Blog

Police yesterday fired tear gas to break civil society protests in Nairobi’s CBD against closure of three major TV stations and a return to dictatorship.

Kenya Human Rights Commission director George Kegoro, his deputy director Davis Malombe and International Commission of Jurists chairman Njonjo Mue led the demos from Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park. They made stopovers at the Standard Group offices and Nation Centre and demanded that the firms’ TV stations be switched on. KTN and NTV were back on air last evening.

The demonstrators also told the government to stop “persecuting” journalists Ken Minjungu, Larry Mandowo and Linus Kaikai

They were, however, teargassed after they attempted to use Harambee Avenue to get to Harambee House, which houses the Interior ministry’s offices. A senior police officer said they were instructed not to allow any demos along the avenue.

Mue said, “We are concerned about the dangerous turn that our country has taken. In the recent months, we have seen an introduction of a very dictatorial way of doing things. We are here to defend our Constitution and say that we will not stand a government that is quickly becoming a criminal enterprise.

“We’ve seen blacking out of major TV stations that Kenyans rely on for local news. We’ve seen arbitrary arrests of opposition politicians that are not just arrests, but abductions by a police force that is quickly becoming a criminal gang. We’ve seen violations of human rights and freedom of information.”

He criticised the government for resorting to dictatorship and taking Kenya back to the dark days of single-party rule, instead of resolving issues that hold the economy to ransom and cause youth unemployment.

Kegoro said there are plans to include public actions and reaching out to authorities, including the courts, to stop repression.

“What started a few days ago [crackdown on politicians] after the opposition swore in Raila Odinga as the People’s President is disturbing and regrettable to us as citizens of the country,” he said.

“We’ve seen muzzling of media and closure of TV stations. The courts have ordered the reopening of the stations, but the government has defied the orders.

“Miguna Miguna was arrested, the court ordered his release, but the government defied the orders. We’re seeing what the Moi administration did — arresting someone at one place and taking him rounds around the country to punish them before they are charged.”

Anti-riot police officers fired tear gas on Monday to disperse activists who demonstrated against the government’s shutdown of TV stations.

Kenya Human Rights Commission director George Kegoro, deputy director Davis Malombe and International Commission of Jurists chairman Njonjo Mue led the protests.

The group marched from Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park, along Kenyatta Avenue, and made stopovers at Standard Group and Nation Centre.

They demanded that the stations owned by these media houses by reopened – KTN and NTV were shut alongside Citizen which is owned by Royal Media Services.
The civil societies rejected a “return of dictatorship” and urged the state to stop the “persecution” of journalists Ken Mijungu, Larry Madowo and Linus Kaikai of NMG.

They were teargassed while forcing their way to Harambee House as the Interior ministry’s office is in Harambee House. A senior police officer said they had been instructed to block demonstrations along the avenue.

Mue noted concerns about “the dangerous turn in our country where we are seeing a very dictatorial way of doing things”.

“We are saying that we are concerned about the dangerous turn our country has taken. In the recent month, we have seen an introduction of a very dictatorial way of doing things,” he told journalists.

“We are here to defend our constitution and say we will not stand a government that is quickly becoming a criminal enterprise. We have seen the blacking out of major TV stations that Kenyans rely on for local news. We have seen arbitrary arrests of opposition politicians. These are not just arrests but abductions by a police force that is quickly becoming a criminal gang.”

Read: Kenya on slippery media freedom path, Uhuru must act – HRW

He also noted violations of human rights such as access to information.
The activist further criticised the Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee administration for resorting to dictatorship and taking the country back to single-party rule instead of resolving issues that hold the economy at ransom and cause youth unemployment.

Kegoro announced plans for public action and engaging relevant authorities and the courts in the fight against dictatorship.

“What started a few days ago [crackdown on opposition politicians], after the opposition swore-in Raila Odinga as the people’s president, is disturbing and regrettable to us as citizens of the country,” he said.

“We have seen the muzzling of media through closure of TV stations. A court ordered the re-opening of the stations but the government has defied the orders,” he said.

“Miguna Miguna was arrested and the court ordered his release but the government defied the order. We are seeing what the [former president Daniel] Moi government did – arresting someone at one place and taking him around the country to punish them before they are charged.”

Civil societies are planning countrywide demonstrations against the government’s media shutdown.

Led by Kenya Human Rights Commission and the International Commission of Jurists, they noted the government must uphold the spirit of constitutionalism.

ICJ’s Njonjo Mue announced that the protests dubbed ‘Not in my country’ will begin on Monday, the goal being to stand up to the government and ensure it respects all institutions that serve the people.

Mue emphasised that civil societies are not going to throw their hands in the air and let Kenya plunge into authoritarianism.

