From: Ouko joachim omolo
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2012
The decision on January 23, 2012 of an International Criminal Court (ICC) pre-trial chamber to send cases to trial against William Samoei Ruto, Joshua arap Sang, Francis Kirimi Muthaura, and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta in two separate cases is about justice for those who lost their lives and their homes in Kenya’s 2007-2008 election violence and not against individuals or ethnic communities.
The fact that the judges found that some of Kenya’s most senior leaders should answer for deaths of over 1,100 lives and 650,000 people forced to flee their homes should not be the reason why the whole process is politicized. The aim is actually to break with decades of impunity for political violence in Kenya.
That is why concerned Kenyans have consistently pleaded with Kenya’s authorities to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the tribal associations such as Gema, Kamatusa, G7 and Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) are disbanded because they are likely to lead to violence in forthcoming general elections.
If there is no action taken immediately then it will be too late for the Kenyan government to prevent supporters of the suspects from retaliating against other ethnic and political groups come 2013 general elections.
Recent revelations that there are plots to kill some politicians are just early warning mechanisms to such associations. Yesterday Central Imenti MP Gitobu Imanyara told Parliament that he fears for his life after he was allegedly accosted by four men as he drove to his home near State House, Nairobi on Tuesday night.
He told the House that the gunmen whom he believed to be police officers forced him to pledge support to a presidential aspirant from Central Kenya during the incident that happened between 11.30pm and midnight on State House Crescent.
The men he said asked him to kneel down facing Mt Kenya and chant ‘Uhuru Tuko Pamoja’ three times, with a machete placed at the back of his head. The thugs also warned him against attending the outlawed Limuru 2B meeting on Wednesday that had been organised by former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga, to counter recent gatherings by the Gema and Kamatusa groups.
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, who denounced Imanyara’s claim, is seeking the seat his father held between 1964 and 1978, and is banking on Gema (Gikuyu, Embu and Meru communities) to give him a head start in the race to succeed President Kibaki.
Facing Mount Kenya, first published in 1938, is an anthropological study of the people of the Kikuyu ethnicity of central Kenya. According to the book in the time of creation, God could only descend to earth in a place of absolute and divine purity.
The Kikuyu people believe that this place was the highest peak of the Mountain they called Kirinyaga – meaning a place of light and darkness. The light they saw at the top of the mountain, which they called ira. This was the resting place of their god Ngai.
From this high vantage point, he created the first man Gikuyu and his wife Mumbi, who lived below the mountain in a grove of fig trees. A sacrifice at the foot of the mountain brought forth nine young men from a fire to marry the nine daughters of Gikuyu, bringing the nine clans of the Kikuyu into being.
The shocking allegations of Raila’s assassination attempt are just but some of such mounting warnings. Prof Nick Wanjohi was questioned at his office on Tuesday over claims that he attended the meeting in Serena Hotel and Gigiri regarding the murder plot of eliminating Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
According to police sources, Kibaki’s Secretary was questioned about two meetings on March 6 at Serena hotel and on March 12 at Gigiri residence where it is alleged the plot to assassinate Raila was discussed.
Wanjohi denied attending the meetings which were also allegedly attended by a top military commander and a senior National Security Intelligence Services official. By Tuesday evening, six senior government officials among them Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto , Foreign Affairs Minister Prof Sam Ongeri, Finance Minister Njeru Githae and Uhuru’s Personal Secretary Munyori Buku had been questioned.
Although the Kenyan Daily Post has no way of verifying whether these names: “William Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta, Munyori Buku (Uhuru’s principal communications officer), Nick Wanjohi (former Vice Chancellor of JKUAT and Kibaki confidant), Nderitu Mureithi (MP Laikipia West) and chief of Kenya’s defense forces Gen Julius Waweru Karangi” were being questioned because their names appear in Jakoyo’s dossier, the fact that there is already political tension in Kenya is worrying.
Jakoyo Midiwo allegedly revealed the names to the CID police officers when he visited their offices last week. The six individuals named above join Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Ongeri who was the first to be linked to the plot.
The Gem MP made headlines during the Easter weekend when he suggested during a funeral attended by Raila that some powerful individuals were in government were plotting to assassinate the PM so as to remove him from the equation of those running for president.
Eldoret North Mp William Ruto has confirmed recording a statement with the police as part of the ongoing investigations into the sensational claim made recently by Gem Mp Jakoyo Midiwo that a plan had been hatched to assassinate Prime Minister Raila Odinga. DAILY POST: REVEALED: Names of who planned Raila’s
This is not the first time Raila’s life has been in danger. In the run-up to 2002 elections, his personal car was sprayed with bullets at a Rainbow Alliance campaign trail in North Eastern. Raila had been dropped at Isiolo Airstrip by two aides who escaped unhurt during the incident.
Raila’s security was again beefed up in 2009 over claims he was the target of terrorists unhappy with Kenya’s continued co-operation with Washington on the war on terror.
