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There's some upheaval in Kenya's democracy. Based on very limited reading: A leading opposition figure was detained and, after delaying judicial review the his

There's some upheaval in Kenya's democracy. Based on very limited reading: A leading opposition figure was detained and, after delaying judicial review the his detention, the government deported him before he could get a hearing in court. The government claimed he lacked citizenship; he's Kenyan by birth but has dual citizenship. Tangential but important: That's the third government I've seen (I expect there are more) use its immigration enforcement powers to avoid judicial review and due process. The others are the US and UK.

isostatic 8y ago
A few months ago Kenya shut down some TV stations [0] that were planning on broadcasting a 'swearing in' of the opposition leader. There was some argy-bargy about it including the supreme court ruling the shutdown illegal, but it went ahead anyway [1] This was back in Jan/Fab [0] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/30/kenyan-government-shuts-free-to-air-tv-stations/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/30/kenyan-governmen... [1] https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/03/africa/kenya-tv-stations-shutdown/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/03/africa/kenya-tv-stations-...
- plekter 8y ago
  I was in Kenya just after this, when Miguna Miguna went missing for a few days (people feared he had been disappeared,but he "just" got deported). As chance would have it, I was in his home town. Quite heavy demonstrations - makeshift roadblocks with burning tires, and they raided a beer truck, and the police did crowd control by shooting into the air. I was in Kenya in 2007 as well when the same opposition candidate also lost the election. That was much, much uglier. While I do sympathise somewhat with his followers (the region he is from is much poorer than central Kenya, and this follows tribal lines - they feel they are not being heard, and there is some truth to that), I do think that this candidate is a quite dangerous man to have in power. Any influence he has now is coming from the fact that his followers will tear the country up if he says so - and he did say so back in 2007. Kenyan politics is a bit of a mess I'm afraid..

isostatic 8y ago

A few months ago Kenya shut down some TV stations [0] that were planning on broadcasting a 'swearing in' of the opposition leader. There was some argy-bargy about it including the supreme court ruling the shutdown illegal, but it went ahead anyway [1] This was back in Jan/Fab [0] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/30/kenyan-government-shuts-free-to-air-tv-stations/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/30/kenyan-governmen... [1] https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/03/africa/kenya-tv-stations-shutdown/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/03/africa/kenya-tv-stations-...

plekter 8y ago
I was in Kenya just after this, when Miguna Miguna went missing for a few days (people feared he had been disappeared,but he "just" got deported). As chance would have it, I was in his home town. Quite heavy demonstrations - makeshift roadblocks with burning tires, and they raided a beer truck, and the police did crowd control by shooting into the air. I was in Kenya in 2007 as well when the same opposition candidate also lost the election. That was much, much uglier. While I do sympathise somewhat with his followers (the region he is from is much poorer than central Kenya, and this follows tribal lines - they feel they are not being heard, and there is some truth to that), I do think that this candidate is a quite dangerous man to have in power. Any influence he has now is coming from the fact that his followers will tear the country up if he says so - and he did say so back in 2007. Kenyan politics is a bit of a mess I'm afraid..