Boniface Mwangi is missing, and his family is desperate for answers. The outspoken Kenyan activist was arrested in Dar es Salaam on Monday, and since then, no one knows where he is.
His wife, Njeri Mwangi, says she last spoke to him on Monday afternoon. Since then, nothing. Not a message. Not a phone call. She went to the Tanzania High Commission in Nairobi, hoping for answers, but officials there claimed they had no information.
Mwangi was in Tanzania with Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire. They were there to observe the treason trial of Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Reports say they were arrested by men suspected to be military officers. Tanzanian lawyers were later told the pair would be deported. That has not been confirmed.
“If they deported him, where is he?” Njeri asked. “Is he okay? Is he even alive?” Her frustration is raw. Her fear is real.
Rights groups are sounding the alarm. A Tanzanian organization said police claimed the two had been sent out of the country. Amnesty International says otherwise. According to them, the activists were being held without access to lawyers or family.
Mwangi wasn’t the only one targeted. Several high-profile East African activists were turned away at Dar es Salaam’s main airport. They were detained and later deported. Among them were Martha Karua, Willy Mutunga, and members of the Law Society of Kenya. They had traveled to support Lissu but were denied entry without much explanation.
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu responded publicly. She warned foreign activists against getting involved in the country’s affairs. In a televised speech, she accused them of crossing a line and told her security forces to act firmly.
Critics say Suluhu is rolling back the gains made since Magufuli’s hardline rule. The silence around Mwangi’s fate only fuels that concern.
Right now, one question hangs heavy: Where is Boniface Mwangi? His family, friends, and fellow activists are waiting. The longer the silence continues, the louder the calls for answers grow.
By Risper Akinyi
