Here we take a look at the major controversies from Ms Braverman’s time in office:
The Internal Market Bill, October 2020
As attorney general, Ms Braverman drew criticism from the legal profession for backing the Internal Market Bill, which was described as breaking international law in a “limited and specific way”.
Senior barristers particularly questioned her decision to seek advice on the Bill from three Brexit-supporting lawyers, including a junior barrister who had worked for the Vote Leave campaign, rather than the Government’s usual panel of legal advisers or the Treasury’s most senior lawyer.
Ms Braverman remained a staunch supporter of the Bill, leading to accusations that she had sacrificed the UK’s reputation and put the Good Friday Agreement at risk.
‘Focus on catching criminals not policing pronouns’, September 2022
In September 2022, Braverman took a break from immigration to briefly join in the transgender debate.
The home secretary launched her criticism at Sussex Police after it referred to convicted paedophile Sally Ann Dixon, who committed her crimes as a man and later transitioned to a woman, as a woman.
Suella Braverman leaves her house before being sacked by Rishi Sunak
Rwanda ‘dream’, October 2022
Ms Braverman has been a major proponent of the Government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda if they cross the Channel in small boats.
The policy has attracted widespread condemnation from human rights groups, and Ms Braverman was criticised after telling an event at the 2022 Tory conference that it was her “dream” to deport people to Rwanda.
India trade deal, October 2022
A major trade deal between the UK and India was reported to have been “on the verge of collapse” after Ms Braverman expressed “reservations” about the possibility of allowing more immigration from India and said there was a problem with Indian citizens overstaying visas.
A Government spokesperson said the UK and India enjoyed a close and positive relationship.
Security breach, October 2022
Ms Braverman was effectively sacked as home secretary towards the end of Liz Truss’s premiership after it emerged she had leaked confidential Cabinet papers to right-wing backbencher Sir John Hayes.
An investigation found she had sent confidential documents to her personal email address on a number of occasions as home secretary, in addition to leaking a draft ministerial statement to Sir John.
Her return to government days later, when she was reappointed by Rishi Sunak, reignited the row but Ms Braverman survived.
Migrant ‘invasion’, October 2022
Shortly after her return to government, Ms Braverman again courted controversy by describing the arrival of asylum seekers on the south coast as an “invasion”.
Her comments came days after a man threw firebombs at a migrant processing centre in Kent, and migrant support groups likened her words to language used by far-right figures.
She was confronted over her comments by Holocaust survivor Joan Salter, but Ms Braverman said she would not apologise “for the language that I have used to demonstrate the scale of the problem”.
‘Tofu-eating wokerati’, October 2022
Mrs Braverman accused opposition parties of being a “coalition of chaos” when discussing the Public Order Bill to crack down on disruptive protests.
She told the Commons: “It’s the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati, dare I say, the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption that we are seeing on our roads today.”
Ms Cooper said Mrs Braverman’s words were “astonishing”, adding: “The home secretary actually talked about a coalition of chaos – we can see it in front of us as we speak.”
Grooming gangs article, April 2023
In a comment piece in the Daily Mail, Ms Braverman claimed child grooming gangs in the UK were “almost all British-Pakistani”.
Muslim groups, medical bodies and others accused her of “amplifying far-right narratives” about British-Pakistani men, but Ms Braverman stood by her comments in a follow-up article for The Spectator.
In October, regulator the Independent Press Standards Organisation found that the claim had been “significantly misleading” as the Home Office’s own research had concluded that offenders were mostly from white backgrounds.
Driving awareness course, May 2023
Mr Sunak faced calls to launch an inquiry into Ms Braverman over claims she breached the ministerial code by asking civil servants to arrange a private driving awareness course for her after she was caught speeding in 2022.
The Prime Minister decided not to launch an investigation after consulting his ethics adviser, concluding that Ms Braverman’s actions did not amount to a breach of the code even if “a better course of action could have been taken to avoid giving rise to the perception of impropriety”.
Asylum seekers ‘pretending to be gay’, September 2023
Ms Braverman drew outrage from LGBT+ groups after claiming there were “many instances” where asylum seekers had pretended to be homosexual or transgender to “game the system” and get “special treatment”.
She also said being a victim of discrimination on LGBT+ grounds should not be enough to qualify for asylum.
Human rights activists and prominent figures spoke out against her comments, with Sir Elton John saying Ms Braverman risked “further legitimising hate and violence” against LGBT+ people.
