Kenyans call on foreigners to help make Kenya a better place for Kenyans.

My home village is called Banguro. Now the name Banguro, which is a corruption of the name Bangladesh, may have lost the sting, but when growing up, it was hardly flattering for one to be associated with this village. Our village was named after Bangladesh because in the 1980s, Bangladesh was thought of as being poor and overcrowded. I do not know whether our village mates were poor, but we certainly had a few large families, and in some cases rather crowded. Yet it remains the village many of us call home. 

As they say, East or West home is best. Now our country Kenya, inherited from the colonial masters, a law criminalizing (and stigmatizing) close to 10% of us, yet we still call it home. True there are days, when many of us, are tempted to leave and never look back, but not before giving change a chance. That is why in this article we explore a conciliatory approach to addressing this sad colonial legacy. 

But let us be clear, it is not like we are not aware of how conservative our society is, or indeed how much some in our country, especially religious institutions, have invested in continued criminalization of people like myself. It is also not like we are unaware of the desire by the political class to be in the good books of the religious institutions and their leaders – for fear of antagonizing the voters. That is why we propose this middle of the road solution.

Indeed instead of calling for full decriminalization – something government's own policies have done, we are only asking for an amendment (website link available here) that brings consistency to sections of the penal code, with other existing laws such as the Sexual Offenses Act of 2006 and the Constitution. Here is the suggested amendment, truly nothing dramatic but could make a difference in people’s lives!

Make no mistake – there are Government’s own policy documents that actually call for full decriminalization. These policy documents include:

1.   Kenya Aids Strategic Framework – KASF, which calls on the government to “Adapt legal frameworks to de-criminalise Key Population(s) activities and, thereby, increase their demand for and access to HIV services.” page 37. 
2.  Kenya Health Policy – The draft policy on page 34 on the policy objective five;- to Minimize exposure to health risk factors - says:- "reduce unsafe sexual practices, particularly among key populations.” The term Key Populations is used in reference to sexual minorities, sex workers and Injecting drug users. In this petition we are focusing only on sexual minorities. 
3. Policy Analysis and Advocacy Decision Model for Services for Key Populations in Kenya: This document also by National AIDS Control Council – NACC, analysed 120 policy and program documents related to HIV and/or key populations, and recommends as does UNAIDS and World Health Organization recommend the “review of laws that prohibit sex between consenting adults (including sodomy) in private, with the aim of repealing them” on page 11 and indeed the entire document.

But that is not all, even though it should be adequate. There is also this new publication (website link provided here), which presents an economic case for advocacy for the rights of sexual minorities. This document discusses the economic risks Kenya would incur if it were to enact Uganda-like anti-gay laws. The publication demonstrates that were Kenya to adopt the Ugandan anti-gay laws, the following economic consequences would follow:

1. The Government of Kenya would lose approximately 5.7% in donor support over a given financial year. 
2.  The Kenyan Shilling would weaken by a margin of 15% over a period of one year.
3. The decline of cash crop export would be up to 26.8% of the total cash crop exports over one year. This leads to a loss of GDP by 12.1%.
4. Direct Foreign Investment would also significantly decline.

Conversely if the country were to move in the direction of decriminalization, the country would derive the following economic gains;

1. Differentiated Kenya-country Brand
2. Efficiency gains from public health (especially HIV) spending
3. Perception of rule of law and constitutionalism 
4.  Reduced political risk costs and positive perception of National Self-agency

So you ask, with all the available evidence, why is the government retaining the status quo? And this one word will give you the answer – inertia! They will not move unless forced to do so – unfortunately (and very embarrassingly), by foreign government(s).

For that reason, I wish to end this article with a compelling, or benefit oriented call to action. I have read from marketing experts that for a Call-To-Action (CTA) to be effective it has to be compelling, risk reducing or benefit oriented.  The desire is  to have a CTA that forces the Government of Kenya to take a look at this Virtuous Amendment, and realize it is a fairly easy to implement reform, that saves lives  and does not have political costs associated with full decriminalization. 

Fearing that the government will just ignore this simple yet effective proposal for legal reform, it is better instead to request foreign governments or individuals with influence on the Kenyan government to condition their bilateral or private engagements to the adoption of this amendment. While such conditionality may not guarantee adoption, it will certainly provide opportunity for the Government of Kenya to take a look and realize that this amendment not only saves lives, it also does not cost them anything. Hopefully that will move them to do the right thing.

So take the action now, push this suggestion to one or more persons you know have the necessary influence to bring about this change - send them this article and urge them to read to the last sentence. Let us work together to make our home aka Kenya a better place for each and every single one of us!