From: People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2012

When Lady Justice Roselyn Wendoh sentenced a 24-year Kipkemboi Ruto alias Saitoti in Nakuru High Court Tuesday for life imprisonment for murdering 67-year-old, Kamau Kimani Thiong’o at Kamura Village of Timboroa area in the Rift Valley during the post election violence, she assumed this would serve as a lesson for Kenyan youth.
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[2 images]Inset- Kipkemboi Ruto alias Saitoti in the Nakuru High Court on June 12, 2012 during the ruling of a case where he was charged with murder of Kamau Kimani Thiong’o on January 01, 2008 during the post-election violence at Kamura village in Timboroa- a child cries next to her dead mother/ File

What Lady Justice Wendoh and probably some section of Kenyans do not understand about the vast majority of Kenyan youths is that they do not fear death, leave alone life imprisonment.

Kenyan youth have reached the stage that they do not care anymore. Our story yesterday discussed at length how bitter our youths are. When I was trying to protect Willice Onyango, chairperson-the International Youth Council-Kenya from being beaten to death because youths were not given tea during the forum in Nairobi, they said they did not care whether I am a priest and they could kill me as well if I did not behave.

The youths have reached the climax that you talk about God and men or women in color they don’t care. That is why they vowed to continue with violence if the government of Kenya fails to work out policies that can create employment for them.

Unless the government comes with policies that can create more employment for the large number of Kenyans youth who are still languishing in poverty due to luck of unemployment, they will continue with violence as they vowed.

For a very long time Kenyans youths have been sidelined. There are about 750,000 youth who graduate from various tertiary institutions ready to enter the job market every year in vain.

The reason is not that the government is not able to come up with policies that can create employment for the youth, the reason actually is that Kenyan politicians are greedy and self centered and corrupt.

That is why, even though the 8-4-4 system of education was geared to imparting appropriate skills to enhance self-employment for the young, due to the high costs, poverty and lack of facilities, there have been high school dropout rates. Most of the youth either drop out of school or graduate without necessary skills for self-employment. Many girls drop out of school due to pregnancy.

Due to corruption is one of the reasons why country’s training institutions are also either inadequate or lack the essential facilities and technology to prepare students for the challenging market demands.

This can explain why in the early mid 1980’s saw a rapid growth in crime, drug and substance abuse among the youth in Kenya. It is also why alcohol, cigarettes, khat (miraa), and cannabis sativa have remained the most popular abused substances.

Violent criminal attacks, including rape, mugging, armed carjacking and home invasions are increasingly being associated with the youth these days. It explains further why over 50 percent of all the convicted criminals are young people aged between 16 and 25 years.

That is why during the incident, Ruto together with his accomplices did not only kill but also stole cows, three goats and burnt eight houses at the deceased’s homestead. The theft and destruction was valued at Sh850, 000.

Ruto of course is not alone. According to the research by The Kenya Youth Agenda shortly after the post election violence, the findings indicate that youth were responsible for planning 7.32 percent of all incidences of pre-planned violence.

Older perpetrators were responsible for 17.07 percent while the majority of cases were planned jointly. Joint planning accounts for 57.32 percent of all cases while it was difficult to establish responsibility for the remaining cases.

The vast majority of funding for electoral violence came from non-youth sponsors which account for a whooping 60.98 percent compared to youth sponsors at 7.35 percent. Cases of shared sponsorship account for 14.63 percent while the rest came from sources whose age it was difficult to establish.

In execution, the youth were the main actors taking the lead with responsibility for 54.88 percent of all the cases while older people account for only 14.63 percent. Shared responsibility account for 18.29 percent while the remainder of cases it was difficulty to determine who exactly was responsible.

Most of the offences were committed in Rift Valley Province which accounts for 20.62 percent. Western (19.51 percent), Central Province (17.07 percent) and Nyanza (12.20 percent) were the other most violent regions with double digit percentages. The least violent was Coast with only 4.88 percent of all the reported cases.

Another reason why the government won’t come up with policies to create jobs is that most of politicians take the advantage of the youth unemployment to use them for violence.

According to the research, ODM was the most culpable party in perpetrating violence at 46.15 percent. This is almost double that of its main opponents, PNU at 24.07 percent. ODM-K at 3.70 percent was the least offensive while NARC Kenya was more violent at 11.11 percent relative to KANU at 5.56 percent.

That is why in the infamous Nyachae campaign rally of 21st September 2007 at Nyamarambe, the Minister was allegedly actively involved in issuing orders and cheering as the youth shot arrows at his political rivals who included Mr. William Ruto and Mr. Omingo Magara, both national officials of the ODM Party.

The Minister subsequently praised the youth and urged them to continue perpetrating violence against those opposed to him and his presidential candidate, PNU’s Mwai Kibaki. This was a case of violence that was planned and financed by elderly sponsors but executed by youth.

In Webuye constituency at Dina Market on 19th September 2007 a nominated councilor and Mr. Wanduasi personal assistant to then Minister Musikari Kombo, led a gang that attacked a group wearing NARC-Kenya T-shirts.

