Why Parliament and Church can no longer claim to speak on my behalf
What you need to know:
- We will reserve a full column or two to discuss the content of the proposed security amendments even though it is possible that they will have become law by then.
- This regime has already received support from within the citizenry who voted them in spite of all warnings and who have continued to cheer the Jubilee Coalition on, even if such cheering occurs often in a state of absent-mindedness and in ignorance of the history of state intolerance in this country.
- Who tells John Cardinal Njue, who pretends to speak for me simply because I was born in a Catholic family, that new draconian laws will be different? Until you spoke, Cardinal Njue, I was having a hard time explaining to my children why the Church in Kenya sucks.
This has been a momentous week in Kenya’s history; one in which the legitimacy crisis affecting many of our institutions went a notch higher.
Two rather contrasting sets of events took place, at the University of Nairobi and in Parliament.
One was the International Human Rights Day. I attended the one organised at the Serena Hotel by, among others, Kenya Human Rights Commission. This event was screened live on NTV.
To accompany the celebrations, we also launched two books on constitutionalism, one that yours truly co-edited with Duncan Okello and Anders Sjögren titled Kenya: The Struggle for a New Constitutional Order and published in London. The other book, edited by Yash Pal Ghai and Jill Cottrell Ghai, is titled The Legal Profession and the New Constitutional Order in Kenya and was launched under the framework of ICJ-Kenya.
CHOREOGRAPHED PROCESS
While we were celebrating, the State released the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill 2014 and, craftily sought its approval in Parliament.
Thus, while we were launching the books, there was a carefully choreographed process of seeking parliamentary rubberstamp for the omnibus amendments.
We will reserve a full column or two to discuss the content of the proposed security amendments even though it is possible that they will have become law by then. But suffice it to note that no two extremely contrasting events could have taken place in Kenya like the human rights day and the legitimisation of a draconian law by Parliament.
One would be excused for thinking we are living a horrible dream authored by an elected government that is fast slouching towards dictatorship.
But this will be a dictatorship with an interesting twist because its dictatorial strain is not solely the creation of the Executive but one whose nature involves partisan support from Parliament and active cheering from citizens.
ABSENT-MINDEDNESS
This regime has already received support from within the citizenry who voted them in spite of all warnings and who have continued to cheer the Jubilee Coalition on, even if such cheering occurs often in a state of absent-mindedness and in ignorance of the history of state intolerance in this country. Most cheered the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill 2014 without reading its 90 pages.
I would have easily concluded that Kenyans are drowsy on some ethnic drugs until the leadership of the so-called mainline churches came out blazing with ill-thought through and sickening support for the Amendment Bill. If this does not illustrate why our institutions of governance (Parliament) and guardians of civil liberties (churches) have a legitimacy crisis, nothing will ever illustrate it again.
The Church ought to guard the civil liberties of people. They did this in Kenya in the 1990s. At the time, President Moi had all these and more security powers but the State was unable to control petty crimes on our streets and instead used those laws to harass, asphyxiate and detain Kenyans.
PRETENDING TO SPEAK FOR ME
Who tells John Cardinal Njue, who pretends to speak for me simply because I was born in a Catholic family, that new draconian laws will be different? Until you spoke, Cardinal Njue, I was having a hard time explaining to my children why the Church in Kenya sucks.
Not anymore, Cardinal, they will easily understand that I must ignore church bureaucracy and speak directly to my God.
And did you hear the Anglican Church Bishop Eliud Wabukala pontificate about the ‘police force being bogged down with bureaucratic and weak command structures’? Has Wabukala lately looked at the bureaucracy in his own church? Will he now understand why the expectation that I can only reach my God through his bureaucracy and at a fee is absurd?
At the launch of the book, the Swedish Ambassador reminded us of those great words of Benjamin Franklin: “Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” Amen.
Godwin Murunga is senior research fellow, Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi
