The Dutch King and Queen’s visit to Kenya’s murderous regime is being prepared in the run up to ZAM’s Nelson Mandela Lecture by Kenyan investigative journalist.
“Trade is important, but at what cost?” asks upcoming Nelson Mandela Lecture speaker, Kenyan investigative journalist John-Allan Namu, in a comment on the planned royal visit by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima to his country. In Kenya, over sixty people were killed by police recently and abductions and disappearances of political activists are an increasingly common phenomenon.
The irony of the situation, that Namu is preparing to address an audience in the Netherlands on repression and exploitation in Kenya, -and its global linkages-, at the same time as Dutch royals are planning their visit to Kenya’s presidential State House, does not escape him. “This is the inconsistency in the global political economy (that I will be talking about)”, Namu, the editor of Kenya’s foremost independent media house Africa Uncensored, comments. “Trade is seen as a more important pillar than respect for people’s humanity. It would be important for the Royals to acknowledge and openly talk about what is happening. The government is merely a representative of the people. If a sizeable chunk of the populace is saying that there’s a problem that ought to be addressed, not doing so would be ill advised.”
“There’s a problem that ought to be addressed”
A sizeable chunk of Kenyans have indeed said that there is a problem that ought to be addressed. Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported on Wednesday that “Kenyans on social media are asking the royal couple to cancel the state visit (and that) they are also calling on people to send protest emails to the Government Information Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These calls have already been shared and liked thousands of times.” The NOS also reported that “when asked, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed (…) that they received at least three hundred emails about the royal visit to Kenya, but do not yet have the full picture and are still investigating this. According to activists, who use an online form, among other things, this would involve thousands of emails.”
The royal couple is set to visit the East African country between 18 and 20 March, at the invitation of President William Ruto. The invite follows a spate of killings, abductions and disappearances of young Kenyans who have protested exploitative taxation of “people who often don’t have enough money to feed themselves”, in the words of John-Allan Namu, while “somehow (the country’s leaders) can afford to buy private helicopters.”
According to the NOS, Kenyans have posted photos of dead activists and written that "we are not ready for a visit, wait until we have repaired Kenya and then you will receive an invitation".
See for more on Kenya’s protests:
See here for more on John-Allan Namu and the upcoming Nelson Mandela Lecture in Amsterdam in the International Theatre Amsterdam (ITA) on 16 February 2025.
