Government orders a 90-day freeze on action against AfriCOG and KHRC

Acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i

As the police and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers raided the Nairobi offices of the Africa Centre for Open Governance, AfriCOG, acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i fired a letter to NGO Coordination Board boss Fazul Mahamed, directing him to stop the clampdown.

Below, the letter in full.

Referenced “STATUS OF AFRICOG AND KENYA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION” the letter from CS Matiang’i directing Fazul to stop the clampdown on NGOs reads:

“Dear Mr Mahamed,

 I am in receipt of various concerns and petitions from a number of stakeholders on the de-registration and proposed investigations on the above organisations.

I have reflected on the petitions and concerns. I have further reviewed your correspondence with them. While the correspondence contain weighty legal non-compliance and regulatory issues on the said organisations, my view is that before conclusive and final action such as deregistration, comprehensive and exhaustive engagement need to happen. This will include an opportunity for the organisations and any stakeholders concerned to engage with NGO Coordination Board and effectively address any outstanding non-compliance issues that have led to deregistration of two organisations.

By copy of this letter, I direct the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government to immediately form an inclusive and representative committee to work with NGOs Coordination Board to review the compliance status of the two organisations.

In the meantime, I direct that while this is happening, you suspend any action on the organisations for up to 90 days to enable Principal Secretary’s Committee work with these organisations to meet the regulatory and compliance needs of the NGO Coordination Board to avert any distraction of their activities.

Yours Sincerely,

Fred Matiang’i,

PhD EGH AG Cabinet Secretary

The letter is copied to Karanja Kibicho, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government.