While Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) laws in Kenya were designed to combat financial crimes and terrorism, concerns about their potential misuse and human rights implications have once again reared its ugly head. For some time, there have been worries about the vague definitions of terrorism, broad police powers, and the potential to misuse these laws to suppress dissent and target specific groups, with devastating chilling effects on the freedoms of association, assembly and expression.

Over the years, citizens’ groups and media organisations have complained that the definition of terrorism in the Kenyan law is overly broad, potentially allowing for the misapplication of the law to activities that are not genuinely terrorist-related.

In the past, the government has frozen bank accounts of human rights organisations like Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) and Haki Africa. These organizations, both of which advocate for human rights and counter-terrorism, were accused of supporting terrorism and subsequently, before being de-registered, albeit temporarily.

The freezing of their bank accounts was part of a broader pattern of government actions targeting civil society groups with the aim of delegitimising their work. Ultimately, court rulings in 2015 led to the unfreezing of the accounts and the nullification of the terrorist designations.

The laws grant significant powers to law enforcement agencies, including the ability to ‘list’ suspected terrorists and terrorist organisations without due process, a situation that raises concerns about potential abuses of power. Initial worries that the laws could be used to target specific communities or organisations, particularly those critical of the government or involved in social activism are now a daily occurrence.

Documented cases of human rights abuses by the antiterrorism police unit, including innumerable instances of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and torture abound, highlighting the potential for the laws to be used to violate fundamental rights.

But it’s in the wake of the countrywide youth-led protests that began in June 2024 that the most unintended consequences of rampant abuse of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, and the Prevention of Terrorism Act have become the order of the day. The laws have become the convenient tool of trade to stifle dissent and restrict freedom of expression, with individual rights activists and civil society groups perceived as opposing the government are targeted under the pretext of terrorism.

In 2024 preemptive arrests of suspected planners of the countrywide anti-tax protests became the order of the day as university student leaders, bloggers and other social media influencers were arbitrarily targeted, arrested, held incommunicado and in some instances deported to neighbouring countries, without due process under the guise of AML/CTF laws, with accusations of financing and aiding terrorism or misusing digital platforms to fan anti-government protests. The Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism Financing Laws (Amendment) Act, 2023, introduced criminal sanctions for legal persons, ostensibly aiming to strengthen the legal framework.

Despite recent efforts by civil society groups to address some of these excesses, the government still tends to have knee-jack reactions against popular uprisings against human rights violations and other issues.

The writer is the Executive Director of the Kenya National Civil Society Centre, and Chairperson of the Horn of Africa Civil Society Forum; [email protected]