Kenyan Civil Society Under Assault, worrying trend into Uhuru’s final term

The government has suspended its moves to shut down two rights groups over claims they were operating illegally according to allegations from the NGOs Coordination Board.

Acting Interior CS Fred Matiang’i on Wednesday ordered a 90-day suspension of the purge against the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG).
Matiang’i directed Interior PS Karanja Kibicho to form an inclusive and representative committee to review their compliance with the help of the NGOs board.

.“This would include an opportunity for the organisations and any concerned stakeholders to engage with the board and effectively address any outstanding non-compliance issues that may have led to the de-registration of the two organisations.”

The EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) in a statement on Wednesday emphasis on respect for the rule of law and constitutional rights as provided in Article 36 of the Constitution.

“In that context the letter revoking registration rights of a key non-governmental organization, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), is of great concern. As are the orders to close down the offices of the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AFRICOG),” part of the statement read.

“We welcome the announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Interior to reverse the NGO Coordination Board decisions regarding KHRC and AFRICOG. We call on the Kenyan authorities to give civil society the space and security to work towards greater democracy for Kenyans.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein urged the Kenyan government to respect the work of NGOs.

“The High Commissioner called for civil society actors and media to be allowed to work without hindrance or fear of retaliation,” the U.N. said in a statement from Geneva.

KHCR Executive Director, George Kegoro on Tuesday, accused the NGO Co-ordination Board Executive Director, Fazul Mohamed, for what he termed as ‘harassing and intimidating KHRC’.

“The KHRC takes great exception to a document doing rounds in local media purporting to have de-registered us. We have not been approached to air things out in regards to the allegations leveled against KHRC. This is a move by Mr. Fazul Mohamed to frustrate our activities and nothing more,” said Kegoro.

For a long time, the Kenyan Civil Society Reference Group – the umbrella network of local and international NGOs and CSOs operating in Kenya, has consistently ‘expressed its deepest concern about the seemingly endless acts of intimidation and harassment being meted out on the sector in the pretext of regulation.”

According to the CSRG, “Fazul Mahammad Yusuf’s first official action upon his appointment in December 2014 was the announcement through the media, of deregistration of 510 NGOs contrary to the laid down procedure of arriving at and communicating such a drastic decision to the affected organizations.

In October 2015, Fazul Mahammad struck again, this time putting on notice 959 organizations for deregistration for what he vaguely and generally described as alleged misappropriation, embezzlement and diversion of donor funds, money laundering and terrorism financing without any explanation.

KHRC that has been in operation since 1992 was among the 959 organizations in the 2015 list.

However, the High Court cleared KHRC of any wrongdoing in 2015.

KHRC was founded in 1991 and registered in Kenya as an NGO in 1994. Members of the KHRC board are Maina Kiai, Godwin Murunga, Muthoni Wanyeki, Davinder Lamba, and Father Gabriel Dolan. 

Further, CSRG states that in April 2016, it was the turn of international NGOs to get a taste of Fazul Mahammad’s medicine that is never prescribed in the law when the regulator issued a circular warning expatriates working in the sector that they will no longer be issued with work permits, again in total contravention of the law and the Constitution that guarantees the right to equality and freedom from discrimination.

Suba Churchill, Presiding Convener, Civil Society Reference Group (CSRG) in a statement dated May 2017 stated that, “It should be recalled that commencement of the PBO Act is long overdue, having been passed by the 10th Parliament in 2012 and assented to by retired President Mwai Kibaki more than four (4) years ago on January 14, 2013.”

In December 2016, Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ), in collaboration with the Public Benefit Organizations Litigation Team, and Trusted Society of Human Rights Alliance filed contempt of court proceedings against the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Devolution and Planning, and the Attorney General for failing to commence the Public Benefit Organizations Act as directed by the High Court.

Despite the High Court ruling for its immediate commencement on October 31, 2016, the Government failed to act on the court order and instead transferred the NGO Coordination docket from the Ministry of Devolution and Planning to that of Interior and Coordination of National Government in what seems to have been a deliberate attempt to defeat justice and evade the responsibility to gazette a commencement date of the new NGO law.

“The Public Benefit Organization (PBO) Act 2013 is the law seeking to provide a more enabling environment for NGOs, yet as of today, the government seems to prefer operating under the outdated and draconian NGO Coordination Act of 1990 because of its broad, vague and arbitrary provisions that leave room for caprice and abuses”, states Suba.

Isaac Okero, Law Society of Kenya, President said, “The PBO Act is a legislation intended to create an enabling environment in which civil society and charitable organisations should thrive for the public benefit.

The existence of a vibrant independent civil society is a hallmark of a democratic and free nation.”

Okero says the government’s failure to bring it into operation, ‘leaves in place the absence of a clear statutory framework which encourages oppressive expressions of impunity as demonstrated by Mr. Fazul.”