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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Is It Possible To Rule Without Killing?

Many young Kenyans have no idea what it was like living in the country in the 70s and 80s. The days when political dissenters were dealt with ruthlessly and decisively quick. If you did not disappear or your body was not found in some forest with some vital organs missing, then you would definitely have ended up in the notorious detention without trial.

In those days when you could sense the fear in the air, it must have been much easier to be president of Kenya.

Now one Mwai Kibaki who has seen it all took over as president in December 2002 and one of the first things that his administration did was to shut down the Nyayo house torture chambers. It seemed to everybody that it was the beginning of a brand new era of good governance. But alas, it was not to be because some silly document called an MOU (memorandum of Understanding) was allegedly not honoured by Kibaki and one thing led to another as the Kibaki administration staggered from one crisis to another like a drunk man trying to walk home in the dark. You will remember that things stabilized somewhat with the appearance of one Daniel arap Moi as one of President Kibaki’s key advisors.

In actual fact history was replaying itself before our very eyes because Daniel arap Moi himself went through a very similar metamorphosis shortly after he took over as president in August 1978. Moi released all detainees and dramatically increased democratic space and free speech in the late 70s and early 80s. However he was rudely shaken out of his good-guy image by the abortive 1982 coup attempt. Shortly after a shaken Moi appeared on national TV tears visibly in his eyes and thanking the security forces for crashing the coup, Kenyans started seeing a very different Moi. Detention without trial came back with a vengeance and a few assassinations followed, most notably that of former foreign affairs minister Dr Robert Ouko. Dozens of Kenyans vanished without trace.

Coming back to the present, it seems that Kibaki’s big transformation happened after he lost the 2005 referendum on a proposed new constitution. But detention without trial was NOT re-introduced. Instead something that send shivers down the spines of those in the know emerged. That thing answers to the name, the Kwekwe squad. Humndreds of young Kenyans have also disappeared without trace.

Political emotions aside, the question Kenyans must now ask themselves is a simple one but one whose answer will be very difficult in coming by. And the question is, is it possible to govern a country like Kenya without “tools’ like detention without trial or the terror of Kwekwe? If your quick answer is YES, then my next question is how come the Kibaki administration became much more stable after the introduction of terror instruments like the Kwekwe?

Kindly note that I do not support terror or human rights abuses in any form. However I am just asking a question to get Kenyans thinking. After all even developed democracies like the United States have the CIA and other national security spooks who get involved in all kinds of dirty things. Even the civil Brits have their spooks and shadowy projects in the name of national security.

Read about Kumekucha's terrifying ordeal in the hands of the then dreaded Special Branch

44 comments:

  1. Kenyans MUST be dealt with precisely and ruthlessly! We are too primitive to be let out! Have you not seen every time we've grievances some jang monkeys go uprooting national rail?
    There is something about Jaruo culture, they believe unless they throw stones no-one is going to listen to them. How do you deal with these sorts of retrogressive people? The only language these people understand is live round (bullets)!

    As for Kwekwe, we might not need them after all - people of central have said enough is enough … they are dealing with mungiki in their own ways- Kisiis witch burning style.

    Phil's Mistress

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  2. What happened to the big story you promised us for Tuesday the 14th?

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  3. anon 11:26 PM,
    My friend, there was no story. If you don't know Chris by now, you seriously need help.

    Chris, like all gossip columnists, exaggerate things, say imaginary things just to get people hooked up.
    Now you know.

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  4. Chris, what do you think? Is it possible to rule without killing?

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  5. It is not possible!!! Even the great julius ceaser had to be taken out "in the interests of the state".

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  6. Chris:

    In order to lead successfully in Kenya and Africa in general you do not have to kill regularly, but your opponents (and the general public) must believe you are capable of killing if need be. That is why policing with rubber bullets, while successful in Europe, is a waste of time here in Kenya. You have witnessed how once the mobs or thugs realize that the police are carrying no live bullets, they suddenly turn into monsters; they torch buildings and pelt the police with stones and bottles. That is what happened in Kibera yesterday: once it was leaked to the mobs that the police were only issued with rubber bullets, they went uprooting the rail under the guise of protesting Migingo Island saga when infact these were gangsters who have been stealing electricity from KPL under the protection of the top ODM warlord.

