Trump congratulates Kenyan president on winning re-election
Kenya’s government is attempting to intimidate civil society groups, including a respected human rights organization, that announced anomalies in last week’s election in which President Uhuru Kenyatta win a second term, activists said Tuesday.
Kenya’s oversight body for non-governmental organizations announced late Monday it had de-registered the independent Kenya Human Rights Commission. Its leader was among the few election observers to announce it had found anomalies in the vote.
The country’s election commission has said President Uhuru Kenyatta won with 54 percent of the vote, beating top opposition challenger Raila Odinga by around 1.4 million votes. Odinga has rejected the outcome, claiming vote-rigging. Odinga had been expected to make a statement Tuesday but put it off until Wednesday instead.
This is not the first time Kenya’s government has tried to de-register the rights group for allegedly failing to pay tax and concealing funds, the executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, George Kegoro, said in a statement. He called the allegations false and said his group had received no formal communication from the NGO Coordination Board.
On Tuesday, the NGO board asked police to arrest directors of the African Center for Open Governance, a non-governmental organization that also was involved in monitoring the elections. In a letter to police, the NGO board claimed that Africorg is not registered. Africorg could not immediately be reached for comment.
A former expert for the United Nations on the rights to freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, said civil society groups are considering whether to present a petition challenging the presidential elections.
He also criticized the government for urging people not content with the outcome to go court to challenge the results.
“Now here we are being told to go to court, and then those people who may go to court are being de-registered, are they serious about this or not?” Kiai said.
Most international election observers, including former U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry, have called the elections credible. President Donald Trump has congratulated Kenya for conducting “a peaceful, fair, and transparent contest.”
The White House statement also said the U. S. was troubled by reports that protests opposing Kenyatta’s win have turned violent.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights says at least 24 people have been shot dead by police in protests since the Aug. 8 vote. Kenya police say 10 people have been killed, saying nearly all were committing crimes.
