I have supported the Zimbabwe struggle for genuine independence since Ian Smith’s UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence). Joshua Nkomo (now dead) and Robert Mugabe are respected revolutionaries in Africa’s

History of Liberation. However, when ZANU – PF nominated Comrade Mugabe as their Presidential candidate in this year’s Presidential Election, I was uncomfortable. Why? He has been in power for over two decades and he is 84 years old. All humans are mortals but a struggle for a better life must continue, ever requiring immense intellectual energy, high degree of patriotism and clear vision. ZANU – PF must search for a patriotic successor.

Loud calls for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe by powerful NATO members is baffling .Was Iraq’s election free and fair with roadside bombs and suicide bombs? Those thousands of foreign troops, what are they doing there?

Nurturing democracy? What about Afghanistan? In both countries, deaths, IDPS, and refugees are in their millions. Is this Democracy at work? We must be sincere to Zimbabweans if we truly want to solve their problems.

African democrats genuinely concerned about Zimbabwe need to reflect on the history of the struggle in Zimbabwe before making public statements. Why did they fight for independence? Who were their enemies then and now? Who undermined the UN/OAU sanctions in the UDI era? Who is strangling Zimbabwe’s economy today with sanctions and why? Whose media is most virulent on Comrade Mugabe and in whose interest? On Zimbabwe, Africa hopes that you are not a proxy for interests that ensure that Africans remain divided, backward and poor. It happened during the five centuries of slavery, colonial yoke and continues today under the guise of democracy. We all support democracy BUT in whose interest? Were there any free and fair elections in the colonial era? The colonized peoples were only taught dictatorship, discrimination and docility. Which party is innocent in that violence in Zimbabwe? Haven’t we heard of foreign cash servicing a destabilization project in that country; of people hired with cash (21st century mercenaries) in the different parts of the continent to make hypocritical statements that deepen and perpetuate rifts among African peoples regarding this violence? Which party is innocent in the January and February violence in Kenya? Surely, the voices of African democrats should be loud and clear regarding Uganda, Sudan(Darfur), Chad, last Nigeria election ,Egypt, Algeria not just Zimbabwe; otherwise they shut up.Let every African country find its own route to democracy that best serves the interests of its people. There is no blueprint.

Quiet diplomacy works and President Mbeki should be encouraged, not pilloried by the High Priests of democracy and their media. It worked for former President Moi over Uganda problems in the 1980s, Sudan and he left Somalia on the right course when he retired.

Genuine African democrats fight for peace, justice, and prosperity for all (blacks, whites, coloured, browns, yellows). In their present predicament, Zimbabweans will find Mandela’s message (Never Again) relevant, inspiring and reassuring; similar timeless and enlightening messages from revered African heroes now in their graves come from Jaramogi (Not yet Uhuru), Nkrumah (Africa Must Unite), Lumumba (Congo for the Congolese), Nyerere (It can be done; Play your part) and many others.

The struggle continues!

Victory to Zimbabweans.

Mr. Adimo Rajula, Nairobi

– – –
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:41:33 -0400
From: asunda rajula
Subject: Zimbabwe Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_re_af/kenya_children_in_crossfire

 AP IMPACT: Kenyan children abducted, tortured

By KATHARINE HOURELD, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 25, 5:26 AM ET (GMT -4)

 BUNGOMA, Kenya – Dozens of scared children filed silently into the bare room, their eyes on the cracks in the floor. One by one, in low voices, they told of being tortured by the Kenyan army because they were suspected of aiding rebels. They told of being beaten and made to shake hands with corpses. They told of being forced to crawl through barbed wire tunnels and of genitals squeezed by pliers.

Then the children took off their shirts. White scars crisscrossed the dark skin on their backs like grains of rice. Some were still bleeding.

These children are among hundreds in western Kenya who have been terrorized, many twice over, first by a militia in their villages and then by the army sent to fight it. The militia forced children as young as 10 to become soldiers. In a widespread crackdown, the army then rounded up the children and thousands of adults and tortured them, human rights groups say.

