Freedom in the World 1998 - Kenya

1998 Scores

Status: Not Free
Freedom Rating: 5.5
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 6

Ratings Change

Kenya's civil liberties rating changed from 6 to 5 due to a loosening of state repression of civil society, media, and opposition politicians.

Overview

In October, President Daniel arap Moi marked two decades in power as his country faced a grave economic crisis and increasing ethnic polarization. Moi's December 1997 re-election was ensured by massive use of state patronage and the official media to promote his candidacy and by harassment of the divided opposition. Throughout 1998, Moi strove to tighten his tenuous hold over the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) and to create ties between his small Kalenjin ethnic groups and other minority groups in a de facto alliance. Ethnic violence that took thousands of lives in the Rift Valley in 1993 flared again in 1998, with hundreds of casualties and renewed suspicions of governmental complicity in the attacks. Kenya's multiparty system is today largely a reflection of the country's ethnic divisions. Harassment of Moi's critics in the government, media, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) continued. Corruption remained a severe problem.

Kenya also suffered more than 250 deaths and at least $500 million in damage in the August car bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which was apparently carried out by Islamist terrorists and unrelated to U.S.-Kenya ties. Beyond the casualties and immediate material damage, the bombing has also curbed foreign tourism, a major foreign exchange earner for the country.

Britain conquered Kenya in the late eighteenth century in order to open a route to control the River Nile headwaters in Uganda. President Jomo Kenyatta, a leader of the Mau-Mau rebellion dominated by people of his Kikuyu ethnicity, led the country to independence in 1963 under the KANU party. Kikuyu remained preeminent in Kenyan politics until Kenyatta's death in 1978. Vice President Moi's succession kept KANU in power, but gradually diminished Kikuyu influence.

Opposition parties proscribed in 1982 were allowed to operate almost ten years later as a result of domestic unrest and pressure from international aid donors. In elections in 1992, Moi was proclaimed the victor with 36 percent of the vote. The multiparty polls, however, were marked by opposition discord and highly suspect electoral conduct. Today, there is no clear successor to Moi, who has promised not to seek re-election after his current presidential term expires in 2003.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Kenyans are unable to exercise their right to choose their leaders in genuinely open and competitive elections. Moi's election victories have been achieved through political repression, media control, and dubious electoral procedures. Moi's rejection of an independent election commission has provided additional insurance against his ouster. Physical violence, a usually docile judiciary, police powers, and executive decrees have been used against political opponents and in efforts to undermine the wider civil society. Power is heavily concentrated in the executive branch of government.

Many laws directly limit freedom of association and political organization, including the Public Order Act, the Public Security Act, and the Chief's Authority Act. The security forces regularly violate constitutional guarantees regarding detention, privacy, search, and seizure. Groups such as Release Political Prisoners, which was founded in 1992 by former detainees, and the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, an NGO, have publicized abuses and demanded respect for human rights, but leaders of the organizations have occasionally been the victims of deadly assaults. Attacks by police on ethnic minority Somali people, who must carry special identification, are reportedly common and regularly go unpunished. A series of judicial reforms was announced in 1998, but courts are still heavily influenced by the executive and cannot be relied on to protect constitutional rights or offer fair trials. Local chiefs still exercise sometimes arbitrary and violent power. Mob attacks against suspected criminals increased sharply as commentators decried a lack of public confidence in the justice system. Prison conditions are harsh and often life-threatening. Interpol has identified Kenya as a major center for the transit of drugs from Asia to Western Europe.

Freedom of expression is severely limited by lack of access to the dominant state broadcast media and continued repression of the private press. The country's few private radio and television stations are either pro-Moi or carefully apolitical, although new licenses issued in 1998 may gradually open the airwaves. Private print media remain vibrant, but under serious threat. In October, a government minister urged ruling party activists to attack journalists "in self-defense." Journalists have been charged with criminal libel, and independent publications are subject to harassment in their business operations. President Moi has decreed that it is a crime to "insult" him, and sedition laws are used in efforts to silence any criticism. Numerous books are banned. The Network for the Defence of Independent Media in Africa, which monitors press freedom, was denied NGO registration in March, but continues to operate.

Kenyan Asians, who are heavily represented in the country's commercial class, were targeted with racist propaganda during last year's election campaign and may again become scapegoats if the economic situation continues to deteriorate. In September, the indigenous Muslim minority protested the banning of five Islamic NGOs that allegedly had ties to extremist activity.

Women face legal discrimination, including restrictions on obtaining credit and passports, and societal inequalities in inheritance and property rights. They are also afforded fewer educational opportunities, especially at higher levels. Domestic violence against women is reportedly widespread, and female genital mutilation is still common. Women's groups such as the International Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya and the Legal Advice Center offer legal aid and advocate on behalf of victims of domestic violence. There are an estimated 50,000 street children in Nairobi and other cities.

Unions are active and have occasionally defied a 1993 Ministry of Labor decree that forbids all strikes, despite constitutional guarantees to the contrary. A teachers' strike in October met was met with violence by security forces. Civil servants and university academic staff may join only government-designated unions. Approximately one-fifth of the country's 1.5 million industrial work force is unionized.

Most of Kenya's 29 million people are poor and survive through subsistence agriculture. Donor demands for better governance, which led to suspension of a major IMF loan in 1997, have not been met. An anti-corruption commission produced few results in 1998, and the fate of a new ombudsman's office created by parliament in October is likely to be similarly unsuccessful as long as Moi is in power. Nepotism and fraud inhibit economic opportunity and discourage greater foreign investment.