By Janet Mwikali- White
Everyone who has been following Uhuru’s actions recently will see the hallmarks of a dictator out to wreck a nation. Uhuru appears to be a man on a Kiir like path to self destruction. Rather than seek restorative justice and get the nation talking, Uhuru prefers, retributive justice of blaming problems on opposition politicians, and jailing them.
The bottom-line is that Uhuru seems to be a man following in Jomo’s footsteps. Thinking about what is happening in the country including ICC, it all revolves around fire fighting over land related historical injustices committed by Jomo Kenyatta, who sought to resolve land problems in Central by transporting them elsewhere.
By blaming Mpeketoni on CORD, Uhuru seems intent on protecting rather than correcting his father’s legacy of tribalism.
Central Kenya had its own land problems in the 60s and 70s after the elite in Central Kenya like the Koinanges and Kenyattas, rather than settle the central Kenya landless, grabbed land left behind by settlers and left the locals landless.
To keep the land they had grabbed, and prevent an uprising by the Mau Mau which was still a potent militia group comprising young men, they instead exported that problem to other provinces of the country.
Kenyatta The First rather address land problems within Central Kenya chose to endanger his tribesmen by dumping what the elitist nouveau riche in Central Kenya considered “the poor dirt†to be dumped to other provinces. To Kenyatta, settlement schemes were about settling the displaced Kikuyu populations, whose land the Central Kenya elite had grabbed. And yet land was a problem across the nation. To him, the Kikuyu settlers would form a buffer zone around the lands he had grabbed in Coast, Rift Valley, Nyanza, Eastern and other places.
And so Kenyatta The Second, rather than express regrets over his father’s misguided actions, continues to safeguard if not consolidate his Dad’s legacy. Whether its 2007/8, or the 2014 Mpeketoni attacks, Kikuyus wouldn’t have been massacred, by Al Shabaab or locals had they been enjoying the ambience of their ancestral land in Central Kenya.
Had Kenyatta not grabbed land in other provinces to settle those whose land he had grabbed in Central Kenya, then there wouldn’t have been Kiambaa Church tragedy and of course Uhuru Kenyatta’s supporters in Lamu wouldn’t have been the ones slaughtered in Lamu. His son wouldn’t be risking incarceration at ICC.
And so how can we do restorative justice, in order for the Kikuyus settled in other places to be accepted? Its too late to ask them to go back to their ancestral homes in Nyeri, Kiambu and Murang’a. Besides Kenyans have a right to live anywhere they want. However, we have rules, and then there’s the reality. The fact is that TNA supporters are exposed and he needs to initiate dialogue about this.
But Uhuru should for sure initiate dialogue with the locals in these hot spots that have seen violence in almost every election cycle. And this can happen through local councils of elders. But he has to be willing to candidly speak against his father’s misdeeds, and promise to break with the past.
National dialogue should also include the resolution of such issues; that local communities whose lands were displaced call historical injustices. And Uhuru on his part should teach his supporters to adopt local dialects, and mix with the rest, rather than isolating and marrying among themselves. It was surprising and odd to listen to a clip of Mpeketoni residents sound like a village in Nyeri. Even the architecture makes it look like a shopping center called Dundori. This guys should have mixed their kids with the Swahilis and learned the Coastal accent… Its called acculturation, google that Mr. Installed “Presidentâ€!
Several methods like unwritten agreements can be instituted to ensure that only indigenous locals become elected to certain offices during a transitional 30 yr period. Thats because we have a situation called majority-minority in places like Lamu. Until integration has fully taken root, then let the indigenous locals represent the areas. After a few generations, intermarriages will occur, and you will have a population that does not remember the injustices of land grabbing done by Uhuru’s dad. For now, he should advise them to not peleka their TNA ujuaji there. Al Shabaab can take advantage of that.
It saddens me that rather than move fast in addressing these matters in a detailed fashion, Uhuru is doing patchwork. He recently fired an innocent man Leonard Omollo, and replaced him with Ephantus Kiura. Out goes Omollo, in comes Ephantus Kiura. Isn’t that sowing further seeds of insecurity in the not so distant future? The swahilis, out of distrust, won’t open up to the police, and Inspector Kiura won’t understand when Bajunis and Arawes are plotting a real genocide! There’s a concept called assimilando that the French used so well to Lord over their colonies.
Uhuru should have let this Mpeketoni thing remain a terrorism affair, but making it ethnic, first of all advertises that the precarious Rift Valley land settlements go beyond Rift Valley or Kalenjin land. I never knew there were Rift Valley like settlements in Rift Valley. And 90% of Kenyans did not.
Yes I once met a dude who was making a move on me, and he told me he was from Coast, but his accent was far from it. He talked with a Nyeri accent. His “Sh†was “Châ€. That’s okay, but I asked him whether he is really from Coast or he visits there once in a while. But he insisted. I disqualified him for being a liar. David Mugonyi, if you weren’t massacred at Mpeketoni am so sorry, because now I know you are a Coasterian, from Mpeketoni. I had thought you lied to me. I listened to the Mpeketoni guys who were heckling Ole Lenku, and for sure, no doubt that they talk like you David!
Mr. Kenyatta should just be frank and disclose the other places that his dad is hiding some of the people he displaced from Central Kenya. He should then move fast, and ask the locals through the local councils of elders, to please allow the “immigrant†populations to live in peace in their midst.
Without reconciliation and avenues for open discussion, we cannot guarantee that there will be peace in these “hot spotsâ€. And as a man who wears 3 hats, as Muthamaki of the house of Mumbi, Kikuyu spokesman, and also the “President†who was installed in 2013, Uhuru has an onerous task to protect his supporters living in these hot spots. Mediation and dialogue will go a long way in securing these places.
National Dialogue conference should be kick-started to lay down structures around which historical injustices can be addressed so that Kikuyus and other Kenyans in diaspora can be secure, safe and accepted in the host spots within which they reside.
Security Analyst Richard Tuta, is reported to have told the Standard that Mpeketoni was always going to be a prime target for the terror group, once they thought of it. “ Al-Shabaab choose their targets for maximum impact. In choosing Mpeketoni, they knew they would kill the ‘infidels’; show off their organisational ability; hurt the President’s heart by killing his own people; and, because they understand our politics so well, reap from the political fallout that would follow. In my opinion, they have achieved their aims,†Tuta told The Standard on Sunday.
Ethnic cleansing happened in Uhuru’s mind, and he seems to believe it, Dennis Itumbi’s propaganda and he is actually responding to those lies rather than address Al Shabaab terrorism. So sad.
REFERENCES
Omati, Cyrus, June 22nd 2014, Ephantus Kiura replaces Leonard Omollo as Lamu police commander
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/thecounties/article/2000125673/lamu-gets-new-police-commander-in-recent-reshuffle
Sudan Tribune, June 23rd, 2014, Bashir to meet with opposition forces participating in national dialogue, Sudan Tribune, Khartoum, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article51434
Kipchumba Some, 2014, Jury still out on why jihadists chose Mpeketoni, Standard Digital, June 22, 2014, Nairobi
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/thecounties/article/2000125643/jury-still-out-on-why-jihadists-chose-mpeketoni
Bocha, Galgalo, 2014; Three Kenya Navy officers sent packing, Daily Nation, June 23, 2014, Nairobi, http://www.nation.co.ke/counties/mombasa/Kenya-Navy-officers-Cord-rally-Mombasa/-/1954178/2358970/-/m9163t/-/index.htmlKENYATTA I ENDANGERED KIKUYUS…KENYATTA II SHOULD SECURE THEM