Habari Za Nyumbani….na Ulimwengu

Janet Walsh- Huffingtonpost

Eight years ago, I walked into the Nairobi office of the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness expecting a mildly helpful discussion of my project on women’s property rights in Kenya. Ann Njogu, CREAW’s director, was clearly very busy and a serious lawyer. Within minutes, I knew that she was also a passionate, forceful advocate. She wasted no time in picking up the phone to hook me up with women to interview, deluging me with legal information, and guiding me on strategy.

This week, the US State Department is honoring Ann with the 2010 International Women of Courage Award. With this award the US government pays tribute to outstanding women leaders worldwide, recognizing the courage they’ve shown as they struggle for social justice and human rights. In over a decade as a women’s rights activist, I’ve never met anyone who deserves this award more than Ann Njogu.

That first day in Ann’s office, she told me harrowing stories of clients she had represented in divorce, inheritance, domestic violence, rape, and other matters. CREAW had a legal clinic to represent poor women and a psychological counseling service, and led workshops to inform women of their rights.

The next day, I got to see Ann in action at a community workshop. It was in a simple, tin-roof-and-cinderblock church in a slum. Several hundred women were packed in the church listening with rapt attention as Ann and her team explained that the practices of denying women inheritance, and sometimes even of forcing widows to marry their brothers-in-law in order to keep their property, violated their human rights. They instructed the women on how they and their husbands could write simple wills, and how to enforce them. They explained that women are entitled to keep family property upon divorce. A troupe of actors did a wild theatrical depiction of a woman being disinherited, and fighting for her rights.

The women attending the workshop cheered, asked questions, and shared their stories. They left seeming empowered to take a stand for their rights. Many asked Ann to take their cases.

Over the next few years, I saw Ann’s efforts to promote human rights explode in new directions. She has been at the forefront of campaigns for a new constitution. Her organization, not being content with welfare services, pursued social solutions that tackled the root causes of violence and discrimination. CREAW spearheaded work in taboo areas like sexuality, bride price, widow inheritance, and women’s political participation.

When violence erupted after Kenya’s flawed 2007 general election, leaving over a thousand people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced, Ann and her team sprung into action. Alongside other civil society advocates, Ann condemned the government for failing to hold anyone accountable. CREAW documented the sexual and gender-based violence experienced by women in the post-election violence. That documentation assisted a commission that investigated the violence, and is now being used by the International Criminal Court.

Recently, CREAW set up a radio station. In this venture, Ann’s team is once again taking on controversial issues. In a single day, the station’s website covered issues that stir passionate debates in East Africa, such as the rights of homosexuals, government corruption, judicial failure, and police abuse of sex workers.

All this comes with a price. Ann has been arrested and brutally beaten at peaceful protests, sexually assaulted by the police, and threatened by politicians. Staff members at her organization are constantly concerned about her–and their–security. At every step, Ann knows she is at risk. She has to wonder, every single day, whether her two children might also be at risk. Threats against her family are subtle, but sinister nonetheless.

And every day, Ann summons her courage and strength. She simply will not stop speaking out against injustice, and fighting for the right of all Kenyans to live in a fair, peaceful, prosperous society. Those who would silence Ann might as well give up. It will never work.

When I spoke to Ann about the International Women of Courage award, she instantly changed the subject from herself to all Kenyans. While honored, she sees it as an award for the many Kenyan women and men who pay a high price for demanding respect for their human rights. She hopes it will serve as an encouragement to all human rights defenders, in this generation and the next, working for a better Kenya.

Former Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua addressing a Town Hall meeting in Dallas, TX. Photo by Antony Karanja/jambonewspot.com

By ANTONY KARANJA in DALLAS, TEXAS
 
Former Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Martha Karua faced heavy questioning during a town hall meeting held on Sunday in Dallas, Texas on the drama that erupted during the 2007 general elections in Kenya.
 
The MP for Gichugu who is currently on a tour of the US, fielded questions from attendees of  the event organized by Kenyans for Change who sought to know “who really won” in the disputed elections and what her role was in having President Kibaki declared as the winner.
 
Some participants took issue with the fact that Mrs Karua was present in the hall when the seemingly insurmountable lead held by Raila Odinga over his rival President Kibaki “suddenly” evaporated.
 
The former Minister was reminded of the popular footage from the KICC of an argument between her and Mr. William Ruto who was acting on behalf of Mr Odinga.
 
Mrs Karua defended herself by emphatically reminding the questioners that the results can only declared by the Kenya Electoral Commissioner and she only acted as an agent for President Kibaki.
 
“Mr Kivuitu declared the results and not me,” Karua said. “He declared the results after receiving the remaining votes from the Mt Kenya region which were not in and which subsequently wiped out Odinga’s lead.
 
She continued to defend herself by saying that she was only against announcing of the results before the total tally was in as she felt that a substantial number of votes were cast in the Mt Kenyan region and they would alter the dynamics of the race once they were received.
 
Answering another question from one of the town hall moderators, Ms Susan Kariuki of the East Africa in Focus, she defended herself against accusations that she abandoned Kenyans at a time of need when she quit government.
 
