ommotto
male - 28 years
Blog / Tags / politics
Blog messages with the tag 'politics':
-
I delivered my son to his killers
"Sometime last month, my son told me that he feared for his life because a vigilante group accused him of being a member of Mungiki and wanted him killed. He wanted to run away from home, but I urged him not to because he would explain his case. We know the vigilantes well and some are our neighbours, so I believed they would hear us out." READ ON...
The boy, who was to sit his KCSE exam this year, confided that it was true
he had been recruited into Mungiki, says his father.
Wanjohi said: "He told me, Dad, I have been scared all this time. Im sorry for letting you down."
He said sometime back, a boy from a neighbouring village laid a trap and led him and two other schoolmates into a Mungiki oath ceremony.
He was to take them to a homestead to borrow books but as soon as they entered the house, they were kidnapped and forced through the recruitment ritual.
They were threatened with death if they ever leaked the secret.
On April 18, he and the other two boys were asked by the local vigilante group to go and explain how they had joined Mungiki.
They told the boys to go in the company of their parents and would be forgiven if they confessed.
He was scared but I told him Be strong, I know they will forgive you."
Later in the day, I took his hand and led him to the vigilantes meeting. The boys explained how they had been forcibly recruited. But as soon as they confessed, the vigilantes leader said he had no powers to forgive. He said the boys must be taken to "The Hague" where their fate would be known.
("The Hague" is a spot near Kagumo town where several Mungiki suspects have been tried by a kangaroo court and executed.)
We followed the mob to "The Hague" where the overall leader said the boys must be killed.
They were kneeling down, crying out and begging to be spared but the leader said what he had ruled must be done.
I asked him Do you truly want to spill my sons blood? Would you make the same ruling if it was your own son?
"By then, I had lost hope. The hurt I felt in my heart is something that will never go away. I knew that boy had done something wrong, but we are all humans and he had asked for forgiveness."
"When the gang was preparing to hack him, a few people said they did not want him killed at the spot and led him to another place. The other parents were with us too, so we followed them as they took the children away. The boys were crying."
I looked at my son and he told me, Dad, dont worry.
"I could not take it any more. The men were brandishing pangas and axes, so I looked at my son one last time and sneaked away. As I walked off, I heard them start hacking the boys.
"I couldnt take the sound, so I started running in the rain and went home. I found his mother waiting up for me and told her they had killed our son. She cried the whole night." -
Kenyans 'forcibly recruited to fight'
A Kenyan (who wishes to remain anonymous) in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha describes how members of an outlawed sect - the Mungiki - are forcibly recruiting members of their Kikuyu ethnic group to kill non-Kikuyus - allied to the opposition. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7215107.stm
Law and order has broken down in the Rift Valley area since the disputed 27 December presidential election. Kenyan politics is polarised and because of this, when a community feels threatened, groupings or gangs arise in their defence.
It is really disgusting. People are being killed and burnt in their houses, even one person was buried alive... buried alive?
And other people are just watching.
There are gangs of Kikuyu coming knocking from door-to-door. But I really don't think they are from Naivasha - people know that Naivasha is usually a safe place, a place where people like peace.
But these people are coming and forcing people here to fight. So that's why they are going house-to-house making sure that if you are a Kikuyu, you have to come out and fight.
If you are not a Kikuyu, they just kill you immediately.
Not long ago they came into our estate and demanded the keys to the gate.
They used a petrol bomb to frighten us, telling us if we don't come out, they'll burn us.
Shooting, shooting, shooting
Luckily, I managed to hide under the bed.
Where they are targeting right now is Naivasha prison.
Groups of Kikuyu groups roam the streets of a neighborhood of Naivasha as fires burn
Homes belonging to Luos are being ransacked and set alight
The Kikuyus are going to the prison and they want to get the Luos and the Namdis who have gone there to seek refuge.
Gangs of Kikuyus are outside the prison and burning houses nearby but the police - there are many of them there - but it is like they are relaxed.
