In a region where protests are silenced, journalists harassed, and surveillance systems weaponized, Panel 54 Podcast returns with a blistering Episode 4 titled: “The Legal Gates of Civic Space in East Africa”. This edition puts the region on trial East Africa is on trial, and the verdict is damning.
The podcast’s co-hosts, Waweru Njoroge and Ndu Okoh, sit down with Kenya’s former Chief Justice, Dr. Willy Mutunga, in a hard-hitting conversation on how East African governments are systematically tightening the noose on civil liberties not through brute force, but via laws, regulations, and bureaucratic tactics.
“They no longer need guns; they have the Constitution,” says Dr. Mutunga, raising urgent questions about state power, complicity, and the future of public dissent in the region.
Key Highlights from Episode 4:
Uganda: The legal justification for banning protests and its impact on democratic participation.
Tanzania: How media freedoms are quietly choked through policy and licensing controls.
Kenya: The rise of legal surveillance and digital monitoring as tools of civic suppression.
Through a lens that is both legal and lived, this episode dissects the new face of authoritarianism in East Africa, sanctioned by the courts, endorsed by parliaments, and masked by democratic language.
As youth-led movements rise across Africa, and dissenters increasingly face “lawfare” instead of warfare, Panel 54 Podcast places a spotlight on how power is being recalibrated—and why citizens must read the fine print of their freedoms.
Watch Now: Episode 4 – The Legal Gates of Civic Space in East Africa ft. Dr. Willy Mutunga
About Panel 54 Podcast
Panel 54 Podcast is Africa, unscripted. Hosted by Waweru Njoroge and Ndu Okoh, the show offers bold, unfiltered conversations on politics, power, identity, and the everyday tensions shaping the continent. Produced by Commex Africa in partnership with E&C Talent, each episode reframes global narratives through a proudly African lens.