Karua asserted that she did not abandon the country by resigning but was rejecting how things were being run by the two principals, Raila and Kibaki.
 
“I was not happy with the way things were being done and I was not prepared to live a lie,” Karua responded. “If you can all remember the measures we discussed before Kofi Annan who came to mediate during the post elections violence were never implemented though I kept pushing for them,”
 
She reminded the attendees that Kenya was supposed to have a tribunal to look into the perpetrators of the post elections violence but that never came to pass.
 
“This was simply disregarded,” she said. “The body language of the two principals simply said they didn’t care even after urging them to support the recommendations put forth before Kofi Annan and there was no way I could work in such conditions.”
 
Dismissing infotrack Poll
 
When asked about the infotrack poll appearing in the Kenyan newspapers over the weekend that showed that only 9% of Kenyan women trust political leadership of a female, Karua said those statistics do not add up and that she does not put stock on such polls.
 
The poll showed that women trusted Prime Minister Odinga more than Ms. Karua though in totality, 53% of the respondents would vote for a female presidential candidate.
 
“I do not trust such polls,” Karua responded. “I will not worry about those statistics until I see the questions posed to the respondents. People manipulate polls you know.”
 
She reminded participants that she has always been a woman and has run for political office before and people trusted her enough to elect her.
 
She said that her political detractors often point to the fact that she is a woman and this was not something new.
 
She declared that in spite of such tactics, “the race is on” and she will not be cowed.
 
Corruption Cartels
 
On the issue of corruption, Mrs Karua also pointed out that some of the problems that Kenya is facing are being brought about by corruption cartels that are presently in the country.
 
She said that these cartels finance Kenyan elections and that it becomes very difficult to prosecute the same people who fund the politicians and hence corruption takes hold and makes it difficult to eradicate it.
 
She promised that her party Narc-Kenya will not accept campaign funding from these cartels and that they would raise money from the grassroots.
 
Whereas she came to Dallas to articulate what she was going to do for Kenyans if she is elected President in 2012, Karua spent most of her time on the ropes defending her record as the town hall participants bombarded her with questions pertaining to her short stint in the government.
 
An unfazed Karua was adamant that she had advocated for the necessary reforms to the best of her abilities and that there was only so much she could have done.
 
She reminded Kenyans who sought to know why she did not push for the prosecution of the perpetrators of the post elections violence that the Justice and Constitution Minister does not prosecute but rather acts as a government adviser.
 
She also said that she did vehemently defend the government policies that she agreed with but also opposed and spoke out against those she did not agree with.
 
She pointed to reforms that she had initiated in the Ministry of Water department as a clear indication of what she can do in other areas of government.
 
The Grand Confusion
 
Turning to the current coalition, the former Minister referred to it as a “grand confusion” and also at an earlier luncheon as “grand corruption”
 
She said that the current government has done nothing to weed out corruption and that it had created distractions hence frustrating efforts to prosecute those who engage in corruption.
 
She accused Prime Minister Raila Odinga of scuttling the focus on the Maize scandal by announcing the suspension of two ministers in the heat of the debate.
 
“He knew only the President could suspend the two ministers but decided to do this to cause a tactical distraction from the maize scandal,” Karua pointed out. “Now we are no longer talking about the scandal.”
 
On an earlier joint interview with the Dallas media houses Truthsayer Talkshow and Jambonewspot.com, Mrs Karua said that as President, she will revisit earlier corruption scandals that have never been prosecuted.
 
She insisted that retaining Attorney General Amos Wako has not helped in solving these cases and it is not practical for Kenyans to do the same old thing and expect a different result.
 
“Mr. Wako is tainted and nothing much can be expected from him,” she said. “He has been in the position for too long.”
 
Karua did not spare the media. She lamented the fact that the media has not been adequately highlighting the scandals that have involved government officers.
 
She lamented the short focus by the media on serious issues affecting Kenyans and that lack of coverage usually buries the issues.
 
Karua said the media can help Kenyans by staying focused on contentious issues and not letting the politicians get away and by putting pressure on government officers to take responsibility for their actions.
 
The aspiring Presidential candidate also urged the Kenyan public to put sustained pressure on the government for reforms saying that lack of pressure from the public has given leeway for politicians to act as they wish as the publics gets easily distracted.
 
During the meeting, the presidential aspirant adopted a populist tone and promised that she would always fight for the ordinary Kenyan.
 
She lamented the fact that the government was able to drive away the poor from Mau catchments but has not been able to do the same with the rich.
 
Karua also decried the fact that able professionals are out of work in Kenya whereas foreigners are taking up professional jobs in Kenya as part of conditions imposed contracts on foreign aid.
 
Highlighting how foreign aid works, she described it as “a bubble” as it comes attached with so many strings.
 
She said that most of the aid received from foreign governments ends up back in those government’s hands as they send along their workers instead of seeking local employment.
 
She noted that Kenya has enough resources to sustain itself but lack of proper governance and rule of law has set the Kenya backwards and hindered the country from taking advantage of its vast resources.
 
Karua is also scheduled to speak at Harvard Law School in Massachusetts on Monday.