Sunday, May 29, 2005

Why Sankara Would Want to Live in Kenya

A Toronto teenager reflects on a certain east African country.The following essay was part of a recent junior high school presentation....

Completed on May 17, 2005

WHY I WOULD WANT TO LIVE IN KENYA

By Sankara Kebaara





Kenya is a wonderful, tropical, spectacular place to live. There are gorgeous


mountains,

beaches and




lakes

that seem to mesmerize just about anyone. Kenya is a tropical paradise full of wonder.

There’s always something to do.

It is one of the favorite destinations for many people living outside the country. If not busy snacking on an exotic treat, than one can enjoy dancing at the many Kenyan music festivals in the sun. There are beautiful safari excursions where one can see some of world’s most amazing animals such as

lions,

elephants,

hippopotamus,

giraffes and




an
incredible array of birds.



Aside from the gorgeous weather, Kenyan people are renowned for their friendliness and welcoming attitudes.

In Kenya, anyone feels at home. Everyone knows and loves their neighbors. People are generous. Very few people are pretentious or fake.

Kenyans are extremely hospitable. When a Kenyan visits someone, it is customary to bring a gift to the person’s home. Kenyan people have had less and less for themselves and less to share with others because of the poverty and suffering that started with the British colonialism. Kenyans fought for and won their right for independence and finally sovereignty arrived in 1963. The citizens were content, and joyfully began to await change. Unfortunately, what has happened since independence is that a few Kenyans, have taken over where the colonialist left off in exploiting the human and natural resources of the country. These individuals have also forced Kenyan governments to cut back and even do away with essential services to the population such as health care, housing and education.

Yes there is free education, but children are not attending because they have not got transportation, food, uniforms or school supplies. The teacher student ratio is at a ridiculous 1-50. In Kenya, children have to buy their own textbooks as students do here in Canada at the college and university levels. Only wealthy students can attend private school. High schools along with colleges and universities are expensive.

I would like to live in Kenya. Even though there is so much poverty I could help make the changes necessary for it to become an equitable country where no one would have to be hungry. I plan on getting a good education and working as a human rights lawyer to help the people. Hopefully, with the help of many we will create a world that is fair and just and where no one has to live in poverty or ignorance. Even right here in this rich country called Canada where people spend winters sleeping on the streets. I wouldn’t be moving to Kenya sorely because there are lots of material opportunities, but rather to reunite with my family and help build a society where nobody will live without access to basic services such as education and health care.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

GEMA's MEGA Game Plan is a "Kumega" Gem!

Onyango Oloo Dissects a Brand New, Made in Kenya Fascist Hate Group


Last Sunday
I was on the phone with two of my closest friends- a senior academic in one of the north eastern American states and a thirtysomething professional residing in southern Ontario. Both of them have roots planted on the slopes of Mount Kenya and we were yakking about the newly fangled MEGA Initiative. They actually do not know each other and our conversations took place at different times, but their reaction was identical:

Hoots of laughter at the lack of originality in the name.

Now, let's get real.

Some wizened GEMA diehards delegate a task to their younger ethnic kinsfolk to come up with a new name for their tribal grouping and what do they come up with?

MEGA?

Yawa!

Surely Njenga Karume and Peter Kuguru could do better than that.

Think about it.

No. Do not think about it. Keep repeating the words in the next sentence for the next two minutes and contemplate the results:

MEGAGEMAMEGAGEMAMEGAGEMAMEGAGEMAMEGAGEMAMEGAGEMAMEGAGEMA


Was Nduati Kariuki trying to be subtle, hoping Kenyans would be fooled into not linking GEMA with MEGA?

That is why I instanteously came up with the caption of this essay was READY MADE the moment I read the story almost a week ago:

GEMA's MEGA GAME PLAN is a“KUMEGA”GEM!

Kwani, within the vaults of GEMA-MEGA’s talent pool they could not find SOMEONE who has done advertising copy for a television or radio jingle?

MEGA-GEMA is a DOOMED attempt to organize Kenyans from the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru communities into one giant FASCIST movement in Kenya that will be built on ethnic supremacy and tribal hatred. It is therefore by definition, a HATE GROUP that is geared towards regional and ethnic conflict. It is the Kenyan edition of Interamhwe- the Hutu terrorist organization that supervised the slaughter of almost a million Rwandese nationals eleven years ago.

I will not be surprised if MEGA MERGES with MUNGIKI-with MUNGIKI forming the violent armed wing” of this GEMA ethnic supremacist reactionary force.

By definition, MEGA is an UNDEMOCRATIC organization that has what I can only describe as a very SINISTER agenda for Kenya and especially Kenyans who happen NOT to be Gikuyus, Embus and Merus.

