TOWARDS A NEW KENYA: Ujumbe to the KCA '05 Boston Kongamano

A Message to the 2005 KCA Conference from Onyango Oloo

The KCA annual general meeting and conference commences today, in Boston, Massachusetts.

My first words are:
Hongera! Pongezi! Kudos!

Hongera to all the KCA members and especially to the hard-working office-bearers who have volunteered their valuable time to ensure that this organization remains alive and vibrant over eight years into its formation.

As many of us know, this year's meeting happens sadly in the wake of a personal tragedy that befell the


KCA President Frank Mwaniki (seen here with Health Minister Charity Ngilu and the late Karisa Maitha at the 2003 Whippany, New Jersey KCA Conference)

who lost his beloved brother recently.

Once again to Frank, I extend to you my mkono wa tanzia.

Those of us who have been fortunate to meet face to face with Mwaniki, KCA Vice-President Mkawasi Mcharo, KCA Secretary Angaluki Muaka, and other members of the KCA executive like Ms. Lucy Kimani know that they are a team of hard working, patriotic and sincere Kenyans.

Some of us may not have always agreed with them on each and every topic broached under the sun, but we have NEVER DOUBTED their commitment and dedication in serving the membership of the KCA organization.

The theme for this year's conference, Engaging Kenya Community Abroad in Rebuilding Kenya is especially apt because it dovetails with the gathering storm of our national aspirations as a people inside and outside our beautiful nation.

The words of

Ms. Mkawasi Mcharo, the KCA Vice President and an accomplished writer/ theatre professional in her own right captures this theme in very evocative terms:

"The 2005 KCA Conference is aimed at continuing to seek ways of engaging Kenya Community Abroad in rebuilding Kenya through small business and investments, empowerment initiatives and social justice, policy making, and of course, celebrating all that continues to make Kenyans a people of pride and dignity internationally. We celebrate our very own Professor Wangari Maathai, the newest Nobel Laureate, also a former recipient of the KCA Excellence Award. And in the small ways that ordinary Kenyans make an extraordinary difference in others' lives, we celebrate the 2004 KCA Excellence Award winner, Mr. Hezekiah Nyaranga of Reach-Out Children's Centre, for his efforts in caring for hundreds of AIDs orphans in Kisumu. We will also honour our 2003 KCA Excellence Award winner, Ms. Asunta Wagura, for her efforts in establishing a voice for victims of HIV-AIDs."

Kudos and Pongezis also go to members of the KCA-New England chapter who have shouldered the heavy burden of coordinating the logistical arrangements of pulling the whole thing off- because they are after all residents with hands on knowledge of Boston with ties to the humongous community of Kenyans living in New England and the outlying areas. So my personal shukranis go directly to:

Chair - John Gachago
Secretary - Peter Ngunyi
Treasurer - Elizabeth Mumbi
Member - Wanjiru Ndichu
Member - Joseph Manthi
Member - Sali Oyugi

Who together comprise the Interim Committee of the New England Chapter of the KCA. You are blazing a trail for other Kenyan communities in North America and Europe to follow, providing perhaps, a template for future local editions of the KCA conference in other locales (hopefully outside the United States of America at some point in time). Apart from these named individuals I am sure there are dozens of other "faceless" individuals who are working very hard to ensure that this year's conference is a success.

Much appreciated too, is the role of the Kenya Christian Fellowship Association in leading the prayers. Perhaps, at future editions of the KCA conference such prayers will involve other faiths because Kenya is after all, a multi-faith, secular and diverse society that counts among its population millions of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, African Traditionalists and other believers (and non-believers).

Let me also join the rest of the KCA members and supporters in congratulating Hezekiah Nyaranga, the winner of this year's Excellence Award and Asunta Wagara who has become a house-hold name in Kenya because of her indefatigable labour of love working with Kenyans LIVING with HIV/AIDS.

We must also commend those politicians and ministers from back home who have recognized the CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE of organizations such as KCA by making time in their busy schedules to confirm their attendance at this year’s gathering. This is a welcome respite from the culture of arrogant aloofness that many of us have come to tag people connected to the nouveau regime that ascended to power after turfing out the 39 year-old dictatorship of KANU.

Hopefully, same said politicians will stick around as the NARC regime is roasted through what one expects will be frank and open Question and Answer sessions following their respective presentations.

There is therefore a lot to look forward to for all those who are going to make it to Boston for this year’s KCA conference.

Unfortunately, Onyango Oloo will NOT be one of those attendees at this year's KCA Conference.

