Skip to main content

Freedom of (Artistic) Expression - Re: Butere's 'Shackles of Doom' Play


YouTube Video Recording of the Play 'Shackeles of Doom' Courtesy of WTV

There was a huge uproar in support of and keelhauling the 'controversial' play by Butere Girls high School. The period during which the issue came up is quite significant. It was the 'let us keep the peace and move on' period. A period when any utterances questioning, dissenting or raising concern about things going wrong was immediately categorized as hate speech and gagged. A period Gathara's World refers to as the return of the 'Republic of Fear'. What got me even more exasperated was the castigation of the Media house that first aired the story, a condemnation of both the school and the playwright, and the apparent uniformed support for the Kenya National Drama Festival's unprocedural, unconstitutional and in my opinion cowardly decision to ban the play on the basis that it would "put national cohesion and integration in danger." 

Petition 192 of 2013 

The Petition filed in the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court on 11 April, 2013 by well known (frowned upon) activist O. Omutata against the AG, The PS Ministry of Education, and the Principal of Butere Girls High School challenging the ban sought the following orders: a Mandatory Order to compel the Respondents to ensure that the School is allowed to stage the play in its original script pending the hearing and determination of the application and petition; an interim conservatory order suspending the Drama festivals until the Petition is heard and determined, a mandatory order stopping the respondents from gagging the freedom of expression and frustrating the artistic talents being nurtured by academic institutions etc. 

A ruling of the petition delivered on 16 April, 2013 by Justice Majanja sheds light into why the protection of the freedom of Artistic Expression is important for a democratic society: 

 "Artistic expression is not merely intended to gratify the soul. It also stirs our conscience so that we can reflect on the difficult questions of the day. The political and social history of our nation is replete with instances where plays were banned for being seditious or subversive  This is the country of Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Micere Mugo,Francis Imbuga, Okoth Obonyo and other great playwrights who through their writings contributed to the cause of freedom we now enjoy. Some plays were banned because they went against the grain of the accepted political thinking. Kenya has moved on and a ban, such as the one imposed by the Kenya National Drama Festival must be justified as it constitutes a limitation of the freedom of expression. I am not convinced that Kenya is such a weak democracy whose foundation cannot withstand a play by high school students."
The ruling however noted that the respondents had failed to appear in court and that the prayers sought were "too drastic and  wide and will affect innocent parties..." The Learned Judge therefore declined to grant the prayers and instead gave an opportunity for the first respondent (AG) to address the Court on 17th April,2013 on an appropriate remedy before making the final order as it deems fit.  

It will be interesting to see the kind of remedy that the AG will prescribe and whether the remedy will be sufficient if examined against this important freedom of artistic expression, the perception of a nation that seems to have been bullied into silence (including children), and the  spirit and letter  of the Constitution which envisages an enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedom in a democratic society that harnesses, grants space for and respects a 'market place of ideas and opinions', and where fundamental rights and freedoms are only limited if it is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society - not merely to address the self serving hysteria of a few. 

My Take_

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Madaraka Day @49 – What Exactly Does Attaining Self Rule Mean?

Courtesy of The Daily Nation The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (adopted 14 th December, 1960) says the following about the importance of Independence; “ The General Assembly, Mindful of the determination proclaimed by the peoples of the world in the Charter of the United Nations to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Convinced that all peoples have an inalienable right to complete freedom, the exercise of their sovereignty and the integrity of their national territory… .” The Preamble to the Constitution of Kenya 2010 says; “ We the people of Kenya – Honouring those who heroically struggled to bring freedom and justice to our land: Exercising our sovereign and inalienable right to determine the form of governance ...

LATEST COURT OF APPEAL APPOINTMENTS - Kudos JSC!!

Once again the JSC is 'on-point' in its latest appointment of 7 new judges of the Court of Appeal. The ration of appointments is clearly in favour of the women i.e. 5 out of the 7 are women. This follows the earlier appointment of 28 new judges of the High Court 13 of whom were women. Indeed, the Court of Appeal has been largely identified with a perpetual delay in the administration with many calling upon it to work at changing its public image. Indeed, the Justice William Ouko led Task force report not only only found that there were vacancies at the court of appeal (11 instead of the then 14 allowed) but even out of the 11 judges, there was no woman judge at the Court of Appeal. The Constitution of Kenya, as a result of a reflection on some of these grave inequities and disparities is very clear on the issue of gender representation at all levels of and in all arms of government. Whether a woman judge matters can be seen from some reflections in this rather short, simple...

THE “HOUSE OF TERROR” – Reflections….

The "House of Terror" - Budapest, 1062 Andrassy ut 60 So today I finally got to visit the ‘House of Terror’ one of those places you certainly ought to visit if you ever pass by Budapest, Hungary! It is described as a museum that commemorates the victims of terror as well as a reminder of the dreadful acts of terror carried out by ‘victimizers’. The building, and the museum inside are a vivid, impressive recreation of different periods of Hungarian history that the country has tried to move on from albeit painfully. The Different sections of the Museum that begins with a hallway full of victims, then instruments of torture, actual cells, gallows and a morgue, witness accounts displayed on screens and pictures that tell a thousand words all bear testimony to the atrocities witnessed and meted. The building housed the Hungarian Nazis in the early 1940’s and later a residence of the AVO and subsequently the AVH who are known to have participated in the worst forms of crimes agai...