How Long Will Police Commissioner Ali Last?

Soldier Boy Who Played At Cops And Robbers Now In Big Trouble

Also published earlier today: Taabu on Prof Alston and the bankrupt Kenyan psyche

The man has a rather dry, sardonic sense of humour that was very clearly displayed in a memorable press conference the day before Mwai Kibaki stole the elections in full view of TV cameras and the world in late 2007 (many are the times when he cracks a joke and laughs first a mischievous chuckle that would be more appropriate to a comedian rather than a law enforcement officer. And more oftren than not nobody else in the room finds what he is saying funny).
Police commissioner Maj general Huseein Ali: Under his watch terrible, terrible things happened.

In retrospect that day Ali was cracking jokes at the media conferemnce, we were being prepared for the horrific events of the next day and police commissioner Maj general Hussein Ali was at the heart of the game plan. In fact over a year later it is now coming to light that those plans may have included the “extermination” of any pockets of resistance to the electoral theft according to the report by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston.

Prof Alston has issued a bombshell of a report that just confirms a lot of what we told skeptical Kenyans in this blog about a year ago Read the full story. In fact I stand by the figures that I gave here then. That over 5,000 Kenyans have been killed by the police in the reign of terror overseen by police commissioner Ali.

For all intents and purposes it is now looking like Maj general Hussein Ali will be one of the first people to stand trial for his role in the failed presidential elections of 2007. Prof Alston has already asked the ICC (Hague) to take over the investigations into police brutality in Kenya and extra-judicial killings.

But even as we pass judgement of a man who has to go down in history as the most brutal police commissioner ever, it is important for Kenyans to understand the whole story behind this sad saga.

--------------------------------
Do you suspect that your spouse is cheating on you? Simply get their cell phone and then recover deleted sms messages
--------------------------------

The whole story, according to me, started long before the 2002 general elections. We were in a meeting at Ufungamano House. Present was at the meeting was Mwai Kibaki and a host of other NAK top brass. Kibaki repeated at that meeting what he had already said countless times before. That the problem of increased crime was one that was going to be tackled easily by budgeting for and employing more policemen.

Well we all know what happened. Kibaki did employ more policemen in 2003 but that did not solve the problem and his administration struggled with the problem of insecurity for a time. That was until they proudly announced the appointment of a soldier to the police commissioner’s post. Enter Maj general Hussein Ali (then a brigadier).

Ali’s strategy was simple, and I must admit, effective. The idea was to create killer squads and to hunt down suspected hardened criminals and simply mow them down in a hail of bullets. The only problem with this strategy is that along with the hardened criminals and scum of the earth were very innocent Kenyans whose only crime was that they were at the wrong place at tragically the wrong time.

When the Mungiki problem came (created and financed by politicians) Ali used the same tactics in a very vicious and bloody operation that left Kenyans numb with shock.

But Ali was not as smart as he always tried to portray himself in front of newsmen. It did not cross his mind that investigators from outside would ever start snooping into what the police were doing. He also did not realize the fact that it is impossible to wipe out all evidence when you are involved in mass murder.

The result is that even though the government seems to be defending Ali at the moment (or at least factions of it, because Prime Minister Raila Odinga, obviously thinks different from what he is saying) it is clearly only a matter of time before the soldier boy not only leaves office but also stands trial for his heinous acts.

Other effective ways of fighting crime other than mass murder need to be found. But the problem is that the old dinosaurs we have in office today cannot be expected to come up with new ideas or even to think out of the box.

Food for thought: NTV last night aired old footage of President Kibaki saying that criminals who killed others will also be killed and that “there is no other way.” This was early in his first (and only genuine) presidential term.

Related stories from the past:

Bad smells and why Ali should resign

What Ali did at the KICC at the height of election theft

An excuse for Ali's actions?

Best Case Study of Accelerated Self-Destruction

Prof Philip Alston came with guns blazing and shooting from the hip. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or Summary Executions pulled no punches in recommending the resignation or firing of both Wako and PC Ali. What is more, he readily entered the local lingo by declaring that the AG was the embodiment of the phenomenon of impunity in Kenya.

Kenya has been left bleeding from all her orifices. Even before our national inner garments aired by both Judges Kriegler and Waki dried, Prof Alston is exposing the rot that pseudo patriots would rather is left to stink underneath. You know Kenya is in denial when parrot Alfred Mutua shamelessly regurgitates those tired lines in defending the indefensible.

Government’s sanctioned extra judicial killings in the last 5 years is an extended solid proof of the jungle and failed state we have degenerated into. No sensible Kenyan will be surprised by the predictable denials and contempt from Wako and Ali. The subsequent partisan brickbats taking the cheap party lines will be the icing on this toxic cake.

By attacking President Kibaki, Alston has invited smelly flies to patch on his coat. And they will come furious while trivializing his mission and report. Alston’s report couldn’t have come at a worse time with Kenyans chocking from the satanic grip of gate keepers who are busy auctioning every available piece of property Kenya while the voters scavenge for wild fruits to keep starvation-induced death.

The last one year has proved Kenya to be the most suitable case study of a self-destructing country whose leaders shamelessly circle a carcass as it rots. We are a failed state in serial and painful state of denial. Kibaki’s loud silence and inaction in the face of present challenges is not only deliberate but by design for acting otherwise is not an item in the shopping list of the present ruling class.

Reign of official terror
Only the rule of law separates us from other primates. But perpetrators of the free reign of terror using the police force and military can run roughshod secure in the knowledge that their devious actions will not earn them any reprimand. They are in safe hands and company. What with an AG almost clocking two decades as the chief obstacle in meting justice.

Poor Kofi Annan is wasting his precious retirement time in warning scoundrels who have no intention whatsoever of governing. Annan's concern must be treated as some irritating noise by the smart fast-track looters. Our predicament amounts to foolishly continuing to dig while already in a deep hell hole. NA BADO.