CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Joe M'Bandakhai, Kenya, November 1998
THEME = ISLAM
The banning order slapped by the government on seven Muslim NGOs
on 11 September,
as well as the declaration that most of their directors - three Saudi's and one Sudanese -
are "personna non grata" in Kenya, is daily becoming more and more politicised,
with the potential threat to public order, let alone tourism.
Although the Muslims obtained a stay of execution in the High Court a week later, pending a full-scale hearing, the Council of Muslim Imams and Preachers sitting in the coastal resort town of Mombasa, have asked Muslim Members of Parliament to vote with their feet, by resigning en masse from KANU, the ruling party, and prepare to be elected on opposition tickets.
The attack on the American Embassy left more than 250 dead and thousands more severely wounded. President Moi promised soon afterwards, that he would not flinch from taking a tough stance against alleged terrorist collaborators in the country, and the banning of a number of Muslim organisations, seen as a front to further radical Islam, was a foregone conclusion.
Among organisations told to wind up are: Help Africa People; the Al Haramain Foundation; the International Islamic Relief Organisation; the Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz al Ibrahim Foundation; and the Mercy Relief Organisation. The latter was ransacked by a combined team of FBI and Kenyan police investigators soon after the bomb outrage. The Sudanese director of this organisation was reported to have left the country before the bombing, presumably on annual leave.
Normally, a cabinet minister should have announced the banning order, but the matter being "sensitive", the decision was announced by the government's NGO coordinator, Mr John Etemesi, who declared: "These organisations are supposed to work for the welfare of Kenyans, but are instead endangering Kenyan's lives...."
A few days before the banning, the Standard newspaper said the bomb had been shipped into the country "disguised as relief food". But the government will be hard pressed to show some evidence. Some people have predicted that it could severely hurt Christian-Muslim relations in Kenya, because Muslims have been on the defensive ever since the bomb blast, saying, "The Muslim community is being assailed wholesale".
Soon after the bombings, senior Muslim cleric, Sheikh Ali Shee, criticized Mr. Moi's apparent slip of the tongue comment that "the bombers would not have done what they did, if they had been Christians".
Besides low cost or fully subsidized health care and relief food delivery to mainly but not exclusively, Muslim poor and refugees in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Northeastern Province, some of these organisations also paid the salaries of madarassa (Islamic religious) teachers, and helped to further Muslim youth activities.
The organisations showed their worth during the widespread outbreak of Rift Valley haemorrhagic fever disease combined with hunger, in Northeastern Province, that officially killed 400 nomads, during the floods that followed the El Niņo rains late last year. Other observers say thousands died due to the mystery illness combined with malaria, and the government health services were ill prepared to cope.
The deregistration of the Muslim organisations, drew immediate venom from the Muslim community. The head of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, Professor Abdulghafur El Busaidy, said the action was "provocative, discriminatory, vindicative and anti Islam". He characterized it as part of "on going persecution against Muslims".
Moi's own cabinet minister, Maalim Mohamed, a Kenyan ethnic Somali, went on the BBC Africa Service to describe the move as "ridiculous. The government should be concerned about its citizens not American security". He claimed 200 children at an orphanage run by one of the organisations were now facing starvation.
Moi is in a real dilemma. Already there are signs of radical Muslim activity throughout that part of East Africa which includes Uganda and Tanzania. On 7 August (the same day as the bomb blast at the American Embassy) in the North Eastern town of Wajir, nearly 600 kilometres from the capital, three churches were burnt down by angry Muslim youths. Local newspapers in Kenya reported that the rowdy youth had then proceeded to attack a Catholic nun.
The report in the newspapers said they were angered by alleged blasphemous utterances made by an American Evangelist in Nakuru last July. The American evangelist was deported from Kenya the same month, after hundreds of Muslims turned out in Nakuru streets to demand government action against the preacher.
However, Muslim Imams in Nairobi later told the Catholic Archbishop of Nairobi, Ndingi Mwana a Nzeki, that the anger of Muslims in Wajir and the attack on the nun had been precipitated by a hoaxer, who twisted the story of the blast at the American Embassy. He had made a radio call to Wajir saying: "Christians have bombed the main Jamia Mosque in the centre of Nairobi". The Imams and the Catholics are seeking ways and means to reduce tension between the two faiths. They have agreed to travel jointly to the Northeastern region on a peacemaking mission, at a date to be decided in the near future.
Already Moi is under a lot of pressure within the country due to the country's present poor economic showing, and the regular strikes and threats of strikes throughout the country. He would naturally be apprehensive about the Kenya opposition taking advantage of the Muslim anger against his government at this time.
The leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mwai Kibaki, (Democratic Party), fished in troubled waters and challenged the government to make a public declaration of the sins, if any, that the Muslim organisations had committed.
Other civic action groups have also tended to support the Muslims, fearing that it was just a matter of time before the government strong-arm tactics were extended to other critics. They see the banning of the seven Muslim organisations as just the beginning of general harassment of any groups perceived not to toe the line.
Following the decision by the courts to grant a stay of execution, the Supreme Council of Muslims of Kenya has asked Muslims to stay calm "and vigilant". It had earlier asked Muslims to prepare for countrywide anti-government protests.
Although the Courts in Kenya claim to be independent, observers believe the government will try to save face and avoid a showdown with the Muslims using the Courts. It will be very surprising if the Courts rule in favour of the banning order. More likely some of the organisations will get a reprieve.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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