REPUBLIC OF KENYA GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON AL JAZEERA DOCUMENTARY ON KENYA’S FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM Our attention has been drawn to the scandalous and unethical documentary aired by Aljazeera TV on the 8th of December, 2014, accusing the Government of Kenya of extrajudicial killings. The Government takes great exception to the fallacious premise of the documentary on the following counts: The Government does not operate death squads neither is it aware of the existence of any such groups in the country. This fact was made absolutely clear in our email to Al Jazeera which they totally ignored. In the documentary promo Al Jazeera claimed that over 500 clerics had been killed by the so -called death squads. However, there was no evidence of such numbers in the actual documentary. This demonstrates that Al Jazeera’s malicious and calculated intent was to create mass panic and fan religious animosity, in a country where Muslims and Christians live together as brothers and sisters. Moreover, these alarmist remarks failed to take cognizance of the fact that Kenya does not even have that many clerics. Kenya has a functioning and effective constitution that upholds fundamental freedoms and security agencies operate within this framework. It is on this basis that police officers who have violated the law have been charged in court. The timing of the documentary is also suspicious and appears meant to derail Kenya’s efforts to fight terrorism. The documentary was deliberately planned and aired at a time when the country is seeking support to strengthen its war against terror through legislative reforms. The tone and subjective nature of the documentary was deliberately skewed to support and empathize with terrorists and their sympathizers, without any consideration for the hundreds of innocent Kenyans who have died in the hands of terrorists. Interestingly, the dubious interviewees had non-Kenyan accents, and none of them could be authenticated as bona fide security agents of this country. Similarly, the purported secret Government documents were clearly fake meant to bring our hardworking security agencies to disrepute. Clearly, all those involved in the production of this insidious documentary seized an opportunity to abuse the expanded democratic space and the freedoms enshrined in the constitution of Kenya. In doing so they actually violate the democratic space which every Kenyan must protect to prevent our democracy from being appropriated by agents and/or sympathizers of extremists and terrorist agenda. In view of the above, the Government has filed a formal complaint with the Media Council of Kenya, requesting them to investigate Al Jazeera for professional misconduct. Furthermore, given the apparent capacity of the documentary to undermine the country’s security and our fight against terrorism, the Government has instructed the relevant authorities to begin investigations with a view to bringing charges against those involved in the documentary. Finally, we wish to point out that the Kenya Government remains vigilant and unrelenting in the pursuit of providing security for all who live in Kenya and will not be derailed by in this noble duty by the likes of Al Jazeera. AMB. (DR.) MONICA JUMA PRINCIPAL SECRETARY
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 16:52:54 +0000
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