Talking to ordinary Kenyans these days, there is no mistaking their determination to vote out most of the jokers currently polluting the August house with their presence which has brought hardly any benefit to anybody except to themselves with high salaries and perks.
One Kenyan told this blogger of several cases of MPs in their home area who were paupers when they were voted into parliament in 2002 but whose lives have changed rather dramatically. Another Kenyan even pointed to the case of Anania Mwaboza, the Kisauni legislator (Coast province) who went to parliament to replace the late Karisa Maitha. He has hardly been in parliament for two years and yet he seems to have acquired plenty of wealth very swiftly. Mwaboza's election is currently the subject of a dramatic court case in Mombasa.
Awareness amongst the Kenyan voters even in rural areas has dramatically been heightened and it is clear that this time round, money will hardly influence the proceedings.
Still the worry of many Kenyan voters, is who to vote for. Interestingly out of the 10 odd wananchi that this blogger spoke to at a major cosmopolitan town in Kenya which is populated by many different tribes hailing from diverse parts of the country, all agreed on one thing; that they will prefer to vote for outsiders and people who have never been to parliament before.
Fortunately it is still very early and things are bound to get clearer as the polls draw nearer towards the end of the year. It seems that Kenyan voters can hardly wait for their chance to speak loudly and clearly to the ninth parliament.
A Kenyan safari of a lifetime at a price you will not believe.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Vigilante Group Terror in Kisii Leads To Brutal Killings Of Suspects
Under inexplicable circumstances, a vigilante group in Kisii central known as Sungu Sungu has been brutally carrying out executions of suspected gangsters and criminals in a manner that has left villagers terrified and at a loss on what to do since the provincial administration is sitting back and doing nothing.
The police are not even keen to investigate and make arrests following the murders of the suspected thieves, which is carried out late in the night by a group of between fifty to seventy youths armed with crude weapons.
A widow was shown on television recently narrating how the group suspected her husband of being a criminal only to write a letter to him to the effect that they were coming for his head. The matter came to pass as they subsequently attacked and chopped off his head.
The notorious group also has powers to deny relatives of their victims the chance to bury them in their homes and usually instructs them to dispose of the bodies at public cemeteries in Kisii town.
Not only does the group kill, they also burn and loot their victim's property and usually write letters to potential victims accusing them of their crimes before carrying out the 'judgment' which is usually death by lynching late into the night.
Surprisingly, chiefs and their assistants and even the police don’t bother to interfere with most locals assuming that the government approves of what the vigilante group is doing though some of its victims' family members have said many of the people killed have been innocent.
The source of information that the terror group relies on is not known and villagers suspect that it could be the provincial administrators who are giving these names and in effect signing death warrants of innocent villagers.
Apparently, the politicians have also chosen to ignore the issue in spite of numerous calls to them from the villagers to intervene and end these senseless killings, which are carried out in the most brutal manner.
It is becoming clear that the government approves of what the Sungu Sungu is doing and actually believe that they are effectively combating runaway crime in Kisii by executing dangerous thieves. However it seems that they there are also innocent people who are dying as a result of wrong information, which is never verified let alone authenticated prior to execution.
Kenya has a history of vigilante groups, which have over stepped their powers and committed atrocities among their own people, but nothing like Sungu Sungu has ever been seen in the country before. They make the dreaded Mungiki sect look like a bunch of kindergarten kids.
It is now up to the government to step in and end this madness once and for all by arresting and prosecuting these youths who have become a law unto themselves as they go about carrying out summary executions with impunity.
A Kenyan safari of a lifetime at a price you will not believe.
The police are not even keen to investigate and make arrests following the murders of the suspected thieves, which is carried out late in the night by a group of between fifty to seventy youths armed with crude weapons.
A widow was shown on television recently narrating how the group suspected her husband of being a criminal only to write a letter to him to the effect that they were coming for his head. The matter came to pass as they subsequently attacked and chopped off his head.
The notorious group also has powers to deny relatives of their victims the chance to bury them in their homes and usually instructs them to dispose of the bodies at public cemeteries in Kisii town.
Not only does the group kill, they also burn and loot their victim's property and usually write letters to potential victims accusing them of their crimes before carrying out the 'judgment' which is usually death by lynching late into the night.
Surprisingly, chiefs and their assistants and even the police don’t bother to interfere with most locals assuming that the government approves of what the vigilante group is doing though some of its victims' family members have said many of the people killed have been innocent.
The source of information that the terror group relies on is not known and villagers suspect that it could be the provincial administrators who are giving these names and in effect signing death warrants of innocent villagers.
Apparently, the politicians have also chosen to ignore the issue in spite of numerous calls to them from the villagers to intervene and end these senseless killings, which are carried out in the most brutal manner.
It is becoming clear that the government approves of what the Sungu Sungu is doing and actually believe that they are effectively combating runaway crime in Kisii by executing dangerous thieves. However it seems that they there are also innocent people who are dying as a result of wrong information, which is never verified let alone authenticated prior to execution.
Kenya has a history of vigilante groups, which have over stepped their powers and committed atrocities among their own people, but nothing like Sungu Sungu has ever been seen in the country before. They make the dreaded Mungiki sect look like a bunch of kindergarten kids.
It is now up to the government to step in and end this madness once and for all by arresting and prosecuting these youths who have become a law unto themselves as they go about carrying out summary executions with impunity.
A Kenyan safari of a lifetime at a price you will not believe.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)