I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to be included in the 2003 program of that year's KCA conference; I met lots of wonderful people and put faces to many of the cybernames I had seen in the various Kenyan online forums.

Since that time, and for reasons which need not detain us today, I ceased to be a member of the KCA organization- even though I have remained a staunch supporter of many of its objectives and initiatives, not hesitating to leap to the KCA’s defence whenever I have felt it is unfairly (or more accurately, IGNORANTLY attacked by strangers with personal and sometimes tribal axes to grind).

I would have loved to come to Boston.

A member of the New England chapter of the KCA can testify to this long expressed desire to visit with (to use the Southern US colloquial expression) with compatriot brothers and sisters in that American neck of the woods. One of the presenters at this year’s conference can also verify that I actively assisted with his arduous preparation and gave him my moral support to attend that conference. This year’s theme of engaging Kenyans abroad in rebuilding Kenya is very close to my heart.

However as you can see, the conference is just kicking off and I am still sitting here in Toronto, Ontario composing this waraka.

Ati "Circumstances Beyond My Control" is not only a cliché; it would be a fib, a fabrication if I attempted to employ that hackneyed expression to "explain" my absence from the gathering.

The reason I am not going to be present at the 2005 KCA Conference is disarmingly simple and straight- forward:

I never planned on attending so I did not budget for this occasion. Simple as that.

Why then, am I sending this message to the KCA Conference?

It is certainly NOT because I think Onyango Oloo has any unique perspective or "rare pearls of wisdom" to share with this year's attendees.

Hasha.

I am simply living up to the theme of engaging Kenyans abroad.

I have been writing digital essays and circulating these around the world for over ten years now and the subject of engaging Kenyans abroad has come up as a topic more than once, shall we say...

Here, for instance is an essay I wrote dubbed, Kenyans Abroad: Where is Your Democratic Conscience?

I have also leapt to the defence of Kenyans abroad when I felt this community of diasporic Kenyan communities was unfairly attacked by people like Jerry Okungu in Nairobi or well known Kenyan hecklers living in America and I have not really spared those neo-conservative Kenyans abroad who try to Out Republican the Republicans...

During the debate and international campaign to drum up support for dual citizenship for Kenyans abroad I sent this open letter to Wahu Kaara and Oduor Ongwen who were part of a crucial committee at the National Constitutional Conference taking place at the Bomas of Kenya.

I also penned this other opinion piece on why dual citizenship was a RIGHT not a "privilege".

Not too long ago, at the invitation of Al Kags, a member the Kenyan chapter of KCA, I wrote the following piece that explored the question of whether Kenya was taking full advantage of the members of its Diaspora outside our national borders- an article that was carried in the Standard newspaper in October 2004.

Before I offer my reflections on this year's conference, let me comment briefly on the program and line up.

I must say that it is a WELCOME RELIEF that the schedule is NOT TOO CROWDED. Conferences and AGMS are, outside the formal events, largely networking affairs where human beings meet other human beings to bond. It is also good to see that KCA has taken notes from the last conference in Whippany to involve Kenyans in Boston in the planning and core organizing activities this time around. When I was in New Jersey in the summer of 2003 I heard some minunguniko and malalamiko from Kenyans in Jersey City that they had been marginalized and shut out by the KCA leadership- a charge that was of course hotly disputed by the hard working office bearers who burnt the midnight oil before, during and after that conference, often digging deep into their own pockets. I can testify personally that they did go out of the way to try and accomodate many of us, despite some hoary mix ups that are better left in the past where they belong.

Yes.

I was saying that it is good that the program is not too top heavy with too many concurrent sessions because that tends to disperse the focus- and of course when you disperse the focus you end up with an oxymoron.

Tomorrow's(Friday, July 1, 2005) themes are right on the money: Talent Abroad Pool, Kenyans Abroad Investment Fund, the launch of STOP and of course a report on the various KCA chapters. I am surely going to miss the presentation and discussion on new technologies, national development goals and milestones and Joseph Manthi's MDG Score Card. Having met and interacted with the Austria-based David Otwoma, I am sure that his shining intellect will illuminate his presentation of the KCA Think Tank rejoinder to the Blair Commision for Africa Report.

The other discussions: Biotechnology - The State of Biotechnology Basic Research:Goals and Milestones by Dr Wilson Endege,Senior Scientist, Harvard Institute of Proteomics, Harvard Medical School;eGovernment - A Peoples Access To Their Government by Jonathan Mueke, Joseph Manthi and Peter Ngunyi; Funding for eGovernment Initiatives by Mary Muiruri and the ensuing panel discussions moderated by Angaluki Muaka Secretary, KCA have all the ingredients of a very strong and solid opening day indeed. And I am certain that Milestones and Deliverables by Dr. Luvisia Bakuli will be quite insightful.

