Kenyan government could ban LGBTI NGOs

A taskforce reviewing laws on NGOs in Kenya has recommended that the government ban groups supporting LGBTI equality.

According to Daily Nation, the team, led by MP Sophia Abdi, presented its findings last month to Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.

It called for the law to be changed to allow groups involved in “indecency,” espionage or terrorism to be outlawed, including LGBTI rights organisations.

The taskforce said that NGOs “must uphold the security, cultural and religious values of Kenyans.”

It urged that, “the law be amended to prohibit registration of any organisation that is involved in promotion and advocacy of indecent acts or is involved in the promotion of the national interest of another state or in recruitment, training and incitement to undertake terrorist activities.”

The taskforce also suggested that the government set up an entity to oversee donations to NGOs, in part to address concerns that foreign funding was being used by these organisations.

Bizarrely, Western governments and funders have often been accused of using local LGBTI NGOs to “promote” homosexuality in Africa.

The move follows a controversial Nairobi High Court ruling in April ordering the government to register the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, an LGBTI organisation.

Religious leaders and politicians have lashed out at the ruling warning that it will lead to the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the legalising of same-sex marriage.

Kenya’s Attorney General has filed an appeal against the ruling, which is yet to be heard.

Gay sex is illegal in Kenya, with penalties of between five to 14 years’ imprisonment. The constitutionality of this ban under the county’s 2010 Constitution has yet to be challenged in court.

A 2013 survey found that 90% of Kenyans believe that homosexuality should not be accepted by society