Who was behind Kenyan Charlie Kirk vigils?

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A memorial for US right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk in Nairobi last month has sparked questions about the growing reach of American ultra-conservative movements abroad.

The vigil, organised by three Kenyan groups linked to global anti-rights networks, was lightly attended. Its organisers swiftly deleted their social media posts after the event.

FEATURED STORY

'We are all Charlie Kirk,' said Nairobi vigil's organisers. Kenyans disagreed

Linda Ngari

On 25 September, a memorial service was held in the Kenyan capital honouring Charlie Kirk, the American right-wing influencer and Donald Trump ally who had been assassinated at a rally in the US weeks earlier. The vigil itself was largely unremarkable and, based on video footage seen by openDemocracy, poorly attended. What was noteworthy about it, though, was that the social media posts promoting the event were quickly deleted after it took place.

The memorial appears to have been organised by three ultra-conservative organisations – the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum (KCPF), CitizenGo, and Pearls and Treasures – whose logos appear on the since-deleted X posts advertising it. The same groups were co-conveners – along with several US anti-rights groups – of a 'Family Values' conference held in Nairobi in May.

The first, KCPF, a profit-making company, according to Kenya's Business Registration Service, says it works to promote the "enhancement of family values in Kenya" and is perhaps best known for its annual anti-abortion 'March For Life' in Nairobi. CitizenGo, meanwhile, is a Spanish ultra-conservative online petition platform that advances anti-LGBTIQ+ and anti-abortion agendas. A 2019 investigation by openDemocracy revealed the organisation receives dark money from US and Russian allies. And Pearls and Treasures is a Kenyan crisis pregnancy centre that discourages women from having abortions.

The three organisations, KCPF chairman Charles Kanjama told openDemocracy, form the KCPF's "life committee" and are united in their belief for the sanctity of life from conception until natural death. The same belief led up to the Kirk memorial.

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"Charlie Kirk himself was a victim of a culture of death," said Kanjama. "He was brutally killed in public space while he was engaging college and university students. Among the issues he used to champion was the sanctity of life. So the fact that it was a high impact assasination, and the person who was assassinated used to champion the sanctity of life, and had fallen victim to people who were opposed to some of what he was doing, which was engaging through free speech, on the ideas that he valued, then the life committee felt that they should highlight the threat to life even though it was something not happening in Kenya."

In another deleted post on X, Ann Kioko (whose LinkedIn suggests she was CitizenGo's campaigns director for Africa until the end of last month) invited people to join a WhatsApp group to help plan the vigil. The group chat, which openDemocracy joined as part of this report, was called "To Honour the Memory and Legacy of Charlie Kirk" and its 55 members were encouraged to purchase T-shirts featuring Kirk's face and the slogan "We are all Charlie Kirk" for 1,000 Kenyan shillings (around $8).

While 55 people may have been in the group at the time of the vigil, videos later shared of the event suggest that fewer than 20 showed up.

"The awful numbers is to tell you that KCPF, CitizenGo and others have absolutely no pull in Kenya. And I'm saying this with a lot of confidence because they cannot mobilise more than a hundred people," said Tabitha Saoyo, a High Court lawyer and women's rights advocate.

The groups' struggle to appeal to Kenyans is further evidenced by the fact that two venues seemingly agreed to host their vigil for Kirk and subsequently pulled out after public outcry: the University of Nairobi and then Cardinal Otunga Plaza.

The organisers were ultimately forced to use a third location, a church, the location of which they asked the WhatsApp group members not to publicise.

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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.