This has brewed a situation whereby the society is fragmented and we are likely to go the South African way, but against each other in a full-blown conflict. Things will be escalated by the growing appetite to silence Kenyans who wish to speak up and question the state leaders and the push to put them into a submission state.
Therefore, in my view, the people who are ruling must have a paradigm shift because when dispossessed and angry people rise up, not even a bullet will stop them. So, the human rights situation, analysed by assessing the fundamentals, is really dire.
As regards the state of the rule of law, the state of impunity in this country is not encouraging, the new constitution being in place notwithstanding.
How do you explain the deportation of Miguna Miguna even after the High Court issued a litany of orders against it? How do you inspire people at the grassroots or ordinary Kenyans to obey the law if a ranking official like (Interior CS) Fred Matiang’i blatantly trashes court orders and this attracts no interest? Look at the way state officials breach even traffic laws!
Other cases are the Nyayo House torture chamber court rulings, where the state was compelled to compensate the victims but refused. It has also refused to operationalise the PBO Act, even after the court ordered the same.
Maybe at national level, the effect of this brazen impunity feels remote to you. At the village, you will find people, maybe a rich person, just stepping on people’s rights without any regard because they are powerful in that context. Right there is impunity.
The rule of law requires that if we are in a protest, for example, and the police officer makes proclamations that the march should disperse, we walk away peacefully. If I don’t like the order, I challenge it in courts of law. But this government has consistently instituted the law of the jungle, yet it expects that people will follow the law.
The good thing is, you appear to be doing something about it. What is ‘Climb for Justice’ about?
DK: ‘Climb for Justice‘ is an initiative by the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, or simply the Defenders Coalition, to mobilise resources to raise Sh50 million to build a safe hub for rights activists.
As part of this endeavour that we launched last month, we have organised various activities, including climbing Mount Longonot (on September 14). We will be climbing Mount Kenya from Nanyuki from December 7 and culminating at the summit on December 12, coinciding with the Jamuhuri Day celebrations. We will be hoisting the Kenyan flag, sending a symbolic meaning of independence.
We are mobilising like-minded people who believe in protecting rights defenders who speak for us all to join us.
How far is the initiative? How much has been raised so far?
DK: Individual Kenyans are foregoing lunch to contribute towards the kitty, and have so far raised Sh500,000. In our planning, we thought the bulk of our support would come from corporate entities, embassies and probably well-endowed individuals. However, we are glad ordinary Kenyans have taken up the matter and are actively supporting it.
Most of those who have contributed have sent small denominations, such as Sh100, Sh200 and Sh500. This shows that ordinary Kenyans have embraced our message, even forgoing lunch to support the cause.
We have also received numerous commitments from corporate entities and embassies, promising to support but not specifying the amount. Some entities have offered to sponsor billboards for us as part of publicity for this initiative.
There is a notion that activists are tools for hire, pandering to the interests of donors from the west. What do you say about that?
DK: Yeah, it is possible that many people out there may not understand. Human rights defenders are selfless members of our society, who remain vigilant to speak up on our behalf, confronting the powerful to the benefit of us all. This includes even journalists. Even in the grassroots, people turn to the rights defenders when their rights are violated, and when they feel they are victims of injustice and cannot afford recourse. This is what is happening.
These activists hence become the automatic target for reprisal by the state or powers at the county level or even giant corporates. We must, therefore, figure out a way to protect them.
Many times, we have had to bail out activists who are arrested, and hire lawyers for them to secure their release so they continue the painful yet worthwhile work of defending our freedom and rights. For some, whose threat level is high, we even organise to give them safe passage to escape the country.
We also partner with other such outfits to do strategic public interest litigation to challenge policies and laws harmful to the welfare and rights of the public.
Doing this is in a country where the state is hostile is not cheap. To meet the cost, we have had to mobilise resources from our friends abroad and locally as well as approach embassies to help. But this is not sustainable.
That is why we are mobilising resources through this initiative.
Talking about obtaining resources from abroad, the wave of populism and inward-looking policies in countries in the west is not working in your favour, is it?
DK: Definitely, it is not. That is why we are saying as part of our initiative, we must become self-reliant in sustaining activities that speak for the weak among us. Politics in the United States and Europe is increasingly becoming far right. For example, once he rose to power, US President Donald Trump cut off the support his country used to channel to Africa to aid in the anti-HIV-Aids initiatives. Even anti-malaria initiatives have not been spared. So, it is not just the area of rights and governance that has been affected.
But we are not giving up hope. Even in this endeavour to raise Sh50 million, I have approached many diplomats who are very committal in supporting this course, but self-reliance is key.
Most fundamental is that we are not just reaching out to outside friends for money, we are pursuing global partnerships that meaningfully contribute to universal courses that affect humanity because human rights are universal.
On the ongoing talk about a constitutional referendum, one crucial voice is really missing, the voice of the civil society. Why are you not at the negotiating table?
DK: The civil society is broad and the players in the sector are focusing on diverse areas of interest. But generally, it is our considered view that constitutional review is not a priority right now. You cannot amend something that you have not fully implemented. Our partners like the Katiba Institute have extensively amplified this position.
We are yet to fully operationalise the constitution and even the enabling legislation like the Prevention of Torture Act 2017 and the National Coroners’ Service Act 2017. Further, even on two-thirds gender rule, what stops the President from appointing a compliant Cabinet, among other appointments? So I don’t think voices agitating for this may be genuine.
As to your concern over a perceived missing voice in the discourse, we do not wish to be part of a political leaning. That happened in 2002 and when (President) Kibaki started mismanaging the country by tolerating corruption, cronyism and entrenched ethnicity, the civil society voices who fronted him got embarrassed.
So ours is to strive to remain objective in prosecuting all the issues of importance to all the people of this country and remaining a watchdog in that regard. That, however, is not to say that we may not caucus with political figureheads, with whom we have a convergence of thought.
Like in the past when we partnered with people like the late (Kibra MP) Ken Okoth’s Parliamentary Human Rights Caucus to champion some human right laws, we will continue joining hands with political voices to support causes of universal good to the people. These partnerships are, however, momentary, and must push sustainable discourses.
Ends
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