Why Was Mboya’s Assassination So Significant?

Tom Mboya: The man the rich political class in Kenya want to forget

Shocking New Revelations In Cold Case That Kumekucha Won’t Let Go

The date today is July 5th (at least in Kenya as I write this). Ever since I started this blog, I have always remembered this date and more specifically what happened on a day like this in 1969. It is the day Tom Mboya was shot dead.

Mostly my annual memorials have been a lonely crusade. But not this year. Yesterday and today Kenya’s leading daily, The Nation has carried extensive coverage on the assassination of the man I consider to be the greatest politician to ever come out of a Kenyan woman’s womb.

I interpret that to mean that finally more and more Kenyans have come to the realization that this assassination was significant and that if the country is to move forward and truly have a new beginning then we must face the ghosts of Tom Mboya and settle this thing once and for all. More so because the chief planner and executor at the centre of that assassination still lives.

Why was Mboya’s assassination so significant? Simply because the two bullets that were fired that Saturday lunch time July 5th 1969 changed the course of Kenya forever. Today we are suffering the consequences of that new course that was clearly charted out that day. Impunity won that day. Years later the rhetorical questions were to be asked over and over again; Mboya was killed and nothing happened, who is so and so? We survived the Mboya assassination what crisis can we not survive?

Tribal politics won that day. In killing Mboya the assassins killed nationalism. To date we are yet to see another Kenyan attracting national popularity in their own right enough to win a presidential poll with votes from every corner of the republic. Every single prominent politician now has their political base in their ancestral village and those who don’t have imported their fellow tribesmates in large numbers into the constituency they represent away form their village. Tom Mboya was a Luo who was time and again voted in by mostly Kikuyus even when other prominent Kikuyus from very prominent families stood against him. To a young Kenyan who understands Kenyan politics today, this statement seems like pure fiction.

I want to say today that most analysts agree that Tom Mboya was on course to end up as the first president of Kenya. A man called Jaramogi Oginga Odinga noted this fact early and decided that he would do everything in his power to make sure that this did not happen. And so he started a crusade insisting that Kenyans did NOT want Uhuru unless Kenyatta was released. In fact Odinga said that Kenyatta was “like a god to Kenyans. This clever ploy put Mboya in a tight corner. Knowing his constituents he knew that if he failed to support this belated call his support would evaporate. And so the old man who had been so out of touch with what was happening was released from Kapenguria and Oginga Odinga won the day while Kenya and nationalism lost badly. The Brits also won big time (more on that later).

It has now been revealed that a few weeks before the assassination of one Pio Gama Pinto, Tom Mboya warned the politician that he was going to be killed by Kenyatta’s inner circle (the same people who murdered Mboya). This is instructive and demonstrates the fact that Mboya’s intelligence sources were impeccable. We also know that Mboya knew his life was in danger. Indeed his biographer tells us that his American friends warned him and discussed the possibility of getting more body guards (which Mboya turned down). In fact on the day Mboya was killed, he had just released his driver and bodyguard. Why? Was he not concerned about his own life? He had warned Pinto that the Kenyatta inner circle was capable of murder and Pinto had doubted saying that his killing would cause serious problems for the Kenyatta administration. In other words “they wouldn’t dare.” Is this what Mboya thought about his own possible assassination? We can only speculate but the truth is that this is a question that badly begs for an answer.

It is also instructive to note that warnings of assassination came to Mboya from the Americans. This adds an International angle to the plot. Which major world power had a motive for Mboya’s death? Which country benefited most with Mboya out of the way? Britain of course. I have come across many interesting facts that point to MI5 links in the assassination of Tom Mboya. Indeed it would seem that Kenyatta’s inner circle got encouragement to proceed with their heinous plan from the Brits (unofficially of course).

In planning Tom Mboya’s assassination the plotters were keenly aware that this was one hit that could NOT go wrong. The Kenyatta administration and everything they were fighting for (in terms of personal gain) could not afford any slip ups. It would have been a disaster for them if Tom Mboya survived. The plotters already had the experience of carrying out the Pio Gama assassination over 4 years earlier and knew that many things can and do go wrong in the best planned assassinations. So they had to choose the gunman very carefully. There was no way they could afford him getting cold feet or worse still, missing his target.

