October 28, 2014 - Today's News In Gazetikenya

Muslim leaders want Lamu curfew lifted

Mombasa | Religious leaders say blanket time limit in entire county discriminative because attacks were in specific places

Muslim leaders at the Coast have asked the government to review the extended curfew in Lamu, especially in areas that were not affected by the June/July attacks that saw more than 60 people killed. The chairman of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem), Prof Abdulghafur El-Busaidy, described the extension of the dusk to dawn curfew by Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo as oppressive and discriminative. “We are very disappointed by the extended curfew. This we consider as intimidation and suppression of the residents of Lamu County,” he told a news conference in Mombasa yesterday.

Accompanied by a group of imams and businessmen from Lamu, the council threatened to move to court if the blanket time limit would not be reconsidered and lifted to allow residents to resume their normal lives. Prof El-Busaidy (above) claimed that what happened in the isle had happened elsewhere in the country. He cited Samburu where 40 security officers were killed and their firearms taken, but no curfew was declared. If a curfew was declared, it covered only the affected areas, he added. The Supkem leaders maintain that the island was not affected by the attacks which happened in the mainland areas such as Mpeketoni, Hindi, Witu and Pandanguo.

The chairman said that it was in order for the government to impose a curfew in the affected areas, but it was discriminative and a violation of the Constitution to extend it to the whole county. “The curfew should have been imposed on the affected Supkem to seek talks with police boss, failure to which matter will be taken to court areas but not in the whole county, this violates the Constitution and should not be tolerated,” Prof El-Busaidy told journalists at Mbaruk Mosque. The imams said that they would consult Mr Kimaiyo on the issue and if they fail to agree on relaxing the curfew, they would move to court to seek justice. “We as Supkem have been asking the people to be patient, but the government has let us down. So, we are here making a public appeal to the government to lift the curfew and let the people go on with their lives” said the Supkem boss.

Supkem Provincial chairman Muhdhar Khitamy said the security problem in Lamu should not be used as an excuse to discriminate against the residents. Mr Khitamy said Lamu East and Lamu Island were far from the affected areas and should have been exempted from the curfew. He, however, maintained that dialogue must be initiated to seek solutions. According to Supkem, Lamu residents have not been involved in any form of violence and if the government suspects anyone, it should take them to court.

Gazeti Kenya

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