Breaking News/STOP PRESS: Smith Hempstone Is Dead

Smith "Nyama choma ambassador" Hempstone: Kenyans will never forget you.

"Nyama Choma Ambassador Is No More"

Information that reached this blogger just a few minutes ago (from impeccable sources that I cannot name) indicate that a man who made a major contribution to the noble fight for the second liberation in Kenya in the 1980s and 90s, former US Amabassador to Kenya, Smith Hempstone, is dead. My source reports that the man Kanu hawks loved to contemptuously call "nyama choma ambassador" passed on, Saturday 18th November 2006 in the United States.

Quite ironic that he dies on that date because that was the eve of the ODM Kenya organized so-called prayer meeting at Kamukunji grounds which was broken up by police. Hempstone's support helped multi-party crusaders hold several rally's at Kamkunji (most of which were broken up by police) and there were even times that the main organizers drove directly to the venue from the US embassy then situated at the corner of Moi Avenue and Haile Selassie Avenue. This was the embassy location that was bombed by Al Quaeda terorists in 1998.

Younger Kenyans may not be very familiar with Smith Hempstone's role in the struggle for the so-called second liberation, but the Kenyan people owe a great debt to this man who single-handedly refused to look the other way as the Moi government did everything in its' power to put down the campaign for multi-party democracy at a time when opposition parties were illegal in Kenya. Probably the most dramatic moment of the Hempstone tenure was the time in the 90s when he used his diplomatic immunity status to get Lawyer Gibson Kamau Kuria into a plane and on to exile in the United States right under the watchful eye of the then Special branch police who were more than eager to get their hands on the lawyer.

Hempstone also wrote a controversial book based on his Kenya assignment, Rogue Ambassador (which was banned in Kenya as Moi sued Hempstone, the publisher and the local book distributors (Text Book Center) in Kenya in 2001. Moi's big issue with the book was for its' alleging that he was involved in the murder of foreign minister Robert Ouko.

It is no exaggeration to say that without the contribution of Hempstone, at great risk to his own life (there were at least two attempts on his life) it could have been difficult for the country to have achieved what it did in terms of democratization and success in finally ousting the dictatorial Moi and Kanu from power.

I am deeply saddened at the death of Hempstone.

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Why is it that Raila seems to know all this top-secret government meetings and goings on? Remember the Artur brother's saga? (Incidentally Raila says that they are back in the country). Does Raila have a mole in the highest echelons of government and if so, who is it?

The answer to these questions is shocking and too sensitive even for this blog. So I have answered it in great detail via email to my subscribers.

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