The Associated Press interviewed some of the children in a detention center , brought in by a human rights advocate without the knowledge of government officials or the military. The children have been held since April on charges of promoting warlike activities. Their identities and location are withheld to protect them from reprisals.

In March, the Kenyan government sent its army to crack down on the Sabaot Land Defense Force militia, which is named after the Sabaot region. But instead of hunting down militia fighters where they hide in the forests of Mount Elgon, the army swept up thousands of men and boys from the surrounding villages.

Since then, so many reports of murder and torture have emerged that Kenya’s state-run human rights commission is calling for the prosecution of the defense minister and top army and police officials. There are also calls for the United States and Britain to suspend millions of dollars in aid and training to the Kenyan army.

The U.S. has asked for $7.45 million (euro4.7 million) for “peace and security” purposes for Kenya in 2009. Britain is providing more than $1.96 million this year to fight terrorism and has allocated $7.83 million for regional security initiatives based in Kenya.

Representatives of both governments in Kenya told The Associated Press they are deeply concerned over the reports of abuses and are calling on the Kenyan government to investigate. But the Kenyan government says the army has received no complaints.

The militia in Mount Elgon formed because of land conflicts, the same issue that fueled violence in Kenya after disputed elections in December. Squatters who had farmed the same fields since they were children were evicted in a government land scheme, and the rich grabbed plots set aside for the landless.

The militia flourished in the thick forests of Mount Elgon, where 166,000 people live in poor villages next to a dormant volcano. Some families encouraged children to join in the hope of securing land in the 370-square-mile (950-square-kilometer) district. Others were given a stark choice: pay the militia up to 50,000 Kenyan shillings (US$830, euro525) — far beyond the reach of most — donate their son, or die.

One 15-year-old joined last year to protect his family after the militia killed his uncle.

“They shot him in front of me,” the boy said. “He was begging for his life on his knees.”

He spent two months in the forests and learned to shoot alongside eight other children. He saw a boy forced to kill his own father. He fled with a 10-year-old when the militia began producing victims for reluctant recruits to kill.

Some children simply disappeared. One 17-year-old girl was abducted by four men armed with machetes on her way back from school. Her father dared go to their forest hideout and ask after his missing daughter, who sang in the school choir and dreamed of being a doctor.

“They threatened to slaughter me if I took it further,” he said, his voice suddenly raw. “I could not protect her.”

Her name joined a growing list of missing children in the battered notebook of Job Bwonya of the local Western Kenya Human Rights Watch.

The first kidnaping he recorded was of 17-year-old Joshua, seized in July 2006. When word spread that he was recording cases of disappeared children, 24 families rushed forward. But four weeks later, Joshua’s parents, brother and 9-year-old sister were gunned down in the family’s cornfield, and the flow of families reporting missing children slowed to a trickle.

So far Bwonya has recorded 42 cases of missing children likely seized by the militia, and has heard of many more. A partial survey of schools a year and a half ago found 650 children had disappeared. Grim newspaper clippings plaster the plywood walls of his windowless office, and anguished testimonies about murders spill from bulging files.

“Families are terrified to talk,” he said. “No one can protect them.”

Now Bwonya has another worn book with a new set of cases of missing children, this time ones who villagers report were taken by the Kenyan army. He said testimonies from those released by the military indicate at least 22 children have been tortured to death. Bwonya himself fled the country for a couple of weeks after the military came looking for him.

The military in Mount Elgon does not talk to reporters. But Bogita Ongeri, a spokesman for the defense department in Nairobi, denied all allegations of torturing children. He said the army has combed its ranks since claims of torture surfaced but has not found a single soldier guilty of misconduct. The army had treated more than 7,000 people for injuries, he added, but their injuries came at the hands of villagers who spontaneously attacked them as militia suspects.

“No military personnel has been involved in torture,” he said. “We do not have any juveniles in military detention centers. They have not been there.”

But the children interviewed by the AP said soldiers plucked them out of school or from the streets, tortured them and caged them for days without food or water. Some had to help load dead people onto helicopters that flew out in the direction of the forest and returned empty.