Anyone who has ever listened to or read a piece by our national planning minister will want to find to follow closely the key note speech on The Role of Kenyans Abroad In The Economic Reconstruction of Kenyan by

Prof. Peter Anyang Nyong'o happening on Saturday morning.

Given the publicity given to rising cases of child abuse, rape, sexual violence and similar outrages, the STOP Presentation by Mkawasi Mcharo comes at a very appropriate time. This will of course segue smoothly to the mid-day Presentation of The KCA Excellence Awards by Frank Mwaniki followed by some words from 2004 Award Winner Hezekiah Nyaranga and the afternoon Panel Discussion On AIDS Initiatives with Moderators Wamuhu Gichuki and Abdul Yakub.

The State of The Republic speech by Hon. Raila Odinga, Minister for Roads will hopefully not last forTHREE HOURS as indicated in the program.

Canada is well represented by Ottawa-based Wanyee Kinuthia speaking on Local Ownership: What Does It Mean To Kenyans - The Tiomin Mining Scandal and who would want to miss either Mutahi Ngunyi's take on Kenya National Elections 2007 or the Panel Discussion on The State of The Republic featuring Hon. Raila Odinga, MP, Hon. Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, MP, MP, Mutahi Ngunyi and moderated by US-based Kenyan Profs.Vincent Khapoya & Ronald Edari.

One question though:

Why is Peter Anyang' Nyongo speaking TWICE?

Last time(Whippany '03) Dr. Fulbert Namwamba aka "Papa F" was preempted from presenting a paper he had worked on for a very long time to make room for Trade and Industry minister Mukhisa Kituyi for giving a second rendition of a speech he had already delivered.

Sunday, July 3, 2005 is basically a wrap up day with prayers, evaluations, report backs and forward looking visioning.

So what is missing if anything?

Well, as usual, critical engagement on BURNING POLITICAL QUESTIONS of the day stated UNEQUIVOCALLY and UNAMBIGOUSLY.

It is slightly disheartening that three years into NARC's mandate, the KCA does not want to grapple, head on with representatives of the Kibaki regime like

Anyang' Nyongo and Raila Odinga on what to me is the KEY QUESTION facing Kenyans today:

WHY IS IT, that in 2005, NARC has NOT YET delivered on its main pre-election pledge of a DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUION?

I have no problems per se with the rather technocratic and economistic bent of the conference, but sooner or later SIASA will show up on the menu, whether we like it or not.

Rather than sneak it in, surreptiously via a panel discussion on the State of the Republic, I would have felt more comfortable if KCA had invited one of the many Kenyans abroad(and NO, NO and ONCE AGAIN NO: I am not talking about Onyango Oloo and Adongo Ogony) to lead a SPECIFIC PRESENTATION offering a candid critical riposte to NARC's spin doctoring about this crucial issue.

Perhaps I am too hasty and someone is planning to do this; in which case I stand corrected and offer my apologies in advance.

My point however remains:

NARC should understand in clear terms that Kenyans everywhere- at home and abroad- feel betrayed and greviously violated by the Kibaki regime. This is a message that should be delivered DIRECTLY to those cabinet ministers present so that they can pass it on at the very next cabinet meeting in Nairobi.

Another message that should be conveyed to the NARC regime is that Kenyans Abroad should NOT be taken for granted. We are a crucial and indispensable partner if the Kenya government expects any movement internationally on the question of debt relief. We should NOT be BEGGING for our spot at the national table. Even when it comes to business conversations, somebody should ask the NARC government representatives what is up with their policy of seeking partners for development from all over the world while bypassing the experienced and highly trained pools of Kenyan professionals abroad.

Since we live outside the country, I also think that Kenyans abroad should be widely consulted now that we hear that there is going to be a review of our foreign policy. This review process must not be limited to technocrats and mandarins lurking in Foreign Affairs ministry offices in Nairobi- there should be town hall meetings coordinated by organizations such as the KCA and KCO to gauge the views of Kenyans abroad about what new directions our international relations should take.

I would ask any person reading this who will be in the audience to put up their hand and ask a swali for me:

What is NARC planning to do with the Goldenberg thieves, the war lords mentioned in the Akiwumi Report, the torturers of Nyayo House, the killers of Ouko, JM, Muge, Karimi Nduthu and Odhiambo Mbai? When will the Anglo-Leasing culprits be brought to book?

