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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Kenyans must reject anti-terrorism Bill |
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| Halima |
| 07/02/03 at 04:39:43 |
| From the Daily Nation in Nairobi, Kenya Comment Wednesday, July 2, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAKAU MUTUA / PERVERSE LEGISLATION Kenyans must reject anti-terrorism Bill A provision in the Bill allows foreign states to exercise police power in Kenya in pursuit of suspected terrorists. Such an intrusive exercise would compromise our sovereignty. Could the US, for instance, reciprocate? In April 2003, the Attorney-General published the Suppression of Terrorism Bill, a draconian piece of legislation that, if enacted, would create a republic of fear, violate a broad range of basic human rights, and effectively repeal the Bill of Rights in the current Kenyan Constitution. Even more shocking, the Bill would render meaningless Kenya’s on-going quest for a new democratic constitutional dispensation. It is horrendous law that must be rejected by Parliament, the Executive, and Kenyans in general because it would create a police state since it is repressive, vindictive, and hateful. No one can make a plausible, credible, or convincing argument for this Bill. But there are several incontrovertible and unassailable arguments against it. One of the most powerful reasons for rejecting it is that it defines terrorism in such broad and vague terms that it cannot stand the scrutiny of logic. Terrorism is such an innocuous bogeyman that it can be used as an open-ended excuse to deny suspects a broad range of constitutional guarantees. The bill criminalises a wide range of harmless actions. One ridiculous provision makes it a terrorist offence to receive instruction or training in firearms. Shockingly, the Bill makes it illegal for one to wear or display an item of clothing or any article in such circumstances as to arouse suspicion that one is a member of, or supports, a terrorist organisation. This incredible provision dictates to Kenyans what they should wear and could be used to persecute innocent people for wearing politically incorrect T-shirts or caps. It is an abrogation of the right to free speech. It could be used to criminalise forms of dress that are associated with the Muslim or the Islamic worlds. The Bill gives the police extensive powers of search and seizure. It gives the Government wide powers to deport Ð without proof Ð a non-Kenyan on suspicion of terrorism. Persons who fail to comply with such an order could be jailed for 10 years. Another offensive provision allows foreign states to exercise police power in Kenya in pursuit of suspected terrorists. It requires the Kenya Government to allow foreign investigators to use Kenyan officials for their investigations, which could include the search, seizure, and forfeiture of records and property. Such an intrusive exercise of police power by foreign governments in Kenya compromises our sovereignty and security. I cannot imagine the US Government allowing Kenyan security and investigative services reciprocal powers in America. The Bill creates a general climate of fear and suspicion in which the State is invested with coercive, intrusive, and intimidating powers. No area of private activity is spared. The Bill makes it criminal, for example, to surf the Internet and collect or transmit by email information that is likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. Obviously, this blanket provision makes it risky to use the Internet. How is one supposed to know which information is likely to be used by a terrorist, whoever that person may be? The bottom line is that the anti-terrorism bill is paranoid, unnecessary, and anti-democratic. Terrorism can be reduced substantially through good policing, the effective surveillance and interdiction at our borders, professional intelligence, and the use of existing criminal laws. We do not need to make Kenya a police state to fight the occasional acts of terror. Equally unacceptable is the fact that the Bill is not indigenous to, or a product of, Kenya. It was not drafted by Kenyans or based on Kenya's needs. It originated in the United Kingdom. It is also a fact that both the UK and the United States are intimidating and coercing Kenya into enacting this foreign and unnecessary law. It is in this context that one must read the recent and frequent Ð but punitive and totally uncalled for Ð travel advisories against Kenya by the Anglo-American alliance. These manoeuvres are meant to bring Kenya down to its knees so that the two countries can use it as a staging ground for their so-called war against terror. The Bill is meant to give them a free hand in Kenya. Kenya is not a colony or a puppet of these powers. The Kibaki Government is popularly and democratically elected and must not abdicate its sovereign obligation to govern in Kenya’s national interests, not those of the UK or the US. It is fact that American, British, and Israeli interests in Kenya have been target of terror on at least three occasions in as many decades. I condemn unequivocally Ð and without any reservations Ð these attacks and all others anywhere in the world. I am especially pained by the fact that these attacks have killed hundreds of Kenyans and maimed thousands. They have destroyed property and horribly damaged Kenya’s economy and its reputation abroad. But Kenya itself has not been the target. I believe that global terror attacks against American, Israeli, and other Western interests are fuelled by injustice Ð both perceived and real Ð against Arab and Muslim countries, peoples, and culture. The attacks are symptomatic of a civilisational contest between the West and the Islamic world. They cannot be fully addressed without complete honesty by the two contestants, But where do Kenyans fit in this global contest between the two worlds? It is true that Kenya has a sizeable Muslim population, but Kenyan Muslims do not condone these attacks on civilians. Nor have non-Muslim Kenyans accused their Muslim compatriots of complicity. Muslim and non-Muslim Kenyans have never engaged in inter-communal violence. Kenya is neither a Western country nor a Muslim one. So why is it the target of the radical exponents of a particular version of the Western-Muslim contest? One thing is clear. Kenyans are, in the view of the attackers, collateral damage, a meaningless sacrifice caught in the shooting war between the West and the Muslim worlds. To both sides, Kenya and the lives of Kenyans Ð a black nation Ð are worthless. The only thing that matters to the contestants is their cause. Press reports indicate that Western intelligence agencies do not even share information of possible attacks in this country. In classical racist garbage, Western and Israeli intelligence and investigative services treat their Kenyan counterparts Ð black Africans Ð as lazy, incompetent, untrustworthy, subhuman, childish, and stupid. The anti-terrorism Bill seeks to perpetuate this repugnant and unequal relationship. The Kenyan state cannot allow this country to be treated in such a demeaning manner by its allies and friends. Prof Mutua is the Chairman of the Kenya Human Rights Commission. |
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