Category: Solidarity

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Social Justice Centres Working Group Solidarity

EXCHANGE VISIT BY FORD GLOBAL FELLOWS TO MATHARE SOCIAL JUSTICE CENTRE, NAIROBI

Date: May 6th, 2025
Location: Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC), Nairobi, Kenya
Event Hosted by: Mathare Social Justice Centre, Nairobi Chapter Working Group in partnership with the Ford Global Fellows (FGF)

Overview

A cohort of more than 30 Ford Global Fellows visited the Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) for an in-depth exchange with grassroots organizers and activists from the different centres and organizations forming the Nairobi Working Group Chapter. This brought together Mathare Social Justice Centre as the host, Githurai Social Justice Centre (GSJC), Mukuru Community Justice Centre (MCJC), Kayole Community Justice Centre (KCJC), Ngong Social Justice Centre (NSJC), Kenya Organic Intellectuals’ Network (KOIN), and the Social Justice Centers Traveling Theatre (SJCTT).  This interaction, grounded in the “fishbowl” discussion, created a dynamic, respectful, and layered dialogue space centered around justice, resistance, and future-building of social movements amidst adversity and precarity.

The visit was not merely observational—it was a space for mutual learning and solidarity building, bringing together global fellows and local community leaders, activists, community organizers, writers, and cultural workers confronting systemic injustice, poverty, and climate crisis through grassroots mobilization and solidarity in Nairobi’s poor neighborhoods.

ENGAGEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE DAY

  1. Welcoming and Entertainment

Ford Global Fellows were welcomed by MSJC Teen Mothers through a mix of different traditional dances.

This was later followed by a brief orientation and walk around at the MSJC’s main office, the MSJC Creative Hub, and the Legal Empowerment Hub explaining their roles in MSJC’s everyday organizing. They also got to interact with books published by KOIN and reports under different campaigns at the MSJC. The introduction session was wrapped up after the fellows were given a chance to interact with different merchandise from caps, t-shirts, hats, handbags, bracelets made by Teen Mothers and Dhobi and Domestic Workers Network.

  • Fishbowl Dialogue

Structure and Themes of the Dialogue

The fishbowl dialogue was led by Milano Harden from the Ford Global Fellows and Wanjira Wanjiru from the MSJC. Other discussants were Davis Tafari from SJCTT, Waringa Wahome from the Legal Empowerment Network at MSJC, and Mwangi Nicholas from KOIN.

The dialogue happened in two rounds, with different prompts for each session.

Prompt #1: “Where is Justice and Positive Change Arising?”

The discussants explored:

  • Manifestations of justice and positive change within Mathare.
  • The places and moments where transformation is occurring.
  • Areas where justice remains elusive or contested.

Through these prompts, members of the Nairobi Chapter Working Group share their ongoing struggles, work and experience, and also significant incremental progress and victories in advancing social justice from below. Fellows also shared similar efforts from their own contexts, creating a global-local conversation on resistance, and shared ideas on how to meaningfully link their struggles and create sites of solidarities.

Prompt #2: “Visions for the Future”

This prompt asked:

  • What is the powerful, just climate future imagined for Mathare?
  • What could emerge if the community stays the course in its fight for justice?

This future-facing dialogue drew from the lived knowledge and aspirations of the community, emphasizing youth leadership, climate justice, and reclaiming space and dignity. It centered the poor urban communities of Nairobi in the conversation, as the most affected population by climate change and who continue to shoulder this burden disproportionately.

Open Session: Insights and exchange

The last part of the discussion was an open session for sharing different experiences from different parts of the world and learning from each other. This session allowed for cross-pollination of different ideas fronted.

Detailed Time Flow

The session opened with acknowledgments from both MSJC and Ford Foundation staff. Attendees were grounded in Mathare’s history, the land beneath their feet, and the origins of MSJC, which rose out of a need to document and resist extrajudicial killings and systemic neglect.

3:15–3:30 PM: Entry Prompt + Settling

Participants were invited to reflect on the core question:

“What does it mean to RISE and BUILD something beautiful in the midst of complex, urban challenges?”

Participants introduced themselves in a round emphasizing presence and purpose:

This moment symbolized the unification of diverse voices around a common struggle.