I can authoritatively report today that there is increasing evidence that I am coming across that suggests the unbelievable. That apart from being the chief planner and operations man in the killing of Mboya, a certain man well known in the security forces at the time may have been the man who coolly pulled the trigger and fired those two shots that change Kenya forever. This man had a striking resemblance to Nahashon Njenga (the man who was convicted of Mboya’s assassination). That man remained an “untouchable” throughout the reign of Kenyatta. That man’s name is Ben Gethi (now deceased). I have talked to several people who confirm that in his last days Gethi's consceince seemed to have been disturbing him greatly. He drunk way too much and seemed to be haunted by the things he had done in his savage and eventful life (including overseeing the cutting off of certain sensitive parts of JM Kariuki's body).

In Pio Gama Pinto’s assassination word got out about the taxi driver who had been hired to carry out the hit. Nothing of the sort happened in the Mboya assassination and it is no accident. Little wonder that the Nation told us yesterday that then Vice President Daniel arap Moi described the Mboya assassination as “brilliantly planned and executed.”

Eye witnesses say that there was a bald-headed man with a brief case who looked like he was window shopping moments before Mboya was shot. Naturally the brief case concealed the murder weapon. Now just think about it for a moment. It is possible but unlikely that that man was a Kanu youth winger with little or no previous training in firearms. It is hard for me to believe that that youth winger coolly pulled out his revolver at just the right time and with precise timing shot the Minister just as he walked out of Chaani’s chemist. In fact the door was not fully open when the shots rang out because Mboya fell back inside the chemist’s shop. Now the fascinating thing here is that both Nahashon Njenga and Ben Gethi were approximately the same height. The resemblance of the two was uncanny.

The truth is that there were two very well planned phases of the Mboya assassination. That is the actual hit and the cover up that was to follow. Both were carried out clinically. With the clinical precision of a doctor... a surgeon perhaps?

...To Be Continued

Gaddafi Expands Ego, Ropes in Fellow Rulers

Sovereignty must be a battle cry for scoundrels. So African rulers are consorting on continental impunity under the able tutelage of Leader Muammar Gaddafi? The next few days will see the African continental air suffocating from the hollow rallying call of independence and non-interference.

Our rulers are only fooling themselves. Their selfish acts and personalized RULERSHIP only succeeds in providing the much needed cannon fodder to imperialists who are the custodians of their wealth stashed abroad. With one hand they wax patriotic beating anti western drums oblivious of the fact that all their loot is banked out there. What is more, at the signs of flu, they catch the next flight to those same western capitals for specialized treatment.

Gaddafi must be laughing himself silly for congregating dinosaurs and dictators whose only common denominator is pure IMPUNITY. It couldn’t have come at a better time after Gaddafi has taken the shameful mantle from one dwarf Omar Bongo as the longest serving ruler in the world. Other octogenarians must be salivating with envy of him in Sirte. Gaddafi is simply buying loyalty with petro-dollars and greedy scoundrels are more than willing to play ball.

The Hague express
Gaddafi’s ego is expanded the more secure in the knowledge that he is offering many outlaws the holiday to spend their taxpayers’ money. From Bashir to Mugabe, their flights outside their borders are limited to like-minded dictators and murderous. No wonder they are all gleefully ready to sign Gaddafi’s anti ICC communique.

Well, they can run from Cairo to Cape Town but they cannot hide from the ghosts of Hague Express. The diligent Chief Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo will dutifully strike when time comes whether they are in office of dead.

It is only a matter of time and no amount of security in numbers gimmick packaged as African solidarity will wash. The Hague Express is one unstoppable juggernaut that once it departs from the station no pedigree in family name will stop it.

Do Those Who Call The Shots In Nairobi Know Enough About Somalia?

I lived in Garissa for a while. I didn’t like it then. Boring town with hardly any entertainment to speak of and the heat and humidity is always crazy. But looking back now, it was a good experience. I learnt a lot. That experience comes in very handy today as I write about our Somali brothers. I seem to know them a lot more than most Kenyans do.

