>From "KSDA"
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
June 8th 2004
To:
Mr Henry Ole Ndiema
Principal Immigration Officer,
Office of the Vice President
Jogoo House, "A" Taifa Road
P.O. Box 30520, Nairobi
Kenya
Tel. 228411
AN INTERNATIONAL APPEAL FOR HELP TO OBTAIN A KENYAN PASSPORT
My name is Okoth Osewe and I am a Kenyan citizen by birth. For the last 12
years, I have been exiled in Sweden where I have been politically active in
different groups and organizations that, until December 2002, had been
waging struggle against the Dictatorship of former President Daniel arap Moi
and his KANU Party. I have mainly been active in the Kenya Human Rights
Organization in Sweden (KHEROS), Kenya Youth Movement in Sweden (KYMS), the
Kenya People's Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO - Mapinduzi) and the Kenya
Asylum Committee (KAC). I have also been active in several political
organizations in Sweden and published articles in different political
publications both in Sweden and abroad.
Currently, I am the Secretary of the Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance
(KSDA), an Alliance which made significant contributions to the defeat of
the Dictatorship of former President Daniel arap Moi and which continues to
oppose the rotten system of capitalism in Kenya. We linked up with Kenyans
at home and abroad to co-ordinate the anti-Moi struggle and worked with
International organizations to exert pressure on Moi to quit or to allow for
more democratization of our country.
When he was still leader of official opposition in Kenya, we hosted
President Mwai Kibaki in Stockholm as part of the anti-Moi struggle, linked
up with politicians like Professor Anyang Nyongo (Now Minister of Planning)
in Stockholm to scheme the defeat of Moi and organized meetings with
politicians like Mr. Raila Odinga (now Minister of Roads, Housing and Public
works) to pool ideas on how the rule of the murderous KANU government could
be brought to an end.
We organized numerous demonstrations and pickets outside the Kenyan Embassy
in Stockholm to call for the release of political prisoners like Koigi wa
Wamwere (now an MP) and to strategize against an autocratic regime that was
not just slaughtering innocent Kenyans but that was also looting the
country's economy as the masses of the people continued to suffer. Some
politicians we worked with in exile like former Chairman of KEHROS Mr.
Mwandawiro Mghanga (now MP for Wundanyi) are in a position to elongate on
the protracted anti-Moi/KANU struggle here in Sweden.
When KANU was eventually defeated in December 2002, Kenyans celebrated, not
just because the government of a ruthless dictator had been vanquished but
because the defeat of the regime also signaled an end to life in exile for
Kenyans who had fled the country for political reasons. At a personal level,
I looked forward to returning home as soon as possible to reconnect with
other Kenyans to celebrate the Narc take over and to experience the ushering
of what President Mwai Kibaki referred to as "A new era". We were told by
the new President Kibaki to return home and to help in building our
devastated country.
More than sixteen months after Narc took power in Kenya, I am still unable
to travel to Kenya because the government has refused to issue me with a
Kenyan passport. When I first met officials at the Kenyan Embassy in
Stockholm early last year to get a briefing on how I could obtain my
passport, I was shocked when I was told that I could not be issued with a
Kenyan passport because I was a holder of a United Nations passport that was
issued to me under the 1957 Geneva convention. Although this passport is
valid for travel in all countries, it is not valid for travel to Kenya
because it was issued on condition that the Moi dictatorship could not
provide me with a passport.
When I sought further clarification from the Embassy, I was informed that if
I wanted a Kenyan passport, I had to travel to Kenya and make an application
while in the country. Further, I was advised that the maximum the Embassy
could do was to issue me with a piece of paper that would enable me to make
a one way trip to Kenya so that I could present my application upon arrival
in Nairobi. This process, I was told, could take several months depending on
how the government viewed the application. The paper the Embassy was
referring to is called a "Travel certificate" that is normally issued to
deportees who enter other countries without travel documents.
