Activist Boniface Mwangi has been deported to Kenya after being detained by the Tanzanian authorities for three days.

Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Musalia Mudavadi, on Thursday, May 22, 2025, confirmed his release.

“We have been engaging through diplomatic channels, and we have engaged with the Tanzanian authorities. The information we have is that he has been released,” he stated.

The CS has assured Kenyans that there will be elaborate communication on his release, including from the activist himself in due time.

“We believe that in good time, there will be communication, including from him (Boniface Mwangi) after he has found an opportunity to talk,” he stated.

“I am confident and have been assured that he has been released. I am no longer talking about his release being imminent; I am talking about what is being done.”

This comes after Mudavadi defended Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu’s remarks on the conduct of Kenyan activists.

In an address on May 20, 2025, Suluhu warned Kenyan activists that she would not allow activists to “destabilise” her country.

“If they have been contained in their country, let them not come here to meddle. Let’s not give them a chance. They have already created chaos in their own country,” Samia said.

Mudavadi defends Suluhu

Mudavadi acknowledged the legitimacy of Samia’s concerns regarding the tone and content of political dialogue in Kenya.

Speaking to a local TV station on May 20, 2025, Mudavadi stated that Samia might have been speaking from her observation of the conduct of Kenyans in recent times.

“I will not protest Samia Suluhu’s remarks because I think there is some truth. Let us face a few facts. The level of etiquette and insults that we see in Kenya, even though we have the freedom of speech, sometimes goes overboard to some extent. She is saying people have sometimes gone to extremes in their utterances in Kenya, which is a fact,” he said.

“What we need to talk about is, can we get to the bottom of the treatment there? I am a Kenyan too, and the fact of the matter is that our approach and our utterances, because we are free in speech, have lacked integrity,” he added.

Further, Mudavadi admitted that he lacked detailed information about the specific deportation of Kenyan activists and therefore could not comment on the appropriateness of Tanzania’s actions.

He also emphasised the need for further evidence before making a definitive assessment.