Amnesty International Kenya boss, Mr Irungu Houghton, during a past event. PHOTO/MISSING VOICES.
By PATRICK MAYOYO
A consultant with Amnesty International led Missing Voices Coalition in Kenya that investigates cases of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings in the country, Mr Morris Odhiambo, has resigned.
Mr Odhiambo tendered the notice of his resignation to Amnesty International Kenya boss, Mr Houghton Irungu, on May 4 citing frustrations from both him and a staffer of the global human rights lobby, Mr Ramadhan Rajab.
The Missing Voices Coalition is a lobby of human rights organisations in Kenya supported by Amnesty International and other international and local NGOs. Mr Odhiambo’s notice of resignation comes after the release of Missing Voices Coalition report on enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings in Kenya in April.
The report whose theme is “End Police Impunity” says although there were a reduced number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances from the figures it recorded in 2023 compared to those recorded in 2022 incidents of extra-judicial killings in the country are still rampant.
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“As this report shows, the number of those killed extra-judicially reduced by 9.2%, from 130 in 2022, to 118 in 2023, while enforced disappearances reduced from 22 in 2022 to 10 in 2023, a 54.5% decrease,” the report says.
The report adds men continued to suffer disproportionately from police impunity as the proportion of men killed in 2023 remained high, at 94% of all victims, compared to 95.3% in 2022 while the proportion of women was recorded at 4.7% in 2022, compared to 6% in 2023, a slight increase.
Whereas attribution is difficult in a situation in which there are many other actors, both state and non-state, MVC’s monitoring, documentation and advocacy processes against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances made a contribution to the reduction.
“However, this is not the central issue. The central issue is that, even though there was a decrease in the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, a significant number of Kenyans were still victimised and denied their right to live,” the report adds.
In his two-week notice of resignation Mr Odhiambo says although he has adhered to the terms of his contract with Amnesty International in regard to the coordination of the Missing Voices Coalition, his work has been frustrated through failure to pay his dues for two months and being given letters of “Show Cause”.
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“Through this letter, I write to serve a two-week notice of termination in accordance with section 4 of my consultancy agreement with Amnesty International Kenya (AIK). I have adhered to the terms of the contract, which you have abused for two months by failing to pay my dues and for sending me “Show Cause” letters through your colleague, Rajab Ramadhan, as if you are ignorant of the fact that I am not an employee of AIK but a consultant,” Mr Odhiambo says in the letter.
He aaks Mr Houghton, “to reflect on the highhandedness, cruelty and contempt with which you and your colleague have treated me in the past two months.”
Mr Odhiambo says although majority of members of the Missing Voices Coalition have expressed confidence in his performance, only Mr Irungu, Rajab and a few others have questioned his performance.
“When I asked you to produce the appraisal report that had led you to that conclusion, you suddenly went mute. The fact is that if Missing Voices Coalition is yourself and your colleague Rajab Ramadhan, as has become apparent in the last two months, then the Coalition is doomed,” the consultant says.
Mr Odhiambo says Rajab who describes as ‘ever rude and defensive’ had consistently frustrated him including removing him from a WhatsApp of Missing Voices Coalition without any explanation before returning him.
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“You have created a monster, Houghton, a monster with no clue as to what the human rights movement is all about! But, as the saying goes, monsters beget monsters,” Mr Odhiambo says.
The human rights consultant says he has offered consultancy services to AIK before without “all the drama that I witnessed this time. I must confess that I have never seen people try so much to sabotage their own work”.
He asks; “Was it some kind of vendetta? Were you on a revenge mission against me for some unstated issue?I leave the coordination of Missing Voices Coalition with my head held high, just the way I came into it!”
