What about the Scarred Victims………….

‘Free at Last!’ screamed the Saturday Standard and Saturday Nation editions of December 6, 2014. After a six-year battle along the corridors of The International Criminal Court (ICC), in The Hague, Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has withdrawn charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta. The Country’s CEO has been vindicated by the ICC. The investigation and prosecution of this case were simply inept and flawed, as she inherited them from her predecessor, Luis Moreno Ocampo. She has suffered a bloody nose and still at pains to accept it. She now has Deputy President, William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang, to pursue to a legally logical end, or fail once more.

The head of State humbly accepted this massive victory, and as a nation, we can breathe a sigh of relief as he can now focus all his energies on improving the welfare of the Kenyan citizenry. Credit goes to the president for morally winning this battle in court, rather than through the cheap politics that most of the usual sycophants in our politics propagated. However, as a nation ululates in joy and the media captures it all, as most of the politicians sycophantically chant victory tunes and the deliberate decibels get louder, a unique cry is slowly but surely being drowned! It is the cry of those who bore the brunt of the 07-08 quagmire. The real victims who were burnt alive inside the Assemblies of God Church in Kiambaa and other places, those who were decapitated, defenestrated, butchered, massacred and smoked out of their homes. They still cry for justice, and those six-feet under now, still need justice. Their tormentors remain free, roaming the country, worse still, confident that they got away with such horrible crimes, and that they can do it again! They are free, with innocent blood on their hands, as their victims live deplorably as refugees in their own country. The victims are still scarred and traumatized, some had their lives permanently changed for worse, and to them, an election is a scarily agonizing experience for them.

As the cases trudged on at The Hague, locally, we took no steps no heal the victims. Political alliances came together under the pretext of uniting the country. But is logically, can there be uniting, when reconciliation has never taken place and the perpetrators have not owned up to their crimes? Perhaps the best example to learn from is our neighbors, Rwanda. When the horrific 1994 genocide where close to a million Rwandans, from both the Hutus and Tutsis were butchered, and ICC set up the Arusha Tribunal to try the big fish responsible, back in the country, the locals set up Gacaca Courts where the smaller fish were brought to book, and the perfect example of reconciliation was experienced, as tormentors and surviving victims came face to face, forgave and embrace each other as a brother and sister. We have refused to learn from Rwanda, and what we have done is simply run away from our past, a past that might come back to haunt us in the future. The wounds and scars have never been healed, victims have cried for elusive justice for a lengthy seven years. Bensouda has failed them and locally, our leaders and judicial system, ahs horribly failed them. They are the forgotten lot, refugees in their mother country, while their perpetrators live freely amongst us.

How bitter does a victim feel, when he or she knows that the person who butchered her family, raped her and burned her hard-earned property, is still free somewhere in the country? The perpetrators of these heinous crimes roam freely as their victims lie six-feet under and the survivors agonize on how their lives were cruelly changed. Communities have never forgiven each other and to best put it, the deceiving façade of uneasy calm has lied to us that all is well. Those who were flushed out of Rift Valley, Kisumu, Central Kenya and other places under the pretext that they were aliens or visitors there, have never gone back, and they are scarred to, considering the fire that almost burned them there. Can we then say that we have healed and forgiven each other? No.

Cheap politics and forgetful memories have misled us on how we ought to have dealt with the ghosts of 07-08. However, we still have a chance to make amends. Kenyans who called each other neighbors regardless of their tribal et ethnic differences should do that once again, our politicians should lead the way and put reconciliation between the affected communities to practice, our judiciary and police should put their feet down and follow up on perpetrators who are still free, and the entire nation should re-think and face this ghost of 07-08, and logically and comprehensively deal with it. We can borrow from what Rwanda did.

Otherwise, this uneasy calm that we pretend to be reconciliation, might one day explode and make us cry. We cannot afford to throw this great country to the dogs once again, No!

                                          Reach the writer at jeanmutua@yahoo.com

LET US OKOA ODM, BEFORE WE OKOA KENYA!

