Statement by Senior Director and head of Public Communications Directorate State House
The US State Department statement on the security law President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law yesterday is a clear indication that the agency decided to go with the view of the noisemakers rather than the Security Laws (Amendment)Act itself.
First, our law is better than the American Patriot and Homeland security Acts that give rogue powers to security agencies.
In the US, fBI and intelligence officers have a carte blanche in the fight against terrorism and biological warfare.
But our law has provided checks by courts of law.
What is more, Kenya has no Guantanamo Bay!
Our law doesn’t curtail the freedom of assembly and the state department should read the law as passed, and not what go by what its associates want them to believe.
On refugees, our law sets a limit of 150,000 refugees. That is the decision Kenya has made and it is final.
Kenya has played and will continue to play its role in providing a roof for those who run away from conflict.
The statement questions a decision by a government department that deregistered rogue NGOs and put on notice those that flout the law.
NGOs aren’t above the law and they must answer to the authorities. Isn’t it peculiar that a foreign government appears sympathetic to organisations that think the law is an irritating irrelevance? But Kenya cannot look the other way when the law is as clear as day and night.
The law is good for Kenya and kenyans. It will help Kenya in the same way the Patriot Act and the Homeland security act have helped Americans.
Munyori Buku senior Director of Public Communication at State House