The gang was allegedly acting in “defense” of FORD-Kenya, which perceived NARC-Kenya proponents as “invaders” of their territory. During the attack, several women (Margaret Nasibwondi Wekesa, Florence K. Wabuke, Carol Njenga, Mary Matunda, Florence Shedacha, and Finike Imbuka) sustained serious injuries all over their bodies after the offending gang stripped them naked at the instruction of the two young men.

This was a case of an incidence planned and executed by youth. It is however alleged that the planners had the tacit approval of their elderly employers. It is also a case of gender-based electoral violence perpetrated by young people against women at the behest of gerontocrats.

The survey shows that the weapons of choice for young people involved in the fights were stones , machetes, walking sticks, clubs, bows and arrows, spears, iron rods and guns in that order. Damage caused ranged from inflicting of serious injuries, maimings and death.

In North Imenti constituency, Ms. Flora Tera was brutally assaulted and humiliated by youth hired by an elderly politician.

In Webuye constituency, several women were stripped naked for wearing NARC-K T-shirts.

In the first case in Nairobi, Ms. Orie Rogo Manduli was grievously assaulted in intra-party violence involving PNU.

In the second Nairobi case, a civic candidate within the city’s Embakasi constituency, Ms. Aisha Ali, was assaulted in Dandora. All the incidents resulted in the victims getting severely injured and being hospitalized.

In Vihiga constituency, one of the candidates’ agents led a group of young men in tearing down posters of a rival candidate in the same party. The said agent told the group of young men to “protect” a particular section of the constituency from the rival candidate as it was their candidate’s “zone” that no one else should touch.

On 28th September, 2007 in Emuhaya, Mr. Laban Mengo, a parliamentary candidate in the constituency publicly asked the youth in his village to ensure that on polling day, anyone who was not from that village does not cast their vote at the village primary school (polling centre) regardless of whether such would-be voters are registered at this polling centre.

In Emuhaya constituency, some local youth leaders ordered other youth to lynch or stone anyone who asks for their voters’ card numbers to be entered in nomination application forms even though it was a requirement for all candidates to demonstrate voter support of their candidature, alleging that this amounted to vote buying.

Hate speech and other forms of harassment were also directed towards presidential candidates. In one incident in Western Province, a group of rowdy youth heckled and shouted down the ODM Kenya Presidential candidate Hon. Kalonzo Musyoka and his running mate Hon. Julia Ojiambo marring their campaign efforts. Monitors reports indicate that the incident was not entirely spontaneous and unplanned.

In Emuhaya constituency, a relatively young PNU parliamentary aspirant, Mr. Sikalo Ochiel, reportedly declared at a public meeting attended mostly by young people that on

of his rivals Mr. Kenneth Marende of ODM was supporting Hon. Raila Odinga because he had sold part of the Bunyore territory (Maseno) to the Luos, and further asked people to be prepared to “…push the Provincial boundary back to Lela in Luo land..” under his leadership.

The youths were also used to attend a meeting with President Mwai Kibaki ahead of the 2007 general elections and who ICC judges said were members of the mungiki outlawed gang were made public Friday.

Among those named is one Maina Kangethe who is named in ICC documents as Maina Kangethe aka Diambo who is said to have been among the 33 people who attended the meeting.

The names were released by commissioner of police Mathew Iteere after ICC judges accepted the prosecution assertion that President Mwai Kibaki was present at a meeting with Mungiki leaders at State House in November 26, 2007.

The judges said President Kibaki sent a witness statement to the ICC in September 2011 admitting that he held a meeting with youth on that day but denying the presence of Mungiki.

The police boss said the group went to State House to declare their support to Kibaki and “listen to what he had for them”.

He said it is only Kibaki and former head of public service Francis Muthaura who were present at the meeting.

The groups which attended the meeting according to Iteere who served as the commandant of the presidential escort unit at State House before he was promoted to be the commandant of GSU in June 2006 included Warembo Na Kibaki, Vijana na Kibaki, Kipya Youth Interparties, PNU Youth Alliance, Kanu Youth, Kawa, Oka, which Diambo belonged and Hawkers.

Iteere tabled the following names:

Warembo na Kibaki
Martha Wangare
Naisiae Karia
Beryl Oyier
Lydia Martha
Vijana na Kibaki
Patrick Ngatia
Joseph Kioko
Sakaja Johnstone
Job Wamalwa
Andrew Wahahiu
Thomas Mbewa
Jonathan Katiku

Kipya Youth Interparties

Yvone Khamati
Leon Ndubai
James Mathenge
Jack Wamboka
Gor Semilango

PNU Youth Alliance

Patrick Kokonya
George Nyongesa
Ken Orengo

Kanu Youth

Badi Ali
Kamau Mugo

Kenya Artists Welfare Association (Kawa)

James Munene
Nahashon Maina
Mary Githinji
Godfrey Machira

Operation Kibaki Again (OKA)

Godwini Kamau
Maina Kangethe
Anthony Kamau

Hawkers

Hosiah Mwangi
Amos Kamande
Nelson Githaiga
Mwende Mwinzi
Leeh Nyachae

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