MIDIWO AND IMANYARA SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE CAUTIOUS

We are barely a year away from the General elections, and political activity is gathering storm, especially as political parties rush to beat the party registration deadline. Two likely presidential candidates have the ICC date at The Hague to honour, alongside the two other suspects. This is an issue tha has already created enough storm and given us more than we needed in our hands. However, at the back of these, two legislators in the current Parliament made some chilling revelations; that the lives of Prime Minister, Raila Odinga and Central Imenti legislator, Gitobu Imanyara were in danger.

The first was made at a burial in Bondo, by Gem mp ODM chief whip Jakoyo Midiwo that the life of Prime Minister, Raila Odinga was in danger. The mp alleged that there was a plot to assassinate the prime minister. He even went ahead and dared Foreign Affairs minister, Prof Sam Ongeri, to come clean on what he knew about the assassination plot. Barely, two weeks later, Central Imenti legislator Gitobu Imanyara, , took to the floor of the House and said that he was accosted by four men, near State House as he drove home. He added that he was forced to pledge his support for a presidential aspirant from Central Kenya, with a machete placed at the back of his head. To cap it all, he alleged that he was warned of dire consequences if he continued supporting Raila Odinga’s bid for State House.  These two claims are indeed chilling and call for further scrutiny from our police, to establishing if indeed they are true and based on facts and steps taken to avert them.

It is interesting to note that these two claims raise a number of questions. First, does it mean that in the case of the prime minister’s life, Jakoyo Midiwo was able to gather intelligence information that the Raila’s security team and the national intelligence service was unable to? Why did the mp make those claims far away in Bondo, instead of reporting to the police, if indeed he was sure about this? Lastly, can this be a political gimmick, popular in any electioneering period?

In the case of Central Imenti legislator, Gitobu Imanyara, did he first report to the police or he first said it in the House? Second, was he accompanied by his security team at such hours of the night? Mr Imanyara further stunned the whole country when he claimed that he had been issued with an insane body guard who has since been admitted to Mathari Mental Hospital!

It is important to note that we are nearing a general election, the first under the new constitution and which promises to be fiercely contested, judging from the unfolding events in Kenyan political landscape. We should, as a country desist from making any statement that is alarming and can inflame the political atmosphere.

Both Mr Midiwo and Mr Imanyara should have done it in a better way. They have reported these entire, first to the police, before rushing to the public gallery and attract the attention of Kenyans. It therefore comes as no surprise that an arrest warrant has been issued for the Gem MP, after the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko, ruled that Midiwo’s claims were false. The onus is now on the police to execute this upon Midiwo’s arrival from South Africa.

We are still waiting to see what becomes of Imanyara’s claims, after the investigations are completed.

We are not yet out of the woods with regard to the 2007-2008 post-poll violence and any talk that brings tension to the country should be discouraged. Our politicians should better learn this and lead by example. After all they are our leaders whom we elected into office.