Indeed when the Clinton administration sent in troops to Somalia in the early 1990s, I laughed to myself, knowing full well what was going to happen next. What fascinates me greatly right now is how Kenyans are displaying the same ignorance on the Somalis that I saw in the Clinton administration.

It is true that Somalis don’t look too intelligent and in my view that is one of their greatest strengths. People always greatly underestimate and underrate them.

As you must know, if you are a regular reader here, I love to tell stories and I am going to tell you two today starting with what happened when I was in Garissa in the 1980s.

One day at about 8 pm loud sirens suddenly went off in the town. I panicked. What did they mean? I was quickly informed that there was a security emergency in the town. I later learnt that there had been a shooting incident in a bar in town where scores of people had been killed. This incident was never reported in the media. Later I learnt exactly what had happened.

A Somali man had earlier been arrested with Elephant tusks. The police were keen to get information from him, especially where he had stashed the cash for his illegal activities. When you want a man to talk, there is a particular area of his body that you press and they are bound to start singing like a bird. Well, this Somali man did not “sing” and the overenthusiastic cops are said to have completely disabled the man’s ability to ever sleep with a woman again. Later, the man managed to escape. He crossed the border into Somalia and came back with an automatic weapon and bullets wrapped across both his shoulders. Now the policemen responsible were having a quiet drink in this bar in Garissa town. The Somali man walked in and sprayed the table where they were seated with bullets, killing most of them instantly. He casually walked out of the bar and disappeared into the night.

I was told that no policeman would have dared follow the man into the darkness and the Kenya army, who have a presence in Garissa, were called in. Months later when the man was finally captured it was hard to believe that this one, small, wiry, thin man who did not look so clever had single-handedly caused so much damage.

One of the things about the dry arid North Eastern province is that it is extremely hot and humid. A Somali man has no problem crossing large tracts of the region on foot having taking only a single glass of water for the day. When you think about this simple fact you quickly realize that the odds would already be greatly stacked against Kenyan troops in the event of a war with Somalis to protect Kenyan terrain.

Story number two coming up. When I was a very young child (about 5 years old) we lived in Isiolo. This was in the late 60s. I still remember the house we lived in and the fact that sometimes in the evenings you would see the silhouette of an Elephant in the distance as the sun was setting. Very romantic I guess and one of the few benefits of being the son of a cop who regularly gets hauled all over the country and sometimes to the most arid and remote corners. One day we almost died. A fierce exchange of gun fire between some Somali Shifta warriors and the Kenya Army (the Shifta war was still very much on) ensued and spread into our compound at about 7pm. My dad had gone for his usual evening beer and he ended up not being able to make it back that night because his house had been transformed into a war zone. Loud gunfire echoed all around the compound. My mother took me and my kid brother and we all hid inside a cupboard where we spent the night. I remember my kid brother vomited inside the cupboard because of the fear he felt. But he did much better than some civilians at a nearby bar some of whom urinated on their trousers in fear (I kid you not). I think I was more excited than frightened. When I woke up in the morning it was all quiet.

Make no mistake about it, Somalis are the most shrewd entrepreneurs you will find anywhere and being an entrepreneur has got nothing to do with speaking good English. Typically you will observe a Somali man waking up very early in the morning and switching on their radio. They will then proceed to sip down their morning beverage while chewing Miraa (khat). You can be sure that the guy is not idling or trying to wake up properly like the rest of us would be doing. He is thinking and trying to roll the whole day ahead in his mind. In many instances he will come up with business ideas and deals that he may want to start implementing as soon as his active day starts. This is a habit I would love to emulate (without having to chew anything).

I can tell you scores of stories about these fascinating brothers of ours but I have to stop there.

As I sit here I worry that folks in decision-making positions in Nairobi may not know enough about our dear brothers. I fear that some of them typically display the same ignorance I have seen in many comments on my previous post on this topic. I will say no more about this seemingly hot topic.

P.S. I have read the comments accusing me of being an alarmist for nothing over our Somali brothers. Let me say that NOT all Somalis are involved in crime and NOT all of them are a threat to the security of our motherland. I know a number of who are good people and may get badly hurt reading my posts and knowing that I am the one who penned them. Sorry guys. However one has to get alarmed knowing what Kumekucha readers now know from my two posts. Especially when suicide bombers start popping up next door and a man buying land in the city centre suddenly and casually comes up with Kenya shillings 100 million.

