From: Mary Gakere
From: Joe Kihara Munugu
Chief Justice Played Into “Mungiki Letter”?
By Lance Kipng’etich : Nation Media : February 23 2013
http://elections.nation.co.ke/Blogs/-/1632026/1702608/-/11884gn/-/index.html
Kenya’s Chief Justice, Dr. Willy Mutunga, is a well-read man, so he must know about the infamous “Zinoviev letter”. The authors of a letter purporting to be from a group called the Mungiki Veterans’ Association borrowed heavily from the Zinoviev letter, one of the best known forgery-letters in history. This notorious Zinoviev letter was published in the British press four days before Britain’s general election of 1924. It was allegedly sent by the Communist Party in Moscow to the Communist Party of Great Britain. The letter, which was later revealed to be a forgery written by an M16 intelligence agent, appeared to be a directive from Moscow calling for intensified communist agitation in Britain.
It was an effort to show voters that the Labour party was working for the Soviet Union and, therefore, influence the electorate against them.The plot failed as it did not affect the Labour vote. However, it helped the Conservative Party hasten the collapse of the liberal party and contributed to the landslide victory for the Conservatives.
The letter took its name from a senior Soviet official, Grigory Zinoviev, its purported author.Many Kenyans were shocked and saddened to see Dr Mutunga similarly insert himself into the political scene with his own version of a clearly forged letter designed to influence an election.The reaction was one of immense sadness at seeing a respected figure like Dr Mutunga offering a serious proposition that the letter was written in defence of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and his presidential running mate in the Jubilee Coalition, William Ruto.
Whoever authored this document was defending no known interests of Uhuru, Ruto or the coalition they head and that has endeared itself to the hearts and minds of millions of Kenyans.
Uhuru and Ruto remain the real targets of the screaming forgery.
I hold no brief for the Mungiki, Kenyatta, Ruto or Jubilee. However, none of them are so boneheaded as to author the explicitly forged document that the CJ presented to the press with a straight face at the Supreme Court of Kenya at lunchtime on Wednesday, February 20.
Why did Kenya’s top jurist participate in such a cheap ploy?
The concluding remarks of the CJ’s statement accompanying the tabling of the pathetic forgery are instructive: “I appeal to Kenyans to hold a peaceful election. It is only by so doing that we shall silence these dark forces of retrogression and also advance our constitutional and democratic promise. My fellow Kenyans, with confidence and tribute to the nation, go and vote for our Constitution. It is the only way to reject those who threaten and proclaim violence as a false choice”.
Coming from the person designated the President of the Supreme Court of Kenya, these apparently pious words mask an unacceptably politically partisan and activist posture. They are a coded message calling for the defeat of the Jubilee Coalition by the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord).
Divisive manner
The head of the Supreme Court of Kenya has no business intervening in politics in such a divisive manner so close to the General Election.
He should remain far above the fray, evincing no support whatever for any side and no preference. He presumably holds one vote and will cast it as he deems appropriate come March 4 under conditions of the secret ballot.
Above all, the CJ must never be seen to be a participant in a political ruse full of propaganda and trickery.Whether the CJ was a witting or unwitting participant in the scornful tactic and strategy rolled out on Wednesday, whether he was a prime mover or a total dupe, is besides the point.
He, of all people, should not have rushed to judgment. He ought not to have treated the Jubilee Coalition with the contemptuous, distrustful manner that he demonstrated.
Sadly, the effect of the letter is that I, for one, will never look at the Supreme Court of Kenya, and Dr Mutunga’s leadership of it, with the same eyes again. Nor will millions of Kenyans who comprise the silent majority.
Although Uhuru and Ruto are the real targets of the miserable third-hand forgery, they will not fall victim to it.
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The writer, Lance Kipng’etich, is a book publisher in Nakuru, Kenya