The more I write the more I wonder whether I should change my mind and go to Boston after all...

Let me pause here, because I tend to go on and on and on and on, ama?

Onyango Oloo
Toronto

African-Americans Snub Dubya To Celebrate Their Own...

Onyango Oloo Gives Props to a Night of Magic in The City of Angels...















Artist : Stevie Wonder
Song : So What The Fuss
Lyrics :
If I'm caught at a dance party without my dancin' shoes
And everybody dances on my bare feet
Shame on me
If I'm mindin' my business just doin' the right thing
And you try to front me off in the street
Shame on you
If a family's waiting for that special blessing to
come their way
But they ain't tryin to get on their knees and pray
Shame on them
And if we live in a time where every nation's fightin
'round the world
Yet we can't all agree that peace is the way Shame on us
Shame on me, Shame on you, Shame on them, Shame on us
(repeat)
So what's the fuss
If I gotta get up early in the morning for a job
interview
And I forget to set the stupid alarm
Shame on me
If my children are playin outside like little children
do
And you come 'round there tryin to bring them some
harm
Shame on you
Should I be drivin thru a klantown, find a restaurant
to get me some food
And someone says "hey boy, we don't serve your kind"
Shame on them
And if we live in a democracy and you don't use your
power to vote
Knowin' some would like to turn back the hands of time
Shame on us
Shame on me, Shame on you, Shame on them, Shame on us
(repeat)
So what the fuss
If I'm hooked on a habit knowin damn well it could
cost me my life
Yet I keep doin what I should do without
Shame on me
If you're locked in a marriage and your other half
just gives you abuse
Yet you've convinced yourself that there's no way out
Shame on you
If we're jammin the music and somebody's got the
audacity
To say that they can jam it better than us
Shame on them
And should there be just a handful that believe that
we are totally free
And there's no need to fight for equality
Shame on us
Shame on me, Shame on you, Shame on them, Shame on us
(repeat)
So what's the fuss




Watch video of What's The Fuss via this realaudio link or this windows media one
































"I was asking the kids: What is it about Tupac? Why is that there? I kept asking why. They were saying we want to dress like you dress, wear all the things you wear, talk how you talk. The impression is that black Americans are the dragon slayers. Here we are 13 percent minority in a foreign land, and yet we can make laws, change laws. If Jesse Jackson shows up at Coca-Cola, something changes."

Will Smith, talking about his conversation with a bunch of kids in a Mozambican village

Last night(Tuesday, June 28, 2005),while a gaggle of the GOP die-hards and blow hards were nodding in anxious and skeptical "agreement" as Dubya tried to spin away the bloody carnage that is the American quagmire in Iraq, I joined millions of African-Americans and music enthusiasts in keeping both eye balls glued to the BET channel.

Truly, it was a veritable embarassment of riches in terms of highlights and stand out performances.

And I watched every second of it, right up to the very last line of the closing credits way after eleven thirty in the evening last night.

What do you zero in on and what do you leave out?

The spectactular return of the always stunning, ever talented Lauryn Hill reunited with Wyclef Jean and Pras doing a medley of Fugees chart-toppers to kick off the show; the pulsating rythms of the troupe of African dancers doing their West African choreographed piece right into the audience; John Legend at the piano; The Game holding an unfazed bambino while doing a duet with Mary J.Blige; Missy Elliot and her sizzling tribute to Michael Jackson; MJJ's older bro Tito giving a sombre ahsante to the African-American community for standing by his hitech-lynched superstar brother; Beyonce, Michelle and Kelly inducing a pandemic of spontaneous erections and other predictable male side-effects around the globe with their audacious, bootylicious lap dance; Omarion macking his way to the viewers' choice award; Ciara announcing her arrrival as the next superstar;Fantasia's continued ascendancy in the pop world; Mariah Carey's heart stopper; Gladys Knight's show stopping diva super dupa super performance; Queen Latifah and the Set It Off crew "bullying" a defenceless man; a double win for hip hop maestro Kanye West;a nod to Michael Jordan; effusive tributes to Ossie Davis and Johnnie Cochran; female athlete of the year kudos to Serena Williams; an award to Paulleta and Denzel Washington for their amazing humanitarian work; words of wisdom from Alicia Keys and of course an intriguing risque ribbing/banter from the husband and wife co-host team of Jada Pinkett and Will Smith... I am sure I left someone out...like the tall guy who used to play for the Lakers and the lovely lady who had a cd called Secrets...or this guy whose name sounds like Mwanaisha binti Asha's...