    The same goes for top warlords. The moment aspiring presidential warlords (such as Raila & Ruto) realize that the reigning presidential warlord (such as Kibaki) is a softie, they go murdering the supporters of their opponents.

    So, Chris, to answer your question, until we evolve further, culturally and politically, it not possible in the meantime to rule Kenya without an occassional killing. This practice is often employed in benevolent dictorships where the objective of the killing is to send a strong message of law and order. Of course, for the society to tolerate it and in deed to support it, the state must have a well articulated goal it is supposed to achieve such national cohesion and faster development. That is how the benevolent dictorships of the Asian Tigers of Singapole, Malysia, and South Korea were able to develop faster than the Indian democracy. The same is happening in China. It is only after attaining the set goal do the masses (who are by then middle class) demand democracy and use of due process.

    That is why, although I did not vote for Raila last time, I am seriously thinking of supporting his candidature in 2012 if he could promise not to introduce tribal majimbo. He appears the only one on the national scene capable of terrorizing his opponents in order to achieve a national goal such as development. I mean, what is the use of having ministers serving in the same govt having a cacophonous choir in the name of democracy and freedom?! Under Kibaki we have had freedom and economic growth but no peace or cohesion. He allowed killings in the RV while the army was idling in the barracks. We want a strong man/woman as long as he delivers the goods of economic growth and cohesion. And if in doing so he does away with a warlord or two, so be it!!!!!!!

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  7. The story I was supossed to break is about the dreaded Kwekwe killer squad. I have decided to hold the story until tomorrow or next week because I am expecting some more information on the same.

    I apologize to my readers for the delay.

    -Chris-

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  8. Phil's Mistress @ 11:17 PM,

    This is for you

    Kikuyu's believe that you can not achieve anything unless you STEAL.

    STEALING is your culture, your way of life. How PRIMITIVE can people be? Not more primitive that your kind.

    Stealing, carjacking, fraud, swindling, conning, defrauding, prostitution e.t.c are your forte.

    Anything, anything, so long as involves STEALING and breaking the law is your preferred means of "achieving." Mavi za kuku nyinyi. Mungiki nyinyi. THIEVES nyinyi!!!!

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  9. Anon 11:56 PM

    I do know Kumekucha. I was just bored and wanted to see what he would shovel our way as an excuse.

    I mean, I might as well believe Vision (or is it hallucination) 2030 plus the new one; "No Malaria by 2019".

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  10. Phil's mistress, when kibera people uproot railway, it is jaluo culture. When Mungiki behead, it is not Kikuyu culture, it is just Mungiki. What is more true? All Mungiki are Kikuyu, or all Kibera people are Luos or all luos live in Kibera? With unreasonable people like you, Kenya has a long way to go. May God help us, am not luo and am not Kikuyu. Does it matter what I am?

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  11. IMPUNITYBreaking the culture of impunity
    (for example, stealing the elections of December 2007 in broad daylight, and the election thief - Mwai "Pumbavu" Kibaki - hurriedly sworn in - why the hurry and the secrecy if you had won genuinely? - in secret and in the dark as happened in Dec 2007)

    Watch the video here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch%3F
    v%3DmEdBZcJgKkQ

    is absolutely critical to ensuring that Kenya does not relapse into war again as a result of people feeling cheated after their vote is STOLEN - in broad daylight.

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  12. Oops,

    Here is the correct link

    Mwai "pumbavu" Kibaki's theft of the election

    http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DmEdBZcJgKkQ

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  13. Mwai "pumbavu" Kibaki said it himself as he was hurriedly and secretly being sworn in

    ...Mimi Mwai Kibaki, nitatenda kazi zangu za uhalifu...there he said it!

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  14. @annon 11:17
    Better be a rail uprooter than a Mungiki murderer.

    I doubt whether you are exposed to world civilizations. You seem to be very primitive.

    A common man can only be heard if he demonstrates. Peaceful demonstrations are necessary to make the power-drunk politicians come back to reality.

