Human Rights

The world did not come to a crashing halt at the beginning of March 2008. This would not be significant if it were not that in January and February 2008 many people in Kenya wrote, spoke and acted so irresponsibly that I could only conclude that they expected the world to come to a halt or at least to go through some great cosmic ctrl-alt-del sequence which would result in collective memory loss leading us all to forget what they said, wrote, did. But the world did not come to an end at the beginning of March 2008 and as I said at the beginning of the year, many people would look back at their words and actions and wish that the world would forget. Not so.

I have just driven down Ngong Road, in the heart of Nairobi, at noon on a Thursday and the road is practically empty. You may remember that this is not the first time this year that roads in Nairobi are clear of traffic, and perhaps more significantly, clear of any public transport, in the middle of the day. We have been here before. But this time it is different and this difference is what highlights the hypocrisy in Kenya today, which will make many people wish that Kenyans would forget their irresponsible words and actions.

This week Kenya is suffering (again) under the actions of the barbaric Mungiki militia. An illegal group whose preferred modus operandi includes, but is not restricted, to beheadings, forced female circumcision, public transport and rent extortion.

Mungiki has been around for a while (for some background information please read Kenyan Pundit’s post which links articles on Mungiki) and the group has been influential for a while. For example you could ask anybody who was student at JKUAT during the time of the 2002 Kenyan general election about the role played by Mungiki in Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential campaign and you will hear some interesting stories. (JKUAT lies on the road between Nairobi and Uhuru’s constituency).

I remember driving up to JKUAT in August 2002 when election fever was rising to pick a friend who was studying there and driving into the heart of one of Uhuru’s roadside campaign rallies where Mungiki provided the “security”. They had completely taken over the whole road from Githurai to Thika and to say they were intimidating is to say the least.

What I like about Mungiki (and this is perhaps their only positive characteristic) is that in the reaction to their latest activities Mungiki helps expose the hypocrisy in Kenyan society today.

Take as a first example the reaction of the Kenyan police. In the past three months we have seen first hand and up close the brutality of the Kenya Police towards Kenya citizens who were trying to march peacefully and legally towards Uhuru Park in protest against having their votes stolen. Even non partisan groups were unable to march. A women’s peace group which had organised authorization from the Minister of Internal Security, from the Provincial Administration and had informed the police, were greeted with a ring of police officers telling them their peace match had been cancelled at the last minute when they were just about to set off.

Time and time again Kibera would be ringed by heavily armed police and you would be lucky to make it on to Ngong Road leave alone get anywhere near town. I recorded a show down between the police and ODM supporters in Hurlingham where an army of police officers was deployed to ensure that ODM supporters get nowhere near the city centre. Similar shows of force by the police were deployed on Thika Road and Jogoo Road as the police moved swiftly to ensure that all major roads into the city were in their control. The same occurred in cities and towns across Kenya.

How time changes things. Two months ago Ngong Road was empty because of a heavy police presence and their indiscriminate use of force (including live bullets). Today Ngong Road is empty as Public Service Vehicle owners withdraw their vehicles from the streets because the police cannot stop the Mungiki thugs who demand over 90% of each vehicles earning and burn your matatu/bus if you refuse to comply. You could say that in both cases the police are responsible for empty streets.

In a sentence: two months ago Ngong Road was empty due to a large police presence, this week Ngong Road is empty because the police is conspicuously absent.

Why is it then that the same police force that cracked down on the peaceful protests in the past couple of months are reluctant to take on a group that has openly challenged them to armed warfare?

I do not buy the popular opinion of the day that Mungiki caught the police napping, that the police had no idea what was about to happen. Come on now. Security analysts reveal on TV that the police received calls as early as 5am from members of the public who had seen Mungiki members begin their activities of destruction, 10am the police were yet to respond. This is the same police force that sent lorries packed with police in riot gear into Kibera on Saturday when a rumor went around that perhaps some people were considering starting a demonstration to protest at the lack of a power sharing agreement.

