Dr. Isaac Newton Kinity Appeals for International Intervention Over Land Grabbing and KDF Welfare in Kenya
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Dr. Isaac Newton Kinity, a renowned human rights activist and former Secretary General of the Kenya Civil Servants Union, has written two urgent letters addressed to Roberto Perez Rocha, the Director of the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) series, shedding light on grave injustices in Kenya.
In the first letter, Dr. Kinity highlights the ongoing land grabbing and corruption in Kenya, calling for immediate global attention.
He accuses President William Ruto, alongside his close allies Simon David Gicharu and Member of Parliament Jane Kihara, of using the Kenya Police to forcibly evict 140,000 Kenyans from the 5,000-acre Ndabibi farm in Naivasha. \
The evictees, many of whom are over 90 years old, are descendants of workers who served the farm’s former white settler owner.
According to Dr. Kinity, the late settler had left a will granting the land to these families, yet they now find themselves homeless, their properties destroyed, and some arrested during the violent eviction.
“MP Jane Kihara should not lie to Kenyans to shield this act of land grabbing,” Dr. Kinity asserts, emphasizing that her loyalty should be to the people, not to President Ruto.
Dr. Kinity laments that these elderly Kenyans lived peacefully through the regimes of Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi, Mwai Kibaki, and Uhuru Kenyatta, only to face brutal harassment under President Ruto’s administration. He warns that the victims are now dying from depression, hunger, and disease.
The activist urges swift international intervention, recalling Ruto’s past accusations of land grabbing, including the 2013 case involving 100 acres belonging to the late Adrian Mutesi.
This letter was copied to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the European Commission of Human Rights, urging these organizations to take immediate action.
In his second letter, Dr. Kinity shifts focus to the plight of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), decrying what he calls the “silent torture, intimidation, and suffering” of soldiers. He reveals that KDF members receive shockingly low wages, with the minimum salary set at Ksh 7,172 (about $55) per month.
This, he says, is lower than the pay of car washers, watchmen, and construction workers in Kenya, and significantly less than what police officers or military personnel in other East African Community nations earn.
Dr. Kinity calls for urgent reforms to improve the welfare of Kenyan soldiers, stating, “It is high time the Kenya Defence Forces are paid better salaries.”
The second letter was copied to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), and Public Services International (PSI), pressing them to advocate for fair wages and better working conditions for KDF members.
Dr. Kinity remains steadfast in his fight for justice, urging international bodies to intervene and pressure the Kenyan government to address these pressing human rights violations.
With a knack for captivating storytelling, Amos Lumbasi has a talent for crafting narratives that resonate with readers. He combines meticulous research with a captivating writing style to create articles that are both informative and enjoyable to read.
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