Martin Wanyonyi, another human rights advocate, has records of 70 children in detention, including some whose names were confirmed by the distraught parents of the missing. Wanyonyi said a recent visit to Bungoma prison revealed dozens of tortured children among the 1,400 inmates crammed into cells designed for 400. Some were as young as 11. The stench of sewage permeated the prison, he said, and moans and screams filled the blackness.

He also showed the AP records that documented the injuries of four boys tortured so badly that prison authorities refused to accept them, insisting they be sent to a hospital instead.

In the meantime, Kenya ‘s land issues remain unresolved. And the powerful politicians that villagers and former fighters say lead the militia remain free.

“The conflict in Mount Elgon is but the worst example of the poisonous relationship between Kenyan politics, land grievances and violence,” said Ben Rawlence of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

If the children are released, some can trace their families. Others have no parents left after murders by either the militia or the military.

Peace and justice are far beyond the hopes of most families. Mothers say their ears still strain beyond the drumbeat of rain on a tin roof or wind rustling through cornstalks for the sounds of a vanished child’s voice.

Some scarred children will eventually limp home along the winding mountain trails. Others never will.

– – –
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:31:16 -0700
forwarded by: anon.
Subject:   FW: AP IMPACT: Kenyan children abducted, tortured

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080624/wl_africa_afp/
kenyapoliticsconstitution_080624212356

 Kenya rules out adopting new constitution within a year

Tue Jun 24, 5:23 PM ET

NAIROBI (AFP) – Kenya on Tuesday ruled out having a new constitution within a year, contrary to its pledge when a new coalition government came into power after deadly post-election violence

 Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua said it was impossible to have a new charter within the time-frame although President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga made the pledge to Kenyans.

Lawmakers on March 18 passed into law the constitution of Kenya (amendment) bill, technically starting a countdown to the day the country will have re-written its constitution for the first time since independence in 1963.

“It is not practical to have a constitution within 12 months since the period of 12 months was supposed to run from the time the accord was passed,” Karua told parliament, referring a broader power-sharing accord.

Karua added that a constitutional referendum would take place after next year’s annual budget in June when it is allocating new funds.

Kibaki and Odinga repeated the pledge when they swore in their coalition cabinet on April 13, raising Kenyans’ hopes after waiting for nearly two decades.

A previous attempt to change the basic law failed in a 2005 referendum.

The current constitution, which fails to address political and economic disparities, was part of sticking points that fuelled Kenya’s post-election violence.

Odinga’s claims that Kibaki committed electoral fraud in the December 27 elections sparked an unprecedented cycle of protests, police raids, tribal clashes and revenge killings that left at least 1,500 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Kenyans have long complained that the independence constitution is giving sweeping powers to the president.

Courtesy of:http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080624/world/kenya_politics_constitution

– – –
forwarded by Judy Miriga

– – – – – – – – – – –

— On Wed, 6/25/08, George Nyongesa <grnyongesa@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear All,
 
Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister, Government of Kenya joins Kenyan public to issue a communiqu’e on Zimbabwe already tragic situation. You can access the forum resolutions at Bunge la Mwananchi website http://www.bulamwa.co.ke//index.php?option=com_news_portal&Itemid=38 and engage others in our online discussion forum.
 
George Nyongesa
Bunge la Mwananchi
www.bulamwa.co.ke
+254 720 451 235 

– – –
From: George Nyongesa
Subject: Kenya speaks on Zimbabwe:Resolution and Communiqu’e
Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 4:31 PM

– – – – – – – – – – –

George,
 
Excellent work!!!
 
Kudos!!!
 
Although the web page is not opening yet.  Paste the Parliament Debate on page as well.  Sana the Constitution and Budget.
 
Folks,
 
Martha Karua has a very dirty mouth – she needs a toothpaste and a brush – she is suspected to be facilitating undercover criminal enterprise, she is scared to face consequences of dissapearances of the Amnesty Youth from the jails. Could these missing Amnesty youths be victims of such undercover human organ sale thriving in the backyard of rich CABALs? there is looming suspecion scare that some money hungry personalities are creating chaos (using security personnel) in order to target innocent unsuspecting citizens for (slaughter catch) organ sale business which is fetching them millions. 

