations reflecting "a dangerous slide toward authoritarian governance, enabled by unchecked security forces and shrinking civic freedoms." Despite growing international concern, Kenyan authorities maintained they were not behind the abductions. The government claimed many detentions were legitimate arrests of "criminals and subversive elements." National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah told Al Jazeera: "I do not believe there are enforced disappearances perpetrated by the state in Kenya, not in this day and age." But the evidence tells a different story. From the bodies delivered to mortuaries by police officers to the CCTV footage of broad-daylight abductions, the trail leads back to state security agencies. As activist Hussein Khalid put it: "You can't abduct people in broad daylight with CCTV cameras. If it quacks like a duck, it is a duck."

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