Over 10,000 Luos file petition seeking self-determination to leave Kenya and form own country
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Luo community files petition seeking to self-determination leave Kenya and form own country over what they termed as discrimination, profiling, harassment, torture and oppression
Luo community files petition seeking to self-determination leave Kenya and form own country over what they termed as discrimination, profiling, harassment, torture and oppression.
In response to claimed discrimination by the Kenyan government, over 10,000 Luos are requesting a referendum that would allow the community to leave Kenya and establish their own nation.
Petitioners from the Luo community, led by Ojijo Ogillo Mark Parscal, have filed a complaint with the Milimani High Court asking the court to issue orders requiring the government, through Attorney General Justin Muturi, to arrange for a referendum to allow Luos to leave Kenya.
“That the court orders the respondent (the Attorney General) to cause a referendum to be held for Luos to leave the state of Kenya and become their own state,” one of the orders they seek reads.
Through Ojijo, the over 10,000 petitioners seek a referendum on various grounds including that the Attorney General (the respondent) has shown consistent acts of discrimination, profiling, harassment, torture and oppression of the Luos.
“We, the Luos of Kenya, guided by Article 20 of the African on Human and People’s Right (as adopted in 1981 in Nairobi, Kenya, and entered into force in 1986), hereby file a complaint with the African Commission on Human and Peoples Right, in Banjul, The Gambia; The United Nations Human Rights office; the East African Court; and the High Court of Kenya; to grant us our human rights of self-determination of forming our own state; as provided for in Article 20 (1) and 20 (2),” the court papers read in parts.
Adding that;
“Over 103 years since declaration of Kenya as a colony by the colonialists in 1920, and up to 60 years after independence, Luos have consistently been profiled, hated, abused, threatened, tortured and harassed.”
Ojijo wants the court to certify the application as urgent in a bid to expedite what he describes as the community’s quest to form its own state.
“Unless the matter is addressed urgently, the ethnic profiling, discrimination, lack of development, and harassments shall continue and these shall prejudice, harm and limit the applicant’s submission to self-determination,” the applicants say.
The petitioners contend that past and present government administrations have fostered an environment of impunity through allegedly fraudulent elections, preventing the Luos from taking charge and developing economically.
Ojijo contends that since self-determination is a constitutional right for the Luos, it should be permitted.
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According to him, everyone has the right to self-determination, including in terms of politics, territory, and livelihood.
“The right to self-determination consists of Luo rights to freely pursue their economic, social and economic development, ideally through democratic governance,” he says.
The petitioners also want the court to allow the community to secede from Kenya saying that denying them the right will amount to torture and colonisation, making the Luos be part of a community they do not want to be part of.
“Denying the right to self-determination through peaceful means, the Luos may be forced to forceful means to gain their independence leading to loss of life and property,” the petitioners argue.
They further seek orders barring the state from interfering with their plans to practice self- determination activities.
“An order be issued to the respondent (AG) to give the applicant a date of beginning the self-determination negotiations within the state of Kenya,” Ojijo seeks on behalf of all the 10,000 petitioners.
The case is pending hearing.
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