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.