My point is that there are enough bad Somalis hanging around to make Kenya disappear. May I also add that it hurts… and hurts real bad, when you host somebody for years and then they later turn round and threaten you. To me this is a clear illustration of the psyche in most bad Somalis. They will smile and kiss you shortly before plunging a knife deep into your back and twisting it. Every Somali with good intentions should join Kenyans in condemning this terrible habit.

Okay I will say no more now… for real.

Muthaura Flown to SA, Still Working from ICU

Hitherto energetic and never-tiring Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura has been flown to South Africa for further treatment. His doctors could not take chances after confirming that arteries in and out of his heart are THINNING. Such calcification is sure recipe for massive stroke. In fact the government has gambled with PS of all PSs, he should have been flown to London.

At least our sensational media can now rest easy after their object of hate and speculation has been relocated to Johannesburg. But Muthaura’s hospitalization leaves a gaping hole that can plunge Kenya into deep administrative problems. For starters he has no deputy and has been competently running this country single handed albeit chronically partisan.

But we must take heart from Dr. Mutua’s assurance that Mzee Muthaura will be back behind his desk in less than two weeks. We have no cause to doubt Alfred, he must know better, after all he is a doctor, isn’t he? In any case he never suffers whiners lightly no matter the might whether junior senator of Illinois or not.

Kenya cannot do without the veteran PS Muthaura. His work rate is phenomenon and above all unrivalled. What is more, even in the face of calamity, the good old man can at least afford a half grin, nay smile, for the first time even if on a stretcher. The old man can take just so much pressure after more than 10 years no leave.

Massive stroke
Heading civil service is a 24 hour duty while politicians snore in parliament. Muthaura’s energy is incredible. With no deputy, he was still working from his HDU bed. Kenyan media must also learn to respect the office of government spokesman. Our penchant to distrust official channels only succeeds in feeding destructive rumours.

In the meantime we must collectively wish the good ambassador well as he confronts his own mortality. Who knows, may be this scare would offer him the opportunity to contemplate the highly partisan and polarizing role he has played in the grand coalition in addition to toxic politicization of the civil service.

Hopefully the NDE and scent from ICU next door will transform him into a better man. God bless the unofficial emperor.

Dialogue From State House Security Meeting

This is an imaginary meeting that never took place that nevertheless tries to capture a situation where dinosaurs using outdated ideas inevitably run out of options. It is instructive that this is the crux of the problem with the Kibaki/Raila administration. The meeting takes place between a senior presidential security advisor and a high ranking police chief. Enjoy.

Security advisor: I called this meeting to demand an explanation from you concerning the current escalating crime rate in the country. The president is concerned.

Police chief: Where is his Excellency if I may ask?

Security advisor: He’s still asleep but that is beside the point. What will I tell him when he wakes up?

Police Chief (glances at his watch and realizes it is going to noon): You will remember that I warned you this would happen. Let’s see if those human rights activists can fix it now.

Security advisor: Surely there are other ways of fighting crime without having to shoot down every thug in town.

Police Chief: I would like to hear about them. As you know our justice system doesn’t work.

Security advisor: What happened to the idea to increase patrols and other crime prevention measures? Your officers seem to have slackened considerably.

Police chief: The firearms we ordered never arrived. Patrols with G3 rifles when thugs have automatic weapons just gets my officers killed.

Security advisor: So what do we do now?

Police Chief: Maybe the human rights activists can give us some ideas.

Security advisor: Stop being sarcastic. Are you suggesting that we replace you with somebody else who will have some new ideas?

Police chief: That is the prerogative of the president but you know my replacement will be faced with exactly the same situation.

Security advisor: If you want to keep your job you will need to find a way to deal with escalating crime. Am sure you realize that.

Police Chief: If only we could fully reactivate the Kwekwe squad. Or even better form a new unit. Remember how we dealt with the Mungiki?

Security advisor: But I thought the Mungiki are still very much around and causing chaos?