    In Europe young people, mostly well educated people, demonstrate and tie themselves to rails to prevent transportation of nuclear wastes, e.g. They uproot parts of the railway lines to force the authorities to change their minds. No sane European minister would order the police to shoot the demonstrators.

    What the Kibera Youth is doing is just normal and civilized. It is not a criminal offence.

    What Mungiki is doing is primitive, criminal and YES it is a capital crime to kill.

    If it is Luos only in Kibera involved in uprooting the rails, then I would totally be proud to be a Luo.

    I wouldnt want to be a Kikuyu, even for one day, if I realized that all Kikuyus support Mungiki thuggery and primitivity.

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  15. Chris,

    Just thinking, Is it possible to rule without stealing the vote in africa, Kenya specifically?

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  16. The outcome of killing senselessly by the government is that it only emboldens the citizenry. They get used to live bullets sooner or later.

    In Apertheid SA, police used all the evil tactics but eventually they got defeated by the power of the people. Actually, the reason why ordianary people become savages is because they have been taught that same savagery by governments like Emilio's.

    Violence only breeds more violence, it's that simple! I was checking the BBC website and Kenya will be trying the Somali pirates captured at sea thanks to an agreement between Kenya and EU. Now that will only ADD more violence right on our Nairobi streets since most of these pirates have Al-qaeda links through militias like Al-Shabab. I would hate to see bombs going off in our city! What a stupid idea for twin brothers Emilio/Agwambo to agree to have these scumbags in our jails!


    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8003031.stm

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  17. Anon 1:19 AM, How did you work out Phil can only have a Kikuyu mistress?
    If you follow this blog very carefully, you may have noticed Phil is not Kikuyu and he is not tribalist either.

    @ Anon 2:19 AM, European kids like you put it there do protest, BUT they NEVER uproot their rails, they don't damage their infrastuctures unless its a group called "anarchy" and every member of this group is known to the police - and they are carefully monitored through survelliance.
    Phil's Mistress

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  18. Phil's Mistress 11:17 PM

    You reckon that....

    'people of central have said enough is enough … they are dealing with mungiki in their own ways'

    Pumbaff!! You will have to eliminate all Kikuyu's before you clear this mungiki nonsense. Why? In terms of their thinking and attitudes, their is no difference between an illiterate mungiki and a highly educated Kikuyu. All are THIEVES. You doubt me? Mwai "pumbavu" Kibaki was educated at the top notch learning institutions of Makerere University and the prestigious London School of Economic but Lo and Behold, HE IS STILL A THIEF.

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  19. Anon 1:19 AM, How did you work out Phil can only have a Kikuyu mistress?
    If you follow this blog very carefully, you may have noticed Phil is not Kikuyu and he is not tribalist either.

    @ Anon 2:19 AM, European kids like you put it there do protest, BUT they NEVER uproot their rails, they don't damage their infrastuctures unless its a group called "anarchy" and every member of this group is known to the police - they are carefully monitored through survelliance and dealt with swiftly whenever there is a disturbance.

    Phil's Mistress

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  20. It is possible to rule without killing.

    The powers of a President or a PM have to be limited in the constitution and resignation made easy.

    If e.g. any member of opposition dies, it is the duty of the president to find out who and why the death occured. If the leader fails to find the cause, then he must resign immediately (new Presid or PM elections).

    It is the President or PM who swore to protect his/her subjects. If he fails, then he doesnt deserve to continue ruling.

    Kenyatta should have resigned after Mboya's death. JM would still be alive.

    Moi should have resigned after Ouko's demise. Bishop Muge, Fr. Kaiser would still be alive.

    Kibaki would have resigned after the University Don was killed. Too, Were would be alive today. There could have been no post-elect. chaos, etc.

    Our new constitution must include the resignation conditions of a President. The President must share duties with PM and 8 elected Provincial Presidents (to replace the colonial Homeguard PCs). The President should not be an MP, must be elected by Parliament, Provincial Presidents and Professional/Civil bodies. All of these people to have one term duration of 7 years only.

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  21. Duh!!!!!!! Who else becomes mistresses to get money?

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  22. Anon 2:49 AM
    ...and so Akinyi is a kikuyu... eh?

