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Saturday, October 25, 2008

WAKI Report: The Perpetrators of the Ethnic Skirmishes must be brought to Book

Guest Post by Mwalimu Peter M. N. Ngugi


The fact that the findings of the Waki team have revealed some very incriminating evidence against leaders in both PNU and ODM, is a very clear indicator that the mayhem that engulfed Kenya early this year was meticulously planned by the rich political and business elite. And as the saying goes, ‘The guilty ones are always afraid’. This explains why some politicians are in an inexpressible state of panic while others have in no uncertain terms trashed the Waki report.

In as much as it is important to forget the past and think of how best to ‘build a New Kenya’ , it is also imperative that we bring to book both the financers and the perpetrators of the atrocious acts for, if we let them go scot free, that would be tantamount to sowing seeds of impunity. It is no doubt that gross crimes against humanity were committed and all the people who aided and abetted the murderers, regardless of their stations in life, must be tried by an International Tribunal.

Every right thinking kenyan should therefore call upon President Kibaki and Premier Raila not to allow the tempering of justice with forgiveness. Everyone must carry their own cross. We must not allow ourselves to be blinded by barbarism and stupid ethnicity. It is high time that we accepted that Kenya is a multi cultural society and that the basic tenets of true Kenyanness lies not in our tribes but in our resolve to invalidate all stupid value systems that are aimed at dividing us along tribal lines. It is time that we understood that our Luoness, Kambaness, Turkananess or Mijikendaness is nothing but a biological accident for, nobody, even the high and mighty sent a telegram or an sms to the Creator asking Him to create them in this or that tribe.

Folks, we must not allow the barbaric philosophies of politicians to fill our heads with negative ethnicity, abhorrence and bloody pettiness. We must understand that politicians play the tribal card to their advantage and not for the benefit of the poor youths who kill and maim at their behest. I would like to pose this sixty four thousand dollar question to all Kenyans: What have we got to show for our barbaric acts? The whole world had held us in such high esteem and we were all proud to be called ‘Kenyans’ before all the hell broke loose. Now, when incidents of utter stupidity and unfathomable barbarism are mentioned anywhere in the world, the Kenyans in diaspora bow their heads in shame as the ethnic cleansing in Kenya is cited as one of the most barbarous and unfortunate incidents to have happened in a civilized country. Fellow countrymen and women, are the people who visited terror on their innocent neighbours not poorer than they were last year? What about the politicians? Has any one of them gone to bed hungry? So, we are fools, aren’t we? If we are not bloody fools, tell me folks, why then did we arm ourselves with all manner of crude weapons and went on the rampage just because some sick barbarians told us to do so? It is an open secret that our blood is sweeter than honey to the politicians who ‘drink’ it and we must say an emphatic “no” to politics of barbarism and blood letting.

It goes without saying that the effects of the post election violence on the economy of this country are unfathomable. Schools, hospitals, roads and railways and farms were destroyed and money that would have been put into better use has to be used to try and clear the mess. How then can we say that these people should be forgiven? If these shameless people are not made to account for their acts, tribal skirmishes will become the norm rather than the exception. We must not allow forgiveness to entrench impunity! The verdict is out; all the murderers and their political godfathers must be tried and punished for their sins.

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33 comments:

  1. it wont happen, kibaki will deckare amnesty for all :)

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  2. All criminals should be brought to books!!!!!!!!!!

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  3. OMG - Chris has let one of the Kabila Adui post something here! whats the world coming to! what
    were you thinking Chris? and what will your rabid pack of kikuyu phobics think of it?

    Justice is when some odm thug is cutting some child's private part with a panga to widen it enough to allow them to rape her more easily. thats democracy ODM style.

    Am sure a lot of ODmorons who populate this site are wanking to that paragraph in the Waki report. Ama aje Taabu?

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  4. AMNESTY FOR ALL !!

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  5. great post mwalimu but unfortunately wrong blog. the reasoning and thinking here is beyond them. here they only know Okuyo, raila and kabila adui.

    Like swine in the trough, their minds are only big enough to acccomodate that. Anything else is gibberish. Ebu wait and see the responses

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  6. Mwalimu, good post but sorry not here!
    you wait for the cry babies in the likes of Phil, Kalamari, Taabu, Urxlnc ...
    complaints will come from all side that okuyos are trying to hijack Kumekucha.
    If you don't know kumekucha is anti-kikuyus. wrong place at the right time perhaps?

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  7. It could not have been said any better. And those casting aspersions to this post...that it will be watered down, dream on. I know we can disagree without being disagreeable. We should learn to be "Kenyans" first then Kikuyu, Kamba, Luo, Luhyia etc second. We have sober and great people from across the language divide...its these evil politicians all schooled in the school of thought of Moi and Nyayo that we has really let us down.

    I think the worst tragedy to have befallen Kenya was being bequethed Kenyatta and Moi as our first and second presidents respectively. Coupled with a useless constitution..we were staring at disaster. You see if these two leaders wanted and truely had Kenya at their hearts....impunity will never have been entenched in Kenya.

    If the perpetrators of post election violence are not brought to book, Kenyans should be ready to do a citizens arrest on both Kibaki and Raila....yes its gone that far.

    And folks lets be honest....do you guys think that had Kibs not stolen the vote, would there have been this kind of violence? I am asking this since many people, even Waki suggests that it was premeditated.