Usually I shake an irate fist at the telly every time I see yet another sexist, demeaning commodifying portrayal of women on BET or have to endure some silly clowning on Comic View that helps to perpetuate the stereotype that all we Black people are capable of is sports, clowning and serving White people.

Last night as I joined in an unconscious North American conspiracy to tune out the blather from the Selected One, I sensed something else during the BET show.

Of course, on the surface, it was just another awards night in America beamed to the world at the prized prime time slot, complete with the megastar sightings, fashion accidents, flubbed telemprompter lines and overcaffeinated or inebriated acceptance speeches. There were the usual scowls from the almost winners(Fantasia was a sad woman last night-she wanted so much to win, to phrase things deliberately awkwardly).

But I saw and heard something else. Whether it was

Alicia Keys exhorting Black people to aim high in all fields of human endeavour; Will Smith emphasizing the connection between Africans and African-Americans; Jada Pinkett bigging up Black women; Gladys Knight stressing a need for spiritual grounding; the Washingtons showcasing philanthropy; Stevie Wonder reminding African-Americans of their social justice traditions and vocations; the television judge extolling Johnnie Cochran's crusade against racism and police brutality; the recognition of Ossie Davis and the embrace of the vindicated Michael Jackson and the embrace or the love engulfing the dramatic return of Lauryn Hill or the resurgence of Mariah Carey or the mere presence of icons like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson or the passing of the BET CEO torch from founder Bob Johnson to long time insider Debra Lee- there was something palpable going on last night:

It seemed to me as if Black America was consciously thumbing its collective flat nose at WASP America and inviting the latter to kiss the former's ebony derriere. Mingled with the celebration of African-American cultural achievements I could sense a real, seething bubbling to the surface anger- almost as if the African-American community was reaffirming to itself that it will continue to thrive and prosper despite the fiasco of the kangaroo trials involving its icons like Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant .

Maybe this is a cultural bias on my part, but I kept wondering how the Oscars would FEEL and SOUND like if it was organized by African-Americans. Sure there is the mystique, the pizzaz the oomph of media celebrities who grace the biggest awards night in the year bedecked in trinkets and haute couture from the Dolce & Gabannas,Versaces, Armanis, Christian Diors and Donna Karans (with or without the accesories from Hermes). And of course, the clever humour and visual gags of Billy Crystal are gems to die for. Missing completely in my opinion from the Oscars is that sense of community; that raw energy of plain old fun that I sensed as I watched the BET awards last night.

As a Kenyan who is more than slightly conscious of American cultural imperialism, I am aware that in an ironic twist, Uncle Sam has no qualms about turning around and peddling African-American culture as part of their capitalist rags to riches, American Dream HOAX. We know how sad those radio DJs in Nairobi sound with their phony wannabe African-American accents. We have seen how our indigenous sounds and music still remain in danger of being swamped by a deluge of the Top 40 drivel from the Billboard 200 chart toppers. I also see how crass materialism, cheap commercialism, gratutious violence, obligatory sexism and internalized self-hatred from American music videos featuring Blacks is exported abroad as the ONLY REPRESENTATION of the exceedingly complex and diverse African-American communities. Who can fail to smile ruefully at the cynical turn of events that has seen mainstream America appropriate the inner-city b-boying, tagging and rapping to become the contemporary soundtrack of the modern consumer culture pushing a cut-throat Me-First capitalist ethos to the detriment of other less commericialized, more cultural and cultured ways of living? I mean who could miss the half a minute commercials that came on every six minutes or so(or so it seemed) as Reebok teamed up with the flavour of the moment/bad boy/cash cow du jour 50 Cent to mercilessly flog their new

G-Unit shoes?

Nevertheless, for a few hours last night, I pushed back the previous paragraph to the back of my mind as I joined African-Americans in celebrating their achievements in a society that continues to marginalize, disenfranchize, criminalize, infantilize and racialize their experiences.

Peace.

I am Out.

Onyango Oloo
Toronto

Is The Léon Mugesera Decision Relevant to Kenyans?

Onyango Oloo Tries to Apply The Implications of a Supreme Court of Canada Decision to a Kenyan Context...










"Don't call them Inkotanyi(warriors), they are true Inyenzi(cockroaches)...Well, let me tell you, your home is in Ethiopia, we'll send all of you by the Nyabarongo so that you get there fast..."
Léon Mugesera, former university professor and Gisenyi provincial
leader of the then ruling party in Juvenal Habyarimana's Rwanda- the MRND.


