The Mombasa Republican Council’s right to exist has received a seal of approval following the Court of Appeal ruling two weeks ago.
The Appellate findings reaffirmed the findings of the High Court, which ruled in 2012 that the secessionist movement is a legitimate entity.
The decision gave the MRC the freedom to operate and propagate its ideological underpinning.
One would think the government would obey the law and give the MRC a chance to operate. But, as it has been in the past, the state’s position on the MRC has barely changed. The government insists the entity is illegal, despite the court’s pronouncement.
The MRC can now legally organise activities, influence events and take part in the elections, meaning they can present their ideas to the public and solicit support.
The better option for the state is to let the MRC be and monitor their activities without the kind of paranoia visited upon them. Adopting a hardline stance would certainly send the MRC underground. And therein lies the danger. You don’t know what they would be doing in secret because monitoring them would be next to impossible.
But some of the things the MRC is being accused of is the culpability of their members in crime. Some members have been accused of murder, while some have been accused of not honouring the terms of their bonds. The two issues need to be separated. There is a difference between the entity and its members.
True, there are some MRC members who have been involved in crimes like murder. These should be punished, because legitimising the MRC’s operations was not giving the members a chance to break the law.
The reason the MRC is being demonised is because it is a grassroots organisation whose ideological underpinning revolves around peasant uprising. It is a mass movement. The MRC emerged spontaneously and there is always fear in official circles that its legitimacy must be controlled because no one knows how far its influence can spread.
This would explain the refusal by the state to honour court orders that have returned a verdict that is favourable to MRC.
The decision of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the MRC as a legit organisation, has given it a seal of approval. It should be allowed to operate and the public be the judge.
Mwakimako teaches at Pwani University.