He entered the political fray and catapulted his name to the great heights of Kenyan politics, as a staunch fighter and believer in democracy. His political die-hards and sycophants still hold him high, on this front despite the intolerance of divergent opinions that his party has been thrust into. Things are dark within Orange Democratic Party (ODM) and nothing seems to be going right. From the men in black shame to the hounding of Magerer Langat out of a party meeting and now power struggles and factions are evident in this once flourishing party!

Friday, February 28 2014, at The Safaricom Stadium Sports Gymnasium during the party’s elections and an ugly scene unfolds right under the noses of the party’s luminaries and delegates from all over the country. Men in black suits casually walk onto the stage and overturn tables, smash ballot boxes and destroy the election materials. The election is disrupted in what remains to be one of the greatest shows of impunity in broad daylight! They then casually walk out and the police do nothing about it, but more disturbing is the fact that the party led by its leader, Raila Odinga goes mum about it and let the issue lie low! Now, we all know that going into the botched elections, Orange Democratic Party (ODM) had two factions and each had its preferred list of leaders to occupy positions in the party. And as though nothing had happened, the party leader, Raila Odinga went on a sojourn to the United States of America and the air cooled slowly. The ugly and distasteful incident of the men in black has never been addressed and the party still prides itself in some so-called democracy!

Months later, and in October, as the party’s top luminaries held a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at its Orange House, the Executive Director, Magerer Lang’at is hounded out of the meeting by a group of goons. Cameras even captured one of them deflating Magerer’s car! Right under the nose of RailaOdinga, another ugly incident had happened. Days later, in Homa Bay County, Nairobi Governor, Dr. Evans Kidero held a fundraiser cum political rally on the same day that his party leader, RailaOdinga was holding a public rally on the same day, barely 40km from each other. As expected, legislators from the party and the larger CORD alliance were divided on the matter. Some attended Odinga’s rally while others were in the convoy of Kidero’s fundraiser at Homa Bay High School. Clearly, a show of the intense power struggles and consequent divisions within the once vibrant party. Yet the sycophants within the Odinga camp still pretend not to see it. They have continually claimed that all is okay within the party. 

However, it is evident that the party is fast crumbling as a house of cards! Opinions that are considered to be opposed to Raila Odinga are no longer tolerated within the party. Maybe, this explains why Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua, Budalang’i legislator, Ababu Namwamba, embattled and embarrassed Executive Director, Magerer Langat, former chief whip and Malindi legislator, Gideon Mng’aro and others are clearly pulling in the opposite side, and talk of a splinter party from the original ODM is getting louder with every dawn of the sun! Remember too, that Rongo legislator, Dalmas Otieno has declared that he is in the race for the country’s top job in 2017! We have also heard of the Kalusi movement that is reportedly aimed at ending Raila’s dominance of Luo politics!

The lyrical sycophants in this party cannot tell the king when he is walking naked in his yard, cannot take any correction meant for him, no matter how honest and justified. He is RailaOdinga, former Prime Minister in the Grand Coalition government and now the revered master of opposition politics! But now, a lot is terribly wrong in his party. The orange has either gone sour, the movement has turned chaotic somewhere along the way or better still, and divergent opinions are now abhorred in the party!

The end of Raila Odinga and his near-colossus control of Luo politics is slowly but surely coming to an end. The party that was once the strongest political movement in the country is now a pale shadow of its former self. Infighting and all manner of power struggles are crystal clear to the public. Just as several political commentators have said, the party is literally on its death-bed. From the look of things, Okoa Kenya should be Okoa ODM! Before CORD saves the country with this Okoa Kenya political mantra, the coalition should first save ODM!

Reach the writer at jeanmutua@yahoo.com

The Opium that we are high on………..

A Friday afternoon and the sweltering sun is not making walking the best of things to do now, not at least with a tired and drained mind that has been in class at KeMU Towers since morning. I make my way to the famous KenCom Bus stage and swiftly take my seat, in a Kawangware-bound City Hoppa bus, to alight at Impala Club and trudge my way home. As the last passenger occupies the last seat, a man with a huge Bible in his hands hops in. As the bus hits Kenyatta Avenue, he starts shouting at the top of his voice as the supposed word of God shoots into our ears. 

