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In an ongoing court case, the High Court of Kenya has suspended special diplomatic privileges and immunities granted to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its employees.
The privileges were granted by a government order gazetted in October. The negative consequences of this shocking order are far-reaching. They include the erosion of accountability, unequal treatment in the law, damage to national sovereignty, and the mockery of public transparency and participation.
Citing the undermining of the public interest and constitutional principles, the Law Society of Kenya is challenging the order in court. While the court case is ongoing, a judge has temporarily suspended the privileges and immunity granted by the order.
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In October, the Kenyan government granted the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (“BMGF”) special privileges as part of an agreement for cooperation. The privileges were also extended to the employees of the foundation.
On 4 October 2024, the Privileges and Immunities (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) Order, 2024, was gazetted in Kenya. The order, made on 19 September under the authority of the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, recognised BMGF as a charitable trust and granted BMGF privileges and immunities status in Kenya under the Privileges and Immunities Act.
BMGF was granted privileges similar to those of diplomatic officials and allowed the BMGF “to engage in contracts, legal actions and property transactions within the country” and granted the foundation “tax exemptions and immunity from legal actions related to their official duties,” leaving many Kenyans “with raised eyebrows,” media outlet Kenyans reported.
“The decision to extend diplomatic immunity has sparked widespread debate over accountability. Critics argue that the privileges shield the Foundation from legal scrutiny, setting a dangerous precedent,” Capital News reported.
On 11 November, the Law Society of Kenya filed a legal challenge against the government to have the special privileges recalled arguing that it undermines public interest and constitutional principles.
“In a letter, Kenyan High Court Advocate Dr. Owiso through Dullo & Company Advocates argued that granting privileges and immunities to private foundations, including their officials and expatriate employees, had implications on Kenya’s sovereignty,” The Kenya Times wrote.
On 25 November the High Court temporarily suspended BMGF’s special privileges and immunities status while the court case is ongoing.
In his ruling, Justice Bahati Mwamuye prohibited BMGF and its directors, officers, staff, and agents acting under its authority from enjoying or continuing to enjoy any privileges and immunities under the Privileges and Immunities Act. He warned that failure to heed the court orders will attract legal consequences.
The Law Society of Kenya has until 26 November 2024, to serve the application and petition to all respondents, while responses are due by 10 December 2024.
Justice Mwamuye also directed the respondents to collect and preserve all documentation related to the privileges granted to BMGF, to be included in their court responses.
The case will be mentioned on 5 February 2025, to confirm compliance and set a priority hearing date for the hearing of written submissions, The Eastleigh Voice reported.
In the meantime, not only will the Gates Foundation’s operations in Kenya almost inevitably now come under even greater scrutiny, but the broader implications of the ruling could well resonate far beyond the country’s borders, Dr. Rath Health Foundation said.
Meanwhile, on 15 November Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi attended the opening of BMGF’s office in Nairobi. The office will expand and enhance the Foundation’s work in healthcare, agriculture and ICT in Kenya, Tuko reported.
Sources for the above include:
- High Court halts immunity, privileges granted to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Eastleigh Voice, 25 November 2024
- Court Suspends Govt’s Immunity & Privileges for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kenyans, 25 November 2024
- High court suspends privileges granted to Gates Foundation amid legal dispute, Capital News, 25 November 2024
- Court stops exclusive privileges for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Kenya Times, 26 November 2024
- Blow for Bill Gates Foundation as High Court Suspends Immunities Issued by Kenyan Govt, Tuko, 25 November 2024
- High Court Strips Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of its Legal Immunities and Tax Exemptions in Kenya, Dr. Rath Health Foundation, 29 November 2024
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The following is an excerpt from The Defender’s article Kenya Temporarily Suspends Diplomatic Immunity for Gates Foundation written by Michael Nevradakis and published on 2 December 2024.
Gates ‘Holds Governments Ransom’
Dr. David Bell, a public health physician and senior scholar at the Brownstone Institute, said the High Court’s suspension “shows the Kenyan system is functioning as it should.”
“From the point of view of the average Kenyan citizen, granting immunity to a large collection of foreigners working for a private foundation … with financial interests in the drugs they are being told to take should be really alarming,” Bell said.
Shabnam Palesa Mohamed, executive director of Children’s Health Defense Africa and founder of the health advocacy organisation Transformative Health Justice, said Gates “operates from a position of immense financial wealth and thus political clout. Through using mechanisms of the carrot (funding) and the stick (withdrawal of funding), he holds governments ransom.”
Mohamed called the Kenyan government’s decision to offer the Gates Foundation immunity “horrifying” and said it shows “our governments are captured.”
She added: “The negative consequences of this shocking decision are far-reaching. They include the erosion of accountability, unequal treatment in the law, damage to national sovereignty, the mockery of public transparency and participation.”
Tim Hinchliffe, editor of The Sociable, said he believes Gates’ efforts to attain diplomatic immunity in countries like Kenya are connected to a profit motive.
“Wherever Gates goes, he stuffs his pockets under the guise of philanthropy while he sits back and collects his returns on investment, no matter the outcome,” Hinchliffe said.
“When you have that much wealth and power – when you have an organisation that contributes more to the annual WHO [World Health Organisation] budget than most nation-states – then you can buy your way into anything you want, including diplomatic immunity,” Hinchliffe said. “But, that immunity can only last so long.”
