Heated exchanges at a funeral hint at the continued abductions of ‘social media activists’ in the coming days. Elsewhere, Uganda joins BRICS becoming the second country in the East African region to do so after Ethiopia. How much longer will Kenya keep sitting on the fence?
Happy New Year 2025.
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A new year is upon us!
The world welcomed the New Year in style as fireworks displays were witnessed in major city centres globally, as the clock drew closer to midnight.
People around the world engaged in cultural dances and displays, midnight vigils, religious masses and entertainment joints to welcome the new year.
2025 brings a new sense of optimism, despite being overshadowed by several gloomy and catastrophic events. These include the South Korean airplane crash that killed 179 on December 29 and the German Magbeurg Market attack on Christmas Eve.
Wars and conflicts in Gaza-Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen and the Sahel region continue to ravage with no end in sight.
Despite improvements in the global economic situation, its future still as the risk of economic recessions remains a plausible prospect.
Things to look out for in 2025
2025 has us a couple of significant events to look forward to such as;
2024 has been touted as being the Super Year of Elections. 70 countries and roughly 2 billion people globally headed to the polls to choose their next crop of leaders. Elections were held in the United States, India, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and much of Southern Africa.
While not as significantly important as 2024, 2025 will see elections in countries such as Canada, Australia and the Philippines. Closer to home, Tanzania, Gabon and Cameroon will also be heading to the polls.
Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States will also be taking office on January 20th which will mark the beginning of his second term in office. Trump’s election signals a new age in the global geo-political climate, where the United States may take a more conservative, less-removed approach to international affairs.
Still in the US, the ban on TikTok, the social media platform with over 170 million monthly users in the United States alone is set to take effect on January 19th. The ban follows concerns about the platform, which is owned by the Chinese company, ByteDance. The US government has raised concerns that the Chinese government is gaining access to the tremendous amount of data on American citizens collected by TikTok and is using it to spy on the United States.
The removal of the platform will affect the social media landscape. Its introduction of short-form video content has had a huge impact on content production and consumption globally.
In the sports realm, AFCON is set to return in December 2025-January 2026 and is set to be held in Morocco. The event was initially planned for June and July of 2025 but was pushed forward as the Fifa Club World Cup took up this time slot.
In environmental news, more than 175 countries are expected to adopt a global treaty that will set in motion actions towards reducing single-use plastics. Back in March 2022, the United Nations Environmental Assembly hat met in Nairobi, Kenya to debate the global plastics crisis, a meeting that set in motion the adoption of this treaty by 2025. The treaty is anticipated to hold all countries to a high common standard of plastic consumption and direct them on a path to eliminate plastic pollution.
However, the participation of the United States, China and Saudi Arabia who are the main plastic polluters in the treaty still remains in question.
For a deeper breakdown of what to look out for this year, read more on why 2025 will be a good year, hopefully.
It happened in Kenya
Abductions ‘will go on’
The spirited backlash against President Ruto’s government was in full show as Kenyan youths took to the streets of Nairobi on Monday, December 30th 2024. The youths were protesting against the cycle of ‘state-sponsored’ abductions of anti-government activists.
Social media has played a primary role in the anti-government movement that is dominated by Kenya’s Gen-Zs. Twitter/X has been utilized as the go-to platform for the youths to express their discontent with the current regime.
The regime has not taken kindly to the portrayal of the president by the youths on this platform, and it has been accused of abducting the loudest critics on the X in a bid to silence the masses.
President Ruto acknowledged that the abductions were happening, denying allegations that the government was involved and promising to deal with the perpetrators. Nonetheless, he had also charged parent to ensure the ‘moral uprightness’ of their children even as they criticize his regime.
In recent days, a silhouette image of the president engaging in compromising acts such as looting public funds, etc. has been making the rounds on social media. The president has also gained the moniker “kasongo” from a popular meme.
As the discontentment continued to grow, AI-generated images of the president in a coffin or performing inhumane acts also gained popularity on the X platform. These images appear to be the straw that broke the camel’s back as the recent flurry of abductions reemerged in the wake of the widespread sharing of these pictures.
