For more than a decade, Kenyans have been running from clouds of tear gas, coughing, burning, and in some cases, left with permanent injuries.
\nFew knew the origins of these \u201cless-lethal\u201d weapons trace back to decisions made over 15 years ago by former presidents Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta.
\nInvestigations by the Omega Research Foundation show that around 2010, Kenya quietly replaced French-made tear gas supplied by Nobel Securit\u00e9 with munitions from Israeli company ISPRA Ltd.
\nArchival protest images reveal the new branding on grenades and cartridges \u2014 a subtle but significant shift in how Kenya policed public dissent.
\nSecurity experts say the transition began in Kibaki\u2019s final years, a time when the government faced the fallout from the 2007\u201308 post-election violence and was looking for \u201cnon-lethal\u201d methods to control unrest.
\n\u201cIt was packaged as reform \u2014 moving away from bullets to less-lethal options,\u201d said a former top security officer. \u201cBut the procurement process was never public, so no one knew what was really coming in.\u201d
\nUnder Kenyatta, whose administration ran a killer squad of 36 officers, who tortured and dumped people in River and National parks for animals to eat, Kenya deepened its security ties with Israel. Surveillance systems, border equipment, and advanced crowd-control technology flooded into the country. Omega\u2019s report, titled Israeli Gas, Kenyan Tears, traces the export of large volumes of tear gas grenades and related riot-control gear between 2017 and 2022. Investigators verified over 40 videos and 120 images from protests, showing grenades and cartridges marked with ISPRA serials.
\nThe report details the crowd-control weapons deployed by Kenyan security forces a 37\u201340\u202fmm launchers firing rubber or chemical rounds, G2020-CS\/CS multi-effect grenades releasing smoke, CS irritant, and stun effects, C850-XRB ammunition, kinetic rounds with multiple rubber balls and C850-1CS tear gas rounds containing CS irritant.
\nOmega notes that some grenades resembled products from other companies, like Macedonian Icemak, but the majority were traced to ISPRA Ltd. The report states: \u201cThe \u2018less-lethal\u2019 anti-riot gear collected by demonstrators\u2026 included impact rounds manufactured by ISPRA Ltd between 2017 and 2022\u2026 designed to manage crowds\u2026 However, in use it has been found that less-lethal weapons and munitions can cause serious injuries and sometimes deaths.\u201d
\nWhile marketed as non-lethal, repeated deployment of these weapons has turned them into a public health crisis. Residents in Nairobi, Kisumu, and other towns report severe breathing difficulties, eye injuries, skin burns, and trauma. Some women told medics that exposure caused miscarriages or menstrual disruptions. Doctors struggled to treat victims, sometimes while police fired canisters near emergency treatment areas.
\n\u201cDuring the protests, Kenyans reported seeing an orange-red substance used on crowds\u2026 named \u2018Agent Orange\u2019\u2026 leading to questions on what exactly it was and how potentially dangerous it might be,\u201d the report adds.
\nHuman rights defender Albert Kahindi said the pattern reflects a worrying approach to dissent. \u201cWhen citizens question policies, the state responds with force. These weapons may be called non-lethal, but the impact is very real,\u201d he said.
\nOmega also highlights the role of intermediaries in importing Israeli equipment. Multiple brokers have been used to obscure accountability, complicating oversight and leaving the public in the dark about what enters the country.
\nKibaki and Kenyatta defended these acquisitions as necessary for stability, counterterrorism, and modernising police capacity. Critics argue, however, that opaque procurement and reliance on foreign intermediaries laid the foundation for the heavy-handed policing seen today.
\n\u201cThe consistent use of intermediaries and secondary channels by Israeli companies in Africa has been well documented,\u201d the report notes. \u201cThis practice exemplifies Israel\u2019s \u2018middleman\u2019 approach to diplomacy on the continent and allows them to maintain plausible deniability for controversial sales.\u201d
\nThe consequences of these decisions are now visible every time streets fill with smoke and hospitals are flooded with victims. Residents report lasting respiratory damage, chronic eye injuries, skin burns, and psychological trauma. Omega warns that repeated exposure erodes trust in authorities, suppresses dissent, and normalises authoritarian tactics.
\n\u201cThe health impacts are severe,\u201d Chogo adds. \u201cKenyans who have been on the streets should expect long-term effects \u2014 chronic respiratory problems, permanent eye damage, and neurological injuries. These are not just temporary irritants; they are weapons with lasting consequences.\u201d
\nExperts believe that the streets, hospitals, and homes filled with tear gas smoke are stark reminders that policies formulated years ago continue to shape Kenyans\u2019 lives today.<\/p>\n
Find more details on the link https:\/\/omegaresearchfoundation.org\/storage\/2025\/05\/Israeli-Gas-Kenyan-Tears.pdf#:~:text=Agents%20Used%20in%20the%20Kenya%20Demonstrations.%20This,questions%20the%20accountability%20of%20the%20actors%20involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For more than a decade, Kenyans have been running from clouds of tear gas, coughing, burning, and in some cases,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,108,8,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-people-and-lifestyle","category-general-news","category-healthy-living","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Teargas-teargas.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5152,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5150\/revisions\/5152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}