Safeguarding Democratic Space in Kenya (SADES-K) October 1 –31, 2019 Monthly Update Introduction During October 2019, SADES-K grantees continued with their activity implementation. The SADES-K team planned and held an initial CSO consultation prior to the release of the Building Bridges to Unity Initiative (BBI) final report. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi (UoN) continued with media monitoring and preparations for the opinion polling survey. Context Analysis At the national level, Kenya’s political context centered on the final BBI report and how it would affect the country’s governance architecture. The BBI Taskforce concluded its analysis of their county engagements and research findings, prepared their report, and submitted it to President Kenyatta and Raila Odinga. This process increased divisions in the ruling Jubilee Party over the report findings. The Kibra by-election also deepened divisions within the ruling party, with the Kieleweke team expressing support for the ODM candidate, dubbed the "handshake candidate." Electoral violence took place in different parts of Kenya. On October 12, a campaign rally in Kibra led by Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi was disrupted by rowdy youth, forcing the police to intervene. Ford-Kenya supporters cut short a Raila campaign by hurling stones at the podium. During the by-election in the Ganda ward in Malindi, violence also occurred. These incidents raised concerns about the ability of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to enforce the law, especially in preventing electoral violence. At the county level, various conflict dynamics provided a backdrop for the work of several SADES-K grantees. For example, the peacebuilding process in Transmara in Narok County was strained due to the ongoing conflict between two Maasai clans. The dispute between the two communities is mainly an inter-clan contest over their common boundary. The conflict has caused deaths and about 30 injuries. 1 As a response, the national government declared a no-man’s land between the Siria and Uasin Gishu clans. A SADES-K grantee (ADS Kenya) conducted an assessment based on discussions with youth and elders from the three Maasai clans: the Mutanik, Siria and Uasin Gishu. The study showed the role of politics and power among Maasai clans as central to the conflict. Meanwhile, the Mau evictions have started, and the Kipsigis are being forcefully moved out of the Mau forest. The government has also launched an ambitious program to plant ten million trees and has mobilized Maasai people from Transmara to plant the trees in Mau. 2 This action further 1 https://mobile.nation.co.ke/counties/31-shot-with-arrows-in-Trans-Mara-clashes/1950480-5329768- a9a0vjz/index.html 2 https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2019/10/govt-set-to-plant-10-million-trees-in-mau-forest-amid-controversy/ exacerbates inter-ethnic animosity as the Maasai from Transmara will likely be viewed as benefitting from the plight of their Kipsigis neighbors. In the Mt. Elgon region of Bungoma County, new tensions between the Ogiek/Ndorobo clan and the Soy were brought on by a government report on the boundaries of the Mt. Elgon Reserve. Citing the report, one area MP accused a local organization, the Chepkitale Peoples Indigenous Development, of inciting people to move into the forest. The Ndorobo clan has protested and indicated they will stay in the forest and fight any eviction efforts. Mombasa truckers protested the monopolization of container transportation by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). The road transport business community argued that the recent directive by the Kenya Bureau of Standards and Kenya Revenue Authority which gave the SGR the monopoly for container transportation has denied them their livelihoods. Among the protesters were many Mombasa civil society organizations. The government has since dismissed the directive to monopolize cargo transportation and normalcy was restored. Conflict is brewing between the Gasa council of elders and the county government of Tana River. The former is allegedly faulting the county government for interfering with their operations. The elders held demonstrations to push for their freedom of association and assembly, resulting in a memorandum of understanding with the county commissioner to protect their freedoms. In Tana River, through radio talk-shows at Amani FM, KECOSCE raised an alert when Kenya Wildlife Service officers forcefully abducted five locals. The officers released the five abductees after immense media coverage, a clear indication of how impactful the partnership between rights defenders and the media can be. Result Area I: Kenya’s Governance Architecture Revisited and Strengthened The BBI in-kind grant