Jeff Otieno
17 January 2008
Nairobi — Kenya is listed as one of the countries in the world experiencing reversals in human freedoms.
A survey done last year by US-based organisation Freedom House, groups Kenya alongside Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt and Venezuela as countries which had faired poorly in the advancement of freedoms compared to the previous year.
Freedom House says Kenya experienced a significant decline in political rights and slight drop in civil liberties last year.
It rates Kenya as partly free, meaning that the country still needs to make more improvements to be considered completely free.
"The deterioration within Nigeria and Kenya, two of Africa's most important countries, should be of great concern for those who had hoped that the incremental gains of recent years would continue," the document adds.
The report entitled Freedom in the World 2008, cites political manipulation of ethnic tensions and intolerance by African leaders as important factors in the decline of a number of countries, including Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
Mali and Niger registered declines in civil liberties, while in East Africa, Somalia's already low score declined even further.
Awards scores
East African countries in the partly free category include Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. Rwanda falls under the not free category.
The survey done on 193 nations last year, awards scores ranging from one to seven to countries depending on their record on political rights and civil liberties.
It describes progress made in sub-Saharan Africa in the last several years as uneven, saying last year saw an overall deterioration of freedom on the continent.
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