Kenyan dissident appeals for tourism boycott

KENYA'S leading dissident has called on Irish people to boycott holidays in his country until genuine democracy is restored there.

On his arrival in Ireland, Mr Koigi wa Wamwere said international sanctions should be imposed on Kenya in response to human rights violations and government interference with democracy. Kenya is one of the fastest growing holiday destinations for Irish tourists.

Mr wa Wamwere (47) has already spent 13 years in jail for a variety of political offences and currently faces an appeal of a four year sentence for robbery imposed in 1995.

That judgment was widely regarded by international observers as a fabrication. Mr wa Wamwere said it was only the widespread attention he gained that had saved him, so far, from joining a long tradition of "disappeared" Kenyan opposition leaders. He is in Ireland as a guest of the Irish section of Amnesty International, which was prominent in the protests at his treatment.

In a meeting with Department of Foreign Affairs officials, Mr wa Wamwere urged Ireland to move a motion condemning the Kenyan government in the UN High Commission for Human Rights.

Asked about the likelihood that the killers of the Irish Franciscan brother, Larry Timmons, will he brought to justice, he quoted a long list of killings of opposition figures which remained unsolved. "Forget it. There is no chance of justice for Brother Larry until the present corrupt system is got rid of", said Mr wa Wamwere, who was once MP for the area where Brother Timmons worked.

"As long as President Moi continues to get support from Western governments, nothing will change. Irish people should keep an eye on their government to ensure that taxpayers money does not go to Kenya."

Mr wa Wamwere is a cofounder, with the anthropologist Mr Richard Leakey, of the opposition movement Safina. But it is unclear if he will be allowed to stand in the elections due later this year. "This is the time to save Kenya, not when it's too late and we go down the drain like Rwanda and Liberia did," he said.

Mr wa Wamwere is speaking at a public meeting in the Clubhouse in Kilkenny tonight at 8 p.m.