activities were completed in October 2019. Plans are underway to close out the grant. CSO Governance Reform Consultations On October 18, 2019, SADES-K held a consultative meeting with key CSO networks to explore how civil society could strategically engage with and influence the national dialogue process in Kenya. Participants included civil society actors directly engaged with the dialogue process at the national level (such as CSRG, NMF, Hekima Peace Forum, DRG, etc.), and others with influence at the sub-national level. The participants observed that the BBI process had been politicized and risked dividing the country into two or more factions. Political positioning is already underway among those for and against the process, even though the BBI report is yet to be publicly released. The meeting was intended to discuss how civil society would respond to potential recommendations within the BBI report, as well as to present a more unified response by CSOs. Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD): “National Dialogue and Governance Reforms Project” SADES-K Monthly Report for October 2019 Page 2 of 7 CMD convened inter-party training sessions with 30 political party representatives on October 3- 4 at the Clarion Hotel in Nairobi. Participants deliberated on the Code of Conduct for member political parties according to the Elections and Political Parties Acts. The goal of the sessions was to strengthen political parties’ internal structures in addressing the intra-party challenges and to support intra-party consultative processes and institutionalization of political parties. CMD-Kenya also convened six days of inter-party consensus-building sessions on political parties’ policies from October 8-16 with representation from 19 political parties. The dialogue sessions were organized to help political parties collaborate on policy issues. CMD also finalized workshops on “Strengthening Political Parties’ Issue-based Collaboration” in Mombasa on October 18 and in Migori on October 25 with a total of 40 participants at each meeting. Major political parties included: KADU-Asili, Jubilee, CCU, CCM, ODM, FORD-Kenya and ANC. Additionally, CMD-Kenya convened a one-day multi-actor dialogue in Kibra constituency in Nairobi on October 29. The dialogue session brought together 80 members of the Kibra constituency drawn from different groups, including opinion leaders, youth, women and PWDs as well representatives from political parties with various county and constituency party chairs. The dialogue was driven by electoral violence witnessed during the recent campaigns in the by-election, and even some of the political aspirants attended the meetings. Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) SADES-K held a planning meeting with BAKE to re-focus the scope of grant support to include online dialogue and awareness-raising, as well as media literacy forums. Result Area II: Social and Ethnic Cohesion Strengthened Result Area II grantees continued with their activity implementation. Examples include: Merti Integrated Development Project (MID-P): “Strengthening Social and Ethnic Cohesion in Isiolo County” MID-P trained 20 community champions on October 21-24 who will help to mobilize and facilitate community dialogue sessions. These champions are expected to be change agents and ambassadors of peace. Ten champions were drawn from Wabera and Ngaremara wards which are viewed as conflict prone areas. Keeping Alive Societies Hope (KASH) Consortium: “Enhancing Peaceful Co-Existence, Social and Ethnic Cohesion amongst Communities Living in Kisumu and those in its Bordering Counties” The KASH consortium held four stakeholder forums. The first took place on October 3 in Kisumu (45 participants). On October 4, they hosted another session on the Kisumu-Vihiga border (61 participants), and another on October 7 on the Kisumu -Kericho border (43 participants) and a fourth on October 8 on the Kisumu-Nandi border (41 participants). The KASH consortium SADES-K Monthly Report for October 2019 Page 3 of 7 continued running its social media outreach3 and the hotline.4 The hotline received 217 calls on conflict issues occurring within Kisumu and its bordering counties. The consortium also developed a communications plan to assist with this outreach. Kenya Community Support Centre (KECOSCE): “Building Peace and Cohesive Communities in Tana River and Mombasa Counties” KECOSCE held a multi-sector forum with various stakeholders5 in Kisauni sub-county to address security problems. The forum conducted a mapping of conflicts in Kisauni and identified potential peacebuilding partners. KECOSCE also received information from its peace monitors, trainers and community members to develop security briefs for Mombasa and Tana River counties. KECOSCE shared the briefs