Hazel Inglis/ 4:23pm/ 1/18/08 / human rights/post 1
On December 27, 2007, the Kenyans voted in record numbers in their parliamentary and presidential elections. In the parliamentary elections, 99 of the 210 seats were won by the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). There is a lot of evidence that the presidential election had been tampered with and has lead to no one really knowing who the president is. The turn in the parliamentary votes and the lack of a successful presidential election has led to pandemonium and violence.
Following the attempts of elections, the Kenyan government has banned public assembly and demonstrations and banned live political broadcasting. The police have also adapted an unofficial “shoot to kill” policy. Between riots, police killing, and innocent victims, the government has figured the death toll is at 486 people but an independent source estimated the number may be as high as 600.
This situation is clearly an example of a government taking away the human right of their citizens’. The Kenyan people were allowed to vote for their president by the government did not like the outcome so they simply ignored it. This lead to the continued killing of the people who opened showed that they did not agree with the government. The Kenyan people also lose their right of freedom of speech and unbiased freedom of the media. I hope the people of Kenya can overturn their government with the help of others and they can live in peace and not worry about being killed because of the political figure they believe in.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/01/13/kenya17731.htm
1 comment:
I was talking to a coworker of mine about this situation this morning. I recently did a blog on lack of food distribution to some of the Kenyan refugees of this situation. I didn't and still don't know much of what is going on, but I enjoyed reading your post, it gave me some insight into the situation.
Post a Comment