They are not doing anything, just shooting, shooting, shooting [up in the air] but not stopping these people from getting closer to the prison.
These Kikuyus that are doing all this - it is a kind of revenge.
In Naivasha it is revenge for what has been happening in other areas where Kikuyus have been killed. -
Private firms must play role in ensuring peace deal’s reac
The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) carried the hopes of many Kenyans when they decided to play an active role in encouraging a deal between the Government and the Opposition, ODM.
What they didn’t realise is that their role was not to be a one off. We had very visible high level meetings and since then, it has been all quiet.
The private sector has always taken a bystander role and viewed politics as too dirty to indulge in. The private sector has even at times insinuated that Kenya’s economy is unaffected by the political happenings in the country. Reality only dawned on us after the disputed election results of December 27, 2007.
Leader after leader has been visiting Kenya, among them the US Secretary of State, Dr Condoleezza Rice. The likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who are world renowned, left without achieving anything. The then Head of African Union and the President of Ghana was said to have passed by for a cup of tea. Our own Noble laureate (Wangari Maathai) has not been able to achieve much, even though she has been a lone voice of reason
Our current Constitution is indeed the cause of the problem and the Bomas draft would have sorted us out had we adopted it.
In tourism, we talk about our source markets of Europe and North America lifting or reviewing their advisory, but we are not playing our active role to pressure the two parties to agree on something and spare us another round of skirmishes. It will only take half a day of skirmish and killings for fresh advisories to be put in place.
All along, it has been acknowledged that a political solution was the only way forward. However, some PNU hardliners now seem to be moving away from it. At this rate, the peace talks could be at a risk.
Kepsa cannot afford to be silent on the latest development. So what are the probable scenarios:
ODM takes its role as the opposition and waits for Parliament to resume and fight their case there. This would have been the wish of many Kenyans, including tourism players, but it is highly unlikely.
ODM takes its battle back to the streets and the Government ignores them and they tire out? This is also highly unlikely.
ODM goes to the streets and the Government brutally deals with them, resulting in increasing incidents of violence? This is the most probable outcome.
If the third scenario happens where does that leave us? More advisories, more cancellations. We may end up with evacuations by some of the Western nations as they have clearly indicated that it will not be business as usual. I pray hard that does not come to pass.
As the private sector, we need to ask ourselves if indeed we are playing our role as required. It is evident that the current calm we are enjoying has deceived many that all is well and it is indeed back to normalcy.
Kepsa should not wait and wish that a deal will just come on its own. We have to make it happen without any fear or favour.
If we choose to remain silent and we end up with a fresh flare up of chaos, then history will judge us harshly.
The church groups a couple of days ago admitted that they were indeed partisan. How come since then we haven’t seen them come up and give a middle ground approach to compel the two warring groups to agree.
I am not a doomsday proponent but if the current talks fail, then we should brace ourselves for the worst as the power of brutal force will not stop people who yearn for change.
MOHAMMED HERSI
Chairman, Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers
Coast -
KIBAKI, RAILA, NGILU, KARUA: joke about kenyan politics
Raila, Kibaki, Ngilu and Martha Karua are traveling in a train.
The train suddenly goes thru a tunnel and it gets completely dark. Suddenly there is a kissing sound and then a slap! The train comes out of the tunnel. Ngilu and Raila are sitting there looking perplexed. Kibaki is bent over holding his face, which is red from an apparent slap.
All of them remain diplomatic and nobody says anything.
Ngilu is thinking: "These men are all crazy after Martha Karua. Kibaki must have tried to kiss her in the tunnel. Very proper that she slapped him."
Martha Karua is thinking: "kibaki must have moved to kiss me,and kissed Ngilu instead and got slapped."
Kibaki is thinking: "Damn it, Raila must have tried to kiss Martha Karua, she thought it was me and slapped me."
Raila is thinking: "If this train goes through another tunnel, I could make another kissing sound and slap Kibaki again."
laughing matter