Am in for one disturbing ride and must psychologically get ready! He does not even realize that the passengers here are dead-tired, evidently from work! Some are struggling to stay awake as others slump into afternoon siestas! The purported pastor goes on preaching, oblivious of the inconveniences he is causing the tired Kenyans. By the time the bus gets to Kawangware, he will have gotten some few coins, as Kenyans touched by the Holy Spirit will have to give their offerings! Do not condemn this man of God (you wonder if the rest of us are the Devil’s sons!), he is doing his best to rise up the ladder in this lucrative career of Kupanda mbegu until he becomes a tele-evangelist or start his own church, somewhere in the corner! When he gets to that stage he will start making all manner of proclamations, of how he can prophesy, restore grace into us, cast out the demons, heal all manner of terminal illness ( even those that science has been unable to get cures for) and then perform miracles at a rate that Christ Himself did not! However, this happens only when you take part in the Kupanda mbagu, like 310, and then you take in some concoction labeled 'anointed water'.

Some preach on the buses ( Ngong Road is an example), those who have already struck gold in the this career do it on our television sets and radios, while the rest take opportunities at bus stages or recreational places to feed Kenyans with the word who in turn ‘plant the seed’. Courtesy of this lucrative career, these men and women fleece Kenyans to the last coin, and drive flashy cars, some ride in helicopters and mansionnettes are their homes! They care less if the congregation struggles to survive, barely living! Money is what they need from you! To them, God continually blesses those who generously contribute to the offering box, or better still, engage their M-pesa lines! The pastors give the word, and Kenyans in their numbers, honorably return the favor with a generous pocket!

Religion has suddenly become our opium. It is drugging the masses! Restoration, Prophetic and Healing churches are the in-thing nowadays. We have been brain-washed through the word. Our ladies (not all) fill Nyayo Stadium to capacity, whenever, they hear that Pastor Chris Ojigbani is coming to town to give them pastors through the word of God! These men and women with the Bible in their hands have perfected what Jesus Christ started and perform miracles at the bait of an eye-lid! They know that most Kenyans, from Lavington to Kibera are vulnerable to the word, and evidently will do what these pastors tell them, no matter how outrageous! Remember, Dr Prophet Kanyari fondling the breast of one of his faithful in front of the congregation? This is how deep, blind faith has plunged desperate yet gullible Kenyans into the abyss! Indecency right at the purported altar! 

Kanyari’s savagery antics on desperate Kenyans in a game of deception, where the word of God has been turned into the product for sale, is not a case in isolation. Maybe, he was nipped in the bud as he tried to join this class of flashy pastors, who have already hit it big in this lucrative career. They drive top of the range cars, dress flashy, live big in leafy suburbs and go by names as, Dr., Prophet, Man of God et all! They know that religion has an almost unrivalled psychological hunch and can be used to rally the masses, no matter how unscrupulous the methods are. Yes, religion is the opium of the masses!

We all know of this church in town, where the offering box is made of glass and that the preachers brag of the fact that their God is not a god of little cash! Yes, they use the Holy Bible to hoodwink, beckon and equally scare the congregation into giving huge offerings! At least, in that glass box, you cannot drop little money, otherwise, the pastors will threaten apocalypse upon you and literally tell you that if you are stingy in your offering to God, then His blessings on you will be equally limited!

Churches are mushrooming unabated all over Nairobi. Unlike mainstream churches such as Catholic, Anglican, Methodist or Presbyterian churches, these pastors and ministries have no schools or other institutions through which they positively contribute to the society. These pastors and their ministries take more and more money from their followers, and sadly as society we do not ask if the money benefits the society in any way.

The meekness, humility et all, that the Son of Man preached while on earth are alien to these prayer predators. They hold the Holy Bible in left hand, while the right hand writes the devil’s script! For how much more time will Kenyans, go on playing in this game of religious deception with purported men of cloth? The antics of some of our pastors are opium and a section of the nation is high on this drug!!!!

ILLS ABOUND IN KAPEDO, BARAGOI AND OUR MARGINALIZED REGIONS.............

