AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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parastatal to connect to the Internet. There were no reports of Telkom interfering
with the content of Internet transmissions. Telkom was slated for privatization in
2001; however, no action was taken by year’s end.
The Government and school administrators continued to limit academic freedom.
There were six private universities and six universities owned, subsidized, and administered
by the Government. Most post-secondary students attended governmentrun
institutions, partly because of their lower fees. President Moi, as chancellor of
all state universities, appointed the vice chancellors who managed the institutions
under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. A number of student activists
have been expelled from universities in recent years because of political activities,
and most have been refused readmission. Students claimed that the Government
interfered in student elections to ensure sympathetic student leaders.
Student protests and riots occurred sporadically during the year, and police forcibly
dispersed several protests after they became violent, which resulted in injuries
(see Section 2.b.).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.—The Constitution provides for
freedom of assembly; however, the Government restricted this right in practice. Organizers
must notify the local police in advance of planned public meetings; however,
authorities continued to disrupt public demonstrations and meetings about
which the police had been informed in advance, often characterizing them as ‘‘illegal’’
gatherings. In 2000 President Moi repeated his 1999 statements that government
officials should deny ‘‘permits’’ (for public demonstrations) to politicians who
use public rallies to abuse other leaders; however, officials have legal authority to
cancel planned public gatherings only if there were simultaneous meetings previously
scheduled for the same venue, or if there were specific security threats. The
President’s 2000 statement barring MWM from holding public meetings was aggressively
enforced in 2001, although there was no apparent legal basis for this policy
(see Section 1.d.). With the exception of a controversial march through downtown
Nairobi in support of the KANU presidential candidate for the December general
elections (see Section 1.d.), the Mungiki did not hold rallies during the year. Moi
said that licenses would only be given to registered political parties, and that the
Government would ban events by any ‘‘lobby groups, some religious organizations,
and nongovernmental organizations whose aims and operations were sinister.’’ government
and opposition politicians often warned political opponents not to attend
or organize gatherings in certain constituencies, and during the year such warnings
were more pronounced prior to the December 27 general elections. Also during the
year, a number of opposition rallies and meetings were disrupted by organized
youth and police, often violently.
Police forcibly disrupted public assemblies, including some political rallies and
meetings (see Section 1.d.). The Government at times arrested civil society leaders
and opposition politicians and charged them with participating in illegal actions. For
example, on March 3, a chief in Bungoma reportedly cancelled a civic education
meeting organized by the Community Empowerment and Development Forum on
the grounds that the organizers were sympathetic to opposition parties.
On May 12, M.P. Kipruto Arap Kirwa and 13 others were arrested and their vehicles
confiscated for holding an ‘‘unlawful’’ meeting in Nandi District after they attempted
to hold a political meeting at Keteng Primary School. Kirwa, who reportedly
was beaten at the time of the arrest, was held for 24 hours and released without
charge while 13 others held with him were released on bond on May 16.
On August 15, police disrupted a meeting organized by the Coast Civil Society
Forum in Mombasa that they described as illegal. The group of approximately 100
persons were meeting to elect officials to the Forum. The Mombasa police chief Gerald
Oluoch said that the meeting was blocked because it had not been authorized.
On September 9, police disrupted a meeting to elect officials of the Social Democratic
Party (SDP). The SDP is a member of the umbrella party the National Alliance
Party of Kenya (NAK); a NAK official, Kiraitu Murungi, accused the police of
systematically harassing NAK members.
On September 19, 15 councilors from Tharaka District were reportedly arrested
at a restaurant for holding an ‘‘illegal’’ meeting. They later were released following
the intervention of the area District Commissioner. The civic leaders maintained
that they were meeting in order to plan for the nomination of delegates to the constitutional
review conference, which was canceled once Parliament was dissolved in
October prior to the December general elections. The conference required the participation
of M.P.s and could not proceed without them.
During the year, several meetings and rallies organized by Ford People, whose
presidential candidate was former Finance Minister Simeone Nyachae, were the targets
of physical attacks and forced cancellations.
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