Using illegal action to threaten NGOs will only drive dissent underground

Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) Coordination Board Chief Executive Officer Fazul Mahamed at a past press conference. Today, Fazul Mahamed is the favoured tool to deal with dissent or independent thinking that rubs the regime the wrong way. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• There were other tools used, too, such as detention without trial, charges of “belonging to an unregistered organisation,” and treason.
• Today, Fazul Mohamed and his cohorts at the NGO Coordination Board is the favoured tool to deal with dissent or independent thinking that rubs the regime the wrong way.
• And it is interesting to note that this happens as the regime struggles to manage the scandals around the Eurobond and the NYS.

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By MAINA KIAI
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At the height of the Moi repression in the 1980s, the favoured tool to silence dissent, criticism and independent thinking was the use of sedition charges.

Anything that was critical of the regime and of Daniel Moi was seen as seditious.

Whether it was true or not was irrelevant.

The charges were calculated to inculcate a culture of silence and fear.

But it did not work, instead sending dissent underground.

There were other tools used, too, such as detention without trial, charges of “belonging to an unregistered organisation,” and treason.

It is interesting that law was used as an instrument of repression in those terrible days — as corruption was also being institutionalised.

This was a classic case of rule by law, rather than rule of law.

Today, Fazul Mohamed and his cohorts at the NGO Coordination Board is the favoured tool to deal with dissent or independent thinking that rubs the regime the wrong way.

And just like those days in the 1980s, he is focused on rule by law rather than the rule of law.

And he has masterfully turned a role that was meant to be technical into a highly politicised role, which raises questions about abuse of office.

FALSE CLAIMS
This week he announced, in an undated notice, that about 900 NGOs had two weeks to show why they should not be de-registered for financial improprieties.

For good measure, he also included suspicion of terrorism into the mix without saying which of the 900 NGOs he was targeting.

And it is interesting to note that this happens as the regime struggles to manage the scandals around the Eurobond and the NYS.

I am baffled how the board carried out investigations and audits.

I can’t speak for the other NGOs in the list, but I know something about the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), which I founded and started in 1992 from scratch and on whose board I serve now.

And I know that no one from the NGO Board has talked to, met or even visited the KHRC to ascertain the finances of the organisation.

But somehow, magically perhaps, a finding of impropriety is made, despite the fact that KHRC’s accounts are audited religiously every year, and by the blue chip PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Fazul will say that the two weeks’ notice is to allow the NGOs to clear the air, but he has already acted as judge, jury and executioner, without so much as a hearing or discussion.

We have been here before, just this year, and we know that it’s tough going once accounts are frozen on a whim, and without evidence.

FUNDING TERRORISTS
Just ask MUHURI and Haki Africa.

They were accused of being supporters of terrorism more than six months ago.

They went to court and the judge rightly ruled that there was not an iota of evidence to justify including them on any such list.

But, strangely, the same judge who found that there was no original sin to warrant being on the terrorism list, decided not to unfreeze the accounts of the two organisations!

So the judicial merry-go-round continues for MUHURI and Haki Africa, where they spend time and resources in court trying to get the freezing order lifted when they have been cleared of terrorism charges.

And all this emanated from an illegal action by the State, via the politicised NGO Board.

Someone needs to give lessons on the Constitution to the NGO Coordination Board.

They need to read Article 47 on due process, and understand what natural justice is as they internalise the integrity clauses that demand good faith and objectivity in making decisions.

LESSONS TO LEARN

Condemning people unheard is not good faith.

And there is also the Public Officer Ethics Act that reiterates the constitutional demands for bona fides, honesty and objectivity.

But more practically, this NGO Board should look carefully at the travails of many who have served the political interests of Jubilee before being cast aside when they outlived their usefulness.

They should learn from Francis Kimemia, Michael Gichangi, Charity Ngilu, and Michael Kamau, to mention just a few.