Sheikh Balala gets Sh6m in citizenship row

Former head of the Islamic Party of Kenya, Khalid Salim Ahmed alias Sheikh Khalid Balala, leaves Mombasa Law Courts on July 16, 2018 after being awarded Sh6 million as recompense for violation of his rights. PHOTO | PHILIP MUYANGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Balala's political ideologies at the height of the agitation for multi-partyism in the 1990s rattled the Kanu government.
  • Balala had sought to be granted Sh100 million in damages, based on the fact that he had been stranded in Germany for four years.

Mr Khalid Salim Ahmed, the former head of the Islamic Party of Kenya who in his heyday was popularly known as Sheikh Khalid Balala, has been awarded Sh6 million in damages for violation of his rights by the government in the 1990s.

The fiery street preacher had sued the state for stripping him of citizenship during the height of his agitation for registration of his party, and sought, among other orders, an official apology from the government for violation of his rights.

Mr Balala, now a pale shadow of his former self, walked out of the courtroom in Mombasa on Monday a happy man after the judge ruled that the State should not have withdrawn his passport — which forced him to a life of penury in Germany in1994.

“The most important thing is restoration of my constitutional rights as a Kenyan," Mr Balala said moments after Justice Eric Ogola read the judgment, adding that the amount of money awarded to him for damages is not important so long as his constitutional birthright in upheld.

RIGHTS VIOLATED

The former preacher, whose political ideologies at the height of the agitation for multi-partyism in the 1990s rattled the Kanu government, said he harbours no bad feelings against the government.

“All I want is a better Kenya where there is law and order, discipline and respect for other people’s rights," he said.

In his judgment, Justice Ogola declared that the state had violated Mr Balala’s constitutional rights by withdrawing his passport when the preacher travelled to Germany on a business trip, and that Mr Balala’s right to liberty was infringed as he could not travel back home and had to live on handouts.

“The confiscation of the passport was not justified,” Justice Ogola said, noting that Mr Balala’s allegations that he lived on handouts while in Germany seemed plausible as he could not secure employment.

NOT KENYAN

Mr Balala had sought to be granted Sh100 million in damages, based on the fact that he had been stranded in Germany for four years, but the court noted that the amount was "too much".

At the time, the State did not give any explanation for the withdrawal of his passport, even though a letter by then Ambassador to Germany Ogutu Obare indicated that he was not Kenyan.

The government, through its propaganda machinery, declared him a Yemeni, he argued.

LEGAL

He also said that the State had been malicious as he had been charged twice with treason in 1992 but both cases had been dismissed.

However, the judge said Mr Balala did not specifically point out which of his rights had been violated through the alleged malicious prosecution.

Through the Attorney-General, the State argued that at the time Mr Balala’s citizenship was revoked, he was not a Kenyan citizen, and therefore the revocation of his "alleged citizenship was legally justified under Section 94 of the Constitution" at the time.