3:30–4:15 PM: Fishbowl Discussion

Moderated by C. Milano Harden, Adria Goodson, Kanali Luseno  (Core Design Team 4.2025)                and Wanjira Wanjiru. This first round of the fishbowl allowed activists from Nairobi to share grounded experiences of organizing in “perilous times.”

Topics discussed included:

  • Community responses to state violence.
  • Building power through mutual aid.
  • Youth as knowledge-holders and frontline defenders.
  • The emotional labor of organizing from within spaces of trauma.
  • The relationship between climate justice and housing/infrastructure.

Ford Fellows responded with insights from their respective geographies, discussing how they:

  • Sustain long-term organizing under authoritarian and extractive regimes.
  • Leverage networks for advocacy and survival.
  • Protect themselves and others emotionally and spiritually while resisting systemic violence.

Reflections and Impact

The exchange reaffirmed:

  • The value of solidarity across borders, emphasizing on both North-South and South-South Solidarities.
  • The importance of grounded organizing—starting from one’s immediate context, but reaching globally.
  • That justice must be imagined collectively and built through constant action and reflection, as outlined by Brazilian Educationist, Paulo Freire.

This moment was more than a conversation—it was an act of transnational solidarity, rooted in the hope that communities like Mathare are not isolated, but part of a global fabric of resistance and future-building.

GALLERY

NAIROBI CHAPTER WORKING GROUP

Prepared by,

GATHANGA ndung’u

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African Social Justice Network Papo Reto/Kenya & Brazil Solidarity Solidarity

Solidarity With MST

22/01/2025

Statement of Solidarity With Our MST Comrades in Defense of Dignity and Social Justice


Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) unequivocally condemns the violent murders and systemic oppression targeting the Landless Workers’ Movement — the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) in Brazil.

On 10 January, the Olga Benário occupation in Tremembé, São Paulo, was attacked by armed men, who entered the occupation in cars and motorcycles.

They shot indiscriminately at residents, leaving two people dead and six people injured, and among these victims are children and elderly people.

The comrades who have fallen in the struggle are Valdir Nascimento and Gleison Barbosa.

Valdir Nascimento, known as “Valdirzão,” was a prominent figure in the struggle for agroecology and a staunch defender of occupied land. A committed member of MST since 1993, he dedicated his life to fighting illegal land sales and strengthening the peasant movement in the Paraíba Valley.

Gleison Barbosa, known as “Guegue,” was the son of a family living on the occupation. Although he lived in São Paulo, his dedication to the occupation led him to actively contribute to community efforts.

Denis Carvalho remains in an ICU ward after undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel from his head. His condition is critical.

These violent murders and abductions of people who fight for their freedom from oppression and exploitation all over the world, are a resounding rallying call for the working and struggling masses to unite, rise and defend their livelihoods and social justice. The struggle for dignity and social justice transcends borders.

As the Kenyan people continue to fight against the neo-colonial state, land is at the heart of our struggle. We declare our full and unwavering solidarity with the MST and the working people of Brazil. The MST continues to inspire millions by organizing the landless to occupy and defend their land. Their courageous resistance embodies the enduring spirit of hope and collective action in the face of imperialism.

The land belongs to those who work it, and its occupation is a testament to the resilience and determination of the oppressed to defend their dignity and build a just society.

In solidarity,
Gacheke Gachihi
Coordinator, MSJC.
ggacheke@gmail.com
¬+254720318049

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Campaign against forced evictions Ecological Justice Network People's Assemblies Solidarity

Flood Solidarity – Asante!

Wakenya and many friends from all over: the floods may have come in a flash but the work of rebuilding takes time and your ongoing solidarity to Mathare residents is greatly appreciated.

Our work now shifts from crisis response towards helping families re-establish homes and lives. This is made much harder as the government enacted demolitions along and beyond Mathare’s riparian area, rendering thousands of households homeless, without any compensation provided to those affected.

All of the donations you have sent in response to this crisis are for the recovery of our people. To date our Mathare Social Justice Centre paybill has received 2,122,107 KES for Mathare flood victims. We have also received tons of food, clothing, bedding, mattresses, diapers, sanitary towels, cooking equipment and much more.

Our last statement, on May 2, 2024, accounted for 1,758,025 KES from our collective Network of Mathare Justice Centres and 313,170 KES from the phone of a MSJC secretariat member. Since then we have continued to run community kitchens in three locations. These kitchens have been running since April 25th, and at their peak could feed up to 1500 people a day.

With the funds and food donations we still have, we will be continuing the community kitchens, and providing cash transfers to 150 households. We will continue to honour and be accountable to all of those who stood with us and sent whatever they could to support these response efforts. You have really emphasised to us that Ubuntu exists: indeed, we are because you are.

In terms of long-term action, we intend to partner on a public interest litigation case on behalf of the residents of Mathare who suffered doubly from the floods and forced evictions. 

We would also like to thank over one hundred individuals and organisations that supported us: we have tried our best to list all of them below, and we apologise for any names we have missed in error.

Thank you for struggling with us, and choosing to defend humanity. We are because you are.

Below and in this letter is a recognition of our supporters:

Flood Solidarity AsanteDownload

Mathare Social Justice Centre

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People's Assemblies Social Justice Centres Solidarity

MSJC Statement on the Illegal Arrest & Detention of #OccupyParliament Protestors

Today, June 18, many Kenyans came out to protest against the punitive Finance Bill of 2024.

While the right to assembly is guaranteed by the Constitution, the police, under the orders of the state, responded to us as though we are in war.

On the streets were grandmothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, siblings who were there to peacefully demand their right to dignity; their right to not have 16% tax on bread, diapers, sanitary towels and even cancer treatment.

Currently, we estimate that over 200 people are being held in Central Police Station, Kasarani Police Station, Muthaiga Police Station and other unknown locations. At Central Police Station, none of the protestors have been booked for any offence, although the police are still detaining them and preventing lawyers from seeing them. Those detained include Njeri Mwangi, a key member of the MSJC Secretariat.

We demand that the Ruto administration immediately release the illegally detained Kenyans who were exercising their sovereignty fully within Article 37 of the constitution. This is the article that states: “every person has the right, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities.”

The grandmothers who left Mathare in the morning to join the protest were coming to let the government know that they are tired of sleeping in the ruins of their houses by the polluted Mathare river; they have been there ever since their homes were violently destroyed by the government to “save” them from future floods.

Collectively, we were all coming to say we are tired of being demumanized every day because Ruto wants to be at the service of IMF and World Bank masters.

The people have come out to exercise their sovereign power directly and have demanded that the Finance Bill 2024 be rejected in its entirety. Though we have been met with the state violence of this criminal government, we will not relent in our fight to defend the dignity and rights of our people.

Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC)

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African Social Justice Network Solidarity

Afrikki : A Pan-African People-Centred Social Movement

African movements involved in the Afrikki Network met from the 5th to the 27th of February 2024 in Nairobi. Afrikki is a collective of social movements within Africa and the diaspora, which offers a platform for grassroots people organizations to interact and forge people inspired approaches in tackling local and continental social justice issues.

We want contribute in building Pan-Africanism of a new kind, through international solidarity and promoting popular democracy.

The collective includes various member organizations including:
1. Y’en A Marre of Senegal
2. Filimbi and LUCHA of DRC
3. Balai Citoyen of Burkina Faso
4. Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC)
5. The Tanzania Socialist Forum in Tanzania.
6. Team Gom Sa Bopa in the Gambia.
7. Project South of Atlanta.

Here is the report from the convening. Viva Africa Viva!

THE-AFFRIKI-CONVENING-REPORT-KENYA-DRAFT-21.3.24Download
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Ecological Justice Network People's Assemblies Social Justice Centres Solidarity

Press Statement: Justice For Flood Victims in Mathare, Mukuru, Dandora and Naivasha

The people of Mathare and other informal settlements (such as Mukuru, Kibera, Kayole, Githurai, Kasarani, and all affected areas) strongly condemn the UDA government for the inhumanity and indignity it has accorded the Kenyan people over the past few months.

Under the guise of saving us from nature, this government has destroyed the livelihoods of millions of Kenyans through illegal demolitions in Mathare, Mukuru, Kariobangi, and other informal settlements, without a proper relocation plan or land allocation for victims.

These acts cannot mask the criminal negligence of the UDA government, which had early warnings about the climate crisis, and its failure to act in time has exposed millions of Kenyans to death traps and hopelessness.

While the government extends the budget ceiling for State House and Parliament, hundreds of people are currently held in camps, schools, churches, and community halls that lack basic amenities for daily use. These are facilities with barely, if any, adequate sanitation facilities, and are currently the sites of cholera outbreaks.

