By Selugame Daffo| Restore Democracy Group, Kenya.

“Africa’s Activists Are Not Criminals – Stop the Abductions. Restore Democracy Now.”

The tragic death of Marinos Alexandros, a young woman and supporter of Uganda’s National Unity Platform (NUP), is yet another painful reminder of the brutality opposition activists continue to face under authoritarian regimes in Africa. According to NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, Marinos died at around 1:30 am on Sunday, August 17, adding her name to the long list of Ugandans who have perished under President Yoweri Museveni’s iron-fisted rule.

Marinos’ ordeal was as harrowing as it was unjust. She was allegedly abducted on March 30, 2022, by state operatives and detained at the infamous Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI). For two days, she was subjected to unimaginable torture, including physical abuse and sexual violence—methods that dictatorships across Africa have shamelessly perfected as tools of silencing dissent. Her death is not merely a private loss to her family, but a national wound, a stark symbol of the suffocating environment in which Uganda’s opposition is forced to operate.

Bobi Wine’s statement following Marinos’ passing struck a deep chord: Uganda’s ruling establishment is not merely presiding over political affairs but is actively orchestrating a system where dissent equals death. The message is chilling yet clear—activists who demand accountability, democracy, and freedom are branded enemies of the state.

Yet, Uganda is not an isolated case. Kenya, under William Ruto’s administration, has itself descended into an alarming cycle of abductions and extrajudicial killings targeting activists and whistleblowers. In recent months, human rights defenders and vocal critics of government corruption have disappeared in mysterious circumstances, with some later found dead. The playbook is disturbingly familiar: state security machinery weaponized against its own people.

Even beyond Kenya and Uganda, the brutality knows no borders. In Tanzania, celebrated Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi was abducted and tortured, his case emblematic of how dictatorships in the region collaborate to crush opposition voices. This regional collusion exposes activists to transnational repression, making exile or even border crossings unsafe for those who dare speak truth to power.

From Zimbabwe to Sudan, Eritrea to Equatorial Guinea, opposition voices are routinely silenced through abduction, torture, and extrajudicial killings. Across Africa, young men and women who dare to envision a democratic future pay the price with their lives or their dignity. Dictatorships thrive on fear, reducing politics to a battlefield where survival—not debate—becomes the ultimate measure of resilience.

Marinos’ death should awaken not only Ugandans but also Kenyans and the broader African diaspora to the urgency of democratic renewal. Silence and inaction make us complicit in the normalization of state-sponsored brutality. Real democracy is not a slogan—it is a lived reality where human rights are protected, opposition voices respected, and justice guaranteed.

Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, epitomizes the dangers of overstaying power. Ruto, who postures as a reformist, is quickly revealing the familiar mask of African strongmen—ruling not through consent but coercion. Both regimes are proof that unless citizens and the diaspora act decisively, Africa risks sliding into a new age of modernized dictatorships disguised as democracies.

For Marinos, justice may never come in the form of courts or commissions. But her memory must live as a rallying cry for Ugandans, Kenyans, and all Africans who yearn for democracy. Her life, cut short by cruelty, is a reminder that freedom is never given—it is fought for, often at great cost.

The Diaspora Times stands with Bobi Wine, with Boniface Mwangi, with Kenyan activists who are being hunted, and with every freedom fighter across Africa whose courage exposes the true face of dictatorship. To remain silent in the face of such injustice is to betray the very essence of democracy. Let Marinos’ death not be in vain; let it be the spark that reignites Africa’s journey towards genuine freedom.

Disclaimer: The Diaspora Times editorial board approves this message.