Internal Security Permanent Secretary, Mr Cyrus Gituai, told The Standard that the police had expected Mungiki to strike on Monday at 6am, but instead went on the rampage at 3am, three hours earlier.

So the police decided to stay in bed until 5am or what? Come on now.

These double standards are by no means restricted to the police.

For instance, why is it that some bloggers/commentators who were complaining about the post election violence in general and the inconvenience of disrupted public transport in particular, were largely silent on the violence Mungiki perpetrated BEFORE the elections and are silent on the violence and disruption perpetrated by the same thugs this week? Why is it that those same people who were cursing Raila for not controlling the thugs in Rift Valley are now silent? Have you noticed how the responsibility for the violence two months ago was laid squarely in Raila’s lap individually, “Kenya is burning”, we were told, “because Raila is power hungry”. I wait to hear where they will appropriate blame this time round but I suspect they will remain silent or those who do speak out will blame, “the entire political class” which of course includes Raila. That is the duplicity that Mungiki exposes.

That is not to say that the political class is not implicated as well.

Why are politicians who have been screaming (rightly) that the police should get to the bottom of the post election violence are now screaming that the police should “negotiate” with Mungiki? Why not extend this call for negotiations to include other militia groups such as the Saboti Land Defence Force for example?

Why is that politicians who were quick to call for the annihilation of any protestors in Rift Valley and Nyanza are now going to great lengths to explain that Mungiki rises out of a disadvantage upbringing. Aren’t many of the youth who rampaged against the government in Rift Valley disadvantaged as well? If Mungiki revolts because it is up against the wall with nothing to lose doesn’t this extend to youth from other communities? Why call for the arrest of youth in Rift Valley with no mention of their grievances yet call for negotiations with Mungiki and demand that the police investigate their grievances?

Lastly, why are those who cheered when the army moved against the Saboti Land Defence Force not calling for the army to deployed against Mungiki? If indiscriminate killing is seen as viable method to bring about peace in the Mt. Elgon region why is not also being practised in Kibaki’s hometown which has been under attack by Mungiki?

I will let you draw your own conclusions to these questions. The duplicity and hypocrisy displayed on this would be laughable if it was not so serious. What we do know is that when Mungiki falls there will be tremors all the way to the top of Kibaki’s administration according to the BBC. (To be fair I should mention that Kibaki’s Court Jester issued a statement in response to the BBC report.

Margaret Thatcher was a dominating public figure for over 30 years in British and international politics. She won three general elections in a row, was a formidable Prime Minister, influenced a generation of politics and her policies still influence debate on issues as wide ranging as taxation in the UK to land reform in Zimbabwe. After her elected political career she still commanded great respect and had a lot of influence as her public speaking and book deals show.

In 2002 she suffered a series of strokes and aware of the damage a gruelling schedule would have her doctors advised her family to withdraw her from public life. There was also the question of preserving the dignity and integrity of this public colossus by protecting the effects of her illness from the public eye. Lady Thatcher retains her dignity even in ill health.

Kenneth Matiba is a colossus of the Kenya politics, a hero who put his limbs and his life on the line fighting the brutal dictatorship of Moi. He was instrumental in the democratization of Kenyan politics as a leader of the “2nd liberation” which forced Moi to accept multiparty politics and political freedom for all Kenyans.

In 1990 Matiba was detained, in solitary confinement, without charge or trial in the Kamiti Maximum Security prison and tortured at the torture chambers of infamous Nyayo House in central Nairobi. As a result of the torture Matiba suffered a stroke that nearly killed him. He survived to vie for the presidency in 1992. It is generally accepted that Matiba won the 1992 Kenyan general election although the massive rigging machinery employed by Moi regime doctored the result.

It is now clear that the effects of the stroke Matiba suffered under Moi’s goons are advanced. He can not read and he can not sign documents, his speech is slurred and his mobility is impaired. Matiba turned up at the Electoral Commission of Kenya session held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre Thursday last week to present his papers as he intends to vie for the presidency in this years general election. It was painful to watch and left me shaking my head at the TV saddened at what I was seeing. I was not alone.