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  8. Hi Ritch, long time bro, welcome back with such fire in your belly!

    Kenyans let us demand that by necessity nyone holding any sort of position that bears the hallmarks of authority and responsibility should be ready to sacrifice themselves as individuals first for the sake of their country and second for the greater good
    As Mwalimu Ngugi has pointed out tribe is not the issue but it has been made to be so by the despicable acts of a few individuals within whatever grouping that tribe may fall under, in particular the prominent representatives of those communities who try and pass off the sullying of their reputation as a blanket condemnation of their respective ethnic groups
    Never before in the history of our nation has there been such a need for us to literally grab the bull by the horns and tell ALL leaders(guilty OR NOT) that the time has come for them to shut up and listen to us for a change
    If we trash the Waki report RECOMMENDATIONS(i am not very interested in the report itself) then we only have ourselves to blame when the trajectory of this country goes further of-course and we end up burning in flames that can never be reversed
    I would start with the President and PM-BOTH need to come out openly and seek to make reconcile themselves with the people of this country in whose eyes they have lost almost all credibility except for amongst their supporters who engage in hero worship
    Parliament should then move to do the same and re-engage themselves with their constitutents who by and large have lost faith that their MPs have their best interests at heart
    Last but not least a new constitution in which no one is above the law should be enacted within the current life of this coalition government so that action can back up the talk and promises made otherwise we are making alot of empty noise and going round in circles like a monkey smoking opium

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  9. Ngugi/Ritch,
    Nice post and spot on. But that said TALK IS CHEAP and did you say:

    ........The whole world had held us in such high esteem and we were all proud to be called ‘Kenyans’ before all the hell broke loose....

    That is living a coloured lie Kenyan style. This country has been teterring in the brink of.....only held together by deceptive gimmicks. Kenyans know what they want and if you are honest flash back to 2002 (yes that year weak minds woulg wish to hate with passion).

    Those casting aspersion on what anybody else will say is only symptomatic of practiners of reverse logic-pre-empting rebuke premised on fear of the unknown. Honesty in one rare virtue these shores of ours. In the pretext of protecting status quo we arm ourselves verbally to slay the invincible enemy.

    Waki did a splendid job but did he tell us anything new? Before you chorus nay ama aye look hard enough and see that it is the LACK OF WILL to confront challlenges that is making us so vulrenable and delicately cling to to any ray of distant hope. The problem is us and the murderers in 1992/97 were no less, or am I missing anything?

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  10. Mwalimu,

    That was a great post. We need Kenyans who reason and act beyond tribe in this post. You are one of them. Njaa, Ujinga na Ugonjwa haujui Kabila.

    --
    Taabu, ndugu yangu - Why double speak? The post is spot on, the next minute is just mere talk!
    --

    If you planned, funded, killed and maimed - and you are either in Annans envelope or not - your day of reckoning is coming sooner than later. Kenya of 2008 is different from 2008 - my friends. Its payback time.

    Mzee wa kijiji

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  11. I agree with this message!

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  12. great post ritch/ngugi

    next step as many others have intimated remove the "us vs them" (ODM/PNU, govt/opposition, poor/rich, entrepreneur/lazy, tribe a/tribe b and any other) and replace this with removing the criminally insane from out midst and then resume or continue evaluation of our political opinions and policies.

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  13. Mwalimu Ngugi and Ritch,

    Thanks, this is a an excellent post. However, I do not agree with you using the word "skirmishes".
    I get really flabbergasted when people call December post election violence skirmishes.
    Either people don't understand what skirmishes are, or they are trying to play down the seriousness of what happened.
    What happened was an act of genocide, ethnic cleansing on grand scale, cocktailed with anarchism and yobbish thuggery that has no place in a modern world.
    It's something that should make any civilised positive minded Kenyan ashamed to have come from Kenya. The whole world watched gobsmasked at the level of our stupidity and imprudence despite kidding ourselves we are educated.
    I think we should blame it on our culture of idol worshipping where politicians are seen as a cult figures. And thus, some people feels if their idol is denied power, the only way is to use violence.

    Of course, I agree 110% all perpetrators, inciters and financiers of post election violence MUST be made accountable for their crimes. (I have no doubt they will be) But, I think we should go further and deal with past delinquencies which has been breeding successfully in the name of impunity.
    That's why you see those RV Mps behaving like a cat on a hot tin roof (jittery), because they have managed to get away with murders in the past.

    But my hopes are very high this time round, no-one will be able to escape justice. Kenya will be again under intense scrutiny internationally to bring those implicated with acts of genocide to books. And justice will no longer be the Holy Grail this time! Mark my words.

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  14. Fabulous post, but very cautious and uncontroversial.
    Funny how the Bumpkin's name escapes mention, yet even the dumbest dumbass can outline and illustrate the MAJOR role he played. A travesty, indeed!
    If the proven longstanding prince of violence,thuggery and darkness in Kenya is not brought to justice for the murder and mayhem he incited and inspired, then it all loses meaning--might as well go ahead and grant amnesty to his fellow murderers, rapists and arsonists. I figure that's why Emilio is talking amnesty, himself a rather clean chap on whom much unjustified garbage is heaped. Very sad.
    Kwale: right on....dunno the meaning of yobbish, but sounz bad, must be bad. Bumpkin's middle name that we dont know.

