I have a very bad feeling about the civil society sector. I just completed compiling a report for the Civic Freedoms Forum that speaks about pushback on the makings of a police state and the bid to suspend our constitution by the rogue police inspector general and the president. Many know the recent pronouncements by the police that the demonstrators the police killed were actually non-existent and a creation of opposition politicians who were hiring dead bodies to blame the government, a truly cold-hearted remark from a truly shameless inspector. His came on the heels of similar remarks by the President who read the riot act to a businessman he disagreed with and gave the man three options one of which included the possibility of disappearing the man. Taken literally these pronouncements suggest that the Constitution does not matter. The two remarks have since they were made given me very chilling moments as I think about civic space which was the subject of the report I was commissioned to put together. The findings in that report made my feelings even worse. The government that came to power in August of 2022 has imposed restrictions on freedoms of assembly, association and expression in ways previous regimes have never done. Let me quote a paragraph in the report.
“The restrictions and pressures imposed on CSOs have significantly hampered their ability to address critical societal issues and hold the government accountable. A weakened civil society is detrimental to the functioning of any democracy. Civil society organizations play a crucial role in promoting transparency, accountability, and social justice. They act as watchdogs, advocating for the protection of human rights and pushing for necessary reforms. The limitations imposed on these organizations, both legal and non-legal, hinder their effectiveness. Their inability to operate freely, independently, and without political influence weakens the checks and balances necessary for a healthy democracy. A diminished civil society ultimately leaves a void in the civic space, reducing the ability of citizens to engage in shaping their country’s future.” 85% believe according to the study that the current regime is slowly sliding into a police state and in the space of one year has literally shown all signs that it is a dictatorship, and for example cannot hide its intentions at wiping out the opposition and buying its members, so that it makes unpopular decisions with serious economic, security and social implications unilaterally. The regime used brute force in handling the recent cost of living protests, in which for example in just 5 days the police killed 51 people 19 of whom were in Kisumu.
Civil society in Kenya will not survive these heavy-hand tactics to be truthful. But what worries me the most is the fact that the sector was already too weak, too wasted, too wilted and totally lost to pass for much. Mombasa for example where I have worked for many years will be burying more CSOs shortly just out of sheer inertia and futility. Many of the old-order organizations are reeling from what one may call the onset of ‘menopause’ either because they have stuck to their old theory of change and do not see the changing civil society landscape to tweak their fitness for purpose. It is however not my position that institutions have not changed to keep pace with current trends, far from it, majority who integrated some changes mostly did so from donor prompting or to fit in the new funding mechanisms which mean kowtow to donor priorities or to be exact respond to calls for proposals within the four corners of the funder’s priorities. So I can see that the organizations that were doing “violent extremism” for example will soon be rendered redundant.
Already there is a frenzy to start finding new ground, so ‘CVE organizations’ are now rushing to do climate or governance and the competition for the thin resources in the two latter sectors is intensifying tension between those who were there and the newcomers. Fissures in these sectors between those who were there before and latecomers is threatening to break the sector completely. In Mombasa for example two networks have emerged that have no ideological basis but just petty funding wrangles, where people believe they can succeed by slandering others. ActionAid, World Vision and Plan International appear to have left Mombasa and whittled their programming substantially. No one has examined the impact this departure will have on downstream CBOs that were depending on these internationals.
Some organizations that were founded in the late 90s and early 2000s have already closed. Many of the larger national organizations are struggling, Kituo Cha Sheria, KLA, Haki Jamii etc. Here at home Muhuri, Haki Africa, Huria, Haki Yetu, COEC and Haki Centre all wired with human rights DNA have so much in common but are pulling further apart every day despite the existential threats that face the human rights industry given the entry of our rabid president and the tendency by the traditional bilateral donors the US and EU to be supporting the nascent police state and abetting the gross violations. These organizations are certainly not where they were a few years back in terms of funding. These organisations could have learned something from multinationals such as Glaxo, Smeethkline-Beechams and Wellcome who despite their sizes saw it fit to merge and consolidate into one Glaxo-Wellcome. Actually I will not be surprised if 6 organizations produce another 6 like our political parties as we the sector argues about the ethnicity of the network chair instead of the dangers facing civic space that I wrote about in the CFF report.
When I read many strategic plans of CSOs I find nothing innovative that is forward-looking. Organizations are spending too much energy and time on diminishing and othering their comrades. Human rights narratives are hardly grounded on sustainable, scalable and replicable projects. Two organizations that (I wont name for reasons of confidentiality) many in the sector have pilloried and ignored as spent may be the only ones knocking on this complex maze. I attended their exploratory meeting with Equity Bank and its Foundation and the rich discussions were exploring possibilities to lend new forms of economic power to grassroots communities, human rights and civic actors. Those in the sector who do this work as volunteers and receive no remuneration or those who are doing so with very limited funding will be the ones who will withstand the risk of persecution that the UDA regime is directing their way. The colleagues who have been earning will not stay to go through the distress limitations will bring their way. So I can already see an exodus from the sector by those who have never faced any challenge of providing immediate needs for their own families or had their personal lives disrupted as they defend communities when the insolvencies will become real. Let me end this here, I don’t intend to cause any jitters by examining our inner chambers. I will come back to this debate. Have your say.
Very incisive Pato. In a virual meeting organized by MUHURI for civil society organizations in western Kenya before the CFF forum, I expressed the same fears that the UDA regime seems to have cowed the sector by their brutal handling of the demonstrations and other measures. My question to colleagues then was what we were to do torejig the sector and ensure that we do not cede the civic space. You have pointed these issues out in your well grounded piece which should form a reflection by the sector players on how to restrategize and remain relevant in the wake of the push by the UDA regime. For me the recent CFF forum didn’t offer the neccesary reflections that befits the weighty issues that are prevalent in current circumstances. Keep on writing and prodding the sector. We need this.