In what appeared like a summary of how the West views Africa, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour is seen in an interview attempting to bully Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, into accepting homosexuality as part of his country’s societal norm.
The interview, which was published by CNN on the 20th of April, had a section which lasted for about 4 minutes and begins with a rather muddled up question from Amanpour as she asked
“One of the major issues, and its a hold over from some kind of colonial victorian, is the issue of sexual preference in many African countries. In Kenyan, to be gay, the LGBT community is illegal, they just want to have equal rights. The same privacy and equality as other Kenyans do, is that something that you aspire to for your country?”
Former President Barrack Obama had visited Kenya in 2015 and a White House Correspondent so conveniently asked him a question relating to homosexual rights and he answered in part saying
“If somebody is a law abiding citizen who is going about them(sic) business and working on a job and obeying the traffic sign and doing what a good citizen does, the idea that they are gonna be treated differently because of who they love is wrong”
Obama’s call sounded to many Kenyans like a call to ignore the Kenyan Laws.
Sodomy is a felony courtesy of Section 162 of the Kenyan Penal Code, it is punishable by 14 years imprisonment. Also, any sexual practices between males is considered Gross Indecency and is a felony under section 165 of the same statute, with a punishment of 5 years imprisonment attached to it.
Article 45(2) of the Constitution of Kenya defines the right to get married and clearly states that this is between a man and a woman, as it reads
“Every adult has the right to marry a person of the opposite sex, based on the free consent of the parties”
This would mean that a Kenyan who is homosexual cannot be described, in Kenya, as law-abiding until these laws are repelled.
Amanpour, like Obama, skipped the part where a people’s Constitution is a product of their wish, so that as Kenyatta made attempt to explain to her that homosexual behaviour is not acceptable to 99% of Kenyans, Amanpour fought back saying “you are going to get yourself into trouble”, and her argument was “it is a global issue right now”
The Kenyan President went ahead to school Amanpour on how the Constitution is a product of the Kenyan society and how a leader should not go against his people’s wishes.
At some point, Amanpour, as do homosexual rights advocates, made the discuss an issue of discrimination and harassment, but Kenyatta explained that no Kenyan should be abused, discriminated or harassed, yet freedoms are taken into entire context of society.
While answering Obama in 2015, Kenyatta had said
“There are somethings we must admit we don’t share. It is very difficult for us to try to impose on people that which, they themselves, do not accept. This is why I repeatedly say for Kenyans today, the issue of gay right is a non-issue. We want to focus on other areas that are day-to-day issues for our people”
A Unique Constitution
Kenyan’s Constitution is not just the idea of a few, as in many countries. After the Constitution was drafted, there was a Referendum during which Kenyans voted in majority for the content of the Constitution.
Despite this Constitution being the direct will of the people, the United Kingdom tried to influence it in favour of homosexuals.
The Committee of Experts on Constitutional Review said then it had rejected suggestions by British MPs to recognise and protect the rights of homosexuals in the draft.
“On several occasions some British MPs have approached us on the gay matter. They wanted us to include homosexual and lesbians’ rights in the draft. But we told them that such a thing cannot happen because if we did so, a majority of Kenyans will reject the draft during the forthcoming referendum,” said Mr Otiende Amolo, a member of the committee.
