Hannan’s expulsion points to shrinking freedoms

The situation of Ms Lucy Hannan, a British journalist and long-term Kenyan resident, whom the government has declared “subversive” and ordered removed from the country, has been in the news in the last few days and has been projected as an example of the shrinking space for human rights defenders in Kenya.

Ms Hannan’s tribulations reflect a wider problem in Africa where authorities are increasingly cracking down on those that dare to break outside the set political bounds. A regional conference convened by the International Commission of Jurists in Pretoria last week reflected on the grim situation facing human rights defenders on the continent and the perils they face in an increasingly hostile environment.

At the conference, the case of Swazi lawyer and human rights activist Thulani Maseko was discussed. He was arrested two weeks ago, together with Bheki Makhubu, the editor of The Nation (no relation to this newspaper), a Swazi newspaper that carried an article the lawyer authored criticising the arrest of a government official on the orders of the chief justice. Maseko and the editor were charged with contempt of court, and the two are currently in custody, awaiting the determination of their bail application.

Swaziland is the only African country with an absolute monarch, who is not subject to the authority of any other institution in his kingdom. In addition, the kingdom’s Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi has been described as a “judicial monarch” for issuing instructions for the arrest of individuals – a function that judiciaries do not usually perform – and then proceeding to hear the cases. This is what had happened in the arrest which Maseko had criticised.

In the case of Ms Hannan, who came to Kenya 18 years ago and started a family which lives here, she has invested in the country and has also been doing human rights work.

A former BBC journalist, Ms Hannan has been involved in cutting-edge advocacy promoting human rights through film. Her film Getting Justice: Kenya’s Deadly Game of Wait and See anchored by human rights lawyer, Maina Kiai, was shown on prime time television in Kenya and in international film festivals, and was nominated for an award.

She has also made films such as Unfinished Business: Power and Poverty in Kenya’s Central Region, which explores President Uhuru Kenyatta’s relationship with his own Kikuyu people in the context of the case against him before the International Criminal Court.

Her other high-impact films include Disputed Fields, which looks at the history of conflict over land in the Rift Valley and No Man’s Land: Ni Yetu, which probes marginalisation and insecurity in northern Kenya.

The expulsion of Ms Hannan comes in the wake of recent efforts by the government to amend the Public Benefits Organisations Act, which would have restricted foreign funding for Kenyan civil society organisations. Elements in the government continue to characterise civil society in pejorative terms, calling it the “evil society”.

The declaration of people as “subversives” has not happened in Kenya for more than 20 years. This term carries a specific meaning in Kenya’s political history and was used to describe political dissidents who advocated political reforms during the one-party era. The usual fate of a subversive was detention without trial, although some were killed.

While the State can claim legal rights to expel Ms Hannan, the decision to declare her a subversive under the same shadowy circumstances as used in the past and to use this as its reason for expelling her is a reminder of the difficult past from which the country has emerged.

Further, the expulsion presents significant difficulties for Ms Hannan’s family who have to decide whether to migrate with her or stay in a country where she is no longer welcome.

TREND ACROSS AFRICA

The meeting in South Africa noted that political dissidents from the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions who cross into neighbouring countries as asylum seekers or refugees are not necessarily safe since their governments have devised forms of cooperation which enable the transfer of these migrants back to the countries of flight where they risk persecution, or even death.

The example was cited of the Rwandan refugee in Uganda, Lt Joel Mutabazi, a former bodyguard of President Paul Kagame, who was illegally seized in Uganda and transferred back to Rwanda where he faces trial for alleged acts of terrorism. Uganda later admitted that the handing over of Mutabazi to Rwanda was “an error of judgement.”

This admission, however, did not prevent a subsequent discussion between the two countries about the transfer of a further seven nationals from Uganda to Rwanda, about which the UNHCR expressed its deep concern, and likened to the Mutabazi debacle.

As the Pretoria meeting noted, it is up to Africans to make clear their views about the shrinking freedoms inside their countries and to take whatever action they deem necessary to claim back their rights.

In Kenya, a polarised internal context, characterised by significant political domination, continues to prevent an admission that the rhetoric and the practice to do match.

While the leadership promises prosperity and happiness for all, the reality is worrisome and is more consistent with a return to the tyrannies of the recent past.

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