Foreigners must not interfere in our war on terrorism
What you need to know:
- Although Haki Africa, Muslim Human Rights (Muhuri) and the Agency for Peace and Development always looked guilty — what with their defence of suspected terrorists — they were not on the list of 15 unnamed organisations deregistered last year in the wake of the first bus attack in Mandera.
- The Inspector-General of Police named them among 62 individuals and 21 organisations whose accounts were frozen. None of the other 18 organisations — among them bus companies and money transfer institutions — have complained, but these three will not let the matter go.
- These NGOs were hoarding over Sh8.3 billion in foreign donations that could easily fund a fifth of the health budget in order to compete with the government in the provision of health services.
Government is not easily fooled by the diplomatic doublespeak of foreigners or pretentious platitudes of terrorist sympathisers.
When the British High Commissioner to Kenya defends organisations it secretly funds to support terror, it must know that the government is not taken in by its high-sounding rhetoric.
The impudence of the Norwegian Government in publicly refusing to cut off funds for Haki Africa is similarly a show of disrespect.
Although Haki Africa, Muslim Human Rights (Muhuri) and the Agency for Peace and Development always looked guilty — what with their defence of suspected terrorists — they were not on the list of 15 unnamed organisations deregistered last year in the wake of the first bus attack in Mandera.
Kenya is at war. How can anyone in their right senses offer legal defence to anyone suspected of terrorism just because the Constitution allows it?
After the attack on the Garissa University College on the eve of Easter last month in which 148 people were killed, no one could protect them.
The Inspector-General of Police named them among 62 individuals and 21 organisations whose accounts were frozen. None of the other 18 organisations — among them bus companies and money transfer institutions — have complained, but these three will not let the matter go.
Now, foreign envoys are lecturing Kenya about the contribution NGOs make to the economy — employing over 200,000 people and contributing over Sh152 billion to the national budget.
This is the kind of nonsense the NGOs Coordination Board has been cracking down on. Last December, the board announced the deregistration of 12 international NGOs that had been hiding money they receive from their foreign masters under pretences of supplying veterinary services, human medicines and clean drinking water.
Anyone with a passing acquaintance of the Jubilee manifesto would know that these are exclusive government priorities in which petty competition cannot be allowed.
HOARDING BILLIONS
These NGOs were hoarding over Sh8.3 billion in foreign donations that could easily fund a fifth of the health budget in order to compete with the government in the provision of health services.
Foreign envoys and their missions in Kenya must know that they neither are part of the governing coalition nor can they constitute themselves into the unofficial opposition. When the legitimate government of Kenya requires them to stop funding terrorist groups, they must cooperate with alacrity instead of talking back with impudence.
The British envoy says his country has checked the credentials of these suspect organisations — as if the Queen’s Government registered them in London. In fact, Kenya is the only true authority on whether anyone is funding terrorism. It does not appreciate friendly nations lecturing us on who is or is not.
The insistence of foreign governments in funding organisations the Kenya Government suspects is proof that they are closet sponsors of terrorism. Many terrorists committing atrocities in Kenya have been citizens of these countries, or at least residents.
Last December, when 510 NGOs, which refused to respond to a notice to cancel their registration, were struck off the register because they had been pretending to carry out development and support health programmes around the country, it was America that screamed the loudest.
When Al-Shabaab is on the verge of surrender, look who comes to lecture the government about civil liberties and the role of NGOs?
Freezing accounts really puts the squeeze on these organisations. If they are genuine defenders of human rights, they will be more effective operating underground rather than with the protection of the law and the Constitution.
