Republic of Kenya
Head of state and government: Daniel arap Moi
Capital: Nairobi
Population: 31.3 million
Official languages: English, Swahili
Death penalty: retentionist
2001 treaty ratifications/signatures: UN Convention against Racism
Death sentences continued to be imposed; no one was executed. At least 18 people were killed by police in circumstances suggesting they may have been extrajudicially executed. Torture remained widespread. Scores of prisoners of conscience were arrested and detained. Police used violence to disperse peaceful demonstrations by human rights groups, opposition politicians, environmental activists and others. Security officials committed violations with impunity.
Background
The Constitutional Review Commission, established in 1997 to amend the Constitution before elections scheduled for 2002, engaged in a nationwide consultative process. In May its membership was increased in response to concerns that it was not representative and that it would amend the Constitution to increase presidential powers and extend the current limit of two terms in office for the President. The 12-member Commission had been appointed by the President. He appointed a further 12 members nominated by Ufungamano, a civil society group composed of religious faiths and opposition groups not already represented on the Commission.
The ruling party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU), continued discussions about a future merger with the National Development Party led by Raila Odinga, who was appointed a minister in the KANU government. This ensured KANU's continued dominance in Parliament.
A prominent KANU Member of Parliament and occasional outspoken critic of the government, Tony Ndilinge, was shot dead in suspicious circumstances in Nairobi in August. The motive for his killing had not been established by the end of the year, but it was reported that he had twice expressed fears for his safety. In by-elections in July and in November for his seat, several opposition party supporters were the targets of a campaign of violence by government supporters.
In August Parliament rejected the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, part of a package of measures aimed at tackling corruption, in part because it provided an amnesty for those involved in economic crimes before 1997. As a result, some donors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, suspended aid and economic conditions in Kenya deteriorated. Passage of the Bill was required for the re-establishment of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA), a key precondition for the release of 15.5 billion Kenyan shillings (US$200 million) by the IMF. As a result of the failure to re-establish the KACA, the government set up a new Anti-Corruption Unit within the police force to continue investigations begun by the KACA.
Violence continued during the year in the southwestern region, between members of the Kisii and Maasai ethnic groups. Scores of people were killed in the clashes. In April, the government offered an amnesty for small arms in the northeastern region, in an attempt to reduce cattle rustling, which had not been successful in attracting a significant number of weapons by the end of the year.
Death penalty
At least 26 people were sentenced to death in 2001. No one was executed.
In June, President Moi reportedly called for the death penalty to be introduced for those who knowingly and deliberately infected others with HIV/AIDS. Earlier in June the government, which declared AIDS a national disaster in 1999, passed legislation to allow the import and manufacture of generic medicines used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. By the end of 2001 it was estimated that about 2.2 million Kenyans were HIV positive.
Allegations of killings and ill-treatment
Allegations of killings and ill-treatment by police officers and prison warders remained widespread.
Prison warders
- On 2 April more than 200 prison warders from GK Prison in Eldoret reportedly attacked villagers from Ngomongo, Eldoret, including women and children, in revenge for the murder of one of their colleagues by people they suspected lived in the village. According to reports, at least one villager was killed in the attack and more than 50 people injured. There was no investigation into the incident.
- The government-appointed Standing Committee on Human Rights released a report in June which concluded that six prisoners from King'ong'o prison, Nyeri, Central Province, were killed by prison warders in September 2000. The report accused the prison authorities of attempting to cover up the killings by claiming that the prisoners died while trying to escape, and criticized the government's handling of the case. None of the warders involved had been brought to justice by the end of the year.
At least 18 people were reportedly killed by police in suspicious circumstances.
- On 25 July, seven men ordered off a bus by police just outside Nairobi and ordered to lie on the ground, were reportedly shot in the back by officers after three firearms had been taken from them. Although the police publicly said the incident would be investigated, no investigation was known to have been initiated by the end of the year.