She must therefore, be told in plain unified mwanainchi voice of Kenyan Community (asiambukize kidonda bado lina uma lina uchungu).  Kibaki and Raila is saying the Constitution will be ready in a years time, and Martha is saying no. Mbai was killed because of the same constitution, he did when he already completed the drawing of the constitution, the referendum was  witnessed before election with the majority endorsing the same constitution draft. The constitution is ready, it does not need another referendum. These are delaying tactics.  Who does she think she is?  Kenya is bigger than her, Kenyans don’t want to witness another blood bath. 

With all the blessed eyes she has she does not need stethoscope to see expectations of the future the Kenya Mwanainchi want. She is only seeing ghosts. Pray for her people. Her statements shows she cares the least for human lives.  She says the Constitution be shelved until  supplimentary amendments in July next year, when in actual sense she knows without a pinch of doubt, the constitution is an issue of Serious National Concern. Who is she fooling? 

She is a stumbling block trying to “Counter the Revolution of peoples Power”. 

She is a “threat to Kenyas Social Stability to Justice, Human Rights and Good Governance”.  Kenyans Citizen have Power and a strong voice in this  10th Parliament business undertakings because it belongs to the “People” so people in the likes of Martha should not be left to continue extending a “Repressive Agenda” through coercive illegal means – and that is why she is delaying the “constitution”. 

Tell her and speak-up people. 

Tell and complain the Rt. PM Raila, is her boss.  He should make a ruling over her statement.  He has the powers now to make a firm decision with Kibaki. What they say is final.

Judy Miriga
USA

– – –
Date:  Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:46:00 -0700 (PDT)
From:  Judy Miriga
Subject:   Re: Kenya speaks on the CONSTITUTION Debate

Br. Owiti,

I thought for a moment your email below was directed at me but knowing  the word “bull” had not fallen off my lips nor delivered through my  fingers until now, I probed further and only then did I realize the  addressee is Sam Okello. Use of last names minimizes potential  confusion.

Regards.
Omwenga.

   ****
http://blog.jaluo.com/?p=991 _ _ _
Date:  Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:16:12 -0400
From:  Tom Owiti
Subject:   RE: The New African Leader – Do me a favour
   ****

– – –
Date:  Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:40:44 -0400
From:  “Samuel N. Omwenga”
Subject:   Re: The New African Leader – Do me a favour

Just how clear can Ruto or Ngilu be on the issue of amnesty or realese of the arrested youths. Is Kibaki and PNU really listening or if they are listening will they act before it is too late.

Last week at Laboso’s funeral, Ruto did not mince his words. In his own words Ruto said ” it was unacceptable that the leaders of the Grand Coalition were being driven around in GK-plated vehicles as the youths who forced on the country the National Peace Accord languished in the cells”. He further went on to state “We must accommodate those boys because we are the reason they are in custody”. As if that is not enough Ngilu in the same funeral confirmed Ruto’s sentiments by saying and I quote “If the youths will remain in jail then those generals (leaders) who called for mass action must also face the law”

Just who are the generals these two are referring to. I will be damned if I believe for a second that they are talking about PNU officials like Martha. In these statements both Ngilu and Ruto were referring to ODM generals. They were simply telling Kibaki, Karua and Co that the mass action for which the youths were arrested were ordered by the ODM generals and those generals were very much ready to be arrested for those crimes if the crimes were actually committed. Ngilu and Ruto are stating as clearly as can be said that the governmnet should release the youths and arrest all the ODM ministers including Raila Odinga, William Ruto, Musalya Mudavadi and the rest of them. In other words they are daring the Kibaki government to arrest them and stop scape goating through the arrest of the youths. These leaders are comming out to show their disgust with the coalition and are already willing to sacrifice themselves for the shake of their supporters. For them the coalition is a shell without a yolk. It is a joke. There is no honor in it, there is no integrity in it, there is no trueth in it, there is no genuineness and they are now willing to break it apart because the youths issue has become the final straw. They are as clear as clear can be. “No release of the youths no coalition”.

