Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna was turned away at the gate of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Karen campus on a day he had expected to deliver an empowerment talk to law students, sparking fresh debate about academic freedom in Kenya.

Sifuna, also a practising lawyer and a declared presidential aspirant, said student leadership had arranged the visit and that he arrived fully prepared to engage young people on legal knowledge and career inspiration. He was stopped before he could set foot on the grounds, with university officials stating they had not been notified of his planned appearance.

Senator Questions "Fear" in Campus Administration

Addressing reporters and a group of students gathered near the campus gate, Sifuna did not hide his frustration at being turned away.

"As the governor of law students here at JKUAT, and of course as a lawyer, I have made it my habit to also take time to have conversations with young people to inspire them, to be able to motivate them, and they had arranged that we have that conversation here at their campus," he said.

He interpreted the administration's decision as a sign of a wider culture of fear gripping public institutions, linking it to what he described as a retreat from constitutional values such as freedom of expression and assembly.

"You can just smell in the air the fear that people have and are living under from the officials, the administration here," Sifuna told the students and journalists present.

Despite the setback, Sifuna struck a conciliatory tone, saying he respected the administration's authority and would not force the issue. He also revealed a curious twist: the very institution that blocked him had separately written to invite him to the university's anniversary event, JKUAT at 20, and he shared those communications with the media.

Sifuna Invites Students to the Senate

Rather than end the interaction on a sour note, the senator extended an open invitation to student leadership to visit the Senate and observe legislative work firsthand, suggesting the conversations they had hoped to have at the campus could still take place in a different setting.

"I have extended an invitation to the student leadership to come and visit us in the Senate to also see our work there. And maybe in that environment we can have the opportunity to have the conversations that you wanted to have," he said.

He closed by encouraging the students to look ahead, telling them they would one day occupy the kinds of roles that leaders like himself currently hold.

[Watch Sifuna address students outside the JKUAT Karen campus gate](https://www.facebook.com/reel/864664596732550)