UN Kenya coordinator, Nardos Bekele is drawing the wrath of her colleagues elsewhere for being part of Kenyan government propaganda machinery against its own citizen.
UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association who is also a Kenyan, Maina Kiai, has described Ms Bekele’s actions as reackless and amounts to denying Kenyans their rights which are enshrined in the constitution. Mr Kiai asked Ms Bekele to leave Kenyans to voice their concerns because “the country is lurching towards a one party state.”
Nardos Bekele was part of KEPSA’s press conference team where all manner of strong words were directed at the opposition leaders without emphasis on citizen rights.
Press Conference in which UN Boss participated
Maina Kiai went on to remind Ms Bekele that “the ability to peacefully assemble is both a Kenyan constitutional right and a universal fundamental right. It is a cornerstone of democracy that breeds pluralism, diversity of voices and yes, even stability.
Assemblies should be presumed to be lawful and peaceful until they are shown to be otherwise. No UN agency or program should need to be reminded of this.
Why is the onus on citizens to forsake their fundamental rights in favor of ‘stability’ – an illusory concept anyway when it grows from the seeds of corruption, cronyism and repression? Why is UN-Kenya hanging them out to dry, rather than stepping up to defend their fundamental rights? “
It will be interesting to hear what Ms Bekele has to say on this.
Read the whole statement from Maina Kiai here.
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