KENYA-HUMAN RIGHTS: Politicians Whip Up Anti-Asian Sentiments

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

NAIROBI, Oct 9 1997 (IPS) - Patel (not his real name) says he plans to send his family to Europe to avoid getting caught up in the violence that he claims is usually associated with elections in Kenya.

“My wife and my two children are scared. They think that Asians will become a scapegoat and the targets of politicians and hooligans during the elections,” he told IPS on Thursday.

Patel’s concern is genuine. Of late, a number of Kenyan politicians have been whipping up anti-Asian sentiments in the run- up to the general elections scheduled for the end of the year.

Recently, Kenneth Matiba, who is the leader of the opposition Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD-Asili), accused the Asians of dominating Kenya’s economy and of indulging in graft.

In a press conference held here on Oct.2, Matiba charged that: “President Daniel arap Moi has turned over the control of the economy to a few Asians who hold dual citizenships and rob the country and its true citizens of opportunities and resources”.

“When the country completely collapses, these extremely rich and corrupt handful of Asians will leave the country and go to enjoy the resources they have robbed from the country. This will leave Kenyans and those Asians who are engaged in patriotic nation- building in Kenya suffering,” he said.

In August, Raila Odinga, leader of the opposition National Development Party (NDP), issued a two-page statement in which he attacked the Asian community for its alleged support to the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU).

“We are particularly concerned by the role played by some members of the Asian community in subverting the democratisation process by providing financial support to KANU. It is an open secret that the Asian business community is … already trooping to State House with donations for dubious projects aimed at raising campaign funds for KANU,” he said.

Last year, Matiba circulated a 14-page document entitled ‘Asian Policy Statement’, which warned that unless anamolies, mainly in the economy, were addressed, Kenya was sitting on a time-bomb that would eventually explode.

“You just drive around Nairobi, and what you see is that all the shops are owned by Asians. You go to Mombasa (the coastal resort town), all the shops are owned by Asians,” Matiba said.

“This has created a very serious situation where indigenous Kenyans think they have become second-class citizens in their own country,” he added.

Legislator Otieno K’Opiyo of the FORD-Kenya has taken the government to task over the issue of citizenship to Asians.

He told parliament on Sep. 16 that Indians who came to Kenya as “cooks, sweepers, drivers and watchmen” were given Kenyan citizenship after staying in the country for only two years.

Responding to these claims, Amin Gwaderi, a Kenyan-born Asian, told IPS recently that Asians were simply being used as scapegoats by politicians.

“To put matters into perspective, the total population of the Asians in Kenya is less than 70,000. This mere 0.27 percent of the entire population is said to be responsible for the most significant contribution to the economy of this country,” he argued. Gwaderi chairs the Eastern Action Club for Africa (EACA), a group which protects the interests of Asians.

Writing in the ‘East African weekly’ recently, AlNoor Amlani, a Kenyan-born Asian, said that many Asians in this East African nation are caught in an “identity crisis”, which has forced many to emigrate to the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, “feeling that they are not wanted” in Kenya.

He said most Kenyan Indians had not been to India. Nor had their parents. “On the other hand”, he said, “he or she is not African either, because he or she has not been brought up immersed in African culture, but rather a hybrid of both cultures.”

Human Rights groups here have condemned the growing anti-Asian feelings in Kenya. “I think it is a very dangerous development,” said Atsengo Chesoni of the International Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya).

She told IPS on Thursday that the rising xenophobia had to do with the lack of an adequate judicial system to address discrimination.”We need to make anti-discrimination laws much easier. The present one takes a long time in court. As a result, people have lost interests in suing. And they don’t trust courts anymore,” she said.

The United States, Japan and the European Union also recently issued a statement expressing concern at the trend towards growing racism and ethnicity in Kenya. They urged politicians to tolerate Kenya’s diverse society “during this electioneering year.”

President Moi too has warned Kenyans to refrain from inciting racial animosity. He said Kenya belonged to all its citizens.