By Matina Stevis-Gridneff
Saturday February 3, 2018
An empty studio of the NTV channel, which was shut down by the Kenyan government because of its coverage of opposition leader Raila Odinga's symbolic presidential inauguration this week. PHOTO: REUTERS
NAIROBI, Kenya—A standoff between Kenya’s government and the opposition has escalated, as a crackdown on the media deepens and police arrest several top opposition figures.
The political battle highlights how the fraught election in east Africa’s economic powerhouse and freest country is reverberating months later. The media has become collateral damage, as broadcasters forced off the air this week for transmitting an opposition event remained blocked despite a court order to reinstate them.
Western diplomats in Nairobi with knowledge of the situation said arrests of opposition figures could continue, and opposition leader Raila Odinga, a veteran firebrand revered by his supporters in the country’s West and coastal areas, could also be a target.
Mr. Odinga has refused to concede to President Uhuru Kenyatta after two elections plagued by procedural problems and scattered violence.
“While we were hoping that the country, after a bruising election season, could pull together, that seems a lost hope,” Murithi Mutiga, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said.
The opposition leader went ahead Tuesday with a symbolic “swearing in” ceremony at Nairobi’s central Uhuru Park despite government warnings that the move would be treason. In front of thousands of his supporters, Mr. Odinga declared himself “the people’s president,” in a move criticized by the U.S. and the African Union as unconstitutional and inflammatory.
The government designated Mr. Odinga’s political movement a “criminal organization,” though it said the political parties in the opposition coalition are not affected. A lawyer who was present at the “swearing in” alongside Mr Odinga was arrested Friday, after another lawyer and an opposition parliamentarian were taken into custody earlier in the week.
The government has blocked Kenya’s three main TV stations from broadcasting, saying that by airing the mock inauguration they were complicit in a plot that could have cost the lives of “thousands of Kenyans.” It offered no evidence to support its claims.
A judge on Thursday ordered the government to allow them to broadcast until their case challenging their shutdown goes ahead. The ruling was delayed by procedural obstacles but eventually served Friday, though the networks remained off air.
Heather Nauert, the spokesperson for the State Department, said the U.S. was “deeply concerned by the government’s action to shut down, intimidate, and restrict the media.”
Kenya’s relative press freedom, among other things, has distinguished it from many of its neighbors, Mr. Muriga noted.
“This is what sets the country apart from others on the continent, and as a consequence Kenya has become a hub for innovation and is regarded as a bellwether for other African democracies,” he said.
While the crackdown on the press and the arrests of opposition figures are garnering the government criticism, the opposition is looking weakened and fragmented, Mr. Muriga said.
Mr. Odinga lost an election in August last year, but the vote was annulled by the Kenyan Supreme Court on the grounds of wide-spread irregularities during tallying and transmission of the results. A second, repeat vote was held in late October; Mr. Odinga and his NASA coalition party boycotted that election, partly contributing to a very poor turnout of just over 30%.
Mr. Kenyatta won with 98% of the vote and was inaugurated for a second five-year term in November last year.