Is Africa experiencing a protest-led revolution?

Some analysts say an ‘African Spring’ is in the making amid youth-led protests in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.

Not long after widespread, and deadly, protests against tax hikes rocked Kenya in June and forced a sharp government turnaround, Ugandans assembled for anticorruption protests, before Nigerians too began clamouring for demonstrations.

Many had watched captivating scenes on social media and on Kenyan news channels showing demonstrators storming the Parliament Building in the capital Nairobi on June 25. As lawmakers scampered into hiding, the angry protesters set fire to the building. They seized the ceremonial mace, symbolising how power had changed hands, even as police rained bullets on them. It was a striking show of anger in a country long seen as a pillar of stability in East Africa.

On the opposite end of the continent, popular resentment for the Nigerian government threatened to erupt. Africa’s biggest economy has been brought to its knees in the past year as it scrapes through one of its worst economic crises. Under President Bola Tinubu, food prices have tripled, and many people are forced to reduce their meal rations or go hungry. In August, tens of thousands of people across the country took to the streets for 10 days, denouncing high living costs in protests tagged #EndBadGovernance, amid tear gas and bullets.

Days before Nigerians raged in the streets, police authorities swooped down on scores of young Ugandans who gathered in Kampala on July 23, raising placards denouncing corruption and calling for the sacking of problematic government officials. President Yoweri Museveni had banned protests before the action, warning agitators that they were “playing with fire”, and police sealed off all access roads to the parliament building. But the demonstrators gathered anyway. Some are still in detention.

The timing of the multi-country agitations, the palpable anger of the young people leading them, and the brutal responses by their governments have held the world transfixed. The seeming linearity of the events is prompting speculation that the wheels of something much bigger are already turning.