NOTE:
The basic everyday meaning of the term Inyenzi is cockroach. Other meanings of the term stem from the history of Rwanda. During the revolution' of 1959, refugees, mainly Tutsi, fled the country. Throughout the 1960's incursions on Rwandan soil were carried out by some of these refugees, who would enter and leave the country under the cover of the night, only rarely to be seen in the morning. This activity was likened to that of cockroaches, which are rarely seen during the day but often discovered at night, and accordingly these attackers were called Inyenzi. A similar comparison, between insurgent Tutsi refugees and cockroaches, was made when the RPF army carried out a number of attacks in Rwanda in 1990. It was thought that the Inyenzi of 1990 were the children of the Inyenzi of the 1960's. "The cockroach begets another cockroach and not a butterfly" was an article heading in the magazine Kangura. Another article in this publication made the reference even more explicitly, saying "The war between us and the Inyenzi-Inkotanyi has lasted for too long. It is time we told the truth. The present war is a war between Hutu and Tutsi. It has not started today, it is an old one."

SOURCE: Netherlands Institute of Human Rights

[Mugesera several times attacked families that permitted their children to go join the RPF, insisting that these people should leave Rwanda while they still could, because] "The time has come for us also to defend ourselves.Why do we not arrest these parents who have sent their children away and why do we not exterminate them?
I would like to tell you that we are now asking for those people to be put on a list and for them to be brought to court so that they can be judged before us. If they [the judges] refuse...we should do it ourselves by exterminating this scum..."Excerpts from Léon Mugesera's November 1992 Speech

SOURCE.

The TEN HUTU COMMANDMENTS

These commandments appeared in KANGURA (Awaken) a newspaper owned jointly by the state and former Rwanda strongman Habyarimana's top aides like COL. SERUBUGA and the late COL SAGATWA. Here is the full text:

1. Every muhutu should know that a mutusi woman, wherever she is, works for the interest of her Tutsi ethnic group as a result we shall consider a traitor any muhutu who marries a mututsi woman, makes a mututsi woman his concubine, employs a mututsi woman as secretary or makes her his dependant.

2. Every muhutu should know that our bahutu daughters are more suitable and conscientious in their role of women, spouses and family mothers. Are they not beautiful, good secretaries and more honest?

3. Bahutu women be vigilant and try to bring your husbands, brothers and sons back to reason.

4. Every muhutu should know that every mututsi is dishonest in business. His only aim is to enhance the supremacy of his ethnic group. As a result, we shall consider a traitor any muhutu who forms an alliance with batutsi in business, invests his money or government's money in a mututsi's enterprise, lends or borrows money from a mututsi, gives favours to batutsi in business like obtaining of import licences, bank loans, construction plots, public markets etc.

5. All the strategic posts, be they political, administrative, economic, military and security must be entrusted to bahutu.

6. The education sector (pupils, students, teachers) must be majority hutu.

7. The Rwandese armed forces must be exclusively hutu. The experience of the october war has taught us a lesson. No military person should marry a mututsi woman.

8. The bahutu should stop having mercy on the batutsi.

9. The bahutu, wherever they are, must have unity, solidarity and be pre-occupied by the fate of their Hutu brothers the bahutu both inside and outside Rwanda must constantly look for friends and allies for the Hutu cause, starting with our bahutu brothers; They must constantly counteract the tutsi propaganda. the bahutu must be firm and vigilant against their common enemy who are batutsi.

10. The 1959 social revolution, the 1961 referendum and the hutu ideology must be taught to every muhutu and at all levels. Every muhutu must spread widely this ideology. We shall consider a traitor any muhutu who will persecute his muhutu brother for having read, spread and taught this ideology.











Léon Mugesera


Rwanda genocide survivor, Oscar Gasana, shares his experiences with Canada AM on Tuesday, June 28, 2005.


The BIG NEWS in Canada today had to do with the Supreme Court decision upholding an earlier ruling that Quebec City-based Hutu demagogue Léon Mugesera is a war criminal who should be deported from this country because of a blood-curdling, bone-chilling hate speech he delivered in 1992 which helped to form the ideological rationalization for the Rwanda genocide of 1994.

Here is how CJAD radio is calling it.

The Globe and Mail, the big business broadsheet has also given the news item prominent coverage on its online home.