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  23. Phil's Mistress,

    The leaders of these European Kids never, NEVER blatantly steal elections in broad day and then hurriedly get themselves secretly sworn in in the dark like Mwai "pumbavu" Kibaki did. You are wrong in trying to prescribe to the Kibera youths, who are not just Luo's, the "right" way to behave.

    These people -the Europeans - may not be perfect but they certainly operate on a much higher standard than what you see happening in Kenya which is blatantly primitive and jua kali in nature and style.

    You can not have Mwai "pumbavu" Kibaki behaving like a primitive prehistoric being and expect the people below him to behave like angels. Impossible!

    In fact these Kibera youths were being very "polite." It would have been more appropriate for them to torch those huge tanks of petroleum at the Kenya pipeline Depot near the JKIA airport.

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  24. Re: COKE'S.. "WAHI ^^^ KUWAHI."

    I have 2 KUWAHI bottle tops both worth Ksh 20k and 5k. I hear KUWAHI are the harder ones to get! I need to match them with similar WAHI bottle tops to claim the cash at the post office. Any place, forums, newspapers, blogs etc where I can get a match? I was toiling over Easter so 25k will come in handy at this time and also enable me to stock up on cold beers for the weekend. Amen to that

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  25. Phil's Mistress, i think

    "Phil's prostitute"

    is a more accurate name for you.

    Just as a toilet cleaner will always remain a toilet cleaner and not a sanitation engineer, a prostitute will always remain a prostitute and not a mistress.

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  26. @2:31
    I can only shake my head wondering how green you are. Inform yourself in the www.

    Young civilized Europeans have destroyed more valuable plants than that peanut Kibera Rail.

    Read more about demonstrations and destructions in Cumbrian Sellafield Nuclear plant, Frankfurt Airport facilities enlargement, Belgium nuclear plant in Mol, German's projected nuclear plant in Mutlangen and Hanau, South Korean Airport enlargement.

    All these plants, valued at Multibillions of Dollars, have been successfully discouraged by young demonstrators who have destroyed and damaged the facilities forcing the policy makers to withdraw.

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  27. Anon 2.59, Akinyi is Chinedu's estranged legal wife, not mistress. A wife deserves all the money her husband has. Law....ring a bell?

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  28. 2:31 AM ANON the European protest are very violent and very organised if you read more about them, you will know how violent, organised and very unto date in their civil rights and technology.
    On G20 protest 1 man dead, several hundred injured. 2 London police have lost their jobs for action in Kenya could consider normal. Damage to the banks building go in millions.
    What about animal right actives, these guys go to point digging up the dead from grave of scientist and invest family members.
    I have not mentioned French protesters, Greece student protest this was very violent protest.

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  29. Guka wa Obama4/17/09, 3:23 AM

    Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga were having a cup of tea at the KEMRI biotechnology laboratories when one assistant tired of the Kibaki this, Raila that decided to spare the country such "moribund" and "ineffective" leadership and opened a tap with deadly but odourless gas. The gentlemen didnt know what hit them and died peacefully with a smile.

    When the news reached the four wise men left, they feared for the country and had to come up with a plan that would heal the country so they deliberated amongst themselves on the burial plans.

    One wise guy (he wasnt Mutahi Ngunyi sorry) offered to have the Kikuyus bury Raila Odinga in Muranga and Luos to bury Mwai Kibaki in Bondo.The money saved from state funerals in Nairobi will be used to buy every kikuyu and every luo a shovel.

    "No way" another wiseman objected. "If you let Luo and Kikuyu bury their perceived objects of hate, they will dig the graves so deep that they will handover these gentlemen to Satan personally.

    "That my brothers is what we seek to achieve" the wise man retorted.
    "that way this country will go forward without this Kibaki this and Raila that nonesense".

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  30. @ Guka wa...

    Raila's burial will have to include "tero buru" according to the Luo culture. Emilio's will follow no culture as there is none. It is better he is given a state burial next to Kenyatta's grave.

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  31. That anaylisis is hardly critical enough. the point in Moi releasing all those detainees was not 'democratic space' but an failed effort to get these dissenters to willingly changed their stance. The Coup proved that wrong so Moi reverted to type.

    Kibaki may have been after the same thing, but he had the goodwill built on anger and fear of his predecessor, not concrete results.

