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Let Us Get A Few Things Right For Once.....
#43 - 0--clubafrika--Let Us Get A Few Things Right For Once.....--2005-11-24 08:54:24
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.....The Kisumu Massacre and this Referendum Thing!
By the time we go to the polls on the referendum, we shall surely have gone deaf, deaf from the disorganized blame game that keeps flying all around us from all directions.
The situation gets worse when we fail as a nation to face the facts, acknowledge a national tragedy, take responsibility, apologize to the families and the nation over our mistakes and then move on.
Now, the theatrics we are being bombarded with make this nation look like a nation of mad idiots in the eyes of the world.
For heaven's sake people died senseless deaths in Kisumu. It does not matter if we didn't know them. It does not matter if Raila flew to Kisumu a hundred times to organize the riots. It does not matter if Tuju went there with a hundred, a thousand or three thousand armed thugs to cause mayhem. It does not matter if Tuju or Raila is responsible for the deaths of these innocent people. It does not matter even if some of the dead were former street boys under going rehabilitation. - What is at stake here is that the state made several blunders that resulted in the deaths of four innocent Kenyans and scores maimed, some probably for life. And the blunders the state made are many.
First, if as they claim that Raila flew to Kisumu several times to organize the riots, they should have arrested him in advance and locked him up. They should equally have netted his co- conspirators or partners in crime in the making. If they knew all these heinous plans were in the offing, these were enough grounds to call off the meeting on security grounds as they have done before and after the Kisumu massacre. They didn't.
Second, the security committee in Kisumu knew that the government ministers that were hell bent on having their rally in Kisumu, the rally most residents did not want, were likely to provoke the residents of the town into a frenzy of riots. The reason was simple. All of the ministers at the rally had displayed a very high degree of arrogance even going as far as using abusive language not only on the politicians from Nyanza in the orange team but the entire Luo community as a whole. They had called Luos sheep, fish mongers, uncircumcised people and any unpalatable adjectives they could remember.
At the end of it, they had invaded Kisumu under armed escort to "liberate" the Luos from the yoke of Odingaism!
The world over, the history of liberation has always succeeded in situations where the slaves hated and loathed their masters. Liberation cannot take place if the "slaves" are not even aware they are slaves. But it can equally be tricky if the "slaves" happen to be slaves by choice and love their master to death. In such a scenario, liberating the slaves can be an uphill task. They can inform their master of your plans, in which case the master will have a counter plan for you.
Or, they can rise against the liberator and deal him a blow! This unfortunately was what happened to our liberators on that fateful day in Kisumu. In the end, our benevolent liberators actually caused the deaths of the children of the slaves that had refused to be liberated.
The families of these children have done the most honorable thing; to bury their dead without crying out loud for revenge. If anything, fellow children of the fallen martyrs said it all. They said it ten times better than all politicians, clergymen and local poets put together.
What bothers us are the callous public utterances that we must continue to be subjected to day in day out for the last two weeks. To make it worse, our mainstream media, that should know better, must subject us to the same stinking rot that continues to ooze from the mouths of our politicians, some of them for heavens sake, members of the cabinet.
If Raila in anguish, confessed at the Kisumu funeral service that he was ashamed to be a member of the government that kills its own children, what is wrong with that self indictment? Must his cabinet colleagues from the opposing camps clutch on to it and clamor for his resignation from the government for days on end? How empty and devoid of creative politics can our leaders be? Is winning the war on the referendum hinged on Raila out of the cabinet? Have they forgotten that in2002, Raila, Kalonzo, Saitoti, Olentimama and Kamotho had either to be sacked or resign from the Kanu cabinet? What difference did it make to the final outcome? Did Kanu win the elections despite massive state resources?
On the brighter side, it is good that General Ali is conducting some investigations and has made some arrests even if they are symbolic. It is also good that the Electoral Commission is also questioning people connected with the Kisumu fiasco. However, there is only one way this country will be at peace again if the people charged with making these inquiries took them more seriously than they do now.
First, I think the crimes committed in Kisumu two weeks ago are too serious o be left to the Police Department and the Electoral Commission. We have the Attorney General or Parliament to set up such inquests through the established lawful institutions if the truth is ever to be known.
Secondly, whatever body is appointed to conduct the inquiry has to move and set up shop in Kisumu where the crime was committed. We have precedence to that effect. The Ouko Commission soon after his murder was based at the Town Hall in Kisumu.
Thirdly, the people to appear before the Commission should not be summoned selectively. All the people linked to the crime, suspected or mentioned must appear and account for themselves. Therefore apart from Tuju, Martha Karua, Amos Kimunya, Kivutha Kibwana, Raila Odinga and Gor Sunguh should appear to tell us their side of the story.
The Provincial Security Committee members, Police Commissioner, all the police officers on duty in Kisumu that day, John Michuki and any politician who has spoken adversely since then with conviction of some prior knowledge must equally be called upon to appear before the commission. Right now, Kenyans are more interested in knowing the truth rather than be fed with endless blame game, accusations and mindless insults.
That is the way it should be.
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