Read on Twitter
"There is a constant complaint that this constitution was driven by activists who did not take into account Kenya’s political and social realities. It tried to impose some values that are alien to Kenya"
This is disingenuous.
Complaint by? Which values pray do tell, are alien? https://twitter.com/SuleimanShahbal/status/1318424823459098624">https://twitter.com/SuleimanS...
This is disingenuous.
Complaint by? Which values pray do tell, are alien? https://twitter.com/SuleimanShahbal/status/1318424823459098624">https://twitter.com/SuleimanS...
Civil society is not immune to critique & should be held to a high accountability standard but blanketing the sector as ‘mercenaries for hire’ peddles falsity. The adulation of Mutunga’s activism & civil society& #39;s critical role in contradistinction does not absolve the falsehood
The dichotomy advanced that those who critique infrastructural projects are ‘anti-development’ is untrue and sorely lacking in nuance. Shahbal asks why civil society was against the Lapsset project, which would create ‘thousands of jobs for the marginalized’?
The High Court awarded over 5,000 Lamu fishermen Ksh. 1.7 billion compensation for loss of livelihood caused by the environmental impact of Lapsset construction. Ocean dredging and destruction of coral reefs reduced fish and in turn the capacity of fishermen to earn their keep
Who then are the marginalized that he refers to? If not the Lamu fishermen who rely on the ocean for their livelihood? They must now venture into deeper waters to find fish. Unsurprisingly, the government is yet to honour the award for compensation.
The High Court found that public participation on Lapsset was not properly conducted & the project proponents failed to carry out Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) prior to commencing construction. NEMA was ordered to reconsider the Environmental Impact Assessment license
On the issue of accountability of civil society, the sector has been tirelessly advocating for implementation of the Public Benefit Organisations (PBO) Act, which sets up a robust regulatory framework & high accountability threshold for organisations working for public benefit
Seven years since the PBO Act was enacted in 2013, the government is yet to commence the PBO Act, due to a technicality that requires the executive to endorse the Act -this repeated failure is in contempt of a court order in 2016 ordering the government to implement the Act.
So really, discussions around accountability of civil society should take into account the nuances of the political context..
Civil society is not opposed to development projects because they have not “properly interrogated and understood ” these projects as Shahbal alleges. On the contrary, it is precisely because they have done so, that they end up challenging these projects
If it wasn’t for concerted public advocacy & censure of the planned expressway construction for instance, best believe that the construction would have hived off our beloved Uhuru park unrestrained.. the redesign now takes into account conservation of the park.
Don& #39;t even get me started on the felling of trees to make way for the expressway.. that& #39;s to be revisited. Point is, we do no oppose development projects for opposition sake. We demand that these projects should not be myopic and ignore dire ecological and social straints
/Fin
/Fin
Adding to this thread an important piece by Ndung& #39;u Wainana on the role of civil society https://www.theelephant.info/op-eds/2020/10/16/the-role-of-kenyan-civil-society-in-democratic-governance/">https://www.theelephant.info/op-eds/20...
