The fall-out from the mass protests across Kenya is inspiring activists across the continent as security agencies try out tactics to pre-empt an African Spring. Governments in Uganda, Ethiopia and Nigeria are watching with particular concern.

In Nigeria, where the criminality and opulence of the political class is even more brazen than in Kenya, officials want to open talks with youth organisers and are urging religious leaders to dissuade the faithful from taking to the streets. An internal Nigerian police memo, seen by Africa Confidential, encouraging officers to infiltrate and disrupt protest movements, hints at a similarly heavy-handed response to that used in Kenya. There, the abduction and killing of dozens of activists outraged citizens and cost President William Ruto his credibility.

International organisations, especially those who had praised the free-market economic policies of Presidents Bola Tinubu and Ruto, have been conspicuously silent about the violent state tactics used to suppress the protests. Kenyan activists on social media are accusing the IMF and World Bank, together with western governments, of ‘sanitising’ the Ruto government.

The IMF says it’s committed to working with Ruto to rebalance the economic reform programme. But it is facing more precise demands from activists who want it to set publicly monitored targets for ending grand corruption and diversion of state funds.