Suguta Valley in Baragoi and now Kapedo; these places share a dubious distinction in post-independent Kenya; police have been butchered in their numbers while in the line of duty. And as the old script goes, the story of these young men and women who fall victim to the fire of bandits, cattle rustlers and other criminals, death marks the end of their story. They join the long list of statistics!

Both in Baragoi and Kapedo, it was evident that these ill-equipped contingents of Kenya Police were over-powered by the bandits and cattle rustlers’ fierce weaponry and also inevitably, better know-how of the terrain. This is how they have managed to slaughter our police men and women in their numbers, and sadly do so with near impunity. It has taken the intervention of the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) to face these ruthless bandits and cattle rustlers and to drive some fear into them, something that the police cannot do now. It is no longer the case of how safe Kenyans are , but how safe are the men and women who are supposed to protect them from the criminals? A lot in the system is terribly wrong, in as much admission is hard.

Kapedo and Baragoi is the Kenya that has been marginalized in all frontiers; political, education, infrastructure and health among others. It is sad and equally tragic that in these parts of Kenya, the residents hold on to some mundane traditions; chief among them is that cattles are a form of riches and the warriors in these communities still raid for cattle heads. These raids are everyone’s nightmare especially the community under attack, men, pregnant mothers and children are not spared from the gunfire. Some die while the lucky few, live with the permanent wounds, the raids a constant reminder of the danger that lies within.

Young men in most of these communities are not in schools and it does not help when very few schools exist in the areas. 50 years since independence, the young men occupy themselves with cattle raiding. Tarmac roads are alien to these people and the vast areas of harsh terrain cannot be accessed. And when our dedicated but ill-equipped police men and women are sent after the rustlers, their lack of the terrain know how of the mountains and valleys here leave them precariously exposed to the cattle raiders and rustlers who have clearly mastered the terrain here. A massacre of the police officers is never far away, as it happened in Baragoi last year and now, Kapedo.

To the warriors, bandits and cattle rustlers who have sophisticated weapons more than our police officers, the latter are their vulnerable victims. They kill them with impunity, take their guns and disappear into the darkness in the valleys and mountains of these harsh terrains. They ruthlessly ambush our ill-equipped police officers, kill them, take their guns and boots and vanish into their hide-outs, in a show of impunity.

These is the Kenya that has been deprived of development, education and slowly but surely, have been cut off from the rest of the country. With education, the people here would have embraced it, health facilities would have made sense to them and police officers would be a treasure to them. But when the same officers, while in the line of duty, are ambushed and killed in their numbers, their guns stolen and vehicles burned to shells, then we must open our eyes and act before we lose more officers in these places. Peace efforts amongst the Samburus, Turkanas, Pokots and the other communities in these forgotten places, must be heightened up. Schools should be built and the culture of education should be inculcated into these communities. Road infrastructure, health facilities and all frontiers of development should start making their way into these marginalized areas. The government’s presence, through development should be felt here. Therefore, elected leaders in these places, both to the county governments and the central government have their work cut out.

The Kapedo massacre on our police officers is a security problem, but it is inter-twined in many other problems that have faced this area since independence. Marginalization on almost all fronts of development by successive governments has slowly but surely brewed this security threats that we are now forced to send Kenya Defence Forces to stop and hopefully slay the dragon for good.

thepeople newspaper 

The military operation in the disarmament process has been greeted with some skepticism from some quarters. But since our police have been outmatched and outgunned by the bandits and cattle rustlers in rugged and harsh terrain, then it calls for the Kenya Defence Forces to come in. with their artillery and bombs. They are more than up to the task. However, this is not the solution to the crisis of Kapedo and Baragoi among others, No. the long term solutions lie in developing these areas and slowly bringing the residents up to par with the rest of the country, just as Nairobi and other urban centers are.

HAIL MAMA WA TAIFA!!!

For the love and care for our mothers and children; in marginalized areas, slums, rural Kenya and all mothers and children who are not able to afford or access quality maternal and child care, First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta chose a noble path to lead the fight against these and secure the health and future of our mothers and children!

