Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Key Odinga ally held in dawn raid
Arrest follows symbolic swearing-in
NAIROBI: Kenya yesterday arrested an opposition lawyer and defied a court order to lift a ban on three private TV stations that had covered the symbolic presidential inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Miguna Miguna has declared himself the “general” of Odinga’s National Resistance Movement, which was declared a “criminal group” because of its stated intent to establish a parallel government after last year’s disputed election.
The lawyer was detained in a dawn raid on his Nairobi home. Miguna had stood beside Odinga at Tuesday’s symbolic “swearing-in”, a blatant challenge to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s authority.
Alongside its tweet about Miguna’s arrest, Odinga’s National Super Alliance (Nasa) posted a video online that showed shattered glass strewn across the front entrance of his house. Police did not try to break up the symbolic inauguration, attended by thousands of Odinga supporters, but the government condemned it as an “illegal act” and took three private TV stations off-air for covering the event.
The broadcasters remained shut yesterday, despite a court order to lift the block. It was not clear if the government planned to appeal the order.
After last August’s presidential election was annulled, Odinga boycotted the re-run, saying the process was still rigged. As a result, Kenyatta won a massive victory, but one that Odinga’s camp said was illegitimate.
This week’s arrests and broadcast bans have marked a step up in the tensions that followed an already tumultuous election season, and were a shock to Kenyans who have grown used to the free-wheeling media and irreverent political culture that has taken root since the end of decades of autocratic rule in 2002.
The government’s failure to adhere to a court edict ordering it to lift its suspension on the broadcasters also raised questions about the rule of law in Kenya.
Okiya Omtatah, an activist who secured the ruling, said the order had not been served on Thursday afternoon because of a delay at the court registrar’s office.
Omtatah said the courier he had sent to deliver the papers to Kenya’s communications authority had been detained by men in dark suits who said they were police but refused to provide identification.
“They released him at 10 with a stern warning not to come back, so I have come here myself but I am being been denied access,” he said.
The court order was also published in yesterday’s edition of the Standard newspaper, one of Kenya’s largest dailies. “I am insisting on delivering this order,” Omtatah said. “It’s an abuse of power. That’s why the court ruled as it did.”
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva said it was concerned at the government’s “attempts to interfere with the rights to freedom of expression”.
On Thursday, opposition lawmaker Tom Kajwang, who administered Odinga’s “oath”, was freed on bail a day after being arrested. – Reuters/African News Agency (ANA)