A human rights watch has accused the government of dragging the nation back to the dark ages by passing into law the Security Law (Amendment) Bill amid public outcry for amendments.
The Western Kenya Human Rights Network said the Jubilee Coalition rushed the Bill through parliament, riding on tyranny of numbers, against calls for more time for the public to understand it.
The network coordinator Antonina Okuta said the Bill was passed with several provisions that are in gross violation of the Constitution and intrusive to human rights.
Speaking on Monady after the law was assented to by President Uhuru Kenyatta after being passed in chaotic parliament on Thursday, the National Commission on Human Rights official said the new law changed human rights provided for in the Constitution.
“These rights can only be legally changed through a referendum,” stated Antonina Okuta, the network coordinator.
She said: “Several provisions of the law are not subjected to the Constitution or the existing legal systems, leaving margins for human rights and freedoms violation.”
Okuta added that the law “seeks to rewrite the Constitution by introducing limitations to these rights and freedoms through the backdoor.”
She said suspicious amendments to Penal code, the Public Order Act, the Criminal Procedure code, Evidence act, Registration of Persons Act, Refugees Act among others contained in the law were “a sign of retrogression by a government that rode on change to power.”
Members of the public, she added, did not have time to go through it despite direct effects as it was rushed through parliament.
The new law seeks to enhance security by introducing amendments to the existing 21 laws.