Unforturenately these youths they are talking about nolonger exist. According to the police, they have dissappered in the thin air and I believe majority of Kenyans and ODM MPS know where they are. To be precise, these guys are dead and cannot be accounted for by the government. ODM and PNU MPs already know this. The youths will never be released because their bodies were dumped somewhere in the forests of Mt. Kenya and other isolated parks. To make it worse, they were killed by the state machinery. So what exactly will ODM do if no youths surface? What will they do if indeed a genocide was committed?

The only choice is for PNU to come clean. But is PNU going to come clean on this so that they can be forgiven. No oh! No. According to Martha Karua’s statement “”The leaders who are pushing for it (amnesty) fear that if the suspects are brought before court, they will be mentioned”. What is this lady talking about. The police have said the youths are neither here nor their and Ruto and Ngilu have already dared her to arrest them. In a criminal case such as this, the person who is wrongfully arrested should be released when the real person who committed the offence has confessed. Ngilu and Ruto have confessed on behalf of their party. What else is Martha looking for? It is simply trime Martha does his/her job. Rlease the youths or dare arrest the ODM pentagon. PNU is once again behaving like a hen with its head in the sand. They still think that the power is with Kibaki, Martha Karua and the GEMA or MEGA elites. The power is with the people. The people want their brothers home and they want those who ordered for the demonstrations like Odinga, Ruto, Ngilu, Balala, Muslya to bring their boys home or get out of the way. But if their brothers are indeed dead, they want Kibaki, Martha Karua, Michuki, Saitoti and others to look them in the eye and ask for forgiveness. Not withstanding, they also know who brought up this mess. It is those who stole the election. They are the Karuas, the Kibakis, the Kavuitus and the Kalonzos and they are the ones who should have in jail or dead. Not the youths.

Dr. Barack Abonyo

– – –
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:11:35 +0000
From: barack abonyo
Subject: “REALEASE THE YOUTHS AND ARREST US” RUTO AND NGILU DECLARED

By Leo Odera Omolo

CONTARY to claims in some quarters that his popularity and influence has fizzled, the retired President Daniel Arap Moi is still not only commanding large following in this country, but he is a force to reckon with.

Despite of successive failure of candidates he had been fronting in the recent past, the political image of this grand old man of Kenya’s politics has refused to fade away as quickly as his political enemies and detrecters may be wishing.

The fact that his favorite candidates in the recently concluded by-elections in the Rift Valley, his home turf and in North Eastern were badly beaten has changed nothing in terms of Moi’s fame, image and standing in the public eyes. The man is highly respected and referred as achievers in his own right. His name remained a household in many Kenyan families.

Moi’s only mistake was his handing over of the mantle of KANU leadership to the son of his old friend and mentor, the late President Jomo Kenyatta, Mr. Uhuru Mungai Kenyatta whose inconsistency and lack of foresight has sent the party of Uhuru to its deathbed

Moi’s departure from active politics has created the leadership vacuum in his home region. Five years after he left the corridor power, Rift Valley, is increasingly a restive region, a veritable political hotbed. This may be so partly because of the hangover arising from the long power binge to speak, and partly because of a growing numbers of frustrated young people

These young people have been envigorated and motivated by the fact that since the end of Moi’s rule in 2002 and he entry of President Mwai Kibaki’s administration, the larger Kalenjin Community has been heard in certain quarters grumbling that their community has been given a raw deal by the new government despite Moi’s blessing and unswerving support for the President and the government..

Topping the list of numerous complaints is the allegationst that members of the community has been haunted out of government and in Quasi-government organizations and their places in civil services, military, police and parastatals taken over by members of President Kibaki’s Kikuyu community

This is mirrored on the latest charged political atmosphere in the Province. The feeling has mainly been demonstrated in the new political direction that the community has been taking since the end of the Moi’s rule

Since 2003, the political trend and sentiments in Rift valley has been fiercely anti-government. It is also a strange world for the community that has been supportive to the successive KANU governments ever since independence in 1963,but all of a sudden finding itself unfamiliar grounds, the natural reaction would be to feeling of being sidelined and unfairly targeted

But what is currently fueling animosity is the so-called “amnesty debate “. This is an emotional issue. Anyone who speaks against the granting amnesty to the perpetrators of the post-election violence is seen as the worst enemy of the community.

