Harassing opposition politicians is unlawful

By Eliud Owalo | 8yrs ago

In the most undemocratic regimes in Africa, where the rule of law and good governance are hardly respected, opposition politicians are often subjected to harrowing harassment and intimidation by the party in power. Such outdated tactics are particularly applied when the opposition groups are seen to be enjoying popular support and riding on high moral ground relative to the ruling dictatorship.

Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leaders have been subjected to this kind of treatment for quite some time now by the Jubilee administration.

Kenyans witnessed this kind of harassment and intimidation during the country’s dark period under the one-party rule. It may be recalled that during that era, leading opposition politicians like Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Masinde Muliro, Ahmed Bamariz, George Anyona, George Nthenge, Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia and others, were often arbitrarily arrested. And in most cases, the arrests were done at night and the kangaroo trials conducted after official working hours.

It seems, the Jubilee coalition now appears nostalgic about the tactics used by those in leadership during Kenya’s dark past. Perhaps, they think such scare tactics could help them as the country approaches the 2017 polls, amid a ground swell of public outcry against massive corruption, misrule and unfulfilled 2013 election pledges.

Needless to say, given the present level of public awareness, the ruling coalition can hardly redeem its image in respect of poor performance and failure to respect the rule of law by applying primitive and outdated tactics of governance.