Civil Society wants KNCHR Chair out of office over IEBC protests

NAIROBI: Civil society groups have lodged a petition to remove a human rights watchdog chair from office over remarks on CORD protests.

Their grouse is that Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) Chair Kagwiria Mbogori failed to condemn police brutality and instead attacked the Opposition's demos, yet the right to assemble, demonstrate and picket is guaranteed in the Constitution.

The activists said the statement titled 'Do not mislead Kenyans: Anarchy is not democracy' issued by the chair seemed to bash the protests against the electoral agency, and did not reflect the independence of the institution.

"The statement sounded as if it had been written by some political party and not a national human rights institution charged with the solemn mandate of promoting respect for human rights," read a statement signed by Suba Churchill from Civil Society Reference Group and National Civil Society Congress.