Police chief: Yes, but they can be dealt with in the same way we did the first time. We shall find better ways to get rid of the bodies leaving no trace of evidence.

Security advisor: I have told you before that we are under considerable International pressure over those killings, we can never go back to that.

Police Chief: Then I might as well resign and leave the human rights activists to fight crime in this country.

Security advisor: I wish it was that simple. You know we still have skeletons in the closet over those damned elections. Even a fool would not accept your resignation at this time.

Police chief: You know my lips are sealed concerning that.

Security advisor: They better be. Even if you end up at the Hague?

Police chief: Even if I end up at the Hague.

Security advisor: So shall I tell his Excellency that you would like to step down?

Police chief: Of course not. This is Africa where nobody resigns. Tell him that our hands are tied, we need some little authority to clamp down with force on thugs. There is no other way.

Security advisor: I can tell you he won’t be happy about that. Anything else?

Police chief: It also helped when I had control over what crime the media could report and how it was reported. You know these reports cause panic and make us look bad.

Security advisor: Again we can never go back to that. All efforts to put the media on a leash have failed. Besides even if the media keeps quiet there is always that silly Kumekucha site. That chap has informants everywhere.

Police chief: How many people read that stupid site?

Security advisor: The problem is that the International community does and more Kenyans than you realize.

Police chief: Then I can tell you that it will always be very difficult for anybody holding this office that I hold.

Security advisor: I have to run. I have two more meetings before the president wakes up. My parting advice is that you should think out of the box and you need to do it urgently.

Police chief: Okay. But I have always done that haven’t I?

Security advisor (hurriedly departing): Keep me informed.


P.S. On other matters, I need to ask a question. Is it true that Africans are generally more resistant to the dreaded Swine flu? What most people don’t realize is that the unfolding scenario is a nightmare-come-true for many virologists who for years have feared a worldwide outbreak just like this. You can’t stop it as long as International travel continues. But it seems the penetration level in African countries has been extremely low. Those who are religious will say that it is the mercy of God (and I would agree) because surely we are just too ill equipped to deal with a full blown out-break of this thing within our shores.

One of my informants in Kenya says that he overheard in a matatu this morning a smartly dressed lady asking why the person with Swine flu was not deported immediately to solve the problem. It is clear that Kenyans know very little about the Swine flu.

Mzee Muthaura is Key to Kenya’s Health

Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura has been admitted a door away from ICU. It wouldn’t have come at a worse time when Kenya is in dire traits and chronic need of Muthaura’s able hands. Almost 70 years old and close to five decades in government, very few Kenyans can match ambassador Muthaura's experience.

The need for REFORMS can only be shepherded by Muthaura’s tried hands. He knows the government inside out. What is more, he has the boss’ ears. Many neophytes in the GCG may hate him for his fidelity to protocol. But serikali is no civil society and none of these activists can hold a candle to the veteran ambassador.

Our sensational newspapers must spare PS Muthaura more headache. Whether he was hospitalized last month or yesterday morning is immaterial. These alarmist reporters fail to understand the enormity of the national burden Muthaura shoulders on our behalf. They even shamelessly fail to glimpse the gravity of the mater when police boss spends five hours at the hospital hosting Muthaura.

10 years work, no leave
You see Major Ali needs alloyed guidance to stop thugs in Juja from petrol-bombing houses when owners refuse to open their doors to allow unhindered looting. Add that to the explosive Mungiki-vigilante executions and you have to sympathize with Muthaura's predicament in this sick status.

The press must learn to respect top government officials who discharge their duties under great pressure. You fail to understand why they doubt Dr Mutua’’s official statement that Muthaura BOOKED himself in hospital on Sunday. He must know better.

What more can unforgiving and unappreciative populace ask for besides a 70-year old working for more than 10 years without leave. After offloading our collective national stress on Mzee Muthaura he is now smarting from chemical imbalance in his body. True, rewards from an ungrateful donkey are fatal kicks.

Affairs in Nairobi? I thought We Were Christians

In the beginning God created Adam.