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  15. 2:48 AM

    My friend the balls starts and ends with the person who started it all at the statehouse meetings with his mungiki foot soldiers even before the kenyans cast their votes

    "EMILIO KIBAKI" to add and his cronies who attended this meetings! directly from mungiki's mouth!! martha Karua, Muchuki, Uhuru, Karume, Kabondo wa kabondo, Njenga, Saitoti and more..
    This are the criminals who planned before the election winner was announced to be the rigging thieving Kibaki.. Yes everyone must carry their own cross and the biggest cross is for the fellows above... they must pay dearly

    We want HAGUE!!

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  16. "A tale of one election, two judges and violence"
    AHMEDNASIR ABDULLAHI takes a critical look at the Kriegler and Waki reports, and concludes the latter failed to see beyond the smell of gunpowder and burning tyres.
    http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1143997885&cid=4&

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  17. We are in denial.

    Politics is just an excuse just as land is. In the Waki Report, one woman testified that while being raped the men uttered words to the effect: "let us have have her now since she never talks to us." That has nothing to do with politics.

    Politicians are not the problem. I know not of a politician with enough influence to make men turn on their neighbors with machetes, hacking their heads, raping children and setting churches ablaze. No amount of political anger could have accumulated during the 5 years of Kibaki to make men toss a child back into a burning building while setting the mother free to live through the agony. IT IS NOT POLITICS.

    It is not just politics. the years 92, 97 and 2007 only have one constant...VIOLENCE targetting one tribe, yet the politics have not remained static during these years; parties have changed, individuals of influence have come and gone.

    We can blame Ruto today just as we blamed Moi and Biwott in 92 and 97 but 10 years from now the cycle will still be in full perpetual motions, unless something is done to stop it now.

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  18. No Amnesty!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7688505.stm

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  19. Ritch/Ngugi,

    Secret dossier that may nail key suspects;

    http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/483958/-/tlh5gv/-/index.html

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  20. CAN THIS BUMPKIN MAKE UP HIS MIND???
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7409188.stm

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  21. Chris,
    Watch out you are next!
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7686119.stm

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  22. THIS GUY SPEAKS FACTS FOR ALL THOSE DIASPORA MEMBERS ON HERE SHAME SHAME:) i SEE MANY OF YOU BEHAVING THE SAME ON HERE.... CUT THE CRAP...



    Strange ways of Diaspora returnees

    Updated 11 hr(s) 32 min(s) ago
    Standard newspaper
    By John K Kariuki

    Every time some Kenyans come back from abroad, expect some comedy. Suddenly they have forgotten directions and their mother tongue and need local guides and interpreters to find their way around. And as a village teacher who is slightly literate, I have had the privilege of acting interpreter to some returnees.

    "Tell Mom that my system cannot handle this kind of food." I translated this with relish, implying that everybody should know the dangers of some local vegetables that the chap and I had been brought up on.

    In my social roving, I see many returnees wearing dark sunglasses irrespective of the weather. Perhaps they are winter guys and girls, used to the glare of snow in their adopted countries.

    Some of them often demand alien things in the average Kenyan cafÈ like milk shakes, pizzas, herbal tea, hot dogs and diet coke, to the bewilderment of all within earshot.

    And they often ask prices in dollars or euros, if you are able to decipher their accents.

    And have you noted that their gestures and body cues are frequently western to a fault? When talking to us they keep a wide personal distance that can be misconstrued as antisocial to our African sensitivities.

    The men are given to a little pomp when shaking hands and hugging. The women often shake off dreads or imaginary hair from their foreheads, just like wazungu.

    Oh gawd!

    Our brothers and sisters coming from abroad are always amazed by small things, like birds and insect and issue a stream of dizzying words to express their appreciation.

    "Oh Gawd (God) how beautiful, splendid, cool, terrific! Absolutely!"

    When these people bring their children along, they often confound their local kin with a totally foreign style of parenting.

    For we have to quickly incorporate these brats’ interruption of adult conversations.

    "Dad, this woman looks so black and old," a brat may say about his grandmother.

    And as often happens in such situations, everybody pretends not to have heard.

    The children may take fright at the sight of cows and shenzi chicken and question the wisdom of coming this far in the jungles.

    "Let’s go back home, dad!"

    Some returnees may have left as shy village boys and girls on scholarships or green cards but they come back strutting, boisterous, and full of democracy and civil rights. They bring a strange rowdiness with them, commenting on every issue.

    Binoculars

    "This cannot happen in America, man!" They preface all their complaints this way when vehicles stall in traffic jams or local functions take too long to start.

    Comically, they may demand a lawyer at every minor brush with the police.

    People are often amazed at how quickly they have forgotten our old and frequently chaotic ways.

    At social functions, these people are often annoying as they suggest solutions to all of Africa’s problems.

    "I have seen many community based projects in Adelaide, British Columbia and Cardiff," they will often say and outline novel development agendas. But they are nowhere to be seen when the time comes to donate money and take action.

    In my social wandering, I often gather many anecdotes of how some Kenyans living abroad take incredulity to new levels by staying in five star hotels in Nairobi when they visit.

    So, their rural kin adorn matatus with banana twigs and journey there to meet them, singing: "Anaweza Bwana anaweza...."

