Sunday, December 21, 2014

BY SECOND-GUESSING KENYA ON THE ANTI-TERROR LAW, COULD THE US BE INTERFERING IN KENYA'S INTERNAL AFFAIRS?

The usually friendly but fragile relations between the United States and Kenya turned lukewarm this past week when the two countries appeared to differ on matters of security.

It was only last August when President Uhuru Kenyatta held very useful discussions with US President Barack Obama in Washington DC on how the two countries could enhance cooperation in the wake of heightened threats and deadly attacks by the Al Shabaab terror group.

The meeting, held on the sidelines of the Africa Summit which Obama convened, was seen as signalling the end of seemingly frosty diplomatic ties which began after Kenyatta, then an accused person before the International Criminal Court at the Hague, won the 2013 presidential elections.

Washington was not particularly thrilled by the victory and hinted it was unwilling to deal with Nairobi under the new leadership. Quiet diplomacy however helped thaw ties culminating in Uhuru's presence at the Africa Summit.

The latest tiff is not about any ICC-related issues though but about the Security Law(Amendment) Bill, 2014, which Parliament acrimoniously passed at the speed of lightning; and which was then speedily assented to by the President last week. It generated violent debate on the floor of the House leaving some legislators injured.

In a statement, the US felt the Bill was rushed. That supported the opposition stance that not enough consultation had taken place. Washington was also concerned about "several provisions in the legislation, including those that appear to limit freedom of assembly and media, and access to asylum for refugees,"

Nairobi immediately hit back with a statement denying the legislation curtailed freedom of assembly, and told the US to read the law as passed, and not to go by what its associates (read the Opposition) want them to believe.

I am not today going to discuss the merits and demerits of the new law. I will leave that for another day.

The important question I have is whether the United States, a long time Kenya ally, has the locus standi, so to speak, to dictate Kenya on how to formulate its laws. Put it another way. By issuing a statement that sounded like a public rebuke, was the US interfering in Kenya's internal affairs?

These are not new questions. They have been asked for most of Kenya's fifty-one years, as America and European countries laboured to impose a western version of democracy on Kenya. In the 80s, Washington worked closely with opposition elements to end Daniel Arap Moi's one-party rule. It vigorously condemned human rights abuse and fought for justice and the rule of law.

Though the one-party rule ended in 1991, the US has continued to "chaperone" Kenya's economic and political direction through travel advisories and diplomatic notes whenever it feels the security of its citizens is threatened and the country is veering off the charted path.

Kenya is a sovereign nation with a comprehensive Bill of Rights, integrity clauses and good governance provisions. It has a fairly independent judiciary and a functioning Parliament, its many faults notwithstanding.

But Kenya is also a part of the global community of nations. It cannot exist in isolation. Its strategic location on the Indian Ocean and its links to major world ports means it has a lot to offer in growing the world economy and in providing sea corridors for US forces and their allies. Western nations are therefore interested to see that peace and stability prevails and the country is run democratically.

And there is a saying: he who pays the piper calls the tune.

The US is spending almost a billion US dollars per year on Kenya - the highest annual foreign assistance to any country in sub-Saharan Africa - to support the country's efforts in health, education, youth empowerment, natural resource management and economic and democracy growth. It also gives Kenya useful intelligence in the fight against terrorism.

By accepting such a colossal amount in grants, Kenya must be willing to tolerate occasional broadsides from the giver.

My submission therefore is that: if we want America to keep off our affairs, we must also be brave enough to refuse its aid.

And that is my say.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

KENYA: WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS OF MUSLIM CLERICS?

Heads should and must roll following the highly damaging documentary this week by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network.

And this is not because the Islamic-funded television station aired the forty-seven minute programme which Nairobi authorities have described as "scandalous and unethical."

Heads must roll because people who identified themselves as members of various branches of the Kenyan security forces allowed themselves to lend credence to a project that is either intended to puff up the Islamic Jihadist movement, or, project the Government of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto as murderous and anti-Islam.

From the onset, the narrator made it clear that Al Jazeera had vetted the officers and found them to be genuine employees of Kenya security agencies. If indeed they are, then the officers, enshrouded in shadows to conceal their identity, violated their oath of office which, in part, calls for confidentiality of materials gathered in the course of duty.

Also, if it can be proved that those officers obtained official documents illegally and passed them over to a foreign agent, then they ought to be punished in accordance with the law of treason.

The Government should also investigate to find out who else was involved either within or without the civil service.