“This country is not going to stand for the switching off of TV stations, denying us our right to information. This is not a favour granted by the government, any minister or communications authority, but a right protected by constitution,” said the transitional justice expert.

He added the Jubilee Party regime is taking the country back to one-party dictatorship as evidenced by events following Nasa leader Raila Odinga’s self-oath on January 30.

Related: How dare you fault Raila over oath? NASA tells AU, EU and US

The activist said persistent aggression against opposition leaders shows the government is “simply afraid of a revolution”.

“We cannot stand for a state that arrests and abducts its citizens using violence. This is clearly a rogue state acting like a criminal enterprise. It has suspended the constitution and is slowly introducing a state of emergency,” he said.

Mue further said that the manner in which police officers are raiding the homes of opposition leaders, “to the extent of breaking down their doors, must be condemned in the strongest terms possible”.

He addressed a press conference in Nairobi on Friday.

His sentiments were echoed by George Kegoro who said it was “pure madness” for the government to shutdown three major stations – NTV, KTN and Citizen.

Kegoro further chided the government for ignoring court orders that suspended the shutdown, noting it cannot expect citizens to be obedient.

“The court had given this government a face-saving way out of the hole it dug itself into but it has chosen to ignore the same by giving lame excuses as to why the stations had be put off.”

The Communications Authority on Friday blocked activist Okiya Omtatah from serving them with court orders lifting the shutdown on media houses.

Omtatah told The Star he was blocked outside the authority’s gate on Friday.

Earlier yesterday, a section of civil societies and journalists demanded reopen the stations and vowed to sue individuals behind the orders.

The High Court has quashed a decision by NGO Coordination Board Executive Director Fazul Mahamed to deregister the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) for operating illegally.

In his ruling, Justice Georg Odunga prohibited the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) from investigating and prosecuting seven directors of the lobby group over illegal operations.

Those who had been indicted include human rights activists John Githongo, Maina Kiai, Funmi Olonisakin, Stella Chege and three others.

In addition, the court has barred the Central Bank of Kenya from freezing the NGO’s accounts.

AfriCOG can now continue operations after the High Court barred the NGOs Coordination Board from closing it.

In a judgment delivered yesterday by Justice George Odunga, the court further ordered the CBK not to freeze AfriCOG’s bank accounts.

Odunga also stopped the DPP from instituting any criminal proceedings under the NGOs Act relating to activities and operations of the lobby, or arresting any of its directors.

“I have said enough to show that the Notice of Motion dated September 28, 2017 is merited. I, however, agree the Central Bank of Kenya ought not to have been dragged into these proceedings. It is, however, clear that it was the NGO board misplaced letter that provoked that course of events,” he ruled.

This is after AfriCOG and its directors, led by Maina Kiai, moved to court seeking to stop the government from interfering with its operations.

In the case, they had argued NGOs Coordination Board boss Mahamed Fazul, on his own accord and on behalf of the Interior CS and the NGO Board had no role whatsoever to interfere with their operations.

The lobby said Fazul’s decisions cannot be reasonably justified in a democratic society and underscored by sovereignty of the people, constitution delegation and delimitation of powers, good governance and the rule of law.

The High Court on Monday quashed an order to close down operations of the Africa Center for Open Governance (AfriCOG), and further ordered the Central Bank not to freeze bank accounts belonging to the non-governmental organisation.

Justice George Odunga also barred the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from arresting and instituting criminal proceedings under the NGO Act relating to the activities and operations of AfriCOG.

This comes after a decision by NGO Coordination Board Executive Director Fazul Mahamed in August to deregister AfriCOG on allegations of illegally operating in Kenya.

“I have said enough to show that the Notice of Motion dated 28th September 2017 is merited. I however agree that the Central Bank of Kenya ought not to have been dragged into these proceedings. It is however clear that it was the NGO board misplaced letter that provoked that cause of events,” ruled Justice Odunga.

The orders were issued in a case in which AfriCOG, together with its directors led by Maina Kiai, moved to court seeking to stop the government from interfering with its operations.

AfriCOG had said that Fazul’s decision to close down the lobby group could not be reasonably justified in a democratic society.

“Fazul’s decisions have been made in excess or without jurisdiction and are bad in law,” they claimed.

The lobby group had petitioned the court to quash the NGO Coordination Board’s directive to close down its operations and further sought to stop arrests and commencement of criminal prosecutions in relation to the decision.

Respondents in the case were the Interior Cabinet Secretary, the Attorney General, the NGO Coordination Board, its Executive Director, Director of Criminal Investigations, CBK Governor and the DPP.

The Law Society of Kenya was also named as an interested party in the matter.

The petitioners included AfriCOG and its directors John Githongo, Maina Kiai, Dr. Fumni Olonisakin, Stella Chege, Donald Deya, Charles Wanguhu and Gladwell Otieno.

