Nairobi, June 17, 2025 — Civic space in East Africa is under siege—not with bullets, but with legal briefs. That’s the explosive message from Episode 4 of the Panel 54 Podcast, featuring former Kenyan Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga.
Titled “The Legal Gates of Civic Space in East Africa,” the episode unpacks how governments are using laws, not guns, to silence dissent. “They no longer need guns; they have the Constitution,” warns Dr. Mutunga in a candid conversation with co-hosts Waweru Njoroge and Ndu Okoh.
The episode digs into:
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Uganda’s protest bans justified through legal loopholes;
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Tanzania’s media chokehold via licensing and policy;
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Kenya’s surveillance surge, using digital monitoring to suppress activism.
Dr. Mutunga calls this strategy lawfare—the use of legal systems to criminalize opposition and shrink democratic space. He paints a sobering picture of how state power is being dressed in legal language to erode freedoms across the region.
With youth movements rising and protest becoming riskier, Panel 54 warns citizens to watch the laws, not just the leaders. This episode makes it clear: the fight for freedom in East Africa is no longer on the streets—it’s in the courts.