We oppose the attempt of the ruling class and the government of Kenya to impose the ecological crisis burden onto the urban poor and the peasants of Kenya. We are already burdened by the weight of an economy that dehumanises us every day.

We expose the criminal negligence of the UDA government and its partners, who are at the service of the IMF and World Bank institutions, since they collectively violate our basic rights as enshrined by Article 43 of the Kenyan Constitution. This is: the right to decent housing, the right to food, the right to the highest attainable standards of healthcare, and the right to clean and accessible water.

The Ecological Justice Network in Mathare honours all the martyrs who have paid a heavy price for the criminal negligence of our government. It is us who have known these martyrs as they have struggled for food, dignity, employment, adequate housing and the right to life for their children. It is still us who find their bodies after the floods, and try and pick up the pieces of their lives in their death. We will not let their demise be in vain!

In memory of Mama Victor and Jacinta Adhiambo, who were our great social justice advocates and human rights defenders, we will continue on their path of demanding dignity and social justice for all.

We know Kenya will one day be liberated from the corrupt and unaccountable regimes of the UDA government, which brought the face of the hustler but is actually a overseer shepherding us to be slaves.

We the people on this eighth day of May 2024 therefore demand:

1. Quality housing for all
2. Compensation for all the martyrs who died during the floods
3. Life with a dignified environment
4. Education for all
5. Land for all the landless.

A government that cannot provide these basic needs has no right to be in power.

We call upon Kenyans to join us for mass action, starting today in Mathare, until we gain our livelihoods and social justice.

Wanjira Wanjiru
0791334684.
Ecological Justice Network, Mathare.

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Ecological Justice Network Social Justice Centres Solidarity

Joint Statement by Mathare Flood Response Organizations

Wakenya and many friends from all over: 

Thank you very much for the solidarity you have given Mathare residents as they seek to recover from the worst flooding they have lived through in the last forty years. 

On the evening of April 24, a deluge of rain led to flooding that decimated many houses along the Mathare and Getathuru rivers. It also led to the deaths of at least 40 community members, including children and a person with a disability. Truly, we are touched by all who have supported our rapid response process: we are grateful for the financial contributions and the donations of necessary items (including dry food, bedding, mattresses, clothes and diapers). We are also grateful to those who came to offer condolence and who offered a hand as we continue to cook for the flood victims.

We especially want to highlight the rapid and effective response by many community groups and individuals in Mathare. So many helped in collecting data for the cash transfers, helping victims to find shelter, finding missing bodies, providing food and medical aid, and receiving other types of support for the victims. 

Currently, there are still efforts to find the bodies of family members and friends, as well as to feed and clothe the hundreds of newly houseless individuals residing in schools, churches and even still sleeping outside even as the rain continues. All of the financial donations you have sent in response to this crisis are being put towards the recovery of our people.

To date, as The Network of Mathare Community Social Justice Centres, we have received 3,129,661 KES for Mathare flood victims. This is how the money has been spent:

1. As of Tuesday, April 30, our collective Mathare Mchanga has received:

1,758,025 KES. So far, this has allowed for 334 cash transfers to verified victims of 3000 KES each (for a total of 1,002,000 KES); we are progressively sending more cash transfers to the households impacted by floods and we will keep you updated on the process. 

2. As of Tuesday, April 30, our paybill had received 1,066,636 KES and 313,170 KES to the phone of a rapid response representative. We used the 313,170 KES for the community kitchen operations that started on Wednesday, April 25—including buying food, firewood, cooking oil, soap, water and hiring a tent to have this kitchen since it is the rainy season. Since then, we have continued to feed breakfast, lunch and dinner daily to a minimum of 500 people. We are now cooking in four different sites in order to reach more of those affected. Our proposal is to use the 1,066,636 KES towards buying school items for affected children, as well as to contribute to funeral costs for affected families and cash transfers. 

We will continue to honour and be accountable to all of those who stood with us and sent whatever they could to support these response efforts. You have really emphasized to us that Ubuntu exists: indeed, we are because you are.

We would also like to send a message to the government: we want to know where the 10 Billion KES to respond to the effects of El Niño went. We would like to remind you that, as the Kenyan Constitution states, “all sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya.” Therefore, we are determined to make sure that this 10 billion KES is found and goes to all of those who have suffered from the combined effects of state neglect as it intersects with our global climate crisis.