No government allows its officers to go on camera with the type of information given by the officers in "Inside Kenya Death Squads." They seemed to forget that the country is in the midst of a terrorist onslaught.

But there is one more issue. No one - including the so-called human rights organisations - has offered any concrete evidence to prove the Government is involved in any killings of Islamic leaders or others as part of an official elimination programme as claimed. If any such evidence exists, why hasn't it been given to the Government or to any international organisation for action?

What we have so far are speculations and innuendos which serve no useful investigative purpose.

For an international medium like Al Jazeera to engage in a propaganda war aimed at causing conflict between Muslims and Christians is a cheap way to gain favour from its largely Muslim Arab financiers.

Today, Governments all over the world are tightening their domestic security protocols and Kenya is not an exception. That is why the Administration has proposed sweeping changes in law.

But while I welcome the changes, I do not support any attempt to snatch away fundamental human rights as suggested.

And that is my say.






Wednesday, December 3, 2014

BE AWARE NKAISSERY. WHAT HAPPENED TO OLE LENKU COULD HAPPEN TO YOU.

Unless something unthinkable happens - either he turns down the appointment or Parliament refuses to approve - Joseph Nkaissery is certainly headed to the Office of the President as the second Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordinator of the National Government.

Conversely, his namesake, Joseph Ole Lenku, the person he is replacing at Harambee House, is destined to go to the same oblivion pit as many other former Cabinet officials unless President Uhuru Kenyatta is magnanimous enough to offer him a soft-landing in a public institution.

If one had told Ole Lenku a year ago to stay put in the hospitality industry and avoid the risks associated with public appointments, the former hotelier would probably have read mischief.

But let the truth be told. Senior public jobs in  Kenya are risky, stressful and thankless, and since they have no security of tenure, they are dangerously undependable. In the current constitution, the President is not encumbered by political baggage and can invariably chose anyone he wants from any background and fire him or her anytime without fears of political hazards.

In the case of Ole Lenku, his appointment to the sensitive position at a time when the country was already facing security threats was doomed from day one.

Few Kenyans believed a green-horn like Ole Lenku, a man who had never worked in the public sector before and one who was relatively unknown in security circles, could make any notable impact in an office previously occupied by such political giants as George Saitoti and John Michuki.

As a matter of fact, Kenyans felt cheated from the very onset and immediately began a campaign to malign him in every way possible. They insulted him in social networks and made fun of him publicly and privately, especially after the Westgate terrorist attack last September.

The campaign to discredit the Cabinet Secretary gained momentum after the senseless terrorist killings in Mpeketoni, Mombasa, and elsewhere and culminated in the recent murders in Mandera and Wajir.

If there is one person in the Jubilee Government who has attracted so much venom and scorn, that person is, unfortunately, Joseph Ole Lenku. At the end, President Kenyatta had no option but to sack him along with the Inspector General, David Kimaiyo.

Only recently, I argued here that the departure of Ole Lenku and Kimaiyo would make no difference in the way Al Shabaab perceives Kenya. Kenya remains Al Shabaab's greatest enemy. Without Kenya, the group will have no reason to exist.  So, anyone who thinks the attacks will cease because we have rid the security docket of its two most ridiculed officials must be day-dreaming.

I am now beginning to think that the terrorist assaults from across the border have nothing to do with the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia. Both Ethiopia and Uganda have troops in that war-torn country but they have not seen the kind of attacks on the scale seen in Kenya,

My view is that the killings have roots in our own political and economic dispensations. Corruption in the police and immigration departments stands at the top of the list, followed by the scramble for the massive unexplored resources in Somalia by both Kenyan and Somalia warlords, and underground struggles for political power at home.

The connivance of Islamic jihadists both internally and externally with terrorist groups in recruiting jobless youngsters for service is also to blame.

The Kenya government must do what it has always intended to do, but has not done: close down the refugee camps in the north which serve as the breeding grounds for terrorist infiltration and recruitment; flush out and prosecute the financiers; and reorganise the security agencies from top to down.

At the same time, enact laws that would give our intelligence service powers to arrest and detain suspects immediately instead of referencing to the corrupt police force for action.

A final word of caution to Major-General (Rtd) Nkaissery. Take the job, but be aware that you cannot fight terrorism alone from your posh perch in downtown Nairobi. And, don't sit pretty as if the job is permanent and pensionable. What has happened to Ole Lenku could very easily happen to you.

By sacrificing a secure position as Member of Parliament for Kajiado to take up the hot seat, you are gambling everything you have worked so hard to achieve outside the military. So, let it work for you. Good luck, Joe.

And that is my say.