    Others hire 4WD vehicles, hung binoculars and video cameras around their necks, stash mineral water bottles in their pockets and venture to their rural homes in daylight.

    But they are back in urban centres for the night long before our witches and night runners come out. Yet many Kenyans living abroad venture back to the village quietly, with no trumpets blaring.

    As I sign off to gather more social comedy, please cut out the concert when you return from abroad; you are not from heaven, yet. Absolutely, man!

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  23. Anon3:07 PM

    You fool why are you posting here a may article?? didn't the central province block reject his call???

    tell your Kibaki murderer no amnesty for him and his cronies... Hague will be their retiring home.. shenzi sana...

    KIBAKI HEAR LOUD AND CLEAR THE TRUTH IS OUT YOU MURDERER NO AMNESTY FOR YOU AND YOUR KILLER SOLDIERS.

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  24. anon3:22 PM

    wewe Mpumbavu sana...

    Are you threatening Chris with the Nigeria bloggers article??? you kikuyu shiate you still think the Kibaki murderer can kill or imprison innocent kenyans and execute others like the mungiki youth who are stupid enough to allow him to kill them?? and they are from his own tribe?

    My friend those days are gone when Kibaki send people to threaten and kill- look around you!!Kibaki is heading for Hague and you my friend if you know what is good for you! remove your threats from here.. hacking your IP address and getting hold of you ain't a big deal... mpumbavu wewe. do not threaten Chris here.. he has enough friends to protect him. wewe jaribu.

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  25. FROM JUKWAA THIS MAKES SENSE!!!!


    The Ramifications of the Waki Report
    « Thread Started Yesterday at 10:31am »
    A Digital Essay by Onyango Oloo in Nairobi


    * The writer is also the Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party of Kenya

    **2nd Draft uploaded at 9:17 pm East African Standard Time, 25/10/08

    ***First posted online at 10:31 am East African Standard Time, Saturday, October 25th, 2008


    1.0. Information Technology Facilitates Democracy

    Unlike its timid and cowardly Kriegler cousin, the Waki Report on Post Election Violence has proved to be a bombshell, mainly because it did not pull any punches and went ahead to give a historical and political context to the violence; the coup de grace was the list of alleged perpetrators which was sealed in an envelope before being handed over to President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila and former UN chief Kofi Annan.

    It speaks volumes of how much Kenya has changed when we consider the fact that the bulk of the 529 page report was posted online within seconds of being released.

    Not too long ago (remember the Artur saga of 2006?) a report of that magnitude and far reaching implications would have been delivered only to the President who would then proceed to promptly suppress it.

    I have been informed by reliable sources very close to the entourage of Kofi Annan that it was the distinguished and widely respected Ghanaian who insisted on making the report public.

    He has gone on record, in a recent interview with the BBC, to call for the prosecution of the main alleged perpetrators of the post election violence- directly contradicting President Mwai Kibaki's cowardly and mealy mouthed suggestion, echoing Mzee Kenyatta, to forget the post election violent atrocities and forgive the notorious perpetrators who contributed directly to the deaths of almost two thousand Kenyans and thousands more of maimed and injured victims/survivors.

    We must commend the Kenyan media-especially the print fraternity, particularly the Nation and Standard media houses for being bold enough to serialize/paraphrase the report and circulate it widely across the country to make it accessible to those who can not afford to go to the internet to download the bulky PDF file of the entire Waki report (sans the "secret list" of course).

    2.0. Secret List Unleashes Diarrhea Epidemic Among Kenyan Political Elites

    And speaking of that "secret" list, we already have at least two versions of the alleged perpetrators doing the rounds in the public domain here in Kenya and in the virtual world of cyberspace.

    In its October 20th-26th 2008 edition, the Nairobi-based political tabloid Weekly Citizen has a screaming front page headline,

    Warlords: Big names in the Waki Report

    accompanied by pictures of William Ruto, Francis Muthaura, Anyang Nyong'o, Uhuru Kenyatta, Chris Okemo, Simeon Nyachae, Henry Kosgey, John Michuki, Kipkalia Kones, Njenga Karume, William Ole Ntimama, Kabando wa Kabando, Jimnah Mbaru, Chris Kirubi and Maina Kamanda.

    In the main article on page two of the same issue, it goes on to finger Franklin Bett, Stephen Koros, Jackson Kibor, George Thuo, Viscount Kimathi, David Mwenje, Hussein Ali, AP boss Kinuthia Mbugua among others. Given the fact that Weekly Citizen now has a Kenya-wide distribution outlet (I saw it Garissa late last week) the revelations have a devastating impact in a nation where such explosive exposes were promptly censored and suppressed by the notorious Special Branch, the predecessor of the National Security Intelligence Service.

    More recently, the ever audacious Kumekucha Blog reproduced a list of perpetrators drawn from the embargoed Kenya National Commission on Human Rights report, On the Brink of the Precipice: A Human Rights Account of Kenya's Post-Election Violence, embargoed by the order of the Waki Commission.

    That section of the KNHCR report entitled Annex One: Schedule of Alleged Perpetrators is available in full from the ever useful Wiki Leaks website:

    http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Kenyan_Election_Violence_Alleged_Perpetrators_2008

    as a PDF document consisting of the photocopied section.

    Wiki Leaks allows anyone in the world with an internet connection to leak any secret document online for a global viewer ship. This is one of the most effective blows against dictators and truth suppressors around the world. Of course one has to judge every document "leaked" on its own idiosyncratic merits.