    Democracy is not a flowrebed of nodding heads as the West tries to portray through its ambassadora and endless hours of pseudoevents and "news" channels. That is a facade. Democray can only function without murder when there isa consensus that no disagreement should be allowed to develop into a life and death issue and trumpimg the right of the disagreer to go about their lives in peace.

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  32. Under Kibaki's regime more than 6,000 young men have been summarily executed. Over 1,360 (official stats) met their death courtesy of the last GE.
    In short there has never been more killings as witnessed during Mwai's reign.

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  33. i would suppose there are various mindsets in kenya. i will highlight the two i think should be key to answer this question, the donkey like mindset and the reasoning mindset.

    of these the donkey like mindset is most predominant and driver of our current affairs. this mindset creates and/or responds to two main stimuli, the carrot and the stick. i.e either they need to be bribed for some personal gain in order to make things happen ranging from executing the basic of mandatory duties to anything requiring going beyond the call of duty. hence the very unfavorable corruption index. naturally resources are either limited or those with the resources are too mean or otherwise frugal to give liberally and therefore the second stimuli is needed to achieve some results, i.e the stick. beatings, killings, send riot squads, thugs, hooligans and similar, either state sponsored i.e in uniform or otherwise i.e with rocks, machettes and plain guts to push the point across (sometimes backed by militia gangs). the key thing is to instill fear, cause pain or otherwise permanently remove all opposing views.

    somewhere in between switching from carrot to stick are subtle stimuli such as blackmail, held/holding hostage, insults, abuse, abasement, humiliation, ridicule etc of all who do not share the same view point.

    clearly there are many both in leadership and masses falling in this glorious category.

    the other type of mindset is the reasoning kenyans, who do not necessarily have to experience great discomfort or pleasure in order to appreciate the needs and concerns associated with decisions. this would be a people who would hold debates and consultations and maintain benchmarks and milestones for achievements with constant reviews to improve society.
    there is currently a severe shortage of such kenyans as demonstrated by this post and vast majority of comments (with apologies).

    the elections, PEV, NARA, GCG is a perfect example of our inability to stay on course where reasoning is attempted, meets stiff resistance and finally resorting to carrot and stick and then back again to reasoning before resorting to carrot/stick in order to move things forward.

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  34. "Under Kibaki's regime more than 6,000 young men have been summarily executed. Over 1,360 (official stats) met their death courtesy of the last GE.
    In short there has never been more killings as witnessed during Mwai's reign."

    Regrettable.
    But totally meaningless without context. Emilio killed them? Why/how did they die? Why not more (or less)?

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  36. And your pont is? chris if you have run ot of ideas thats ok , what is wrong is when you have nothing to write and you go ahead and put it on paper.This post is baseless and does not add any value to the current debate issues, there is such a thing as taking a sabbatical leave and proffesionaly recouping yourself.

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  37. Prime Minister Harold Wilson use to go in the park to have a sensitive meeting with his ministers/others because his office was bugged by MI5!!!

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  38. Why is Molasses Raila not supervising and coordinating the return of Migingo Island to Kenya. Or he is still mad about the toilet? The thug has his priorities up-side down.

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  40. The Leader of the State, Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces is the one to act fast 'and first' if the boarders of our nation have been attacked or threatened.

    But this man calling himself president has opted to dig his head in the sand (the way he did last year when the country was burning). He only speaks when his second wife issue comes up.

    Kibaki can not lead his family nor lead a country. Kibaki believes Migingo is in Uganda.

    See what Daily Nation writes:

    ....Elsewhere, a group of activists expressed outrage at President Kibaki’s willingness to negotiate over ownership of the island.

    The activists, Patriotic Kenyans, said it was absurd for President Kibaki to concede that he did not know Migingo belonged to Kenya and gave him 14 days to reclaim the island or resign.

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  41. Uli kula ugali wapi?
    Wacha ku tesa wanainchi na enda Migingo!!

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  42. who said what?

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  43. Second wife is African but not to the expense of taxpayer.

    To hide a wife and let the tax payer to pay for her security, accomodation and all expenses is corruption.

    Kenyans will sue and get back the money.

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