Multiculturalism a ‘failure’, September 2023
In a speech on migration in the US, Ms Braverman said multiculturalism in the UK had “failed” and threatened security.
Mr Sunak distanced himself from her comments which some commentators regarded as part of a pitch for the Conservative leadership should the Prime Minister lead his party to defeat at the next election.
Homelessness a ‘lifestyle choice’, November 2023
Homelessness charities criticised Ms Braverman for reported plans to prevent them from giving tents to rough sleepers and claiming homelessness was a “lifestyle choice”.
The proposals did not appear in Tuesday’s King’s Speech, but the Prime Minister has not ruled out including them in a wider Criminal Justice Bill.
Police ‘playing favourites’, November 2023
Amid multiple pro-Palestinian marches in the UK and concern about the use of antisemitic language, Ms Braverman accused police of “playing favourites” by tolerating the demonstrations while using stronger tactics against right-wing protests.
Downing Street said it had not approved the comments, which were described by some as “divisive” and “inflammatory” and led to renewed calls for her to be dismissed.
She was sacked in a cabinet reshuffle the following week. By Albert Toth, The Independent
The onus is now on President Salva Kiir to succeed in silencing the buzzing gunfire in Sudan and achieve a long-lasting truce after receiving backing from the regional leaders, who had initially appointed his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto, to lead the mediation.
This is after Kiir met his counterparts from Kenya, Eritrea, Djibouti and Sudan in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the Saudi-African Summit on Saturday, where the situation in Sudan formed the basis of discussion.
A statement by the Presidential Press Unit issued on Sunday noted that sideline meetings focused on ways to resolve the raging war in Sudan, which was conducted without a representative of Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, famously known as Hemedti.
However, it revealed a resounding backing from William Ruto of Kenya, Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, and Sudan’s Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, who is leading the Sudan Armed Forces battling the RSF.
“Foreign Minister Dr. James Pitia Morgan said regional leaders have given their full support to President Kiir to continue engaging the Sudanese political and military leaders to find an amicable solution to the eight-month conflict,” the PPU noted, quoting South Sudan’s foreign affairs minister.
It further added that the minister revealed that President Kiir would soon host meetings with the Sudanese political leaders and the current warring parties to review the situation in the country.
But as Kiir plans to join the list of mediation mechanisms that have yet to bear fruit, policy analysts and activists argue that South Sudan must adopt a different approach for it to succeed where others have failed.
Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director for Progress Organization, argued that the president should appoint a special envoy and technical teams who will be participating in regional dialogues for him to succeed his mediation. It will be a toll order succeeding a one-man army, Yakani argued.
“Kiir need to have a neutral character and special envoy that could be trusted by democrats just like the IGAD has its own special envoy. He needs to appoint a technical team to the African Union, a technical team to Gulfs, and then a technical team to EAC,” Yakani said.
He said President Kiir does not appoint such representatives, Sudanese peace mediation may likely flop.
“These three technical teams will help him consolidate consensus of regional bodies. And our ambassador in New York will lead the international community role. For me, if he does not improve in that setup, he will find it hard to lead this Sudan crisis and may be losing than weight,” he said.
Before this, the IGAD Quartet—a body comprising Kenya, Djibouti, South Sudan and Ethiopia—had settled on Kenyan President William Ruto to lead the mediation.
But on June 16, 2023, the Sudanese military government of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan rejected Ruto’s mediation role claiming that he was an ally of Hemedti.
“The Government of the Republic of Sudan announces its rejection of Kenya’s chairmanship of the IGAD Committee concerned with addressing the current crisis in Sudan, given that the Kenyan government and its senior officials have adopted RSF positions, sheltered its elements and provided them with various types of support,” Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement in Arabic.
Ruto later on denied Al-Burhan allegations that he was keeping Hemedti in Nairobi.
The devastating clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which erupted on 15, April, 2023, has killed an estimated 9,000 people in the country and another 5.6 million forced to flee their homes during the conflict and have seek refuge in the neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.
The United States and Saudi-Arabia led peace talks in the Gulf Kingdom, and the Inter-Governmental Authority Development (IGAD) attempts to push for a ceasefire and negotiations between the two conflicting military factions. The two are yet to bear fruits. By Matik Kueth, The City Review
Police say heavy rains experienced in the area worsened the situation.[File, Standard]
Hundreds of travelers have been stranded for hours along Mombasa Road following a road accident that involved a trailer between Masimba and Kiboko area.
