Getty ImagesActress Lupita Nyong’o has condemned Kenyan authorities’ crackdown on large-scale anti-tax protests that began in June.
Human rights groups say protesters have been met with police brutality, with dozens killed and many abducted.
Nyong’o, whose father was imprisoned and tortured under former president Daniel arap Moi, told the BBC: “I am horrified to learn that this government is resorting to tactics I thought it had left behind in the past. ” he said.
In response, the government said it was impossible to compare the two “completely different” administrations and that it “regrets that there have been deaths.”
But Nyong’o, an Oscar winner who grew up in Kenya and now lives in the United States, said the government’s response to the protests was “upsetting.”
“The more things change, the more they stay the same…I don’t know how this story is going to end,” Nyong’o, who has appeared in Hollywood hits such as “12 Years a Slave” and “Black Panther,” said in an interview. her new podcast.
Her father, Anyang Nyong’o, is currently a county governor in Kenya and acting leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), one of the country’s main political parties.
The ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) brought ODM politicians into power in July as part of a series of measures aimed at quelling protesters.
In the 1980s, Anyang Nyong’o, then a political science professor, was among a group of academics who organized against the Moi government.
Moi was in office from 1978 to 2002, ruling Kenya with an iron fist and brutally suppressing political opponents.
After Lupita Nyong’o’s uncle, also an activist, disappeared, the family fled to Mexico. His uncle’s body has never been found, but local reports say his family believes he was thrown from the boat.
Lupita Nyong’o said of this generation of protesters: “I am deeply grateful to the young people who are on the front lines fighting for a different Kenya.”
Isaac Mwaura, a spokesman for the current Kenyan government, told the BBC that authorities were “very cooperative with the protesters and accommodating their demands, including the president’s disagreement with the finance bill.” What caused the problem was the bill’s controversial tax measures.
Regarding reports of deaths during the demonstrations, Mwaura said, “The only official sources are police statistics. “Those who have sex will be held accountable according to the rule of law.”
Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Nyong’o was born in Mexico after her father (pictured), mother and sister fled Kenya.
Nyong’o detailed her father’s ordeal in the latest episode of the storytelling podcast Mind Your Own.
In it, Nyong’o and other African contributors tell funny true stories to explore what it means to be from the continent.
Previous series have received reports from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and the diaspora.
Nyong’o tells the story of his father in the episode Freedom Fathers. This is the only episode so far where politics and oppression are mentioned.
This was intentional, the actress said, as she wanted to focus on “bizarre” and “offbeat” stories rather than commonly treated subjects such as conflict, disaster, and poverty.
“I think we often have too narrow an idea of what Africa is… from the hot-button issues that are in the news and that are being talked about around the world. I wanted to distance myself from it, because those problems already exist,” she said.
“What are the stories of ordinary people who experience abnormal situations that we don’t know about?”
Mind Your Own was produced by the American company Snap Studios, but employed a number of African creators behind the scenes.
For example, the podcast’s cover art was created by Mateus Sihor, an artist Nyong’o met in Mozambique, and the theme song was written by Nigerian-American musician Sandra Lawson-Ndou.
“I wanted to get this project into the hands of as many Africans as possible. I wanted to send a message, a clear message…This is by Africans, for Africans, and no one else It does not preclude the use of other people,” Nyong’o said.
However, she admits that it would be impossible to combine the entire continent of 54 countries into one podcast.
“There’s no way I would ever set myself the task of presenting the ultimate or overarching topic about Africa. That would be crazy!” she said.
“Africa will be as malleable and changeable as the people who come from it.
“That’s why we never finish telling our stories.”
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