Will Africa See More Protests In 2025?

The African continent was rife with different protests in 2024. With many of the triggers that caused the protests not attended to, 2025 may see these protests skyrocket.

2024 was a year of protests in Africa. Citizens across many countries took to the streets to express frustration at their unyielding situations. From Maputo to Lagos to Accra to Nairobi, people-led protests and uprisings stung the government, and in some cases, taking security forces by surprise. The protestors remained defiant as they asked that their demands be met.

The governments had it coming, though, as most countries experienced deteriorating economic challenges, mismanagement of public funds, extended office tenures, and a nonchalant approach to public issues for example Ghana’s GDP decelerated from 3.8 per cent in 2022 to 2.9 per cent in 2023. The demonstrations persisted for weeks, in some cases through online platforms and on the streets. Despite executing harsh crackdown and victimization methods such as in Nigeria where the police used excessive violence to quash #EndbadGovernance protests, the voices of these protesters only resounded with renewed vigour, some even drawing motivation from the other (Ugandans were inspired by Kenyan protestors), prompting observers and commentators such as Tafi Mhaka to wonder if an ‘African Spring’ was in the making.

Civil societies, citizens and opposition leaders led the helm, as hashtags like #FixTheCountry in Ghana, #SayNoToBadGovernance in Nigeria, #OccupyParliament in Kenya and #RestoreSubsidy in Nigeria trended on the airwaves, social media and on the streets via placards. The authorities in many cases tried to censor the movements by slowing or jamming the networks or even totally shutting down access to the internet. For example in Mozambique the three telecommunication companies cut internet connection for weeks to crackdown on dissent, hurting small businesses.

Government responses were predictable too as they looked into the old rule book of repression to quash the protest efforts through brawn and boots. Mozambique and Kenya arguably saw the worst of it with protestors repeatedly beaten, jailed, killed and even abducted after the protests...

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