Okay, I won't bore you with a theological discussion on morality or give my own take on how married folks should live their lives. I don't want to give my friend Taabu a chance to come down on me with that "sermon thing." But I had a very interesting discussion with a group of ladies and gentlemen in one restaurant here in Nairobi that left me reeling. These folks insisted that affairs have become so common in Nairobi. A way of life. In fact, one lady said that what is shocking today is that anybody should be shocked if they find out their wife or husband is seeing someone out there.

Really?

I still remember the day I first met my beautiful Hellen. It was a sunny afternoon under the unforgiving heat of Kendu Bay. From the time we met, I knew I'd met a remarkable lady, one I wanted to know better...and even marry someday. I played my cards right and everything worked just fine. Nearly two decades later, it feels just like that first time.

Love!

When you think back at your own experiences with that sweet lady you call your wife, or fiancee, or girlfriend, what comes to your mind? Do you think of the moments you brought her roses and rolled a sweet kiss down her lip or do you wince at the thought of the painful things she's done to you? Do you pray for another four decades of life with her or do you wish a thunderbolt would shoot from the sky and end her life? Has your love remained undiminished by the roll of the years?

I'm not naive to deny that many times people have gotten into relationships that turned out wrong and painful. I'm also aware that straying is possible. But can someone explain the growing epidemic of affairs in Nairobi? Is it the cell phone? Is it our sense that morality is a thing of the past? Is it a failure of the church to instill its relevance in our lives? Or is this just where a nation that loves everything Western (Hollywood) must inevitably find itself?

C'mon, guys, I think affairs are for cowards. Why keep a sweet lady at home and go after another elsewhere? And just why would a lady switch men over a single weekend like it's something normal?

Hhmmm...

Let's talk about this. We'll talk war with Somalia next week.

Breaking News added by Chris

After denials over the weekend, the Kenyan government has finally confirmed the first case of Swine flu in the country, a student who traveled from the UK over the weekend. A public health alert is to be issued later today.

Drums Of War: Terrible Stuff Most Kenyans Don’t Know About

The Somali situation is very much in the news but many Kenyans have no idea that we have been at war with the Somalis before—and it was for a long time. There was heavy loss of life in that war (the numbers are still a closely guarded state secret) and in my book the Somalis won that war… easily. Indeed even Kenyans who were old enough to understand stuff in the 50s and 60s are hardly aware of how serious the Shifta war was. It lasted from 1964 to around 1968. Some people say significant skirmishes continued well into the 70s.

This is the war that the Kenyan government never wanted to acknowledge. At best it was always downplayed when the government did grudgingly agree that something was going on in Northern and North Eastern Kenya. Those Kenyans who knew that there was indeed a war going on were those who were touched by it like in the story I am about to tell.

But before I tell you my fascinating story about the “war that never was,” let me say that those who have been reading this blog for a long time are well aware of the fact that I have been shouting myself hoarse here warning about the time bomb that are the Somalis and that explosive part of Nairobi called Eastleigh which for all intents and purposes is really part of Mogadishu. If you doubt this then I also need to tell you that proven intelligence sources have indicated that dreaded Somali pirates come to Eastleigh to relax and enjoy their money from piracy activities while preparing to launch their next “mission.” You can find anything, and I mean anything in Eastleigh. From a US passport that will get you into America without any problem to some for the latest assault weapons. To be honest I don’t mind those quality suits that would ordinarily cost about Kshs 15,000 in parts of Nairobi but go for a paltry Kshs 1,500 in Eastleigh.

But let me get on with my story.

Mutunga (his real name) was a police constable and driver to a senior high ranking policeman in Isiolo. The year was 1967 and the Shifta war (which was mostly a guerilla war) was ongoing. Mutunga was driving his superior one lovely sunny afternoon when suddenly without any warning the police Landrover they were in was lifted high in the sky. They had hit a landmine. When the vehicle landed on the ground again with a thud Mutunga’s boss was badly injured with a suspected punctured lung. Mutunga himself was much worse off. Being at the front of the Landrover he had taken the full brunt of the mine. All the bones in his leg had been shattered and were almost powder. He was obviously in great pain.

