Haki Africa calls for release of its official arrested in Mombasa
The rights group says its Rapid Response Officer, Mathias Shipeta, was arrested in Mombasa on Friday after peacefully objecting to the government’s decision to hold public participation on the Finance Bill 2025 during a public holiday.
Haki Africa is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of one of its officials who was forcefully removed from Tononoka Hall in Mombasa and taken into custody after raising objections during a public participation forum on the Finance Bill 2025.
The rights group says its Rapid Response Officer, Mathias Shipeta, was arrested in Mombasa on Friday after peacefully objecting to the government’s decision to hold public participation on the Finance Bill 2025 during a public holiday.
In a statement issued on Friday, June 6, 2025, Haki Africa criticized the scheduling of the exercise on a public holiday, noting that it coincided with Eid al-Adha.
The group is now demanding Shipeta's immediate release, after a viral video showed him being forcefully removed from Tononoka Hall by a group of at least 10 police officers.
The session at Tononoka Hall was briefly disrupted after activists stormed the venue, demanding postponement, but police swiftly intervened, forcefully ejecting them from the premises.
The National Assembly’s Finance and National Planning Committee has declared the final day of public hearings on the Finance Bill 2025 a success, despite protests from activists who criticized the timing and turnout of the coastal sessions.
In a statement released Friday afternoon, the committee said it had wrapped up public engagement forums in Kwale, Mombasa, and Kilifi, collecting views on both the Finance Bill and the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, 2025.