- Police reportedly killed two members of the Mungiki religious group in a forest on the outskirts of Nairobi. They were reported to have been taking part in shooting practice in the forest when they were shot by the police. No investigation had taken place into the incident by the end of the year.
- On 1 October, six prisoners were reportedly killed by other inmates at Thika police station, ear Nairobi. A post-mortem conducted in the presence of human rights activists concluded that such severe injuries could not have been inflicted without weapons. Three inmates were charged with murder and six police officers with negligence for allegedly ignoring prisoners' pleas for help. No independent investigation into the circumstances of the deaths had been carried out by the end of 2001.
- An investigation was carried out by US police following widespread allegations of government involvement in the death of a human rights defender. In April, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported its conclusion that Father Kaiser, a Roman Catholic priest who died in August 2000, had committed suicide. The FBI had been called in to assist with the investigation because Father Kaiser was a US national whose death was widely regarded as suspicious. Human rights, religious and other groups disagreed with the findings, believing that he was killed because of his criticisms of the government.
Numerous meetings and peaceful demonstrations organized by human rights, religious, environmental and other groups were broken up, sometimes violently, by police.
Human rights defenders
- On 20 October, 71 members and supporters of the lobby group Release Political Prisoners, commemorating Kenyatta Day in the compound of their offices, were arrested. Police reportedly used excessive force to break up the peaceful gathering and beat a number of people. The men were taken to Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and the women to Langa'ta Prison. They were charged two days later with "unlawful assembly" before being released on 26 October on bail of 30,000 Kenyan shillings (approximately US$385) each. On 23 November the charges against them were withdrawn.
There were repeated police attacks on rallies held by both opposition and civil society groups. In May President Moi said that police should videotape all political rallies. He repeatedly called for churches and non-governmental organizations to stay out of politics and in particular out of the constitutional review process.
Scores of opposition members of parliament and political leaders were arrested and briefly detained.
- In February, police violently prevented two peaceful rallies by a cross-party lobby group, Muugano wa Mageuzi, Movement for Change, from taking place in Kisii and in Kisumu town in the west of Kenya. In Kisii the police used tear gas and batons to disperse protesters, scores of whom were injured and many more arrested. In Kisumu scores of people were injured when police used tear gas and batons against supporters and local residents. Subsequent clashes between police and protesters continued into the next day, when nine people were arrested and charged with incitement to violence and possession of illegal weapons. The outcome of their trial, which reportedly began in September, was not known.
Environmental activists, including members of parliament, were briefly detained and had rallies disrupted by the police, sometimes violently.
- On 7 March, Wangari Maathai, Member of Parliament and coordinator of the environmental Greenbelt Movement, was arrested while gathering signatures from the public for a petition to oppose the cutting down of 167,000 acres of forest. She was released the next day after being charged with convening an illegal rally. The case against her did not proceed.
Conditions in prisons remained harsh, and torture and ill-treatment remained widespread. Despite pledges by senior prison officials to make prisons more accessible, local and international organizations continued to be refused access to prisoners. The majority of deaths in custody were caused by infectious diseases resulting from severe overcrowding, insanitary conditions, inadequate medical care and shortages of food, clean water, clothing and blankets.
Women
Women continued to be beaten and raped in their homes in Kenya, and marital rape was not prohibited in law. A bill that would increase protection for women from domestic violence, the Domestic Violence (Family Protection) Bill, introduced in Parliament in 2000, had not been debated by the end of 2001.
The practice of female genital mutilation remained widespread in Kenya. Groups opposed to the practice continued to campaign intensively for it to be prohibited.
- In January, the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, a local human rights organization in Eldoret in the west of Kenya, successfully defended the rights of two minors to restrain their father from subjecting them to forcible female genital mutilation.
Report
- Kenya: Ending the cycle of impunity (AI Index: AFR 32/011/2001)
AI delegates visited Kenya in August and September.
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