Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Yash Ghai on Giving Constitutional Status to Civil Societies (The Star)

25 September 2018
Muhuri, one of the most distinguished and effective NGOs in Kenya, celebrated its 21 anniversary on Friday last week in Mombasa. This coincided with the International Day of Peace, giving the platform to the youth.
    Ironically, as the world was celebrating peace, our police were doing the opposite. Their harassment of a young woman seeking help led to her death.
     In addition, the police and the GSU were accused of arbitrarily arresting and torturing locals, ignoring basic procedures of criminal investigation, and complacency in responding to attacks.
     Moreover, alleged interference from “above” is said to have prevented the police from seriously investigating several politicians, whose names were mentioned in connection with the violence. Their actions were completely outside the sphere of the law.
     Muhuri was established by Muslim coastal activists, as Muslims were the principal victims of state brutality.
     But their responsibility extended beyond Muslims: their title is Muslims for Human Rights, not Rights of Muslims. It was an excellent example of solidarity that some years later we tried to make the basis of a new constitution... Click here to read the full text.

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