KHRC targeted because it points out State excesses

Makau Mutua

On August 14, days after the IEBC declared Jubilee’s Uhuru Kenyatta the victor in the presidential election, one Fazul Mahamed struck at the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC). Mr Mahamed, who is in office illegally — and without the requisite qualifications — is the purported CEO of the NGO Coordination Board. Mahamed has recently gone after the Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation as well as another NGO he associated with Rosemary Odinga, the daughter of opposition doyen Raila Odinga. In his letter — which was widely reported — Mahamed falsely accused the KHRC of tax evasion, among other filthy allegations. Mahamed’s letter is full of ugly and detestable lies. In April last year, the High Court ruled these identical charges and actions by Mahamed “unconstitutional, null, and void.”

The real question is why Mahamed — Jubilee’s attack dog — is coming after the KHRC again with the same allegations that the High Court rejected unequivocally. It’s not that Mahamed didn’t receive — or can’t read — the court’s order. The court ordered him to cease and desist. He’s therefore in contempt of a court order. The only conclusion is that Mahamed believes that he’s above the law because his godfathers have told him so. He speaks and acts with complete impunity — and immunity. He even relied on a defunct law in his letter to the KHRC. There’s little doubt that he believes Kenya is a country of men — not laws. He personifies a state gone rogue and without a tether.