Stop profiling vulnerable ethnic communities

Nairobi; Kenya: I was part of a delegation of parliamentarians from various countries on a study tour of the Capitol Hill to get a feel of how the US Congress handles its budgeting and accountability process. The Congress’s public rating was below 17 per cent due to persistent squabbles between the two main parties, and between the Executive and the Congress over a myriad of issues. But the Congressmen and women whom we met had a positive spin to all the wrangling on the Hill; that it was a lot better doing it in the House than battling it out on the streets with machetes and guns!

The concept of bipartisan negotiation in Kenya is largely underdeveloped. Disagreement among the political class rarely gets resolved through orderly dialogue and may often degenerate into ethnic profiling, saba saba, political defection, regional conflicts and even political assassinations.

To agree to disagree, or worse still take a compromise position, is deemed to be recapitulation and defeat. It is unlikely that a divergent view within a political party can be tolerated, or worse still respected. We simply don’t value alternative views, and hence cannot talk to each other.

It may be this respect of freedom of expressions that encourages the US to observe certain basic religious freedoms. During our programme, the organisers provided for two breaks each day to allow the Muslim parliamentarians to observe prayers in rooms provided for that purpose. They also catered for Halal food throughout the period, including at functions held outside the premises.

Later, as I visited some mosques in Atlanta, I also noted that the Muslims there too enjoyed significant freedoms in exercising their right to worship. Mosques were full, with open lectures by scholars. In one mosque, there were nearly ten madrassa sessions under different tutors, packed with hundreds of Muslim children dressed in kanzus. There was no difference between what our children there and those in Kenya were learning in the madrassas — quran, ahadith, fiqh etc.

But outside the US, the perception about it changes immediately. The US government is seen to be anti-Islam, fighting its scholars, madrassas and students through the proxy war on terror. Throughout the world, Muslims view the US as its key enemy that uses the media to demonise Islam and portray Muslims as terrorists, and use various governments to crack down on freedom of worship by Muslims, Kenya included.

Inside the country, you do not see excessive security outside the federal buildings, or patrolling the streets. There are no searches at hotels or other public premises. Nor do the police stop anyone to ask for documents. It is all about good intelligence; quiet, subtle tracing of potential suspects.

In contrast, Kenya despatches 6,000 policemen to search a two-square kilometre city estate for a three-month period, using brute force that includes potential rape, theft and beating. We shut down madrassas on grounds that they teach radicalism.

We raid Muslim schools in full view of the students and terrorise the teachers in search of terrorists. You are accosted on every street and asked to produce your identity cards if you look like a Somali because all are profiled as suspects.

Yet, in the first place, you are discriminated against in the issuing of IDs and you feel like a foreigner at home. It matters little whether you are born here, or have lived here an eternity. Consequently, you cannot travel around the country to seek employment or transact business.

Students travelling abroad for studies struggle to get a passport, if at all; and only if you can make it to Nairobi. Shutting down religious institutions or denying Muslim youth identity and travel documents is discrimination and will create resentment that will radicalise the youth more than any ideological indoctrination.

Let’s respect all communities!