Accessibility statement

Human rights work being criminalised in Kenya, says activist

Posted on 29 April 2016

Gacheke Gachihi visited Dublin to highlight state intimidation and systemic corruption

The Irish Times

Political crisis

Gachihi says his country faces a “very serious problem of shrinking democratic space”. In recent years, Kenya has witnessed the criminalisation of human rights activism, funding cuts to civil society movements and a further entrenchment of systemic corruption – “and this is getting normalised”.

Although these issues have been documented for some time, Gachihi says the situation has deteriorated since the election of Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013.

“Ten years ago, under the [Mwai] Kibaki government, you had the right to assemble, to demonstrate, you could criticise the president,” he says. “Now it’s becoming difficult.”

The following link will take you to the full article published in The Irish Times,  http://www.irishtimes.com