Communicating the first venue change to the WhatsApp group, Kioko said the university had cancelled the memorial due to “accusations that Charlie Kirk was a racist”, which she urged members to “strongly and respectfully disagree with”.
She told the group: “Charlie Kirk was not a racist. He consistently advocated for conservative values, personal responsibility, family faith and the sanctity of life- values that transcend race. He worked alongside black leaders like Candace Owens…” Owens is an African-American far-right commentator and conspiracy theorist who was hired by Kirk’s non-profit organization, Turning Point, after allegations of racial bias, late 2017.
The event was then moved to the plaza, which is owned by a Catholic church, but that venue also pulled out, citing “harassment” of the host and security concerns after CNN journalist Larry Madowo posted about it on X, leading to hundreds of comments opposing the vigil. The event was also discussed on local radio, where it was further opposed and, in one instance, used as fodder for jokes.
Responding to openDemocracy’s questions, KCPF’s Kanjama dismissed the venue changes as a “logistical issue”. CitizenGo did not reply, while Pearls and Treasures’s founder, Aketch Aimba, said: “I’m not keen on doing any interviews”.
Saoyo described KCPF’s posting and deleting of posts as “rage-baiting”.
“You attempt to enrage people to bait them into your agenda and when it fails to work you quickly disassociate with the people doing the campaign,” she told openDemocracy over the phone.
She added that KCPF has done this before, recalling how its logo had been on posts advertising a 2023 protest calling for the resignation of Supreme Court judges who had passed a pro-queer ruling. Minutes after the protest ended, Saoyo said, KCPF deleted its posts, which had been online for at least two weeks, and later issued a statement claiming its logos had been used without its permission. “KCPF quickly change the script once they realise that this is not the viral they wanted to go,” she added.
Saoyo believes KCPF’s Western allies encouraged the organisation to commemorate Kirk in Nairobi. “For me, it reeks of mischief and alignment beyond that womb to tomb [ideology]. We don’t celebrate people based on just one value that aligns with us. The man, on several occasions, questioned Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, particularly for Black people and women.
Celebrating Kirk’s life, she added, “means that you believe in everything that he ever said. For me, it's a confirmation of the whitewashing. It’s a confirmation that their work is deeply connected to the anti-gender, anti-rights actors. It is also a confirmation that they don't think for themselves. These are instructions coming from someone else.”
This claim was dismissed by Kanjama, who said the life committee – which includes one Western collaborator, CitizenGo – wanted to hold the vigil.
Asked whether KCPF plans to uphold Kirk’s work in future, Kanjama said: “Individuals may be champions of our agenda, they may be victims of a culture of death, and so from time to time we might engage on issues involving different people. Not to become champions of one individual, and to the extent that any individual of any group supports the agenda of KCPF, then we uphold them. To the extent that they don’t support our agenda, we try to cancel them and encourage them to see the error of their ways.”
*The photographer of our lead photo asked to be anonymous, for fear of backlash.
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Linda Ngari is a Kenyan investigative journalist, skilled in OSINT and data journalism. Her work involves covering a variety of topics like mis/disinformation, reproductive rights, digital rights and climate change. Notably, she is a recipient of ICFJ’s Michael Elliott award and The Gaby Rado Newcomer award for her reporting about abortion rights in Kenya, as well as the AIPS and Media Council Sports Journalism awards for an open source investigation on a ponzi scheme targeting betting fans in Kenya.
