Our salvation lies in what we do today, not in distant future

As this year and a decade curves to a close, it is not strange to find yourself wondering what of your 2019 will be significant in 2020. We may also want to search our souls for the personal meaning in the late Dean William Inge’s phrase, “whoever marries the spirit of this age will find himself a widower in the next.” The phrase is re-visited in this year’s best Christmas movie “Two Popes.” The movie elegantly re-enacts the conversations between the aging Pope Benedict XVI and a soon to be Pope Francis. While theirs was a theological conversation about how the Catholic Church should interact with the challenges of the secular world, it is also a conversation we need to have with each other.

By most accounts, 2019 was economically, politically and socially difficult for most of us. Poor governance, corruption, high cost of living, unemployment, inequality and discrimination stalked us very personally. Most of us chose to chase the new thousand shilling note rather than challenging why it is always placed beyond of our reach. Confronted with very real household challenges, we adjusted our private lifestyles rather than advocating and acting for what we really want for our lives. Our leaders over-concentrated on forging new bridges for a gentlemen’s agreement when many of the deeper and more structural issues remained unchallenged.

There was also less financing and more staff retrenchments this year according to some of Kenya’s most resilient human rights leaders. The threat of death or injury remained present for those on the front line like the late social justice community worker Caroline Mwatha. Nevertheless, there was also a sense of satisfaction in what their energies achieved.

Closer collaboration between law enforcement agencies, ministries and human rights organisations is slowly yielding results. Hundreds of men who have sex with other men received safety training in county level HIV prevention programmes. In May, women leaders and students challenged the nation to wear white and pink, enforcement of our gender violence laws and demand justice for femicide victims.

Tens of police officers were interdicted, arrested and prosecuted for dishonouring their colleagues, the Standing Orders and the public confidence. Despite bribery and witness intimidation, former Ruaraka OCS Nahashon Mutua was sentenced to death in February for murdering Martin Koome in a police cell. His conviction sends a clear message to all entrusted with public safety, break the law and you will be held individually accountable.

In August, the Nairobi City Mortuary announced it would no longer accept unidentified bodies from anonymous people, including police. Media reporting is getting investigative. As a result of the efforts of the Social Justice Centres, neighbourhoods such as Kibra and Dandora have consequently seen a decline in violent police killings this year. In 2020, these legal aid and advocacy centres will bypass NGOs for the first time and speak directly to the United Nations Rights Council on our human rights situation.

The only thing that the government chased harder than our taxes this year was our personal data. With no legal framework in place, the government collected no less than 70 data points on every person. While the Data Protection Act was thankfully finally passed in November, citizens have yet to see the benefit of the invasive data collection.

The desire to control independent public institutions continues to puncture effective governance. The Office of the Police Inspector General is not yet financially independent of the Interior Ministry. In turn, the Independent Affairs Unit is not yet able to recommend officers for investigation and arrest to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Director of Public Prosecutions without the approval of the Inspector General. Political patronage rather than professional competency remains core to appointments to constitutional commissions. Kenya still does not have an independent coroner service or a forensics department as envisaged by our laws. These gaps will come to sabotage our electoral system again in 2022.

Nevertheless, on all these issues, it was active citizens rather than silent bystanders that protected the vulnerable and gave us a glimpse of a great country this year. It was the leaders who served the public rather than power hungry officials that catalysed the possibility of a great nation. Our salvation lies in what we do today, not in some distant future, as James Baldwin would say. Whether you are a Pope or a citizen, the challenge is in the moment. The time is always now. 

On the pulse of 2019, I wish you a bold and influential decade ahead.

The writer is Amnesty International Executive Director. [email protected]