PROTEST STATEMENT: Halt threats & intimidation of Kenyan civil society

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, working to advance human rights of all people in different countries, categorically condemn the recent intimidation, threats and illegal attempts by the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Co-ordination Board to de-register and systematically bankrupt targeted Kenyan civil society organizations and their respective leadership.

We particularly condemn the Board’s letter of 14 August 2017 de-registering the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and ordering the Central Bank of Kenya to freeze all its accounts, as well as the letter of 15 August 2017 to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation seeking the closure of the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) and the arrest of its directors.

We further denounce in the strongest terms the most recent raid by the police and Kenya Revenue Authority of the AfriCOG offices, which contravenes the spirit of the constitution with regards to freedoms of association and expression.

We have witnessed an election that is still unsettled, with results that are still very much in contention.

We condemn the killing and brutalization of innocent Kenyans, especially those in poor and densely populated urban settlements who were exercising their rights to demonstrate during the post-8 August 2017 electoral period.

We are dismayed by the arbitrary killings of innocent civilians including children that has come to our attention and increasingly worried about sexual violence and harassment of Kenyan women and girls who are rendered most vulnerable during periods such as this.

 The Government of Kenya has an obligation to arrest and bring to justice those involved in the wonton destruction of property, brutality, murder and sexual harassment and violence of civilians. We call upon the government of Kenya to protect the lives of all Kenyans, by guaranteeing their fundamental rights to exercise freedom of expression and association, as enshrined in the 2010 Constitution and other regional, continental and international norms and treaties to which Kenya is a party. 

We are in agreement that Kenya is in need of healing, reconciliation, social cohesion, peaceful co-existence and, very importantly, justice. 

We reiterate and boldly state the fact that Kenya cannot afford to be shackled by violence in all forms, state sponsored brutality and threats to non-state actors such as KHRC and AfriCOG.  And we state unequivocally that this only serves to exacerbate an already fractious political situation.  These acts only add to the tension and have to be publicly denounced. We call for the investigation and for accountability for the violations of these rights as well as the rights to life, dignity and bodily integrity.

We, therefore, call on the Kenyan Government, in particular the Ministry of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government, to ensure that all citizens and residents of Kenya are allowed to freely exercise their constitutional rights, including freedoms of expression and association and to live free from violence, intimidation and fear.

We acknowledge the recent move by the Cabinet Secretary of the Interior Ministry in ordering the Kenya NGO Board to suspend the de-registration orders for 90 days and constitute a committee in consultation with CSOs to address the issues.

The validity of the civil society is integral in building holistic and democratic nation states.

Finally, we call on regional bodies including the East African Community and the African Union to ensure that Kenya complies with its national and international obligations including the protection of individuals and their fundamental rights of freedoms of expression and association.

All Kenyan lives matter!

For more information contact: Yves Niyiragira : [email protected], telephone: + 254 20 3749346

& Mildred Ngesa: [email protected] , telephone: +254 727137853

Endorsed by:-