We are extremely proud of how our community has defended the humanity of their people and continue to offer solidarity to each other even in their desperation. Meanwhile, our elected MCA’s and MPs continue to be silent; we will not let them rest.

We invite all to remain in solidarity with our community members in Mathare and other flooded areas; those affected continue to need blankets, mattresses, clothing, sanitary towels, drinking water, tents, food and more.

Above all, we say asanteni sana sana for all of the generosity and humanity that you continue to show for our people. We are because you are.

The Network of Mathare Community Social Justice Centres

Here is the statement for download:

Joint Statement by Mathare Flood Response OrganisationsDownload
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Ecological Justice Network Mothers of Victims & Survivors Network Solidarity

Mama Victor Tribute & Solidarity for Flood Victims

Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) mourns the sudden demise of Comrade Benna Buluma, fondly known as Mama Victor.

We met Mama Victor in 2017 while documenting the police executions of her two sons, Victor and Bernard. Mama Victor joined our team at MSJC as a victim, and through her passion and commitment emerged a victor; defending young men from police killings and rallying fellow women to demand justice for their loved ones.

Mama Victor was the coordinator of the Mothers of Victims and Survivors Network, and this was a task she undertook diligently. She always rallied comrades to attend court solidarity for members of the Network, and even convened us to go to Embu when Kianjokoma brothers were killed by the police. Mama Victor was a gallant fighter for social justice and human rights. 

Comrades are still in deep shock after retrieving Mama Victor’s body from the Mathare river. Despite her best efforts, she remained trapped in poverty and structural violence, which is now manifested in an ecological crisis that has killed more than 40 people in one night after they were drowned by floods. There was no room to escape even as she breathed her last.

We mourn the unnecessary death of Mama Victor, which could have been prevented by decent housing and proper urban planning.

The Ecological Justice Network has, for the longest time, highlighted this issue of poor systems that greatly endanger the lives of poor people in Mathare, stressing the need for decent housing and dignified lives. 

Mama Victor was a symbol of hope for all striving for dignity, but she also epitomizes the crisis of capitalism in the world today; her sons Victor and Bernard were killed by the police; her daughter Maureen of a short illness, and now Mama Victor has died of the raging floods. This is the violence that poverty exposes us to. 

In honour of Mama Victor, we urge all of us to continue the fight for dignity and social justice. Poverty is a common enemy we fight. “Until everyone is free,” as Pio Gama Pinto said. Truly, Mama Victor’s struggle was redemptive for the people of Mathare who had lost hope to continue fighting for social change.

Hundreds of Mathare residents are still camping outside with their children, homeless, and with no food. The MSJC Ecological Justice Network has pitched a tent in Mathare, where it is providing hot meals and receiving in kind donations.

These include: Mattresses, blankets, food, clothing for both adults and children, books, toys, sanitary towels and diapers for babies and toddlers.

If you would like to donate, please send money to or call Wanjira on: 0791334684.

Or send to the MSJC Paybill number at:

Account: 4060187

Account Name: THE MATHARE SOCIAL JUSTICE CENTRE

Long live the indomitable spirit of Benna Buluma! Long live! Soon dignity for the poor, soon!

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anti-capitalism Campaign Against Drugs & Crime Mathare Green Movement People's Assemblies Social Justice Centres Solidarity

The Mathare People’s Assembly

The Mathare Local People’s assembly was convened at the Mathare People’s Park, and brought together community members and actors from across our struggles to identify various societal issues we are facing.

The Mathare People’s park is a transformed green space that was initially a garbage site, and which now hosts the Ukombozi Library, a children’s playing space, and a community park that offers the community food and a serene environment. It has also transformed young people from drug use and crime, and offered a sustainable form of economic livelihood through activities such as animal rearing and other methods of farming.  

Our assembly was influenced by the urgency to explore an inclusive alternative model that involves the community in addressing its challenges.

For a while, various societies have seemed to confront these challenges at an organizational or an individual level. The objective of the local assembly was to transform the culture of personal alienated approaches which have proven to be ineffective. The assembly also wanted to further grassroots democracy and power to the people.

Mathare happens to be one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi, and is suffering from a myriad of social problems including: widespread poverty, lack of basic commodities, crime and chronic unemployment. All of these factors also lead to other grave problems.