And this why President Kibaki hardliner cabinet Minister Ms Martha Karua earned massive booing and hackling when she addressed the thousands of mourners during the funeral of the former Assistant Minister for Home-Affairs and the Sotik MP Ms. Lorna Laboso.

The next day at Kaparuso village in Bomet President Kibaki deviated from amnesty debate and delivered a reconciliatory speech while mourning his departed Road Minster Kipkalia Kones, The hero and the man who has been playing populist politics in kipsigis land for decades.

In their final parting act with the retired President Moi in the 1980s Kones had become the villain of Kalenjin politics because of his independent mindedness. But last weekend Moi’s condolence message stunned many mourners as it was full of political dynamism and magnanirmly, and sounded reconciliatory between the two political giants of the Kalenjin politics. In particular and Rift valley province in general.

Moi’s massage was read by his son Gideon Moi and appeared to have been well received by the mourners,. who turned in t5heir thousands to give Donald Kipkemoi Kipkalya Kones a warm sends off. The way and the manner in which Moi’s message was received by mourners at Kones’s funeral is a clear indication that the self-proclaimed professor of Kenya’s political is still held in the highest esteem by his Kalenjin community and Kenyan communities at large.

But for Mzee Moi to re-print the absolute authority within the larger Kalenjin ethnic groups and Kenyans in general, he must come out in full colour and support a group of youthful politicians in the region who want to take over the leadership of his old party KANU.The party’s revitalization process must start forthwith.

The amnesty debate is such a thorny issue in the Rift Valley since many residents see the continued incarceration of violence suspects as the extension of the purported and perceived persecution as well as marginalization of the Kalenjin community by the Kibaki government.

Calls by grand coalition partners who are led by Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Agriculture Minister William Ruto for the perdon of the suspects strike a particular positive note among the population

Moi has yet to make his stand publicly known over the amnesty issue and the sooner he makes up his mind contribution towards this debate the better. And off course many people are aware, that the retired president was also a victim of the post-election violence which saw part of his business and farming empire vandalized.>He is still expected to take a fatherly stand. .

In the forthcoming by-elections to fill the vacant seats in both Sotik and Bomet constituencies Moi is expected to support Nick Salat in Bomet who was beaten hand down by the late Kipkalya Kones in the December election and who is known to be close to the former President

But in Bomet constituency the fate of the vacant seat was sealed off last Saturday when a huge crowd of mourners unanimously endorsed Mrs. Beatrice Kones as the next MP to take her husband’s mantle of leadership in order to finish her late husband’s dream and complete development projects which the late kones he had initiated.

In the recent by election in Ainamoi Moi had supported a KANU candidate Mr. Paul Chirchir who performed dismally gathering only 1,440 votes against leading candidates Benjamin Langat of ODM 17,532 and Dr. Paul Chepkwony 15,552

In North eastern where Moi held considerable sway in his days and where pockets of his support is catered for by Dr. Adbullahi Ali was beaten by ODM: Mohammed Gobow by more than a thousand votes

In Kilgoris, Moi candidate and former cabinet minister Julius Sunkuli had to give way to two leading aspirants, Gideon Konchellah,of PNU, the eventual winner and the challenger Jonathan Ng’eno of ODM who gave a good account of himself by loosing narrowly and respectably.

Virtually all of the Moi candidates in the Rift Valley including his favorite Son Gideon who was swept away in December 2007 in Baringo Central, the seat on which he has held for close to 42 years of uninterrupted representation., ever since independence.

His two sons Jonathan Toroitich and Raymond Moi who both vied for Eldama Ravine and Rongai respectively were similarly humiliated in protect of their father’s support for President, PNU and the government

Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

– – –
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:06:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: MOI IS STILL A POPULAR LEADER IN KENYA DESPITE OF KANU’S WANING INFLUENCE