Defying expectations, she raises her voice
When Halima Bakari raises her voice for communities in Kenya, she has to work hard to be heard.
“In protests, the police consistently tell me that I should be at home cooking for my husband and not in the street making noise. Being a woman and Muslim for that matter, subjects me to police ridicule.”
Halima’s response? She turns the volume up.
The 24-year-old businesswoman coordinates the Al Qamar Justice Centre in Nairobi which tackles gender-based violence, police brutality, child neglect and abuses of sexual and reproductive rights. A graduate of finance, Arabic and education, she’s been involved in numerous protests – between 10 and 15 since 2017. She’s been arrested about half a dozen times.
Halima at the Al-Qamar Community Justice Center
Halima at the Al-Qamar Community Justice Center
It's not just the police who look down on her and her sister activists. She says of people in the community,
“They forget that we fight for their rights as well. I experienced resentment. I have been told severally to move out and take protests elsewhere and [leave] the community in peace.”
Police brutality
Halima has been through a lot as an activist, but 7 July 2020 is one episode that remains etched in her memory. Her injured leg, which to this day still hasn’t healed, is a constant reminder of that fateful day.
It was early morning on the 30th anniversary of the Saba Saba March for Our Lives. The march is an urgent call to lower food prices and the cost of living across Nairobi. The protest was organised by justice centres across Nairobi, including Al Qamar.
“My team started marching from Komarock [north east of Nairobi’s Central Business District], to a stage called Stage 18 in Mowlem, where we were to meet with the Kayole Justice Centre.” recalls Halima. “We arrived at around 7:15am. The police vehicles were roaming around to intimidate us.”
Halima and her comrades chanted and sang as they marched towards Stage 18 and fellow protesters from Kayole.
“Suddenly teargas was thrown at us and besides the comrades, we also had community members who had joined us. “There was chaos up and down. I only remember falling on a woman who had been pushed. There was more teargas everywhere. The lady that I fell on fled and I was left alone. I remember I tried waking up thrice and realised there was something wrong. My knee had a dislocation.”
Saba Saba protest, Nairobi, July 2022
Arrested and denied first aid
Halima and the other protesters asked the police why they teargassed them. “They told us it was an order from above and therefore not their problem,” recalls Halima. “We informed them that it is our right to march since they had duly notified them. They arrested 7 of us. It was not even 8am.”
Halima describes the arrest process as “humiliating”. Despite her injury, police forced the group into the boot of a large Toyota Probox – a vehicle that the government had banned from transporting passengers in 2015.
“In the Probox, the police kept telling us that they could easily enforced disappear us or break my leg further. And there is nothing we could do to them. They called us trouble makers. All this was meant to intimidate us”.
At Kayole police station, Halima asked for first aid for her leg. Officers kept her waiting in a corridor at the station for nearly 12 hours. Meanwhile, 3 other protesters who came to ask why she and her group had been arrested were also arrested.
At one point, a senior officer instructed his deputy to take Halima to the nearest hospital, but they didn’t. According to Halima, by the time she was released her leg was “really swollen”.
“They were not bothered by my injuries. All that they were concerned with was my gender. It traumatises me. The Deputy… said that it served me right for having participated in a protest. I was never taken to hospital neither was first aid administered.”
A Kenyan activist is forcibly arrested as police pursue activists who were marching against policy brutality and harassment, Saba Saba day, Nairobi, 7 July 2021 (Photo: Daniel Irungu/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock.com)
A Kenyan activist is forcibly arrested as police pursue activists who were marching against policy brutality and harassment, Saba Saba day, Nairobi, 7 July 2021 (Photo: Daniel Irungu/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock.com)hutterstock.com)
The police arrest Vincent Tanui, a protester and one of ARTICLE 19's research respondents in Nakuru town during a protest (Photo: MUHURI)
The police arrest Vincent Tanui, a protester and one of ARTICLE 19's research respondents in Nakuru town during a protest (Photo: MUHURI)
Public demonstration against police brutality, Kenya August 2020 (Photo: MUHURI)
Public demonstration against police brutality, Kenya August 2020 (Photo: MUHURI)
Silenced by fear of victimisation
Fortunately for Halima, she had the support of a network to get her the treatment she needed: “The Defenders Coalition paid for my whole medication and crutches.” Her immediate recovery took five months, but her leg is still healing.
Reflecting on why she hasn’t made an official complaint about the way police treated her, she admits:
“I had the option to report my case but you also look at your life – the same police staying in the same community will threaten and victimize. And where will you report? Nowhere! In fact, you might be targeted. My parents were vehemently opposed to the idea of holding the officer accountable. They feared for my security and safety as well as that of the entire family.”
Halima has also told ARTICLE 19 that discrimination against protests and protesters is common among police and other authorities; and that police have labelled people terrorists and intimidate them to deter them from protesting.
Protest wins
As much as there will be setbacks, there will also be successes, and Halima has some impressive ones to draw strength from. During Ramadan in April 2020, Halima led a protest for clean water for Soweto informal settlement in Kayole.
“The entire Kayole did not have water and whenever it came, it had snails,” she explains. “We mobilized the community for a protest to hand in a petition to the Nairobi water and sewerage company. It was peaceful and quite orderly. We complied with the COVID protocols. We had masks and ensured social distance.”
They followed the rules, but the police still showed up and, as Halima tells us: “confronted us violently and arrested us.” Apparently, the water and sewerage company had called the police. “We were locked at the Kayole police station from 10 am to 7pm,” she recalls.
Nevertheless, the protest had made its point. “Three days later we not only got water but clean water.”
“Following the success of the water protest and this injury, we are a little more included in decision-making forums in the community by various stakeholders. People have seen the importance of doing a protest and being in such spaces.”
With each win comes greater acceptance, especially with the people who matter most – the communities she works with.
“Protest is the one event that keeps the government on their toes. The moment they see a protest, they want to work on the things that protesters are urging them to do. Having protest helps so much."
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