Leaders protest over bias against Muslims in war against war on terror

Muslim leaders in Western Kenya region have asked the government not to use the fight against terrorism to unfairly target Muslims in the country.
The leaders led by the secretary general Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) Western region, Sheikh Khamis Wakhusama took issue with the government for what they termed violation of rights and collective punishment of the Muslims community saying that many innocent Muslims had suffered at the hands of overzealous security officers.
Speaking at Kakamega Jamia Mosque over the weekend, the leaders drawn from various Muslim organizations in the region stressed that the constitutional rights of Muslims as citizens should be respected and protected. “The profiling of individuals because of their religious or ethnic background must cease and everyone must be treated with due respect and in human manner without violation of his or her fundamental rights.
At the same time the leaders raised their concerns and complaints over discrimination of the Muslim community in matters pertaining to issuance of national Identification cards and passports.
They decried that many Muslim youth who have reached the mandatory 18 years of age do not have IDs due to discrimination and stringent vetting process and regulations and called on the government to lessen the stringent vetting process imposed on the Muslim community to facilitate the issuance of the important documents to applicants.
”Applicants for national IDs and Passports with Muslim names have always been subjected to a tedious discriminatory vetting process and this has persisted in the last two years and we continue to see Muslims being deliberately denied IDs and Passports,” said Sheikh Wakhusama.
“Terming the process as ”religious discrimination,” the leaders called on the Immigration Director Gordon Kihalangwa to consider waiving and shelving the torturous and length vetting procedure where by Muslim applicants have to face an interview panel which ultimately determines if they can be availed the documents.
Wakhusama said that the vetting policy and the requirement to produce additional documents when applying for an ID and a passport are constant reminders that a section of citizens are still considered less Kenyans and their status has to be confirmed after strenuous verification.