Traffic police say the accident happened on Sunday, November 12 along the busy highway causing a heavy gridlock after the trailer completely blocked both sides of the road.
"The situation was made worse after some motorists tried to overlap and got interlocked. They were forced to spend the night here as the rains pounded," a junior traffic officer at the scene told The Standard on phone.
Police have blamed the overlappers for the delayed rescue operations since efforts to tow the trailer bore no fruits.
Various bus companies including Dreamline and Tahmeed have taken to social media to apologise and warn their passengers of the impending delays that have affected service delivery between Mombasa and Nairobi.
"We would like to inform you that most routes will experience delays tomorrow Monday 13th November, as a result of a road traffic accident along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway between Masimba and Kiboko area. We kindly request you to exercise patience as relevant authorities work to resolve this," Tahmeed posted on Facebook.
The busy Mombasa - Nairobi highway has been busy considering the number of people who flocked to the Coastal City to unwind considering the national holiday (Monday) announced last week. By Mate Tongola, The Standard
Tanzania is estimated to hold recoverable natural gas resources of around 57.54 trillion cubic feet (trcf).
Officials from Uganda and Tanzania during the agreement signing ceremony. Credit: The United Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Energy.
The governments of Tanzania and Uganda have signed an agreement to undertake a feasibility study for the construction of a gas pipeline connecting Tanzania’s gas fields to Uganda.
Tanzania Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Doto Biteko said the agreement follows a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in 2018 between the two countries.
The MoU related to the pipeline construction from Tanzania to Uganda due to the former making large gas discoveries in the deep sea and land. Biteko said:
“These two countries have agreed to do feasibility work together to facilitate project evaluation and provide a guide to the feasibility of the project, including the project structure, gas requirements, pipe size and other important information about the project for decision-making.”
Biteko said that Tanzania discovered significant amounts of natural gas, around 57.54trcf.
However, due to increasing demand for natural gas both domestically and internationally, the government is looking to explore various locations including Eyasi Wembere, Songosongo West, Lake Tanganyika and deep water in the ocean to increase production.
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Biteko noted that Tanzania is seeking potential strategic partners to research and develop oil and gas sources in collaboration with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation.
Ugandan Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa is urging financing institutions to offer low-cost credit as they look to reduce lending to fossil fuel projects.
Nankabirwa was quoted by Reuters as saying: “I want to ask those financing institutions that had dropped the idea of financing fossil fuels to come and finance this gas project because the gas is clean.”
Currently, Tanzania is seeking cabinet approval for a $42bn liquefied natural gas (LNG) project after completing negotiations with Equinor, Shell and Exxon Mobil in May 2023.
The LNG project is expected to unlock natural gas resources of more than 36trcf. Source: Offshore Technology
Kenya Airports Authority addresses Saturday night power outage at JKIA
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has responded to critics of Saturday night power outage in several parts of the country that affected operations at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Nairobi.
Their response came hours after Kenya Power company confirmed that there was a blackout in several parts of the country.
In a statement shared on its official social media page, KAA says there are plans to avert such situations in future.
The airport regulator says in the next 30 days, JKIA will have a power backup system.
"At approximately 8 PM today, JKIA experienced a disruption in power supply due to an outage from the national grid. The airport's backup generators were activated, with full restoration of power occurring within 8–20 minutes," KAA statement reads in part.
"The synchronization of the outstanding backup power supply is scheduled to be completed in the next 30 days in readiness for instant backup support in the event of any power interruption."
The authority has apologised to its clientele and stakeholders for any inconveniences caused by the short power outage. Videos of the power outage at the airport emerged online Saturday night, prompting a reaction from Kenyans online, who blamed the state for negligence.
"Just the other day, CS Murkomen lied about solving the JKIA power backups. Today there was total darkness at an international airport bringing unnecessary shame and embarrassment..... incompetence screams so loud in this country, an X (formerly Twitter) user, Agnes Momanyi said.
Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kiambu, Kakamega, Mombasa, Kilifi, and Voi were some of the regions affected by the blackout. Netizens began reporting power outage minutes after 7.00 pm on Saturday, November 11.
“We have lost power supply to parts of the country. Our engineers are working to restore supply to the affected areas,” Kenya Power said in a statement. By Winfrey Owino, The Standard
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