Frantic efforts were made to radio Nairobi for an aircraft to airlift him for urgent medical attention in the city. The police officer running the operation got Mutunga’s boss to a hospital in Meru where the doctors grimly said that had he arrived moments later he would have almost certainly died because his lungs had stuck together after the explosion meaning that as he breathed there was no movement in his lungs. The police officer breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that one officer had been saved even as he battled to save Mutunga’s life. He finally convinced a “mzungu” pilot to land his small aircraft in the Isiolo airstrip after running police lorries across it several times up to the moment the aircraft started it’s final approach to ensure that there were no mines.

My source says that he will not forget that moment in the aircraft when he bid Mutunga goodbye giving him a bottle of water to sip (thirst is a sign of enormous internal bleeding). The brave policeman was still answering “Yes sir” as loudly as he could even as he lay there dying with his badly broken body. Radio contact was maintained as the aircraft flew back to Nairobi with its’ sole passenger. A humble police officer who had never been on an aircraft before. In those days aircrafts could not land at Wilson Airport at night because there was no electricity there yet. So as the aircraft approached Embakassi Airport the pilot heard some strange noise at the back of his aircraft. He did not need to look back to know that Mutunga had died minutes away from medical attention. The information was radioed back to Isiolo and the sad news was passed on to his colleagues. The Shifta war had claimed the precious life of yet another Kenyan.

Opinion is divided as to how that war finally petered off. Some say that President Kenyatta got the help of Tanzania president Mwalimu Julius Nyerere who acted as a go-between and talked to the then Somali president Siad Barre of Somalia to “cool off.” Others say that the war just run out of steam as other priorities emerged for Somalis. Whatever happened the fact is that to this day the Somali flag has 5 stars on it and yet there are only 4 provinces in the country (at least there were at that time). The fifth province is 6 districts in Kenya namely Isiolo, Garissa, Moyale, Wajir, Marsabit (I forget the sixth). What I am saying is that the Somalis already have what appears to be a good enough reason to be at war with Kenya.

Incidentally the Tanzanians are very serious about their security. A few years ago some factions in Somalia invaded a remote part of that vast country. The response from Dar was immediate and decisive. The army was sent in and the problem was solved albeit with major loss to human life.

I personally witnessed a Somali man being refused entry into Tanzania at the Namanga border about 2 years ago. His papers were in order but immigration officials exercised their prerogative to deny entry.

Contrast that to Nairobi’s response. When a Kenyan immigration officer sees a Somali, they see money and a fat bribe. Tanzanian immigration officers are also corrupt but they know the sharp distinction between corruption that endangers national security and corruption that does not. Again former President Moi’s reason for allowing the influx of Somalis into the country was because the foreign exchange they brought in kept the country going at a difficult time. President Kibaki had a chance to tackle the problem but his response like in everything else has been inconsistent, disjointed, indecisive and devoid of any long term strategy. During Kibaki’s tenure, flights out of Wilson Airport to Somalia have been grounded at least twice for short periods of time. The border with Somalia has also been closed once only to be reopened. Army patrols on the same stretch of our porous borders started way too late.

Yet even a primary school child would have seen a long time ago that Somalis are a serious threat to our national security. For instance all the guns used in crime and murder in the country (save the ones belonging to policemen) come in from Somalia. You can be sure that political assassins are bound to use the same the hardware. The taxman also gets deprived of billions of shillings in taxes by the Somalis in Eastleigh. I am told that these days people import stuff from Dubai and receive it at Eastleigh. Yep Eastleigh is becoming an increasingly large inland port in Kenya.

The bottom line is that now it is way too late to do much about the Somalia issue except wait for what is inevitably coming to us.

People are talking about Kenyan soldiers launching offensives to protect the border. It’s fun talking about war and how tough the Kenya army is, but the truth is that this is laughable because if full scale war ever broke out, Somalis have a base to comfortably operate from and launch their attacks from that is right at the heart of Nairobi. I am talking about Eastleigh of course. How do you even begin to divide the Kenyan Somalis from the Somalia Somalis? And we should all know by now that the Somalis are masters of guerilla warfare (ask American Marines) so they will quickly neutralize Kenyans’ alleged massive military hardware and personnel to nought—just like they did in the 60s when they did not have an Eastleigh to operate from.

Will the last person leaving Kenya please remember to kill the lights.

DVD movies available in Kenya that Kumekucha has been watching