Bashir Abdullahi, MP for Mandera North, has come under fire for making controversial remarks about the BBC exposé on the faces behind Kenyan deaths at Parliament buildings during the 2024 anti-government protests.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, MP Bashir intimated that the documentary was done in bad taste and was “discriminatory”.
He further noted that Kenya has “moved on” from the deaths witnessed during the protests, and people should not be fixated on the matter.
“As much as we agree that our fellow Kenyans lost their lives, unfortunately, we also moved on to ensure that we reconcile the country as we move on,” he said.
“BBC World Service has attended to this matter in a way that also looked at the Kenyan society as something that [was] discriminatory. Our media stations also picked it up without questioning how BBC World Service aired the story. It happens world over, people are killed, our people were killed, we sympathised, we moved on.”
The legislator further argued that BBC was biased in their coverage of the protests, questioning why the media powerhouse did not cover similar protests that have happened in other countries.
“People were killed in the US at Capitol Hill, BBC World Service never took the opportunity to say something, It happened in London, they never said it,” he added.
His sentiments were met with harsh rebuttals from vexed Kenyans who questioned his reasoning over a sensitive national matter.
X user Jonathan Thuo wrote: “Injustices done in the full glare of the world will not be reduced to happenstance. THIS NEW GENERATION KEEPS SCORE! Eric was a person, with a family, with a life and dreams that could have been any of millions of sons and daughters who showed up the streets for their nation.”
IntelligenSam added: “I think your kids need to go through that so that we see how quick you and your wife will move on Mr. Bashir.”
Ougoign Introvert: “The caliber of politicians we have in Kenya is so disappointing. We definitely have the worst politicians in the world.”
On his part Enock Muriki said: “Irresponsible statement but what do you expect from the mpigs.”
The endless uproar has questioned the integrity of Parliamentary leadership.
MP Bashir’s statements followed those of his Dagoretti South counterpart John Kiarie who questioned BBC’s motive in tainting Kenya’s image.
Kiarie took issue with the documentary and wondered whether BBC purported to enforce the British agenda in Kenya.
“In media, the BBC is funded by taxpayers’ money in Britain, meaning that it is funded to push the foreign agenda internationally. We want to know if the BBC is speaking as a mouthpiece of the government and the people of Britain or what it is doing,” he stated.
The BBC report singled out police officers believed to have killed three protestors after analysing over 5,000 images to piece together the sequence of events on June 25, 2024.
It has since elicited debate in the past 24 hours, with the British broadcaster citing that Kenyan authorities have since blocked its screening at the Nairobi Cinema.
