Activist Boniface Mwangi declares 2027 presidential bid

Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi gestures as he addresses a press conference in Nairobi on August 27, 2025. (Photo by SIMON MAINA / AFP)

Prominent Kenyan activist and staunch government critic Boniface Mwangi announced Wednesday he would run for president in 2027, just weeks after the east African country's latest protests were bloodily repressed.

An outspoken critic of President William Ruto, the 42-year-old made the announcement in the capital Nairobi, where youth-led demonstrations in 2024 sparked waves of rallies across the country for months, leaving more than 100 people dead.

"Our country is broken and in danger of becoming a failed state," Mwangi said at a rally, where supporters wore t-shirts bearing his likeness, waved the national flag and chanted his slogan "Upendo na ujasiri", meaning "love and courage" in Swahili.

He urged Kenyans to "act now" to take the country "back into our hands".

"How did we end up electing people accused of crimes against humanity to lead our country?," he asked, referring to an International Criminal Court case against Ruto for alleged involvement in post-election violence in 2007, which killed more than 1,100 people.

The ICC eventually dropped the case due to a lack of evidence.

"We cannot achieve change by working with people who have been part of the problem," Mwangi said.

The east African nation has seen waves of increasingly violent demonstrations since last year, with rights groups condemning police brutality and criticising the government's use of terrorism charges against protesters.

Mwangi himself faced terrorism charges over his connection to the recent protests, according to the police, but the charges were never formally submitted to court.

'Broke, hungry'

Mwangi was also detained in May in neighbouring Tanzania, where he was attending the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.

He told the crowd: "A few months ago I was stripped naked, shamed, humiliated, because my government conspired with the Tanzanians."

Mwangi and Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire have said previously that they were tortured and sexually abused while in the custody of Tanzanian police before being returned to their respective countries.

In July, the pair brought a case against the three governments to the East African Court of Justice.

Ruto has also faced criticism over the state of the economy, with rising costs of living, a young population who struggle to find work, and long-standing allegations of entrenched political corruption.

"As a country, we're broke, we're hungry, and insecure," said Mwangi, saying the economy was broken because the money "is stolen every day."

"We must create a Kenya that works for all of us and not some of us," he said.