In this edition of the Kleptocracy Report:
This issue of the Kleptocracy Report is dedicated to a groundbreaking investigation done by ZAM and NAIRE. Over five months, a team of five investigative journalists traced 100+ million of European Union money paid into elections machineries in five African countries. The investigation found that all this money, over the past decade, has achieved little in terms of democratic development and mainly legitimised, masked and even supported an oppressive and kleptocratic status quo. The feeling among pro-democracy activists in all five countries was that they are all but abandoned by Europe. In the words of one, interviewed in Côte d’Ivoire: “We are on our own.” With elections in three of the countries -Zambia, Kenya and Nigeria- upcoming later this year or next year, the team also found that the same pattern is set to continue. State electoral commissions, heavily weighted towards powers in charge, receive the lion’s share of the money, while civil society’s share is limited to “voter education” and “observer missions” conducted by large NGOs. The latter activities generally do not overlap with grassroots pro-democracy activities carried out in communities The investigative team perused scores of EU election observer mission reports, finding that most of these routinely mention failings such as untransparent expenditure by the state, police repression, campaign finance opacity, and corruption. Yet election support from the EU to state structures responsible for such ills has kept flowing, even after these recommendations were repeatedly ignored. For this investigation, financial data on EU election support in the five countries was mostly obtained through an appeal by ZAM to EU Regulation 1049/200, which grants EU citizens the right of access to EU documents. While ZAM colleagues with EU citizenship could obtain some information in this way -an emailed Excel sheet was, however, still found incomplete when compared with results of in-country research-, this route was closed to the African investigative journalists trying to find out what the EU was doing in their countries. Read cover story Elections Circus We produce the Kleptocracy Report with a small team of African investigative journalists. Your support can help us to keep publishing in freedom and open gateways for democratic change. Read more about our work and funding here. Zambia: Fear and Restraint
Image by Kalenga Nkonga, design by ZAM In Zambia, a Public Order Law favours those in power, while most public broadcaster time is dedicated to propaganda for the ruling party. Of at least € 6.5 million for the 2021 election cycle, partly paid by the EU, 90% was destined for Zambia’s state institutions, including training and conferences for the police and ruling party. In comparison, grassroots pro-democracy activists received little to no support at all. An independent candidate recently stepped back after authorities blocked the registration as a political party of the civil society movement he represented. “The outcomes sometimes appear predetermined long before voters enter the polling booth”, said a disillusioned voter. “Governance institutions now decide for me, as if there is already a printed script that will say the elections were ‘free and fair’.” Read Zambia: Restraint and Fear Kenya: Sound and Fury
Image by Jimmy Kitiro, design by ZAM In Kenya, an “endless cycle of workshops” on voter education, paid for by the EU, creates an impression of free public debate and participation, while one of two dominant parties, each representing the political elite, routinely win elections, nevertheless. In the same country, pro-democracy activists are increasingly met with police repression: in 2024 and 2025, protesters were shot in the streets. “The EU provides the software for all this”, in the words of reporter Eric Mugendi of independent media house Africa Uncensored, which partnered in the investigation. Ivory Coast: A Mirage of Democracy
Image by Joseph Zahui, design by ZAM In Ivory Coast, an autocratically ruled country mostly known globally as the world’s largest supplier of cocoa, €7 million of EU money was paid in 2025 into an election that saw opponents and critics incarcerated. In the same elections, 11 people died, including a police officer; 71 people were injured, and over 1600 people were arrested. Several hundred jailed civil society activists are still awaiting trial. While some NGOs also received EU support, activists said that “the EU money barely reaches those who fight for real change” and that the EU prefers “a government that keeps the cocoa exports flowing and the migrants out of Europe.” Read Ivory Coast: A Mirage of Democracy Nigeria: Technology 0, Politicians 1
Images by Onyekachukwu Obi, design by ZAM In Nigeria, €18 million for the 2023 and upcoming 2027 electoral cycles was paid to the Belgian AI company DAI Global. The contract entailed training thousands of electoral officers in handling top-of-the-range voting systems for the 2023 elections, but turned out to be a waste since technical “glitches”, widely seen as manipulated by those in power, still ensured a ruling party presidential win. The second-highest slice of EU Nigerian elections support money, over € 7 million or 16%, was paid to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which assists refugees and returned migrants, including rejected asylum seekers from Europe. It was unclear what role the IOM was thought to play in Nigeria’s elections. Read Nigeria: Tech 0, Politicians 1 Uganda: A Humanitarian Veneer
Images by Katumba Badru and Isaac Kasamani, design by ZAM In Uganda, the EU has decreased electoral support due to the country’s dismal human rights record, but in 2024 it still paid €2 million into a project that organises “discussions” between political parties, including the ruling party and the opposition in that country. This even though ruling party–linked security forces have been kidnapping, incarcerating, torturing and killing members of the opposition since at least 2020. Read Uganda: Humanitarian Veneer
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