For Léon Mugesera it must feel like the middle of an awfully long soap opera where his character is about to be killed off or bumped off the series by an awful mishap. Whatever you may think of the man, give him props for resilience and sheer pit-bull persistence in fighting to stay in Canada despite the overwhelming opprobium that his very name inspires. While to many he may very well appear to be the Goebbels of the Habyarimana era, strangely enough, some civil libertarians here in Canada and elsewhere have seized on his legal tussles to make him the pin up star for "free speech".

Mugesera's loss at the Supreme Court today follows a breather for the controversial Rwandan a few years ago when he won a reprieve from the Federal Court of Canada in 2003 .

Check this out as well...

Visit this link for more background on earlier court rulings and this other one if you want to find a DETAILED report from Human Rights Watch on the Genocide in Rwanda.

Social justice activists, especially African political exiles in Canada consider the Supreme Court decision as a major decision because it bolsters the ongoing campaign to expose and expel notorious war criminals from all over Africa who worm themselves into Canada posing as "refugees" after committing terrible atrocities at home. Many of my Somali-Canadian friends have been traumatized to find themselves in the same community centres or Immigration Refugee Hearings as the very same people who used to torture and rape them back home. A Kenyan equivalent would be for a Nyayo House survivor in Toronto to be accosted by a James Opiyo or a relative of Robert Ouko to run into Nicholas Biwott living surreptiously as a "refugee" in Montreal.

In fact, the Somali community has been aggressive in pursuing war criminals lurking in their various communities as you can see from this article posted in a Somaliland Forum online page.

The Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada has an active program to pursue and deport war criminals.

We should be concerned and remain very empathetic to the plight of the victims and survivors of the 1994 Rwanda massacre as well as more recent horrors like the Darfur genocide.

At the same time we should also try and ensure that other atrocities in Africa are not swept under the rug.

For instance, one of my good cyberpals from the Mambogani site sent me this link on what happened to the Kasai people in the Congo and it is also through her that I got more details about the tainted past of one M. Gabriel Kyungu wa Kumwanza who was appointed by the late Laurent Kabila to be DRC envoy to Nairobi in the late 1990s.

Here is a review of a book by Jean Migabo Kalere on the current genocide taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And for more additional information, I turned to this Global Security source.

As Kenyans, all this talk of genocide may seem too far fetched to have any immediate national relevance.

Well, think again, fellow wananchi.

Today I will not rehash what I said about the lessons we can draw from the conflict in Liberia. Nor will I repeat what I said about combating state sponsored political ujambazi in Kenya or go over again what I had referred to as NARC's forgotten MOU with political prisoners.

The most important lesson I draw from the Supreme Court of Canada decision of June 28, 2005 against Leon Mugesera is a pre-emptive and a proactive one. To employ a Luo expression "chako chon ne oloyo dhi ajuoga" which loosely translated means "prevention is better than cure."

Let us not WAIT for the Mugeseras to emerge from our midst.

Let us not wait for Kenya to be rebaptized Rwanda 2006 because of ethnic conflagration caused by tribal war lords.

We must fight against ethnic based fascism BEFORE it arises.

Kenyans at home and abroad should endeavour to save Canadian, American, Belgian, British, German, French, Swedish and other taxpayers the millions of dollars, francs, marks, pounds and kronors that are needed to prosecute and deport the Mugeseras from Sierra Leone, Congo, Somalia and Kenya.

In Kenya we can start demonstrating that we are serious about this task if we begin by doing something really simple tomorrow morning around five o'clock in the morning:

Arresting people like Nicholas Biwott and James Opiyo and charging them with crimes against humanity based on evidence ALREADY compiled by the Ouko Inquiry, The Akiwumi Commission and the testimonies of Nyayo House survivors. I agree with my former lawyer Kiraitu Murungi that we can use EXISTING LEGISLATION to successfully prosecute murderers, war lords and other war criminals lurking within the suburbs of Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kitale, Kisumu and elsewhere...

I leave you with this haunting piece by one, Faustin Sibomana. You can also check out this contrary opinion by the Montreal-based Michel Chossudovsky.

Onyango Oloo
Toronto

Victory for Mombasa Men in a Nairobi Court...

Onyango Oloo Hails a Well Deserved Acquittal...









Salmin Mohammed Khamis (L), Said Saggar Ahmed (C) and Mohammed Kubwa Seif-charged with conspiracy in a 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel on the Kenyan coast-stand in the dock inside a packed court in Nairobi, Kenya June 27, 2005. A Kenyan magistrate acquitted the three men on Monday of conspiracy in a 2002 suicide bombing claimed by al Qaeda that killed 15 people at an Israeli owned hotel. Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters


By the way, if you are watching television right now,

Oprah Winfrey is getting her ears pierced in front of a global audience.