I refused to accept to travel to Kenya with a piece of paper because I am
not a deportee being repatriated to Kenya by Swedish immigration police. I
argued that I had a right to a valid passport under the laws of Kenya to
enable me exercise my freedom of Movement. I took the position that Kenyans
had just installed a new government after 24 years of ruthless Dictatorship
by the Moi/KANU regime and encouraged the new government not to follow the
KANU path of denying Kenyans passports using hopeless reasons. I pointed out
that as an active member of the Kenya exile community in Sweden, I was part
of those who contributed to the defeat of the Moi dictatorship and reminded
the Embassy that I considered my life in exile over with the Narc take-over.
Although Embassy staff were sympathetic and friendly, I realized that there
was little they could do as they had their bosses in Nairobi.
By June last year, I was still doing battle with the government, not to
issue me with a passport but to allow me to present an application from
Stockholm to the Immigration office in Nairobi. Because of my inability to
obtain a Kenyan passport, I missed a major trip to Kenya in August last year
where I was to be part of a Kenyan delegation from Stockholm that was
scheduled to argue the case for dual citizenship at the Constitutional
Review Conference that was, by then, sitting at Bomas of Kenya.
Circumstances that led to my failure to travel were published in KUWA
Bulletin (September 2003), a Kenyan Newsletter published in Sweden. Pastor
Beatrice Kamau, the Chairperson of Kenya United Welfare Association (KUWA),
did manage to attend the meeting together with other delegates. After
August, I renewed contacts with the Embassy to continue with the campaign
for me to present an application. It was not until early this year that the
Embassy allowed me to present an application.
After accepting my application, the problem now is that the government has
decided to sit on the application. The Kenyan Embassy does not have any
information about the application and the advice I have so far obtained from
the Embassy is that I should continue waiting. Several contacts with the
Immigration office in Nairobi have failed to yield results. The closest I
have come to getting attention from a State official is when I was advised
by a Clerk at the Office of Immigration that I talk to the Chief Immigration
Officer whom I have been unable to reach because of red tape.
Traditionally, the defeated KANU autocracy denied Kenyans passports to block
them from traveling abroad fearing that such trips could boost opposition in
exile at a time when the government had a pathological fear for Kenyan
dissidents. Does the new Narc government have any valid reason to deny a
Passport to a Kenyan citizen who helped Narc come to power and who has made
enormous sacrifices in exile? I have decided to go public with my problem
and to seek help from both Kenyans and the international community as a last
resort.
By denying me a passport, what Narc is doing is that it is employing the
same tactics that were employed by the dictatorship of former President
Daniel arap Moi who denied or confiscated passports from Kenyans to curtail
their right to freedom of Movement for political reasons. At a time when the
Narc government is failing in many areas, it is unfortunate that my desire
to return to Kenya is being frustrated by the very government that promised
change and transformation. Kenyans were told that everything was possible
without Moi. Now, even issuing a basic document like a passport to a Kenyan
seeking to travel home after 12 years in exile has become impossible.
The position of the government over the issue is an indication that Kenya is
slowly returning to the days of the KANU dictatorship. Since Narc took
power, Kenyans have witnessed the political assassination of Professor
Odhiambo Mbai, corruption in the government, open cheating by President
Kibaki especially on the issue of the delivery of a new Constitution,
appointment of public servants along ethnic lines, muzzling of the press
especially the alternative media, looting of the economy by MPs, disruption
of political rallies in different parts of the country, begging from IMF and
World Bank, shooting of civilians in the streets by police, formation of
Commissions and Task Forces to cover up short comings in the government and
failure of the government to bring criminals from the former Moi regime to
book.
I have met all conditions and provided all the relevant documents for a
Kenyan passport application. Because I cannot continue waiting indefinitely,
I wish to appeal to both the Kenyan and the International community to help
me exert pressure on the emerging Kibaki dictatorship to issue me with a
valid Kenyan passport so that I can travel to my country.
I have been waging the struggle for a passport quietly with the illusion
that those frustrating my application may have been remnants of the KANU
dictatorship on their way out of the government. But, as the waiting becomes
endless, I have moved to the position that the frustration of my application
may be an organized exercise supervised by the government. In the
circumstances, I have decided to seek help from those who are in a position
to understand the issue. I am appealing to those reading this petition to
sign it and to do anything in their power to put more pressure on the Kenyan
government to issue me with a passport so that I can travel home.
Sign the petition here
Mr. Okoth Osewe
Secretary
Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA)
Tel: ++46736533068
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
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