Uhuru Kenyatta with Muslim brothers at State House after hosting them to break the fast (Iftar) in 2013. Photo/PSCU
KEY Muslim leaders have threatened to boycott this year's State House Iftar Dinner, to protest a number of controversial issues and policies. On the list of the Muslims' concerns is the failure to make public and implement the report of the Presidential Action Committee on Specific Concerns of the Muslim Community in regard to alleged harassment and discrimination in application and enforcement of the law, commonly known as the Sharawe Report.
The Sharawe team, constituted in 2007, made a raft of recommendations in their report that was handed over to the then president, Mwai Kibaki, in March 2008. The document has yet to be officially released.
According to the report, seen by the Star, the Committee found there were discriminatory practices against Kenyan Muslims in the issuance of national identity cards and passports.
Applicants are subjected to vetting and harassment which the team recommended be abolished as it had the effect of disenfranchising many Muslims .
The report notes that many presentations decried the general harassment of Muslims being labeled terrorists, arbitrary arrests and the ruthless operations of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU).
"The unit appears to operate outside the law and without due regard for human rights. Many expressed fear of victimization of the community ... There was also evidence that Kenyan Muslims have been unlawfully removed from Kenya to foreign countries without due process of the law," the report points out, calling for the establishment of an independent body to handle complaints related to the operation of security agencies.
It also calls for the law not to be selectively applied during investigations, arrests, detentions and deportations.
On land rights, the Committee found that Muslims in urban settlements who have occupied land allocated to them for generations have not managed to acquire title deeds, citing the examples of Nubians in Kibira, Nairobi, and Mjini Village, Murang'a.
Muslims have largely inhabited areas that lagged behind in development for lack of both public and private investment, a situation aggravated by years of marginalization and banning of international Islamic NGOs.
On education, Muslims were concerned that students are forced to study Christian Religious Education (CRE) in schools because the government does not provide for IRE-trained teachers, yet IRE is an examinable subject.
Further, students are denied the right to dress according to their faith in schools, thus denying them their constitutional right pf freedom of worship, the report says.
"Muslims are not considered for scholarships and . . . scholarships earmarked for Muslims are diverted to other communities by politicians for their own personal gain and political ambitions. A case in point was was reported by a Muslim NGO regarding the diversion of Morocco government scholarships," Sharawe said in the report.
Ibrahim Yusuf, a member of the Jamia Mosque Committee, commenting on the situation, said government had deserted Muslims and was treating them as lesser citizens.
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