Document #1112429
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Information relating specifically to the
treatment of Mwakenya supporters and their spouses is currently
unavailable to the IRBDC in Ottawa. However, the spokesperson for
Mwakenya in North America, author and visiting Professor of
Comparative Literature at New York University (as September 1992),
Dr. Ngugi wa Thiongo, stated during a telephone interview with the
IRBDC
(4 Aug. 1992), that President Moi publicly declared Mwakenya his
enemy "number one" (date of this declaration not given). He
emphasized that Mwakenya is a clandestine organization with a wide
following in Kenya. Many members of Mwakenya have been detained as
Mwakenya has been very critical of President Moi's government and
was the first to raise the issue of democracy and multipartyism.
Dr. Ngugi wa Thiongo described Mwakenya and its supporters as an
"endangered species." Consequently, he further clarified, Mwakenya
supporters and their spouses could be targets of harassment by the
present government of President Moi. This information was
corroborated by the Editor in Chief of Africa Events, a
well-known African publication in London, in a telephone interview
with the IRBDC (4 Aug. 1992).
In another telephone interview
(Ibid.), a Kenyan scholar in Ottawa who travelled to Kenya
in 1991, stated that the government of President Moi is very
suspicious of and vindictive towards Mwakenya supporters.
Africa Events. London. 4 August
1992. Telephone Interview with Editor-in-Chief.
New York University, Manhattan. 4 August
1992. Telephone Interview with the Spokesperson for Mwakenya in
North America, Writer and Professor of Comparative Literature, Dr.
Ngugi wa Thiongo.
Kenyan Scholar, Ottawa. 4 August 1992.
Telephone Interview.