The assembly brought 100 participants drawn from the six wards in Mathare, including Kiamaiko, Mlango Kubwa, Mabatini, Kiamaiko, Ngei and 3C.

The participants included children, local community groups, ecological justice organizations, students and elders. Among the grassroots organizations present were the Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC), Ghetto Farmers, and Green Park and Mathare Community Park members.

Other participants who joined the discussions emanated from the different social movements in Nairobi.

After the introduction of the local assembly’s concept, the participants engaged in a general analysis of the Mathare society; the historical injustices and the current political and social conditions. Thereafter, the members joined the various thematic groups influenced and adopted by the assembly. These are:  

  1. The Ecological and Political Committee 
  2. The Drugs and Crime Committee 
  3. The Waste Management Committee
  4. The Water & Sanitation Committee

The thematic groups appointed a moderator and secretary, collectively examined the situation, and generated a list of possible solutions to explore. Below are the results from the committees:

Water and Sanitation Committee

 Challenges highlighted include:

  • The rationing and diversion of water in areas like Mlango Kubwa where water is diverted to Eastleigh 
  • Water-borne diseases
  • Poor healthcare infrastructure  
  • Effluent and affluent discharges: Mathare Hospital, for example, was seen to emit its waste directly into the river. Also, most of Eastleigh waste is poured directly into the river 
  • Corruption and water cartels 
  • Leaking sewers 
  • Poor waste disposal methods 
  • Poor housing, and people are constructing homes on the river.  

Proposed way forward

  • Participate in public participation sessions e.g. budget making processes 
  • Develop petitions to conduct an inquiry on water institutions in Mathare 
  • Policy development 
  • Creating awareness through community dialogues  
  • Mapping of polluters 
  • Consistent stakeholders meetings 

Waste Management Committee

 Challenges highlighted include:

  • Poor waste disposal 
  • Lack of awareness on waste management strategies  
  • Lack of collaborations and coordination between stakeholders in waste management  
  • Government lacked policies, incentives on waste management 

Proposed solutions

  • Creating waste management awareness programs 
  • Focus on existing networks to build and strengthen ecological network  
  • Establish local waste management plans and strategies 
  • Include children in waste management projects 

Drugs and Crime Commitee

Challenges highlighted include:

  • Poverty which leads to crime, drug abuse
  • Unemployment
  • Addiction 

Solutions proposed

  • Organize campaigns and seminars against drugs and crime 
  • Involvement of different stakeholders in the campaign against drugs and crime 
  • Establish local committees to fight against drugs and crime 
  • Establish learning facilities for children, like local libraries 
  • Creating of co-curriculum activities such as sports and art

Ecological and Political Committee

Challenges highlighted include:

  • Existing ecological injustices and pollution.
  • State violence including: 
    1. Harassment. 
    1. Extra-judicial executions. 
    1. Land grabbing. 
    1. High level of unemployment leading to crime  
  • Lack of political accountability. 
  • Existing gaps in policy development 

Solutions and way forward

  • Establish sustainable sources for economic activity for the youth 
  • Establish public assemblies as institutions to generate solutions for local problems  
  • Intensify political education in the parks and in community centres 

Proposed collective way forward

  1. Establish the Mathare Ecological Justice Network, involving various community parks, which will in turn aid in: 
    • Creating a sustainable base for young people through economic generating activities like farming and seed nurseries 
    • Engage more children in the parks — perhaps an adopt a tree program
    • Establish more green spaces to transform the local ecological situation and to act as spaces for community organising
    • Provide more safe spaces like art centers, community libraries and community retreat centres 
    • Curb land grabbing, encroachment and pollution of the Mathare River; #LetTheRiversFlowCampaign 
  2. Harmonise a collective ecological justice campaign by establishing ecological justice networks in the various informal settlements 
  3. Popularise local people’s assemblies as avenues to generate solutions for the peoples’ problems. Including in:  
    • Kayole. 
    • Githurai. 
    • Ngong. 
  4. Establish exchange sessions with the Indigenous People’s Assemblies and existing assemblies in Italy, Britain and Scotland. 
  5. Organise more workshops and seminars at the grassroots to discuss the creation of local people’s assemblies 
  6. Creating alternatives through bicycles lanes along Nairobi River, from Michuki Park to Ruai 
  7. Create a secretariat to follow up on the resolutions and a guide for implementation 

Report by: Wavinya Kavinya and Waringa Wahome

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EJE Campaign Police Brutality Solidarity

ODPP visit to highlight the profiling of Mathare youth

The killing of young people in Mathare and the normalization of this injustice is what sparked the emergence of MSJC. For the last nine years, MSJC has campaigned against extrajudicial killings and the cleansing of young people in informal settlements.