Where is this hero’s family? Why are they not protecting him like Thatcher’s family are protecting her? Matiba should not be making public statements leave alone vying for the presidency. Where are those who have his interests at heart? Why subject him to this? LET THE MAN KEEP HIS DIGINTY. My goodness has it come to this? Matiba deserves better, a whole lot better.

If any good can come out this terrible situation it is this, Matiba’s condition remember is a direct consequence of the torture he suffered under Moi’s orders. Remember the brutality of the Moi dictatorship directed towards anyone who did not agree with him. Remember how Moi, Kibaki’s “Envoy of peace”, trampled over and tried to destroy ALL our independence heroes and heroines (and then turns up at their funerals full of crocodile tears). Remember also that while, “Matiba was fighting Moi, Kibaki was saying in parliament that proponents of change were trying to fell a Mugumo tree with a razor blade” to illustrate his argument that one party rule was here to stay. Remember this also before you approach me and insult my intelligence telling me that I should not vote for this or that presidential candidate because they would be dictator yet you do not provide a single evidence of intellectual proof to support that ridiculous claim, remember that we, the Kenyan electorate, kicked out a dictator in 2002 and we all know who welcomed him back.

Kroll Associates is amongst the world’s leading private investigation agencies. They appeared on my radar when I read fascinating accounts of how the tracked down money stolen and hidden by the Nigerian dictator Sami Abacha, found former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos secret fortune, they found the money stolen by Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, they found Saddam Hussein’s secret bank accounts, they found Osama bin Laden’s secret bank accounts which are being used to fund the Al-Qaida network. In short, they know how to do what they do pretty well.

In December 2003 I wrote that by hiring Kroll Associates to trace the money looted by Moi and his cronies the Kibaki government was showing that it was taking the fight against corruption seriously. These noble anti-corruption efforts were lead from within the Kibaki team by a guy you might have heard about, John Githongo, who was at the time the Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics in the Office of the President.

In February 2005 John Githongo travelled to the UK to receive a report from Kroll. Shortly after receiving that report Githongo resigned his position as Permanent Secretary giving no reason and stayed in the UK stating concerns about fears for his safety if he returned back to Kenya. At the time I wrote that whatever Kroll told Githongo must have been explosive, explosive enough to make him resign. In February 2006 Githongo released his report, a copy of which you can download on Mentalacrobatics here.

Earlier today part of the Kroll report on corruption in Kenya was leaked to the whistler blowers’ site WikiLeaks.

Some of the information in the report focusing on Moi:

• Assets accumulated included multimillion pound properties in London, New York and South Africa, as well as a 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds.
• Mr Moi’s sons – Philip and Gideon – were reported to be worth £384m and £550m respectively
• Moi’s associates colluded with Italian drug barons and printed counterfeit money
• Moi’s clique owned a bank in Belgium
• £4m was used to buy a home in Surrey and £2m to buy a flat in Knightsbridge.

The Kibaki government never acted on the report. The Kenyan government official spokesman, Alfred Mutaa, dismissed the report stating, “We did not find that the report was credible. It was based a lot on hearsay.” He said the leaking of the report was politically motivated and insisted Kenya was working with foreign governments to recover the stolen money. “Some of the money is in UK bank accounts. We have asked the British government to help us recover the funds, but so far they have refused.”

Well he would say that now wouldn’t he. Earlier this week Moi endorsed Kibaki for a second term in statehouse.

You can download the Kroll report from WikiLeaks. You can also download it from Mentalacrobatics here (PDF doc 3.8 MB)

Hat tip Mshairi!

(Disclaimer for the conspiracy theorists amongst us: This is my analysis of the situation. I do not have any inside information on why Githongo resigned and he has not shared his reasons with me.)