Article 33 of the Kenyan Constitution provides for the freedom of expression, seeking and imparting information and academic and scientific research. However, it also provides that the freedom of expression shall be executed in respect to the rights and reputation of others.
These abductions are nothing new, however. According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), 82 Kenyans have been reported missing from the height of the anti-government protests in June 2024.
Billy Mwangi, Gideon Kibet, Rony Kiplangat, Bernard Kavuli, Peter Muteti, and Steve Kavingo are some of the recent abductees.
Peter Muteti, Rony Kiplagat, Bernard Kavuli and Billy Mwangi were released on the morning of Monday, January 6.
Gideon Kibet (who is runs the Twitter account ‘Yoko Bull’ that first published the infamous silhouette images) is yet to be found at the time of writing.
The situation came to a head-on during the burial of the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula’s mother in Bungoma on Friday, January 3rd.
George Natembeya, the governor of TransNzoia county took issue with the government’s handling of the abduction situation within the country in his speech during the burial. Natembeya addressed President Ruto directly, asking him to bring an end to the abductions, placing his government at fault for facilitating the abductions in the first place. Natembeya was heckled by the crowd present during the event.
In what was a seeming rebuttal speech, Kikuyu Member of Parliament and Majority Leader in the National Assembly Kimani Ichungwa defended the government’s actions, implying that the abductees ‘had it coming to them’ when they launched the derogatory and personalized attacks against the president. Ichungwa also shifted the trajectory of the attacks to Natembeya’s past, accusing him of facilitating his own flurry of abductions when he was the Regional Commissioner for the Rift Valley region.
The nature of the remarks made by Ichungwa hint at an obstinance by the government to stay put on using abductions as a clandestine modus operandi of ‘maintaining law and order’.
Elsewhere, the Kenya Police Service has cleared the air on the body of a supposed activist who had been discovered on January 2. Ibrahim Mwiti’s body was recovered at the Thika Level 5 Hospital Mortuary.
Mwiti had disappeared under mysterious circumstances on November 11, 2024, and his mother had filed a missing persons report on November 15 at Kamukunji Police Station.
Mwiti had been involved in a fatal accident along Thika Super Highway, when his hired motorcycle was involved in a hit-and-run incident. He had unfortunately passed on at the scene and his body could not be identified due to lack of documentation.
The police report follows a flurry of media reporting that Mwiti was one of the supposed activists who had been kidnapped, subsequently murdered and his body dumped.
The air of uncertainty and political upheaval has led to the emergence of over sensationalized reporting, leading to the widespread presence of misinformation.
Business and the Economy
In a gazette notice issued on January 4, the Kenyan registrar of companies has announced the closure of 116 companies. 115 more are set to be dissolved over the next 3 months as well.
The closure of these companies could risk the loss of thousands of jobs even as Kenya’s economic climate continues to be more unfavourable for doing business.
Safaricom, Kenya’s tech and communications conglomerate has since lodged a formal complaint against Starlink. Starlink, which is one of the companies owned by Elon Musk has disrupted Kenya’s internet service provision market, offering high-speed internet connections through its satellite network.
Safaricom has accused Starlink of engaging in predatory consumer practices and skirting local regulations and has warned of potential security risks with the company; stating that it doesn’t have a gateway to switch the internet on/off on request by the authorities. In an earlier statement, however, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa had hinted at working with Starlink in the future.
Safaricom has also been facing backlash from Kenyans, as many point fingers at it for granting the government access to spy on citizens and potential dissidents, which goes against Kenya’s Data Protection Act, 2019.
Elsewhere in the Region
Uganda became the first country from the East African region to officially join BRICS. BRICS is the forum for cooperation among leading emerging economies whose main members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
BRICS has been on a mission to expand and include more members, particularly from the developing world. The BRICS 2024 Summit highlighted this exploratory plan of action as it welcomed more members in Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Uganda aims to reduce its overdependence on the West, from whom it has been facing continued backlash over its laws and stance on the LGBTQ community. It also looks to be involved in trading partnerships, particularly in the agricultural sector and natural resources.
Uganda is in need of foreign investment from public and private international trading partners.
Uganda joins Algeria, Indonesia, Turkey and Nigeria who also recently joined the forum.
That’s it for this week!
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Adios. Stay safe.
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