AASU On The Sentencing Of A Kenyan Student

The Secretariat of the All Africa Students' Union (AASU) has learnt with concern the sentencing of a Kenyan student, Alan Wadi Okengo, to a year in jail for insulting President Uhuru Kenyatta on social media. Okengo was also “convicted of hate speech, after saying members of the president's kikuyu ethnic group should be confined to certain parts of the country.”

AASU will not condone any such action by any student or group of students to demean their leaders or fuel ethnic sentiment anywhere; therefore we found Mr. Okengo's utterances unfortunate and condemnable. Though AASU does not adhere to such occurrences, we believe that they are direct results of the manner in which our governance systems operate in Africa.

The majority of the people of Africa, a continent endowed with abundant human and natural resources are living in abject poverty while their leaders are bathing in extreme opulence. Corruption, nepotism and cronyism are characteristics of our systems of governance, while they constitute the sources of most extremism and violence.

We would like to use this opportunity to express our disprovable of any misbehavior and utterance capable of sowing ethnic hatred and violence;

AASU calls also on African leaders to prioritize and defend the general interests of their people and adhere to transparency, fairness and equity in the management of their countries.
Down with tribalism and sectarianism!
All for virtuous governance in Africa!

AWAAH FRED

(Secretary General)

akaphari@yahoo.com/00233(0)243101626