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Fights break out in Kenyan parliament over controversial anti-terrorism laws

This article is more than 9 years old

Activists warn that sweeping anti-terrorism laws pose a draconian threat to civil liberties and freedom of speech

Scuffles break out in Kenya’s parliament in Nairobi Guardian

Fistfights and scuffles broke out in the Kenyan parliament on Thursday as members approved sweeping anti-terrorism laws that rights activists warn pose a draconian threat to civil liberties and freedom of speech.

The parliamentary speaker, Justin Muturi, was pelted with books, documents and other objects by opposition MPs as emotions ran high over the bill, while on the streets of Nairobi police fired warning shots and eight demonstrators were reportedly arrested.

The president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has claimed that the legislation is needed to tighten national security and combat Islamist militants responsible for last year’s Westgate shopping mall siege and more recent massacres. But critics say the government is exploiting fear of terrorism as a pretext for cracking down on dissent in civil society and the media. They argue that existing laws are sufficient and the true scourge is corruption within the police.

“It’s not an anti-terror bill, it’s an anti-media, anti-activist, anti-citizens bill,” said Boniface Mwangi, an activist and photographer who fears he will be a target. “They can arrest me without evidence or a warrant. We are going back to the days of dictatorship.”

The stakes are high in east Africa’s biggest economy. Kenya is widely seen as a beacon of freedom and democracy but could be tempted to emulate regional models such as Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda, where civil liberties have arguably been sacrificed in the name of security. Ethiopia has little political freedom and imprisons more journalists than almost any country in Africa; it has also suffered far fewer terrorist attacks than Kenya despite fighting alongside it in Somalia.

Kenyatta’s government has been under pressure since last year’s attack by the extremist group al-Shabaab on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, in which 67 people were killed. Earlier this month the interior minister and police chief were fired after al-Shabaab murdered 64 people in two attacks in the north-eastern Mandera region.

The bill includes proposals extending the time police can hold terror suspects from the current 90 days to nearly a year, increasing sentences, and giving investigators more powers to tap phones. Landlords would be compelled to provide information about their tenants. Journalists could face up to three years behind bars if their reports “undermine investigations or security operations relating to terrorism,” or if they publish images of terror victims without permission from the police.

Kenyatta, whose charges at the international criminal court were recently dropped, has said: “There is nothing to fear about the bill unless you have been engaging in criminal activities.”

But an editorial in the Daily Nation newspaper contended: “The very real and present dangers must not be used as an excuse to roll back the gains of a free and democratic society.”

Many fear a return to the climate under president Daniel Arap Moi, who ruled from 1978 to 2002, when opposition parties were banned and dissenters silenced and jailed. Ababu Namwamba, an opposition MP, described the bill as a “return to the past … that we thought had been buried in the dustbin of history.”

More recently Kenya has been seen as a crucial democratic bulwark in east Africa, with a vibrant media, a hub of international agencies and civil society organisations and a flourishing internet sector. Yet this week alone the government announced it was shutting down more than 500 non-government organisations and influential blogger Robert Alai was charged with undermining the presidency after a tweet in which he called Kenyatta an “adolescent president”.

Matters reached a head in parliament on Thursday where MPs traded blows before TV cameras. Opposition members shouted, sang and shredded copies of the bill, warning that Kenya was becoming a police state. Government supporters hit and tore the clothes of an opposition senator in the public gallery. Amid the chaos the legislation eventually passed, with journalists barred from the vote and TV feeds discontinued.

Campaigners said it defied the popular will. Ndungi Githuku, an artist and activist, said: “It is a draconian law that the majority of Kenyans are against. It means we are going back to the dark days when you could be arrested at any time and the police think you are a threat to national security. You cannot express yourself freely. You cannot sing a song that is a ‘threat’ to them. It’s like 1986 when people were thrown into torture chambers.”

The threat of al-Shabaab should not be used as an excuse, he said. “I’ve got friends who died at Westgate but we really feel terrorism is being used as a ploy to control people. If we are able to tighten the loopholes of corruption we will have fewer people sneaking over the border or bribing cops.”

The laws were also condemned by Abdullahi Boru, a Kenya analyst and researcher for Amnesty International. He said: “It speaks to the paranoia of the government when they can’t control the narrative. It’s not the media’s fault if the police are corrupt. The elephant in the room is Kenya’s lack of a plan regarding Somalia.

“Kenya and Kenyatta are trying to model themselves on Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia, but all these three regimes are a function of the way they came to power. These are governments that were formed in the bush and are principally military governments. Kenyans need to be cognisant of that. There are better ways of fighting terrorism than rolling back the freedoms of the past 20 years.”

More on this story

More on this story

  • Kenya high court suspends anti-terror measures after opposition objections

  • Corruption is costing Kenyans their lives – no one is safe

  • Kenyan president sacks security minister after latest al-Shabaab attack

  • Kenya claims 100 al-Shabaab killed in response to Mandera massacre

  • Dozens killed in Kenya bus attack, say police

  • ICC drops murder and rape charges against Kenyan president

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