A Lone Man… Does He Become an #EnemyOfTheState? NJONJO MUE

Njonjo and wife Katindi Sivi Njongo during their wedding 

On 30 November 2004, a lawyer jumped over the perimeter fence at the private members’ car park of the Parliament buildings, ripped the flag off a cabinet minister’s sleek GK-plated limousine, and was promptly arrested. Charges were that he had created a disturbance in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace.


On his arraignment, one can only term his actions there as patriotic, the magistrate would however misconstrue this action to be by a mentally deranged man. Before making his plea, Mue sang the national anthem in Kiswahili and went on to make a speech in full view of TV cameras.

Aggrey Muchelule, the presiding magistrate, ordered that the lawyer undergo a psychiatric assessment. Was the lawyer really mad or just mad with the NARC Government? Does this lawyer speak for you or just for himself? Is he a patriotic Kenyan or an Enemy of the State? Well, here is your chance to find out. Please read on…

The man Muchelule sent for a psychiatric test was Njonjo Mue, a Human Rights Lawyer and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. He is the head of the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) Kenya Chapter. ICTJ works to help societies in transition address legacies of massive human rights violations and build civic trust in state institutions as protectors of human rights. Prior to joining ICTJ, he was Head of Advocacy at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. He headed many other organizations including Article 19 and Christians for a Just Society.

Njonjo went to Alliance High School then obtained an LL.B at the University of Nairobi and a post-graduate diploma from Kenya School of Law. He enrolled in a Master’s degree program in International Law and Comparative Human Rights, but due to illness, he never graduated. At the University of Helsinki, Finland, he obtained a diploma in Problems in Contemporary International Law. He also has an MA in Theology from the Nairobi International School.

His vast achievements are however not what makes him an Enemy of the State, but his fierce activism. In 1990, he led peaceful demonstrators in the wake of Dr. Robert Ouko’s assassination. The “No reforms, No elections!” era of the 1990s was a dark time for those advocating a change of the constitution. He believes that nonviolent action is vital to sustainable social change. 

On 31 May 1997, during a rally called by pro-reform activists to press for a new constitution, Njonjo led a group of activists in forming a human shield ostensibly to protect colleagues in the civil society during a prayer rally Moi had earlier outlawed. They knelt before a fully armed contingent of riot police and GSU personnel.

His conviction then was that change is inevitable. At that moment, his colleagues developed cold feet and bolted. He remained alone; knees on the ground, head in a stooped gait and in front of him, the dreaded baton-wielding GSU. Grievous human rights abuses were meted on the protesters that day. The next day, The People newspaper published his photo and carried the caption, ‘Praying for the Nation.’

In 2004, barely two years after the historic 2002 elections that ended the KANU regime. Discontent was growing, and so was despair amongst the people who were once rated most optimistic on the planet.

Amid the noise of a dishonored MoU, grand corruption escalated with Anglo-Leasing. As it is today, MPs raising their salaries, new car allowances and tax-free mortgages became very urgent business.

After making a whistle stop tour of all the eight provinces in Kenya, he drafted a 10-point protest memorandum and to introduce a recall notice to parliament. He pinned it at the main entrance of the Parliament Buildings. What he did a few days later was astonishing.

On 30 November 2004, he would scale the wall of Parliament and pluck away a pennant flag from a cabinet minister’s limousine. His aim was to symbolize that the government of the day had lost its moral authority to govern. The media reported that he had slapped Assistant Minister George Khaniri in the process, but Khaniri would later confirm that Njonjo’s action was entirely nonviolent, and the slapping incident was a farce. This is just a permeable to his story.

To read more on Njonjo Mue and that particular non-violent struggle in Parliament, follow this link… http://www.scribd.com/doc/165965166/Enemy-of-the-State-Profile-of-Njonjo-Mue