By RACHEAL MBURU, NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 18 – The High Court has quashed the decision by the NGO Coordination Board Executive Director Fazul Mahamed to deregister the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) for operating illegally.

In his ruling, Justice Georg Odunga prohibited the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) from investigating and prosecuting seven directors of the lobby group over illegal operations.

Those who had been indicted include human rights activists John Githongo, Maina Kiai, Funmi Olonisakin, Stella Chege and three others.

In addition, the court has barred the Central Bank of Kenya from freezing the NGO’s accounts.

AfriCOG together with the human rights activists had sued acting CS Fred Matiangi, the NGO Board and others following the directive to close down organisation on grounds that it was operating illegally.

Justice Odunga stated that no evidence was adduced to show that the lobby group was carrying out its activities unlawfully.

Njonjo Mue is not the typical human rights activist: He is brilliant, hardly screams and speaks methodically.

Born in Thika, Mr Mue came to the attention of the media in 1997 when he joined many other activists at Uhuru Park to demand for a new constitution ahead of the elections.

As police tear-gassed everyone, one man was left kneeling down – praying and singing the National Anthem: The man was Njonjo Mue.

REFORMS
The bravery of Mr Mue caught the attention of photographers and his picture became the source of inspiration to those confronting the Moi administration and demanding free electoral atmosphere.

Mr Mue was part of the group that coined ‘No Reforms, No Elections” phrase in 1997 when opposition MPs decided to side with Moi and agreed to carry out minimum reforms against the wishes of the civil society groups, which were pushing to an overhaul of the Constitution.

A former ‘A’ student at Alliance High School – where he was an actor and sang in the choir – Mr Mue studied law at the University of Nairobi and later at Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar and did Bachelor of Civil Law.

LEGAL ADVISOR

He also studied for a Master’s in international law and comparative human rights.

On his LinkedIn page, Mr Mue says that he was “prevented from graduating due to illness”.

Before he came back to Kenya, Mr Mue worked with Article 19 as the legal advisor to the African programme based in South Africa.

It was during this period that he was named Jurist of the Year 2000, becoming the youngest recipient of the award. He was 33.

Mr Mue was later employed as Regional Director with Panos Eastern Africa based in Uganda up to 2002 – before starting work as head of advocacy with the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which was chaired by his ally, Maina Kiai.

ACTIVISM
It was his epic speech during the Jurist of the Year ceremony that captured attention of everyone present as he sought solutions to the national issues.

“First, we must robustly embark upon the task of organising the unorganised.

“I was once led to believe that the role of education was to enable us to speak for the voiceless; but I have since come to know that the best people to speak for the voiceless are the voiceless themselves,” he said.

Mr Mue has a driving philosophy and which he clearly elucidated:

“The human rights movement has tended to be selective in choosing the issues to articulate, partly based on convenience and practical considerations.

“But we cannot choose our battles only because they can be won. We must choose our battles because they must be fought”.

ARREST
He is the man who in 2004 scaled the walls of Parliament and took away a pennant flag off a cabinet minister’s limousine to symbolically demonstrate the government’s loss of moral authority to govern after the Anglo-leasing scandals and decision by MPs to increase their salaries.

He was also said to have slapped an assistant minister in the process before he was arrested and charged with creating disturbance.

At the court, he got more attention when he stood and sang the whole national anthem and the magistrate asked the orderlies to let him finish the song.

INSANITY TEST

But when the magistrate ordered that he be subjected to psychiatric test, Mr Mue sought to address the court:

“If in Kenya today it is considered normal for ministers to drive vehicles worth Sh10 million while a family of six in Kibera subsists on Sh40 a day, then you don’t have to ask a psychiatrist, I will tell you myself for free, I am mad;

If it is considered normal for MPs to be taken to Mombasa on holidays by BAT to be bribed to block tobacco control legislation while our people continue dying of tobacco related ailments, then I am mad;

If it is normal for our leaders to traverse the land hurling insults at each other while our people are robbed, raped and murdered, then I am mad;

And I take comfort in the fact that I am not the only one, we are millions of mad people who do not want to act normal while watching our country going to the dogs.

As for the charge before you, your honour, I beseech you not only to find me guilty, but to hand down the harshest sentence permitted by the law.”

ELECTION

A day before he filed the presidential petition, Mr Mue had posted the same thought on his Facebook page:

“We should pick our fights not just because they can be won, but because they must be fought.”

Besides his life as a human rights crusader, Mr Mue is also a trained theologian and did an MA at the Nairobi International School of Theology majoring in the Theology of Social Involvement, Christian Ministry and Leadership.

He wrote his MA Thesis on the topic “Forgiveness in Politics: Reflections on Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Kenya.”