Our picture shows bodies from Naivasha burnt beyond recognition
In early January 2008 shortly after Mwai Kibaki had been declared winner of the presidential elections by about 200,000 votes, I had fairly good contacts on the ground and the information was streaming in. One of the first bits of information I got that was difficult to explain was reports that heavily armed security personnel were surrounding the City Mortuary. We made jokes out of it. Had they gone mad and now decided to guard the dead? The Kumekucha blog was barely 3 years old then and yet to gain the experience that would have recognized that this was nothing to joke about and a very vital clue behind which was a very big story.
After that events unfolded pretty quickly and that curious little incident was forgotten. Yet it was extremely important. It is the most compelling evidence that the Mwai Kibaki administration expected and prepared for a blood bath. The mortuary was being guarded to ensure that the true death toll would never be known to the world and no nosy journalists would enter to take photographs or do a body count. Indeed to this day the official figure of those who died countrywide from the unprecedented post election violence is still under 1,000. A very sick joke because half that number were killed in just one scene in Kisumu. Don't even go to the Rift Valley.
But why would a government want to butcher its' own people and then desperately hide the true death toll? What would possibly be the motive for such a macabre and sick action?
Clues that will give us the answer must start with a curious remark by President Kibaki a few days to the polls and which were published in The East African Standard newspaper. On being asked by a Foreign journalist whether he would concede defeat in those elections, he replied in Kiswahili; "Wacha kuniuliza swali ya upumbavu." (stop asking me a stupid question). And that was it. His answer to a very important question.
(excerpts from Kumekucha's latest book; Let The Blood Flow. To get details on how you can obtain a copy email umissedthis at gmail dot com.)
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Chris,
ReplyDeleteThe mortuary is centrally located in Nairobi. Two questions:
1. What is the capacity of the Nairobi City Mortuary?
2. How would the bodies have been transported to and from the mortuary without anybody noticing a single thing even with "heavily armed security personnel" surrounding it unless Mbagathi / Ngong roads were completely shut down to all vehicular / pedestrian traffic (again, without anybody noticing)?
Kibaki stole in 2007. So did Raila.
The "smarter" crook won but they are both directly responsible for having wanainchi murdered.
Kumekucha,
ReplyDeleteCollective amnesia has become our national anthem while Denial is the over flowing river that passes through every homestead, village, old-time location, division, district, counties and in the minds and hearts of 95% of the Kenyan population.
That is one of the many sad reasons why old school politicians like Kibaki and company plus their new school political of myopic underlings and sycophantic followers do not give a hoot about how many innocent civilian lives were lost and the myriad of properties destroyed and looted by regional goons in the affected areas.
First of all, Kibaki and Odinga should have been the ones warming their butts in the dock at the ICC, and of course accompanied by their lieutenants, Uhuru, Ruto, et al.
There are over twenty-five names of known culprits - political devils and snakes - who should have been held responsible and sentenced to serving real time in secure places like Kamiti, Naivasha, King'ong'o, Manyani, Shimo-la-Tewa, Kodiaga, Shikusa and in far away prisons located around the country.
Oh, by the way, we would be singing a very different tune with very sad lyrics had the post election bloodbath - 'mkondo wa damu' - lasted for six or eight months and spread to most parts of the urban and rural areas in the country.
So far, the majority of us are still swimming in the toxic river of Denial based on our political affiliations and destructive ethnic connections while at the same turning a blind on what really happened, where it took place, who were the masterminds and the ruthless crowds responsible.
As the ICC's process is concerned, most of us have become comfortable spectators rather than active participants in search of overdue justice, restitution and real teachable moments as a deterrence for future generations of Kenyans from all walks of life.
All things considered, we have become our own nightmare and we will remain our own worst enemy for decades to come if we as a people and nation do not dare to step up to the plate of justice and do the right thing in memory of the victims, their families, countless survivors and IDPs that are scattered all over the country.
The choice is ours if we want to become a better, stronger and united nation, or else continue to propagate evil seeds of political, economic and ethnic destruction and disunity that will lead our nation along the path Somalia and DRC has taken in the last several decades.
Kumekucha is back!!!
ReplyDeleteGREAT!!!
This is a book I must read!
ReplyDelete