    I am one of the thousands of people around the world who have feverishly and frantically downloaded and printed that annex so I can have the pleasure of sharing with you the cautionary statement from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights that prefaces that list:


    The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights recognizes the existence of the culture of impunity in Kenya and the need to remove this shield...In this section, we provide a list of alleged perpetrators, who were mentioned by interviewees as having played a role in the perpetration of the post election violence. This list is not comprehensive and does not present a complete picture of all who may have been involved. It makes mention of various alleged perpetrators and includes some background information on them, and the allegation(s) and information supporting the allegation(s) which the National Commission believes provides a basis and good starting point for investigations.

    Every effort has been made to ensure that the information supporting the adverse mentions reaches a threshold that had been agreed to. The National Commission is not making any conclusions that the persons mentioned here are guilty; this is presented in the effort to remain faithful to hundreds of Kenyans who provided this information which we expect that the relevant agencies will further investigate.

    On many occasions unsuccessful efforts were made to contact those mentioned. In particular, given that this was election related violence, the Commission sent out letters to all the members of parliament, which however elicited very few responses.

    The list was subjected to review by independent persons at the different stages of compiling the report including by the staff and commissioners as well as by national experts contracted by the National Commission to review the report and critique the same.



    That caveat from the KNHCR is very important in my view because it clearly states that the National Commission is NOT imputing guilt or innocence on any of the ALLEGED perpetrators no matter how high their profile might be on the national political scene.

    The list itself consists of 219 GROUPS of names drawn from all over Kenya and cutting across the ODM/PNU political divide.

    Surprisingly, the very first name on the list is the late Lorna Laboso the former MP for Sotik.

    Her name accompanies that of the late Kipkalia Kones and David Too.

    To serious Kenyan political conspiracy theorists out there, the inclusion of the trio furnishes one more motive for the deaths of the three at the hands of their vengeful opponents.

    Not too surprisingly, given the back and forth polemics between the warring partners in the fractious Grand Coalition, big guns from the ODM and PNU are also on the KNHCR list of alleged perpetrators:

    William Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta, Henry Kosgey, Njenga Karume, Franklin Bett, Jane Kihara, Stanley Githunguri, Chris Okemo, Sally Kosgei, Mary Wambui, Fred Kapondi, Kabando wa Kabando, Omondi Anyanga, David Manyara, Elizabeth Ongoro, Peter Mwathi, William Ole Ntimama and Muigai Njoroge (a musician who composed a derogatory song insinuating that Raila Odinga is a power hungry murderer and also referred to members of the Luo community as lazy) to mention just a few.

    What is shocking is that President Mwai Kibaki does not feature anywhere in the KNHCR list even though he was in fact, the chief perpetrator of the post election violence having used the state bureaucracy and the security organs to stage a civilian coup on December 30, 2007 upon realizing that Raila Amolo Odinga had won the Presidential elections.

    Given the radio active contents of the KNHCR list-which may or may not be synonymous with the names in the dreaded sealed envelope that Judge Waki handed to the two principals plus Dr Annan-it was inevitable for the mainstream political players in PNU and ODM to scurry and hurry to scuttle the Waki report and its far reaching recommendations.

    Before I comment further, let me state at the outset that I had a very personal relationship with the list that the KNCHR compiled. I was one of the interviewees way back in January 2008.

    I walked into the offices of KNHCR at CVS Plaza in the Kilimani area of Nairobi accompanied my brother in law who is married to my youngest sister.

    His younger brother happened to be the young man who was captured by KTN cameras being executed in cold blood by a policeman in Kisumu.

    So I am directly responsible for the appearance of Kirui as alleged perpetrator Number 46 in KNHCR schedule of alleged perpetrators.

    I therefore understand how other names could have appeared on that list.

    You went in (or the KNHCR came to you, depending on the circumstances) gave your testimony to the Commission's investigators who meticulously took down your story and compiled it with the others and like they said in their cautionary statement made attempts to verify the veracity of your claims.


    3.0. Mwai Kibaki and the Culture of Impunity

    A day after the Akiwumi Commission released its report (way back on October 22nd 2002) the then NARC Presidential candidate and MP for Othaya Mwai Kibaki called upon Kenyans to forget the past.

    On Kenyatta Day, 2008 (almost exactly six years later) the same PNU President Kibaki was urging Kenyans to forgive those people mentioned adversely in the Kriegler and Waki reports.

    Mwai Kibaki was part of the first neo-colonial government of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta which forgot the colonial atrocities and forgave the white settlers for their racist exploitation and oppression of the Kenyan people. He stayed in that regime through the political assassinations of Tom Mboya and JM Kariuki.

    Mwai Kibaki was President Daniel arap Moi's deputyor member of the cabinet when the KANU regime was throttling our democratic rights, killing people like Robert Ouko not to mention rail roading hundreds of Kenyans to maximum penitentiaries on trumped up charges.

    Even as the leader of the Official Opposition in the 1990s Kibaki barely lifted a finger when Kenyans were being massacred and ethnically cleansed in many parts of the country to suit Daniel arap Moi's sadistic and dictatorial survival politics.