Will she survive?

Stay tuned to find out!

Meanwhile,three Mombasa residents are grabbing news headlines around the world as I write these lines(4:09pm EST, Monday, June 27, 2005).

In my opinion,

Aggrey Muchelule may well turn out to be the BEST Chief Magistrate Kenya has had since 1963 because of his balanced, independent and courageous decisions. Remember he was the one who acquitted David Makali and John Chemweno; he is the one who sent Ketan Somaia to jail; he is the one who had Foreign Minister Ali Mwakwere huffing and panting as he sprinted to court not too long ago.

Alternatively, maybe the Kenyan judiciary is just reasserting its own clout- a welcome breather from the heavy-handed bureaucratic bungling of the executive and the sleazy tumbo-first attitude of the legislature.

Or perhaps, there is a reason to smile when it comes to an emergent human rights culture in which democratic minded lawyers, magistrates and other sections of civil society seem to be engaged in their own low profile fight-back to ensure that the Unbwogable Spirit is entrenched in the judicial system- despite the Cholmondeley and Lucy Muthoni fiascos. I I mean it was just the other day when another judge declared that the DPP has NO BUSINESS or powers withdrawing cases from court.

Anyways, before I dash completely off-tangent, let us get back on the case shall we?

Here is how Aljazeera is covering today’s verdict.

And this is how the Jerusalem Post is reporting the same story.

The London Guardian has posted this dispatch on their website.

And that rabid, far right rag,The Washington Times based in the US capital relies on a UPI feed to inform its readers about the breaking story.

This latest acquittal is Round Two in terms of victory for the Kikambala bombing defendants as you can see from


this earlier story from Aljazeera when High Court John Osiemo released 4 other suspects in the same case.

But just before we start hyperventilating, let us simmer down with this reality check- a recent story of 4 people being nabbed in Garissa for the "crime" of "filming a US-built school."

At around the time of the Kikambala bombing in late 2002, this is what I had to say about the tragedy in this opinion piece I posted at the Mashada forum on Thursday, December 5, 2002 at 2:15 am.

Conspiracy theories aside, and fast forwarding to 2005, I want to suggest that today's acquittals could also be a further indicator that the NARC government is struggling to wriggle and wiggle out of the strangle-hold of Uncle Sam when it comes to asserting Kenyan national sovereignty. We should give credit where it is due and so, without any riders, provisos, ifs, buts or any other caveats, I would like to commend the current trend in standing up against George Bush and the United States of America. I mean, which Kenyan(apart from our familiar National Review quoting house niggas lurking over at rcbowen.com) is not PROUD of the Kenya government decision NOT to give a break to potential American war criminals arraigned before the International Criminal Court? Kudos to Paul Muite and other Kenyan MPs for denouncing the arm-twisting from Washington.

"First of all, America is being utterly immoral in refusing to sign up [to] the International Criminal Court and to go further and require economically weak countries like Kenya, blackmail them, is really very, very insulting to our sovereignty, to our sense of self-respect.So we are taking the position that that military aid should be suspended - we don't want it."

Paul Muite

At times like this, I declare an unconditional truce with the Kibaki regime- until the crack of dawn tomorrow morning.

And speaking of the World Court, Kenya and the United States, this is what I said on the subject almost exactly TWO YEARS AGO over at Kisii.Com.

We are not out of the woods yet.

Railing against Uncle Sam on single issue like the International Criminal Court hardly makes sense if our government keeps falling down on bended knee, cap in hand, begging for bilateral alms.

Foreign policy is an extension of domestic policy.

We cannot have an independent foreign policy as long as we have a dependent neo-colonial economy that relies on infusions from the so called donor countries( there are more like anopheles blood suckers to me) to shore up our internal infrastructures and other sectors of the economy.

As we Marxists say, ideological superstructures like foreign policy flow from the economic substructures at the end of the day.

What am I talking about?

Well, some other day.

Right now, I am looking at my watch and I must make sure that I do not miss an evening meal at a Nepalese restaurant with one of my very good friends in this city of Toronto.

And for those smutty minded, gossipy voyeurs who are wondering- she is a PLATONIC friend, ok?

And I have an acronym for said smutty gossips:

M.Y.O.B.

That stands for:

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!

Gotta go...

Onyango Oloo
Toronto