There have been many bad ideas during this phoney war stage of the political battle in the race to Statehouse, many. Kalonzo trying to pull a fast one on the other ODM-K presidential aspirants, Jirongo believing Moi would back him for the presidency; young NARC-K politicians thinking the Wazees would let them run the show; Kibaki returning ministers tainted with corruption back into office; Martha Karua and everything she does; ODM going to a delegates convention without proper delegates etc.

However, the worst, absolutely worst idea ever, is this KSH 1 Million (USD 15,000.00) per plate lunch affair that Kibaki’s re-election team is planning for Saturday which is expected to attract 1,000 people. What were they drinking the day they came up with that idea? It is hard to think of a more stupid idea at this time in Kenyan politics? If that wasn’t enough, reports have also emerged of the purchase of nearly 200 four-wheel-drives, the formation of a 300-member team of co-ordinators each earning more than $1,000 a month, and the existence of an ICT team that will see the president’s re-election message flood mobile phones. The only conclusion I can come up with is that there is someone at the heart of the Kibaki camp deliberately sabotaging his re-election efforts and they are very good at it. It serves absolutely no purposes.

What about the money? Kibaki needs the money! Of course Kibaki needs the money. This is going to be the first campaign in Kenyan history where each serious presidential candidate (sit down Dr. Ojiambo) will spend at least KSH 1 billion in the run up to the election. No clever politician campaigns with his own money. So they have to raise money. But anybody who is willing to turn up to a KSH 1 million a plate lunch in support of Kibaki would have given him the money away. It is not like there are hundreds of undecided millionaires in Kenya who were swayed by the quality of warus on the Statehouse menu. So why have the lunch and make a public show of such gluttony? Why deliberately antagonise the 30+ million Kenyans who will never ever see KSH 1 million?

Secondly, because of the nature of Kenyan politics, I can confidently predict that guest list will be dominated by members of one tribe. So after this lunch Kibaki will not only look greedy and completely out of touch, he will also look like the supreme tribalist, which is sad as the vast majority of Kikuyus will never see KSH 1 million in their lifetime. Wasn’t it that patriot Josiah Mwangi (JM) Kariuki (who happened to be Kikuyu) who warned Kenyatta decades ago about creating a country of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars?

Thirdly, just how out of touch with the man on the street do you have to be to even suggest an idea like this to the president? And how out out touch do you have to be to accept the idea as good? doThis administration’s lack of realists would be comical if it were not so serious. It is easy to see now how these guys believed the draft constitution would sail through the referendum the day before the Kenyan voters told them where to stuff their draft. Just like that arrogant, self belief undid them then, it will undo them here. They basically do not care what anyone thinks and they think that is fine. They move from Ivory Tower to Ivory Tower and never take time to stop and listen.

Meanwhile back in the real world, at the same time as Kibaki and his friends are having their KSH 1 Million lunch, a bunch of us will be at Jeevanjee Gardens, snacks will be served to about 1000 people, although feel free to bring your own, KSH 1 million is purely optional Karibu!

Press release from the indefatigable MARS Group on behalf of the Kenyan Human Rights Network:

PRESS RELEASE ON 29TH AUGUST 2007 – A MILLION FOR LUNCH?OR ONE MILLION LUNCHES?

“Those with money have access to the president … those without have the votes to elect the president”
Civil Society, Nairobi Kenya

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has today (29th August 2007) given the OCS Central Police Station notice, under the Public Order Act, on behalf of the Kenya Human Rights Network (K-HURINET) of a public event to be held at Jeevanjee Gardens on Saturday the 1st of September 2007. KHRC has also obtained the necessary consents from the Nairobi City Council and the Friends of Jeevanjee Gardens.

The meeting shall be held from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm. Activities will include a public forum where snacks will be offered to an approximated 1000 people.

Please note that the function shall be preceded by a procession from the Globe Cinema Roundabout to the above mentioned venue. We shall assemble at the Globe Roundabout at 8.30 am and start the procession at 9.00 am

Mars Group Kenya
Media Laison for K-HURINET
Contact Jayne/Fiona
020 3533230
info [@] marskenya [dot] org