    It is surreal that it is to this cynical opportunistic septuagenarian with blood all over his body and guilt all over the remnants of his conscience that Kenyans as well as the international community are looking to for LEADERSHIP in ending the culture of impunity in Kenya.

    It is a bit like expecting a life long cannibal to transmogrify overnight into a die hard vegan or vegetarian!

    [b]4.0. Raila Odinga Should Transcend Palace Politics

    I respect Raila Amolo Odinga a great deal and have supported him consistently for almost thirty years now-albeit with my usual critical lens. I am definitely not one of the rabid zealots who have elevated him to semi-deity status, but having been in Kamiti at the same time as the Prime Minister, shared the travails of exile when he was briefly in exile in the 1990s and shared similar democratic aspirations during the long night of the Moi-KANU reign of terror I do firmly believe we remain kindred souls committed to a more democratic, a more peaceful, a more egalitarian and definitely a more prosperous Kenya in the 21st century.

    On December 27, 2007 millions of Kenyans chose Raila Odinga as the fourth President of the Republic of Kenya. Kibaki and his PNU cronies then went ahead to deny those millions of Kenyans (especially the poor and the marginalized) of their democratic choice expressed peacefully in the polling booths.

    Raila surprised his political detractors by the magnanimity, sobriety and spirit of compromise with which he helped to broker the National Accord that ended the violent post election impasse.

    On the other hand, he also surprised some of us who were in his political camp and did not expect the usually resilient Agwambo to cave in so quickly to some of PNU's impossible demands- especially when it came to the power sharing agreement.

    We were also disappointed somewhat at the speed with which he appeared to embrace the nefarious US led Western imperialist machinations in keeping a stranglehold of political control over the sovereign affairs of this nation.

    Further, I wish Raila, as the Party Leader of the Orange Democratic Movement would have been firmer in enforcing internal discipline in the country’s largest and most popular political party.

    At the risk of sounding Stalinist, if I were him, I would have long seen to it that the ODM relevant structures expelled the likes of Ababu Namwamba, Isaac Ruto and others of their opportunistic ilk.

    I would not have countenanced the emergence and consolidation of ethnic and regional factions that is now threatening to tear ODM along Kalenjin, Luhya, Luo, Muslim and Coastal fissures.

    More than that, I would have discouraged the kind of palace politics that makes ODM politicians indistinguishable from their PNU and ODM-K counterparts.

    My main beef with Raila Odinga however seems to be the alacrity with which he seems to have resigned himself to "inevitability" of the Grand Coalition lasting until 2012.

    When the National Accord was signed at the end of February 2008, some of us who critically supported him (while remaining like myself in our respective political parties outside ODM) expected that the Grand Coalition would be a TRANSITIONAL, an interim arrangement with a very specific shelf life, expiring the moment that the people of Kenya had promulgated a new DEMOCRATIC constitution which would in turn automatically lead us to fresh presidential, parliamentary and civic elections to usher in the New Kenya.

    If one becomes too wedded to the so called "inevitability" of a Grand Coalition government that puts together the people who lost the election and the people who won it, then both factions are urinating on the collective democratic rights of the Kenyan people.

    I mention this here because part of the dilemma facing Raila Odinga at the moment is not to be seen as the spoilsport who engineered the collapse of the Grand Coalition.

    This dilemma is tying up Raila Odinga's hands when it comes to being decisive in pursuing the perpetrators who helped to rob him of his Presidential victory and caused the death of thousands of Kenyans in the process.

    This same dilemma also forces him to play complex games of political poker with some of ODM colleagues who may or may not have been implicated in the planning of the post-election violence.

    5.0. William Ruto, Henry Kosgei and Rift Valley MPs Should EMBRACE the Waki Report

    If I were William Ruto, I would be the first person to VOLUNTEER to appear before the Special Tribunal.

    Why?

    Because the "evidence" against the Eldoret MP is so shoddy, anecdotal, rumour/innuendo-based and wafer slim.

    Take for instance the "allegations" against William Samoei Ruto in KNHCR’s Annex of Alleged Perpetrators:


    Quote:
    "...in August 2007 he held a meeting with other senior ODM leaders in Kipkelion near Kericho including Sotik MP the late Lorna Laboso, the late Kipkalia Kones...Kiprono LJ Magerer and Franklin Bett where the leaders resolved to carry out mass evictions of non-Kalenjins from 'their' Rift Valley areas, particularly the Kikuyus and Abagusii. During an opening ceremony for the Seventh Day Adventist Church in a place called Mailing, he is alleged to have said that they would uproot the "sangari" "shake off the soil" "gather it together" and "burn it" in reference to "outsider communities" etc etc...


    Now let us give these allegations a reality check.

    The 2007 election campaign was one of the most eagerly, avidly and widely covered political events in Kenyan history. William Ruto had already been assigned the role of Lucifer aka Obel Sibuth by ODM’s PNU opponents.

    It is simply inconceivable that William Ruto would have uttered the words ascribed to him without any of the leading pro PNU media organs- KBC, the Nation Media Group or the People, not to speak of the Royal Media stable not to loudly repeat these allegations on the radio, on television or on the front pages of the daily newspapers.

    One of the reasons I was surprised to see Lorna Lobaso's name topping the list of alleged perpetrators was the justification for her inclusion:


    Quote:

    On the third week of January 2008, she attended a purported peace meeting at Manaret Society and incited the local community after which a vicious attack against the Kisiis was instead intensified. Together with Franklin Bett they talked to and incited about 700 youths at the Sotik Tea Estate and immediately they left the youths began to burn houses belonging to Kisiis.


