The civil society has issued a damning verdict on President Uhuru Kenyatta’s 10-year rule, saying rampant corruption in the Jubilee administration denied services to millions of Kenyans.
In a report titled ‘Missed Opportunities’ released Tuesday, they said the President failed to protect liberty and secure freedoms and performed poorly on providing adequate housing, healthcare and food security.
Amnesty International said extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances remained a big issue, noting that executions “neither decreased nor were they done away with”.
It said agencies violated Kenyans’ right to privacy and data protection, and that by evicting thousands of people from their homes, the government violated their right to adequate housing.
They said wasteful public finance expenditure and excessive borrowing limited the availability of valuable resources for essential services and implementation of the Bill of Rights.
“At 33 out of 72 points, the Jubilee administration has scored 46 per cent on the human rights scorecard. Regrettably, the Jubilee administration did not meet the threshold of effective implementation in any of the five areas,” said Prof Lawrence Mute, the lead researcher.
“The scorecard holds that Jubilee failed to realise critical human rights obligations to meaningfully enable all people to enjoy the fundamental freedoms and rights as envisaged in the Constitution. Various policy, legislative and institutional measures were under-resourced, or did not prioritise the public’s right to information and participation,” he added.
The administration also scored a red in ensuring access to safe abortion, ending forced evictions, ensuing policy reforms in agriculture, and ending food insecurity.
“Torture was perpetrated by security personnel. The government record of paying torture awards was woeful, and even though they passed the Prevention of Torture Act in 2017, they did not institutionalise it. They also failed to operationalise the National Coroners Service Act, neither did they operationalise the Victim Protection Trust Fund,” Prof Mute said.
“The government did not become party to optional protocol to the convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
He said the state’s repressive response to peaceful protests undermined the freedom of assembly, as police used force, abused firearms, and made unlawful arrests and detentions, sometimes leading to serious injuries and death.
He noted that the Kenyatta administration purported to promote social media, but used the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act to arrest, harass and prosecute activists who raised concerns about governance.
Though the government passed the Media Council Act to show its commitment to press freedom, the civil society said it created an environment that resulted in its decline.
This exposed media personnel to attacks where their equipment was confiscated by security forces, besides the journalists being threatened and intimidated by politicians and their supporters.
By launching the issuance of Huduma Namba without conducting a data protection impact assessment, the government failed its citizens.
“We also witnessed the public release of names and identification numbers of people who allegedly failed to file taxes by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and registration of Kenyans to political parties without their consent," added Prof Mute.
"The government violated the right to data protection despite the passage of the Data Protection Act and the appointment of the Data Protection Commissioner,” said Prof Mute.
He said the state sought to undermine the freedom of association by seeking to deregister, and declining to register non-governmental organisations such as the Kenya Human Rights Commission, on the basis that they defended members of the LGBTQ community.
He also poked holes in the efficacy of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), saying the pilot programmes launched in Kisumu, Nyeri, Machakos and Isiolo counties ended because they strained a workforce that was already struggling.
Prof Mute said financing of health insurance through a tax-supported model would have worked better than the subscription model used through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
By choosing NHIF for health financing, the society said the poor faced a financial burden, and could only access a narrow package of health services.
The NHIF was also turned into a cash cow, with the funds being dogged by corruption allegations, political interference and embezzlement, they said.
“The government did not prioritise primary healthcare services ordinarily provided at Levels 1 and 3 of the health system, and instead prioritised specialised projects with big money outlays that were made inefficient by corruption. The preference by private healthcare providers for higher profit curative services adversely affected availability of preventive and promotive care,” Prof Mute said.
The government misplaced its priorities by supporting large-scale food production, yet a majority of farmers practise small-scale farming.
By failing to address limited food storage facilities and poor infrastructure, the civil society said the state fuelled food wastage of as much as 40 per cent of the produce.
Yet, millions of Kenyans face starvation due to failed rains, low agricultural production and high food prices.
“As of November 2021, 7.9 million people lacked sufficient food for consumption, corresponding to 15.4 per cent of the population. Between July and October 2021, 2.1 million people in arid and semi-arid lands experienced high levels of acute food insecurity. This was a 34 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2021,” Prof Mute said.
Amnesty International urged the next government to publicly reaffirm the prohibition of torture, extra-judicial killings and forced disappearance, as well as announce the identities and circumstances of all victims.
AI representative Lavender Namdiero said the next government must increase funding to ensure implementation of the Data Protection Act within 180 days and launch a more comprehensive UHC programme.
It should also resettle and compensate all victims of state-enforced evictions within 180 days of taking over power.
“Within 180 days, we want them to audit current food security policy and accelerate climate-smart agriculture. They should also audit and announce inefficient distribution systems, food wastage, limited storage facilities and poor infrastructure when assessing markets,” Ms Namdiero said.