Sunday, 9^th March 2014 and Mama Margaret led the inaugural first ever First Lady Half marathon in Nairobi and supportive Kenyans, from the political, sporting and corporate arenas among others joined her in this noble cause! The goal was to save the lives of our mothers and children and help cut down on the HIV infections amongst the Kenyan child. Statistics show that at least 5500 mothers die yearly, from pregnancy and child birth related complications, over 100, 000 children die each year before they attain their fifth birthday and 13,000 children get infected with HIV each year! Now, in terms of projecting into the future and the current state of the country, these are potentially ticking time-bombs that call for concern from the government and all Kenyans. Just as a loving mother is to her child, Mama Margaret saw this and took the giant and courageous step to fight it. Congratulations Mama wa Taifa!

On 13^th April 2014, under the sweltering London sun, she became the First Lady to ever run the entire London Marathon course, just to tell the entire world of the plight faced by Kenyan women and children. Her mission to rally the world to raise funds to support programmes to stop new HIV infections amongst children and promote maternal health care, for both the mother and the child was announced to the world.

By championing her Beyond Zero Campaign on the streets of Nairobi and along the streets of London in one of the most prestigious marathon courses, Mama Margaret sent a message of intent; the healthcare given to our mothers and children in Kenya must be improved. Children are the future of the entire globe, not just Kenya and thus efforts must be made to secure their lives, and our mothers who are an integral part in ensuring that the children mature into a healthy future!

Our expectant mothers in far flung areas, those who can ill-afford the required health facilities to deliver, and also the children, can now afford smiles, as the 47 mobile clinics targeted by Mama Margaret in her Beyond Zero Campaign, are delivered to needy mothers and unborn children across the country. The ambitious goal to reduce maternal and child deaths, and HIV infections amongst the Kenyan child are well on course, spearheaded by a determined woman who has honestly felt the pain of our mothers and children, and decided to act.

Off to one of the country’s key economic supporters, Tourism, and Mama Margaret launched the ‘Hands Off Our Elephants’ campaign, earlier in the year. This noble drive is aimed at educating Kenyans and the entire world on the need to conserve the elephant, for posterity. Indeed, a timely effort from the nations’ premier lady, as Kenya’s elephant population has faced near total decimation in the recent years. In 2014, the number of elephants that have been killed by poachers has hit a staggering figure of more than 182! 182 elephants butchered by illegal cartels of poachers in under a year! This includes the death of Satao, one of the world’s iconic elephants, who was cruelly slaughtered by poachers in May this year, inside the Tsavo East National Park. The elephant whose giant tusks were easily identifiable from the air and nearly touched the ground, and had roamed our wild for 50 years attracting the global eye of all tourists to Kenya was no more! The anti-poaching campaign direly needed a big and influential voice, and in Mama Margaret, it has one staunch voice!

The butchering of our elephants by cartels all over the national parks, game reserves and sanctuaries has silently gone unabated and in recent years, it has reached the alarming level, thus threatening the tourism earnings in our country, the jobs that come with it and the huge economic gains. In the strong willed campaigns that conservationists have waged against the greedy and selfish cartels of poachers and dealers in this illegal trade, the entry of Mama Margaret into the fray to lead the fight is priceless. The timely and much needed shot in the arm!  Revered conservationists of our elephants like, Paula Kahumbu now have the much needed support of the country’s premier lady, to help protect our elephant heritage.

The concerns that our First Lady has for this country are unrivalled by most of us, and as politicians deafen our ears with unending political rhetoric and broke the Kenyan hearts by renegading on their promises, and enriching themselves at the expenses of Kenyans, one person has chosen to show us the light and she is doing this in a humbling and touching manner.

Just to put the icing on the cake for unrivalled efforts in her Beyond Zero Campaign, she was crowned United Nations Person of The Year 2014, on Friday, October 24, 2014. A befitting crown for a woman who has in all ways showed us the way in helping our vulnerable mothers and children.

During KANU’s 24-year reign, retired President Moi was Baba wa Taifa! And for these concerted efforts to save our elephants and improve the lives of our mothers and children, Mama Margaret is the revered Mama wa Taifa!  Since independence, no first lady ahs ever impacted on the Kenyan society as Mama Margaret has! Well done Mama Margaret, you are the nation’s mother, May God bless you in all your endeavors to improve the lives of our beloved mothers and children.