    My own memory of both events comes out with a diametrically opposed account.

    Lorna Lobaso was among several Rift Valley MPs who went out of their way to preach peace and reconciliation at the height of the post-election violence.

    It is rather Orwellian Newspeak to turn those peace exhortations on their head and accuse her of incitement. It is also rather CONVENIENT to "promote" Lorna (and by extension David Too of Ainamoi and Kipkalia Kones of Bomet) to the top of the list when she is dead and can no longer defend herself.

    By the same rationale used to crucify Lorna, what are we to make of the fact that when Mwai Kibaki went to address a similar peace rally in the Rift Valley at around the same period, several homes were torched live on television literally in front of and behind the President as he spoke? Was he somehow sending coded messages to the arsonists to loot and burn?

    The allegations against Henry and Sally Kosgey and other Kalenjin politicians accused of "funding the violence" border on the incredulous and have a heavy burden of proof which goes beyond hear say.

    If I were any of them, I would sleep quite soundly if this was the ONLY BASIS of placing them on the odious list of alleged perpetrators.

    The fact of the matter is that neither William Ruto, Franklin Bett, Henry Kosgey nor other top Rift Valley ODM politicians had ANY significant control or influence over the marauding raiders who targeted members of the Agikuyu and Abagusii communities in the RVP in the aftermath of the bitterly contested Presidential results.

    My sources in this region intimate that the organizers of the so called Kalenjin Warriors- just like the Mau Mau leaders vis a vis the KAU leaders of the 1950s- are completely autonomously from the Rutos, the Betts, the Kosgeys, the Toos and the Lobasos.


    6.0. Uhuru Kenyatta is the Biggest Casualty in the PNU Camp

    Many of the prominent politicians and business people from Central and Mount Kenya listed in the annex of alleged perpetrators were fingered by "their own" meaning that there were more than enough Kenyans from the Agikuyu, Meru, Embu and affiliated communities who refused the diktat of being loyal to the larger GEMA laager and completely dissociated themselves from individuals who were whipping ethnic hatred, organizing tribal carnage and recruiting gangsters for mass murder.

    Some of these patriots like Muthoni Wanyeki, Maina Kiai, Njeri Kabeberi, Ndungu Wainaina, David Ndii and others found themselves on a menacing intra-ethnic Death List drawn up by a shadowy group calling itself the Thagicu Liberation Movement, an outfit committed to a "renaissance" of the GEMA community in a revitalized alliance with the Abagusii and the Kamba.

    I know of one young Gikuyu man who was spirited out of the country by Kenyans for Peace, Truth and Justice after he blew the whistle on a meeting held at State House on December 26, 2007 featuring representatives of Mungiki to plan attacks on communities deemed hostile to Kibaki and PNU.

    When I later spoke to some of my friendly contacts who are close to the leadership of Mungiki I was informed that the Mungiki faction headed by Maina Njenga was firmly pro Raila and pro ODM and that the people who carried out the Naivasha attacks was the break away faction led by Ndura Waruinge (who happens to be a cousin to Maina Njenga) working at the instigation of PNU politicians in Naivasha, Nakuru, Nairobi, Thika (read Uhuru Kenyatta) and elsewhere in Central province.

    I also spoke personally to one of the prominent businesspeople (and DP founder member) accused of funding the violence in Nairobi. Having never met me previously, he did not know of my Luo background (even though one of my relatives is married to his sister and helped educate him many years ago) and only met me through another Kenyan who is a mutual acquaintance.

    He blithely admitted to both of us that Maina Njenga's spouse was executed so brutally because she allegedly refused to part with some of the left over money contributed to the PNU post-election violence kitty by rich Kikuyus like himself.

    The jury is still out on the actual involvement of Mungiki in the violence (with credible accusations of pseudo Mungiki criminals trading on the cachet of the Mungiki "brand name") but it seems fair to conclude that at least a faction of the dreaded movement was recruited by politicians linked to Mwai Kibaki to unleash terror against ODM supporters.

    Whatever the case, what I said about ODM Rift Valley politicians should also hold when it comes to PNU linked individuals:

    They are presumed INNOCENT until proved beyond a reasonable doubt to be otherwise.

    The only major casualty from Central Province is Uhuru Kenyatta who has been tainted WITHIN the Mount Kenya region for his alleged funding of the post-election violence.

    It seems the only beneficiary from the same region is likely to be Ms. Martha Karua, the Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister who, like Raila Odinga has come out virtually unscathed in terms of participating or perpetrating the post-election violence.

    7.0. Bottom Line: What Do Kenyans Do With the Waki Report?

    We do not have a tradition of independent commissions or for that matter, an autonomous judiciary in Kenya since members of both bodies are appointed by the Executive, which within our current dispensation is synonymous with the President.


    One can hardly expect any significant or serious action based on the reality prevailing in Kenya right now.

    The Special Tribunal is unlikely to be set up- and even if it is set up is likely to be hamstrung by so many limitations as to be virtually toothless.


    The big threat to hand over the list of perpetrators to the International Criminal Court is a ploy, in my opinion by Kofi Annan and his Western backers to be used as a big stick to keep both ODM and PNU partners locked in the shot gun marriage brokered by imperialism to control our national destiny.