In September last year, again, there was the grenade drama at the Office of the Prime Minister that police dismissed as an act of mischief.
Gachoka MP Mutava Musyimi also went public over fears for his life when five men, armed with an AK 47 rifle, axes and other weapons, broke into his Nairobi home at night looking for him. He said the attack was political.
Former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga also claimed that his life was in danger. Water assistant minister Ferdinand Waititu has been questioned by police over the threats.
Security officers said they summoned him after his name featured in the claims made by Njenga last month.
Njenga had claimed his life was in danger and that suspicious cars had been trailing him on the road and to his Nairobi and Kitengela residences with some of the occupants leaving messages they want to talk to him.
He added an assistant minister who he did not mention by name had been calling and threatening him with dire consequences over his decision to support former minister Njenga Karume as a spokesman of the Kikuyus.
Karume was in October installed the leader of Gema at a cultural event in Murang’a, which has elicited diverse reactions from Uhuru supporters. Maina Njenga has accused Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto of promoting ethnic hatred.
Njenga who was at a church event in Nairobi and added said they oppose these tribal organisations because we want Kenya to prosper. Njenga was referring to Kamatusa and Gema associations.
According to Njenga these alliances will cause something bigger than what happened in 2007/ 2008.Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi and Orange Democratic Movement politician Aburi Mpuri, who accompanied Njenga also opposed the revival of Gema and Kamatusa movements.
Njenga attacked church leaders who have attended and prayed at Gema and Kamatusa meetings accusing them of stoking tribal hatred. Njenga was barred from addressing the last Gema meeting in Limuru because he wanted to oppose it.
Police were forced yesterday to stop Limuru 2B meeting led by Maina Njenga. Although the police said it was because of security reason, the Limuru 2B was aimed at bringing together Kenyans from all regions to chart the way forward for a peaceful Kenya.
Central PPO John Mbijiwe said they had reports that some criminals plan to use the event to champion their ideas to the masses. Mbijiwe said the Limuru District Security and Intelligence team had learnt that the meeting would be infiltrated by criminals.
An advert that the organisers put up in local newspapers said the meeting would be addressed by among others retired cleric David Gitari and MP Gitobu Imanyara.
Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi who is among the organizers.
The police action of blocking the Limuru 2B meeting probably got the blessings from the high authorities since it was going to counter the recent Gema and Kamatusa tribal meetings in which certain divisive declarations were made.
Although Raila is being targeted because according to Uhuru and Kenyatta he is the one who wants them go to Hague to face charges at ICC, in the January 23 decisions, the majority of the judges charged Ruto, in one case, and Muthaura and Kenyatta, in the other case, as indirect co-perpetrators under article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, and charged Sang under article 25(3)(d) for contributing to the crimes allegedly committed.
Although the Police Commissioner, Mr Ali Mohamed was left free, his alleged shoot to kill orders resulted to police officers killing at least 405 people during the violence, injuring over 500 more, and raping dozens of innocent women and girls.
That is why even though the decision declined to confirm charges against Ali the Kenyan authorities must remain obligated to investigate unlawful police killings and abuse and bring to account those responsible.
Under the Rome Statute, crimes against humanity are any of a number of acts – like murder, torture, or rape – committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population, pursuant to a state or organizational policy.
This is not the first time Kenyan securities and militia groups have been accused of rape, torture and killing. In Mt. Elgon, both Kenyan security forces and a local militia group, the Saboat Land Defense Forces (SLDF) committed numerous atrocities between 2006 and 2008. Like the crimes currently under ICC investigation, many of the crimes committed in Mt. Elgon appear to have been orchestrated for political purposes.
The Kenya authorities should also stop political prayer meetings which according to National Cohesion and Integration Commission believe are used to spread hate speech. If they are not stopped then Kenyans should be ready to experience the genocide similar to that of Rwanda.
Genuine prayer is essentially the time we spend being conscious of being in the presence of God, and of desiring to know and love him more each day. To be conscious of God within and in a sense just soak in God.
The very best prayer to pray is the prayer our Lord taught his disciples: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them who trespass against us”. This is the heart of this prayer. Our Lord taught us that the heart of the Gospel is forgiveness. It is forgiving our brothers and sisters that we shall be forgiven by our heavenly Father. It is also the way to our own freedom. We cannot grow at all in our Christian life unless we forgive.
Prayer includes respect, love, pleading and faith. Through a prayer a devotee expresses his helplessness and endows the doership of the task to God. This is when God allows me to love and respect others as I would like them to love and respect me.
For William Ruto such prayer meetings would be the time to examine himself as a former treasurer for the Youth for KANU (known as YK 1992).This group was widely seen as having been responsible for ethnic violence in 1992 and 1997, which claimed hundreds of deaths and thousands displaced in the Rift Valley Province.
People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
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