It is interesting how perceptions are often so deceiving. When we think of Kenya, we often think of a bright shining light on the continent, often held up as a model of democracy and a free society, writes Shannon Ebrahim.
We certainly could never imagine that the old ghosts of times past could have come back to haunt Kenya – and by that I am referring to the repression and abuses of Daniel Arap Moi’s era. It was always interesting how little South African comrades were aware of the excesses of the Moi regime, but that can easily be explained, as there was such pre-occupation with the transition to democracy in the early 1990s.
I once had a good friend, Gitobu Imanyara, who was a well-known writer, human rights lawyer and activist in Kenya during those dark years. Imanyara was the editor of the Nairobi Law Monthly, a publication he started which would at times challenge the system of one-party rule in Kenya. In 1990 Imanyara was arrested after writing an issue of the Nairobi Law Monthly on the prospects of multi-party politics in Kenya. His detention was vicious. The regime had him tied to a bed somewhere outside Nairobi for months on end. They used to beat his legs with rubber and force him to stand for hours in cold water, as they did to so many other detainees.
These were the days when journalists would disappear, and truth telling had long fallen out of fashion. The repercussions were just too harsh. At the time, Imanyara was known internationally as the boldest voice for press freedom in a country whose government was intolerant, and did not hesitate to shut down publications, leading most journalists to practise self-censorship. Having continued the fight for freedom of expression, Imanyara was re-arrested in April 1991. He subsequently won the World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom Award, presented to him the following year in Nairobi as he was not allowed to travel out of the country.
As Kenya moved towards multi-party democracy and Imanyara became a member of parliament, it seemed impossible that Kenya could ever revert to the oppression that accompanied one-party rule. Today the perception is that Kenya has one of the most vibrant media environments in Africa with its 139 radio stations, 60 TV stations, and 60 publications on the streets. The reality that few are aware of is, since Uhuru Kenyatta took the presidency in 2013, media freedom in Kenya is on a downward slide. The very same Gitobu Imanyara who is returning to politics after a brief hiatus has continually warned that defamation laws are being used to silence the government’s critics.
Reporters Without Borders also warned in their reports on Kenya that “if media freedom is not secure then none of the other freedoms can be guaranteed.” According to their Press Freedom Index, Kenya is sitting at 95 out of 180 countries. As the country moves towards the polls scheduled for August 8, threats to the media have become more pronounced, with journalists and bloggers being threatened, assaulted, and their advertising revenue denied. This has been a growing trend under the Kenyatta administration, which saw 23 journalists and bloggers assaulted by government officials between 2013-2017 according to Human Rights Watch, and 14 journalists detained. Critical journalists were also killed under mysterious circumstances, such as the photojournalist Denis Otieno whose house was broken into, his photos of police executions confiscated before he was shot. Some time ago the sixty-three year old editor of the Mirror Weekly was also killed shortly after he published a story on the Kenyan case before the International Criminal Court.
Recently, police took the Daily Nation’s John Ngirachu in an unmarked vehicle and drove him to the headquarters of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for interrogation, and denied him access to a lawyer. In none of these cases have any police or public officials been held accountable, very few such cases are even investigated. This is not the Kenya we think we know and love. It is too reminiscent of the Kenya of old where journalists were intimidated into submission or killed. As fellow Africans we cannot sit back and watch this slide towards oppression without raising our voices, any more than Kenyans should keep silent if the same were to happen in our own country. It is what African solidarity is all about, to ensure the hard won freedoms of African compatriots are defended, not only in the borders of Kenya but across the continent. If the impending elections in Kenya are to be free and fair, Kenyans need to rely on a free and unencumbered media which can hold its public officials to account. Without that it seems democracy itself in one of Africa’s great nations is gravely at risk.