    No one is likely to appear before that ICC panel any time soon in my estimation.

    To my mind, the Waki Report can be best used as a MOBILIZING TOOL to totally discredit a large chunk of today's mainstream Kenyan politicians and force a different discourse, featuring different set of political players to help set the stage for a New Kenya devoid of corruption, greed and dictatorship.

    One of the planks of that new political dispensation is to insist that the new Constitution must also be DEMOCRATIC; that the new Kenyan state must be governed along parliamentary, federalist lines following the South African model; that proportional representation requiring people to vote for PARTY LISTS rather than scheming self serving politicians; that women and the youth must go into their own communities and build strong democratic mass organizations to prepare these and other Kenyan popular contingents to take over state power and begin the arduous work of transforming Kenya into a democratic, non-sexist, non-tribal, anti-racist progressive society.


    Onyango Oloo
    Nairobi, Kenya
    10:31 am
    Saturday, October 25, 2008

    ReplyDelete
  26. One word to describe this: tribalistic rubbish from an unrepentant communist and Kikuyu hater looking for reasons to demonise PNU and the hated Kikuyus.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anon 8:40,
    How do you know anon 3:22 is a Kikuyu?
    I want a answer. I am watching this blog.

    Webmaster

    ReplyDelete
  28. Fish starts stinking from the top.

    Lets start with Kibaki. He should be taken to court and tried first. All these started because of the seeds he saw (IPPG, MoU,violence at KICC), his stupidity, ruthlessness and ethnic policies (every police chief in any province and town is a Kikuyu or Gema, every senior ministry official is a Kikuyu).

    After senstencing him, then we should get on to Uhuru,Ruto,Karume, Kosgey, Kabando,etc. The order of seniority has to be strictly maintained: From Top to Bottom.

    If Kenyans can not see that the top people are always responsible for our problems, then we should accept the consequences every 5 yrs and shut our mouths. Dont be surprised when Kenya becomes a failed state. We would always remain Madoadoa, Kihii, Okuyu, etc., while the real criminals will continue to rest in the State House and enjoy your money.

    Truekenyan

    ReplyDelete
  29. OPEN LETTER TO HON. MR RAILA ODINGA

    As far as I can judge from the Riegler and Waki reports, you are one of the few politicians who have NOT been mentioned adversely.

    Indeed you are the only politician in Kenya today who has risked his life to fight against oppression and tyranny in Kenya and Africa at large.

    You are now in the coalition government with many people who supported Kenya's past dictators and who are seemingly not willing to change. You have experienced this fact in the MoU of 2002 and recently in the post-election violence caused by a disputed election result.

    Hon. Mr Odinga, Kenyans are failing to differenciate you from the bad elements from the past regimes. There are still rampant corruption cases, tribalism, favoritism, exam cheating, etc.

    Nobody doubts that you enjoy the support of the majority of Kenyans. We therefore challenge you to speak for all kenyans. We expect you to come up and declare your position in the post-election violence, explain your role. We expect you again to challenge Hon. Kibaki to explain his role. Tell Kenyans why it is important for both of you to lead by example.

    If Hon Kibaki is not ready to explain to Kenyans why he refused to follow the procedures of MoU, IPPG and why he forced ECK to announce false presidential results which triggered violence, later chaired meetings with Mungiki, etc, then Kenyans find it difficult to find reasons why you are associating yourself with non-transparent leaders. We know that you stand for political accountability for whatever is happening in our beloved motherland. We are again seeing politicians who want to forget the past, but at the same time pointing fingers at the leaders from Rift Valley, etc.

    Doesn't this ring a bell to you. Can't you remember Mr. Njega's words: The BIG MAN is responsible of Mboya's death. The Big man replied: Forget the past. Can't you remember the outcome of JM's, Ouko's, Goldenberg, Anglo-leasing, Artur Brothers' cases, etc. How long should Kenyans wait for political accountability you have been preaching all along?

    You and your Principal partner have mentioned many a times that Kenya is bigger than any individual. We therefore expect you to act at least to restore your credibility.

    Your subjects

    ReplyDelete
  30. You have been wondering what happened to SAM OKELLO that was him at anon 5.09

    ReplyDelete
  31. B-Carotene at 10:49, sorry. Yobbish is an extreme word for hooliganism.

    Yob - is an extreme hooligan. a very violent person.

    ReplyDelete
  32. B-Carotene said:

    .....I hope Kenyans of sound mind and goodwill are perceptive and critical enough to evaluate these things and subsequently take action.....

    Ask yourself whose address is mentioned in Waki report as having hosted miliatia meeting? Yur cheapintention of security in numbers can only wash in your box above the shoulders. Look around you and see whom you are fooling-YOURSELF. Ati 82 coup? You surely live in a time warp. You should have vied for kanjura to mouth such cheap shots. Fish rots from the top and only one person had teh constitutional power to ptotect Kenyans instead he organized for their mass murder. Live in denial and live longer in HELL.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Taabu:
    Live in hell yourself.
    History reveals a solid PATTERN of behavior by your Dear Leader that is aptly described in the post immediately prior yours. Read and comprehend--it wont go away.
    Kwale--thanks for the description--an accurate fit, without a doubt.

    ReplyDelete

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