Brief Report on peace/prayer rally organized by Ruto/Uhuru
At the 64 stadium, Eldoret
Friday 27th Jan 2012
The Uhuru/Ruto political axis organized a peace/prayer a rally on Friday 27th Jan 2012 at the 64 stadium. The public rally was attended by over 45 legislators including the vice president, former MPs and a presidential aspirant Raphael Tuju and another ICC suspect Joshua Sang. The prayers took exactly 11 minutes and immediately the rally snowballed into a political rally with all the speakers making statements laced with hate speech and/or incitement.
In what appeared to be a well rehearsed script, nearly all the speakers stated that should the two (Uhuru & Ruto) be barred from vying for presidency, then Kenya will not have elections. The speakers made inflammatory statements insinuating that their communities were on trial and they should unite to resist the work of the ICC which has been hoodwinked by the NGOs and the prime minister through the international community.
Belgut MP Charles Keter kicked of the storm with a rallying call.
“Just as we said in 2007 that ‘No Raila, No Peace’, we will say ‘No Uhuru and Ruto, No Elections.”
Embakasi MP waititu said “lazima tufanye kila kitu kuzuia huyu mjaruo kuingia state house tuingie huko wenyewe ndio tuvuruge hii maneno ICC…”
Gideon Mbuzi ‘SONKO’ “ Said “ hakuna vile tutakubali mtu wa jina linaanza na O asaidiwe na cousin yake huko America wa jina linaanza na O washikane na Ocampo kumaliza watu wetu….tutapambana nao”
Isaac Ruto said “ we know the international community and the civil society have a preferred candidate but let them know we shall not allow them Uhuru and Ruto must be on the ballot.”
Eldoret East MP Peris Simam said that “We will vote for them irrespective of where they will be. Let those NGOs stop going to court. I am stating that the government is here”
Eldama Ravine MP Moses Lessonet added that “It is the people of Kenya who will decide on the leadership of Kenya, not the courts and NGOs”
“We stand today by our people who are being mistreated but what we know is that by the end of the day, the truth shall come out” said Lucas Chepkitotony
“We announce today that whether they like it or not, the leader of this country is with us today” added Mosop MP David Koech.
“The trial of Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya’s 1st President) by the colonialist did not stop him from being President just as the incarceration of Nelson Mandela by the whites never stopped him from being an African leader. I tell you today, be of good courage,” Eugene Wamalwa remarked.
The speakers heaped blame on the CSOs and the prime minister for the woes facing the ICC suspects. The Vice president insisted that he was not the one to benefit if the suspects are tried since he has fought to have the cases brought back to Kenya but his efforts were thwarted by known people in ODM and the CSOs. Ruto called on his supporters to ensure that Uhuru and him are not locked out of the presidential race. Ruto also spoke for about 7 minutes in his native Kalenjin Language rallying his ‘people’ to ensure that if they are locked out of the race then they should frustrate the holding of the elections by all means.
Gideon Mbuvi, Ferdinand Waititu Kazungu Kambi and a youth leader from Nyanza made derogatory statements against the Luo community calling on other tribes to shun the community because its leader is conman and untrustworthy they went further to call anybody calling on Uhuru and Ruto not to vie for the presidency “mashetani”. They vowed to gang up to deny the premier from having a say on the management of the coalition government and promised to shield the president from attacks from the ODM wing of the government and vowed to resist calls for Uhuru to step aside as the deputy prime minister calling on the CSOs to stop their demands. They called on the president to disregard the National accord and rule the country as he deems fit since they are the majority and they will stand with him
On the other hand there was clear breach of the elections act which prohibits use of state resources in partisan campaigns. The vice president was with his official motorcade. The Eldoret municipal Council Lorries were used transport municipal council chairs to the venue.
Report by
Richard Maina
Programme Officer
ALAC Eldoret.
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