Eastleigh traders protest over crackdown

The Kenyan Somali community on Friday accused the government of branding them al-Shabaab sympathisers to cover up the failure of its security system.

Mr Hassan Guleid, the chairman of Eastleigh District Business Association, said the government crackdown on foreigners and refugees was just a public relations exercise because they even provided visas to Somali MPs and resident documents to the refugees.

Mr Guleid accused the government of victimisation and harassment of the Somali community. “In the past week the security forces have arrested thousands of people of Somali ethnicity across the country ostensibly to flush out illegal immigrants in the country,” Mr Guleid said.

Ill intentions

He said profiling of Somali people’s investments in the country ordered by Office of the President permanent secretary Francis Kimemia was a pointer to the fact that the government had ill intentions.

Mr Guleid said the operation sanctioned by Internal Security minister George Saitoti was indiscriminately carried out under the guise of looking for al-Shabaab yet it flouted Section 82 of the Constitution barring ethnic victimisation or favouritism.

The community received backing from the National Cohesion and Integration Commission which asked the government to stop harassing Kenyans of Cushitic origin during the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Chairman Mzalendo Kibunja said they had received more than 100 complaints from Kenyans who say they had been harassed by police officers during the raids.

The police, he said, were targeting anyone who seemed to be of Somali origin, including the Rendille and Borana. “Although we support the crackdown, it should not be used to discriminate against religion, ethnicity or race,” Mr Kibunja said.

Equal opportunity

He said the National Cohesion and Integration Act 2008 provided for equal opportunity and coexistence between people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds.

Apart from the national identification card, the NCIC chairman said, the police should also recognise driving licences and passports as a form of identification. He some had been arrested for failing to understand the national language.

On Thursday Government spokesman Alfred Mutua announced that 2,128 foreigners had been arrested. He said among those arrested were Nigerians, Somalis, Congolese and Eritreans.

Some 520 were arrested in Nairobi, 1,046 in North Eastern Province and 11 from Eastern Province. NCIC commissioner Ahmed Yassin urged the government to follow the law as tit carried out the swoop.