First it is arbitrary arrest, followed by extortion, enforced disappearance and the final stage is death. This has been the fate of hundreds of men in Mathare. Our Who is Next report documents over 800 killings by police in Kenya from 2013 – 2016.

Our campaign has been successful in ending the normalization of EJEs in Mathare. But the killings have reduced, not ended. The police have changed tactic and they now profile young people as criminals on Facebook and then they later kill them. They then parade their dead bodies on Facebook like trophies. A very colonial practice.

See here a screenshot from the vigilante police group: “Nairobi Crime Free.”

On the evening of 23rd May 2023, a notorious Facebook page with the name ‘NAIROBI CRIME FREE’ made a post threatening seven known young people from Mathare 3C. See above. The post is made through one account believed to belong to the page’s admin, known as Saigonpunisher James. The post was directed to warn the group of seven, who are members of Vision Bearers Youth Group.

Vision Bearers Youth Group is a self-help group in Mathare 3C area that was formed in 2017 to rehabilitate youths who had reformed from the difficult life of crime and violence in Mathare. The group’s main programs are acrobatics and traditional dance, garbage collection, food programs for kids and urban farming for food security where they work closely with the MSJC ecological justice campaign. Vision Bearers have 18 members, both men and women, and their future plan is to have a piece of land that they can use for ecological farming and to have a small community library.

Last week there were politically instigated skirmishes in Mathare, and almost 50 houses were burnt, and up to ten people were injured. It is alleged that the violence started because of a stolen boda boda from Number Ten area, but politicians and the police took advantage to fuel the violence that was going on. It is during this crisis that Saigonpunisher James, of the vigilante NAIROBI CRIME FREE Facebook group, profiled and threatened the young men from Vision Bearers Youth Group, saying that they were thugs who are terrorizing Mathare residents. These assertions were to mislead the public and to justify the premeditated murder of these young people.

To fight this police impunity, on Friday May 26 2023, MSJC, together with Vision Bearers Youth Group and Haki Africa, hosted and presented a petition to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). This petition, available below, focuses on the lack of response by security agencies in addressing reports of delays in the administration of justice, resulting from incidences of ethnic skirmishes, profiling of youths, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, drug abuse and crime in Mathare. The right to life is absolute and it is our right to live with dignity even as we strive for social justice in Mathare.

Our collective petition gave the following recommendations to the ODPP:

  1. Map and order the Inspector General of Police to investigate the faces behind pseudo social media accounts allegedly being used to profile young people as a strategy for preparing the ground for their possible execution and/or enforced disappearance;
  2. Order for the investigations of all cases petitioned during this forum to determine any incidences of culpability of any member of the criminal justice system with a view to instituting legal action against those found responsible for compromising the criminal justice system;
  3. Investigate alleged involvement of political leaders, local elders and security agencies who are responsible for inciting the youth to get involved in conflicts and insecurity, including use of ethnicity as a card for polarization and incitement;   
  4. Investigate allegations of failure by authorities to address the problem of hard drugs trafficking and use, which the community considers as a factor which influences youth involvement in crime;
  5. Apply your experience in collaborating with the CSOs fraternity to propose mechanisms for building and sustaining trust between communities and grassroots human rights defenders on one hand and security agencies and other criminal justice actors on the other hand, hence providing a space for effective use of community-led intelligence as a tool for fighting crime in Mathare; 
  6. Criminal justice actors in Mathare should agree on the formation of community peace and security committees with representatives from local communities, CSOs and government representatives to work together to fight crime as well as promote community cohesion; 
  7. Involve more youths and women in peace and security initiatives including those who are reforming from crime since they can be effective peace and security champions; 

We thank HAKI Africa and Noordin Haji of the ODPP for making the time to visit our community. We hope together we will prioritise the right to life, dignity and justice struggles of all of whom are under threat of police and state impunity.

The full petition is available here:

Petition to ODPP from May 26, 2023 – MSJC, HAKI Africa & Vision Bearers Download

Pictures of the visit are below:

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