Police officers in Mombasa have arrested two human rights activists who were attempting to stop an ongoing Finance Bill public participation process.
The activists, who peacefully joined the forum at the Tononoka Hall, took to the podium to request that the process be suspended and postponed to a different day in respect of the Muslim Eid-ul-Adha, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice celebrations.
The two activists, Mathius Shipeta of Haki Africa and Francis Auma of the Muhuri Organisation, argued that it was not right for the process to be undertaken during a public holiday.
''Today is a public holiday, why are you conducting the process today, you are disrespecting the Ministry of Interior,'' one of the activists revealed.
Despite arming themselves with a court order they had obtained to block the process, police who were manning the facility did not heed their plea but went ahead to arrest them, forcefully dragging them out of the hall and taking them into custody.
''There are no people in the hall, the numbers are barely up to 30 people, what kind of public participation is this,'' the activists raised an alarm.
Haki Africa condemned the arrest of the activists, faulting the organisers for strategically scheduling it on a holiday to block meaningful engagements, since Kenyans were away observing the holiday.
''Holding such an important national exercise during a holiday undermines the spirit of meaningful public participation, a constitutional right under Article 10 of the Kenyan Constitution,'' read an official statement from the group.
Additionally, they demanded the release of the two activists and also demanded that public participation in the Finance Bill 2025 be conducted in a transparent, inclusive, and respectful manner, reflecting the diversity and schedules of all Kenyans.
Cases of activists being arrested have become common in the country. Barely a week ago, software developer and activist Rose Njeri was arrested for developing a website that Kenyans could use to object to the Finance Bill 2025.
Njeri spent four days in police custody and was charged with unauthorised interference with a computer system. She was later released on Wednesday on a Ksh100,000 bond awaiting a hearing.
Just before that, activist Boniface Mwangi and his colleague Agather Atuhire of Uganda were arrested, detained, and tortured in Tanzania, where they had gone to observe Tundu Lissu's hearing.
