On December 19, 2014, Kenya’s president, former ICC indictee Uhuru Kenyatta, signed a very bad piece of legislation into law. Rushed through the National Assembly, the legislation was not subjected to much, if any, public scrutiny.
Kenya’s opposition, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), failed to establish why the legislation should be opposed. ODM’s strategy was to ask that Kenyans trust its good intentions. The Jubilee majority replicated this strategy.
Clearly, Kenya is far from any kind of democracy that depends on persuading others through convincing arguments, the kind of democracy that is much theorized, but nowhere practiced.
The president has asked Kenyans to read the legislation. Following his advice, I will post five blogs on different aspects of the legislation:
- The Police
- Refugees
- Citizen Reporting
- Human Rights
- Everyday Life
Each post will tackle how this new legislation transforms Kenya into a less free, less possible space.
I write these posts because I am dedicated to pursuing freedom, to making lives less disposable, and to making futures more imaginable. These are values I learned from my mother.