For other experts, Gates’ drive to attain diplomatic immunity is an effort to shield himself from legal consequences for his actions and those of the Gates Foundation.
Dr. Meryl Nass, founder of Door to Freedom, told The Defender, “It should be assumed that no one entity would seek such immunity unless they thought they might be at risk of legal penalties.”
Nass added: “Gates has been charged with many crimes, including for monopolistic business practices, for conducting a clinical trial involving girls in India that was associated with child deaths and lack of informed consent. He has certainly been accused of false advertising of agricultural products in India and Africa.”
Francis Boyle, JD, PhD, professor of international law at the University of Illinois, said, “It is pretty bizarre that they gave Gates privileges and immunities under their domestic legislation in the first place. Obviously, this was an attempt by Gates to shield himself and his accomplices from criminal prosecution and civil liability in Kenya.”
Gates is currently facing a lawsuit in The Netherlands filed by seven covid-19 vaccine injury victims, and faces legal challenges in at least one other country, India, for damages connected to the vaccines.
Gates Immunity In Kenya Sets ‘A Dangerous Precedent’
Mohamed told The Defender that granting immunity to Gates in Kenya creates diplomatic and economic pressures on other African countries to offer similar legal exemptions. She said:
Given Gates’ influence and the reach of his philanthropic initiatives across the continent, neighbouring countries might feel compelled to follow Kenya’s lead to attract or retain Gates’ investments and programmes, particularly in health, education, and agriculture. This could lead to a domino effect, where more African nations feel obligated to grant immunity.
This will undermine the autonomy of African countries over their legal systems and create a tier of foreign actors operating outside the jurisdiction of local laws, weakening governance and setting a precedent where exemptions are granted based on wealth or influence, rather than merit or need, posing risks to legal sovereignty and equitable governance across the continent.
Catherine Austin Fitts, founder and publisher of the Solari Report and former US assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said the immunity granted to the Gates Foundation is part of an ongoing trend in which major international organisations are granted such privileges. She said:
“Ever since we created a central bank with sovereign immunity in 1930 – the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) – we have seen the steady creation of international organisations that enjoy sovereign immunity, as well as international treaties that subvert national and local law,” Fitts said. “Not surprisingly this has been followed by the steady erosion of the rule of law and centralisation of ownership and wealth … allowing a handful of elites to make war on the population and take assets.”
In the case of the Gates Foundation, Fitts said she believes “granting diplomatic immunity to the Gates Foundation lowers the cost of the foundation prototyping complete control with digital ID while reducing their population with vaccines.”
According to a 2022 investigation by Corey Lynn, “The US has given 76 public international organisations immunities, privileges and tax exemptions dating back to 1946, just 10 years after BIS expanded its immunities with the Hague Convention of 1936.”
An organisation that enjoys such immunity is Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance – an international public-private partnership promoting vaccination, established in 1999 by the Gates Foundation. The foundation holds one of the four permanent seats on Gavi’s board and heavily funds the organisation to this day.
According to Lynn, “Almost immediately after World War II, Congress passed the International Organisations Immunities Act, which was signed into law on 29 December 1945. This established immunities, privileges, and tax exemptions for international organisations that might not be considered international organisations under the rules of international laws.”
Gates’ Involvement In Africa Involves Vaccines, Agriculture, Digital ID
Gates’ massive investment in Africa includes involvement in sectors such as agriculture, public health and more recently, digital IDs in Kenya.
In October, Business Daily Africa reported that the Gates Foundation will advise Kenya on the rollout of Maisha Namba, a new digital ID system. According to Reclaim the Net, “The plan envisages every newborn being assigned a Maisha Namba, which stays with them throughout their life.”
Many of the Gates Foundation’s investments in African agriculture are funded through the Nairobi-based AGRA, previously known as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. The foundation is AGRA’s co-founder and biggest donor.
Gates/AGRA’s practices have been criticised by human rights and environmental groups – and by some African farmers, who accused the Gates Foundation of “playing God” and using “its enormous political and monetary influence to crowd out alternative ideas.” Research has shown that AGRA-supported initiatives have failed, sometimes leading to increased hunger.
The Gates Foundation’s activities in Africa also include the development and distribution of vaccines, a programme to implement mass circumcision in Swaziland and Zambia to curb the transmission of HIV and the “Target Malaria” project, which has proposed ending malaria by introducing genetically modified, or GMO mosquitoes.
According to Mohamed, “The Gates Foundation funds university programmes and, in doing so, influences the policies and the programmes’ direction.” The Gates Foundation and the European Union have invested over $100 million to establish an African drugs regulator.
Addressing opposition to Gates’ plans in Kenya, Hinchliffe said, “As we have seen time and again, when the people begin to wake up and rise up against injustice, that type of diplomatic immunity begins to disappear rather quickly.”
“If the Gates Foundation is granted immunity again, to me, that would be a red flag of massive corruption.”
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Categories: Breaking News, World News
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Gate’s should be suspended….from a short rope!
Hang the felon while the goings good before anyone can raise an objection lmao-I doubt the ex missus will mind.
this article gave me a really BIG smile. ty…Gates must go.
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