Is Kenya Slipping Back to the Dark Old Days?

The events that have engulfed the country in the recent days have left many tongues wagging and asking whether the country is slipping back into the dark old days of dictatorship.

Things started going north on 30^th of January 2018 when the opposition, the National Super Alliance swore in their leader, Raila Odinga as the People’s President on the basis that he won the August 8th, 2017 General elections.

That same day, the government through the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Information and Technology and the Communications Authority shut down three major television channels in Kenya; NTV, Citizen TV and KTN news.

After the ‘swearing in’ ceremony, the government through the Ministry of Interior under Dr. Fred Matiang’I declared the National Resistance Movement (NRM) a wing of National Super Alliance as an organized criminal group.

After the declaration of NRM as a ‘terror’ group, Ruaraka Member of Parliament TJ Kajwang was arrested, driven around Nairobi like the ‘bad old days’ before being charged on the following day.

On Friday, the self-proclaimed NRM Commander, Miguna Miguna, was arrested dramatically where the gate and the doors to his house were literally blown off and broken down.

Activist Okiya Omtatah moved to court to challenge the government’s decision to shut down the three major TV stations. The court said the action taken by the government was illegal and ordered the stations to be restored. Omtatah went to serve the court orders to the Communications Authorities but police officers could not let him. His assistant was abducted and held for three hours.

On Friday, President Uhuru Kenyatta told journalists who had turned up to cover his event to switch off their cameras and leave for there was no more work for them.

The country is still under media lockdown with people forced to watch Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) just like the old days and the freedom of expression is increasingly being curtailed.

Is Kenya slipping back into the old days?