In East Africa when elections draw near, political anxiety rises and journalists become targets. The brutal assault on Ugandan journalist Ivan Mbadi is the latest reminder that when power feels threatened, the press is often the first casualty.
Mbadi, a reporter with BBS Television, was violently attacked by security officers while covering opposition campaign activities in Uganda ahead of the January 15, 2026 general election. Clearly identified as press, he was manhandled, strangled, and had his equipment destroyed in an incident that was captured on video and widely circulated.
What happened to Mbadi is not uncommon. It reflects a broader pattern across the region in which journalists face intimidation, assault, and harassment as elections approach. Uganda’s electoral cycles have long been marked by restrictions on media access, arbitrary arrests, and physical attacks on reporters covering opposition politics or public protests. The goal is not merely to silence individual journalists but to instil fear thus encouraging self-censorship during moments when scrutiny is most needed.
Tanzania offers an even more sobering example. Following the disputed October 29 general elections, security forces responded to protests with lethal force. During that period, journalists Kelvin Lameck Mwakangondya, Maneno Selanyika, and Master Tindwa Mtopa were among those killed. Human rights organisations and press freedom groups documented widespread abuses, media blackouts, and the targeting of journalists covering demonstrations. The pattern was unmistakable: in moments of political crisis, journalists were treated not as civilians, but as enemies.
In Kenya, the last general election also saw journalists face intimidation, harassment and physical obstruction while doing their jobs. According to the Media Council of Kenya (MCK), at least 43 journalists were subjected to various forms of harassment during the August 2022 polls, including being denied access to polling stations, threatened, profiled based on their media outlet, and in some cases physically attacked.
These incidents are not just attacks on individuals or media houses. They are attacks on democratic accountability. The 2025 World Press Freedom Index consistently reflects this reality. Uganda ranks among the lowest globally (143/180) while Tanzania’s press freedom record (95/180) has sharply deteriorated, particularly around elections. Kenya (117/180) has not been immune. Recent years have seen Kenyan journalists assaulted while covering protests, harassed by security agencies, and subjected to regulatory, economic and political pressure.
The difference, therefore, is not one of safety versus danger, but of how quickly conditions can deteriorate when safeguards fail.
Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya all proclaim constitutional protections for freedom of expression and the media. Kenya’s 2010 Constitution, in particular, explicitly guarantees media independence and bars state interference. All three countries are also bound by international instruments such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which obligate governments to protect journalists and prosecute attacks against them.
Yet law on paper has repeatedly collapsed in practice. Vaguely worded laws on security, public order, and cybercrime have been invoked to justify intimidation, arrests, and excessive use of force. Where perpetrators are not held accountable, abuses recur, often with greater severity.
As Kenya edges closer to the 2027 election cycle, the experiences of Uganda and Tanzania offer urgent lessons.
First, violence against journalists escalates during elections. Journalists’ safety must be treated as a preventive priority, with clear operational rules for security agencies and firm consequences for violations.
Second, impunity fuels abuse. Independent oversight bodies and courts must act decisively when journalists are attacked, regardless of who is responsible.
Third, political leadership matters. When leaders frame journalists as adversaries, security agencies take cues. When leaders defend press freedom, abuses are harder to justify.
Finally, the public must recognise that attacks on journalists are attacks on their own right to information. Silencing the press distorts electoral choices and weakens democratic participation.
Uganda’s Ivan Mbadi survived his attack. Three Tanzanian journalists did not. Kenya should not wait for a body count to defend its press. The measure of a democracy is not how it treats journalists when they praise power, but how it protects them when they expose it, especially when elections are at stake.