The fact that former homungati police torturers like John Michuki (who happens to be Internal Security minister) are part of its secret leadership convinces me that MEGA is plotting a FASCIST TRIBAL COUP to thwart Kenyans from getting a new democratic constitution that will definitely mean the end of the road for the Mount Kenya mafia that has been controlling DP, NAK and the Kibaki Presidency since January 2003.

We should see the formation of MEGA as the opening salvo of a looming civil war that will be unleashed by some selfish, cynical power mongers who happen to be huddling in Mwai Kibaki’s kitchen as we speak.


Let us take a closer look at MEGA.

Here is a link to one of the press reports that heralded the arrival of this tribal/fascist outfit.

Who can be a member of MEGA?

Well, read the following excerpt to find out:

According to the brochure, admission to membership in MEGA is by invitation only and is limited to the central Kenya community. However, Mr. Muchuha and Mr. Kariuki say MEGA has nothing to do with GEMA or politics and is purely an economic development forum.

Who comprises the central Kenya community? Kenyans living in central Kenya? That would include thousands of Luos, Kisiis, Luhyias, Somalis, Wahindi, Wazungu, Kalenjins and other nationalities.

No, MEGA is open ONLY to Gikuyus, Merus and Embus.

Now, if this was an ethno-cultural association, there would be NOTHING WRONG with limiting membership to certain tribes. But this MEGA touts itself in explicitly POLITICAL terms. Now what kind of a “political”organization in contemporary Kenya would EXCLUDE from membership other Kenyans who do not come from the GEMA base communities? Only a TRIBAL, backward, reactionary and BANKRUPT outfit driven by ethnic supremacist ideas, regional paranoia and myopic narcissism.

Here is one more excerpt:

Designed as a mass movement, its membership and leadership structure is designed to accommodate ordinary "Kiama" members who pay Sh200 annual membership fee. The next level is Ordinary Membership, whose annual fee is Sh1,000, while life membership Sh10,000.Only life members can sit on the National Executive Council.
The brochure says that any person from the community over 18 is eligible for membership, subject to approval by a vetting committee. Membership fees are payable through an account in the Equity Bank.


So, “any person from the community over 18 is eligible for membership, subject to approval by a vetting committee...”ama namna gani?

So on what grounds would someone who is over 18 and from “the community” be disqualified? How about if you are like my son Sankara who has a Meru mother and a Luo father? Can he join? How about my niece B. who has a Gikuyu father and a Luo mother? How about my good friend WM’s daughter who has a Congolese father? How about my fiancĂ©e who has a Gikuyu father, a Dawida mother and a Luo mshikaji? How about my comrades Micere, Ng'ang'a Thiong'o, Njuguna Mutahi and many others who have Gikuyu parents and a KENYAN identity? Can they join?

What does the “vetting committee” actually vet?

Allegiance to a raft of clandestine andu aitu mantras?

Is there going to be a resumption of mass oathing ceremonies to confirm membership?

Will people pray facing Mount Kenya or will they simply have to hand over an unmarked brown envelope stuffed with muthendi to Messrs Kuguru, Nduati and sijui nani tena?

What are MEGA’s stated objectives?

Well, I know you can read-that is why you have reached this far:

Objectives stated on the group's brochure include:
To help the community in all sectors to reach their full potential in life through leadership in business, economic, political, social and cultural spheres;
To develop a forum for cross-engagement among leaders and institutions within the community;
To engage similar groups with similar missions from other communities in order to achieve a united country.


That last objective, “To engage similar groups with similar missions from other communities in order to achieve a united country” is supposed to be the fig leaf that shields the nakedness of this odious tribal outfit.

Let me just say that Onyango Oloo is NOT among the GULLIBLE FOOLS who will be misled by that empty phrase.

Press reports indicate that MEGA is already seeking its tribal storm troopers and financial donors from among the GEMA Diaspora outside Kenya. For instance the ethnic recruiters are already in London, UK, according to this story filed by the Standard's Gitau Wa Njenga.

I am very proud of Uhuru Kenyatta for his principled and patriotic repudiation of the MEGA tribal fascist grouping.

Kudos also go to other sane and Kenya-minded politicians from the Mount Kenya region who have rejected MEGA and its GEMA narrow chauvinism.

For the last two years I have been hearing rumours of a MEGA in the making- with claims of strategic recruitment of certain Mount Kenya communities into the GSU and other elite paramilitary forces; of increasingly overt ethnic propaganda on radio stations such as Kameme FM; of a war chest in the making coordinated by some of Kibaki’s top lieutenants; when Njenga Karume was appointed as the Minister for “Special Projects” some of my Gikuyu friends said only half-jokingly that Kenyans should not be surprised to see a revival of GEMA; in the last few months we have seen public rallies by politicians from the GEMA communities speaking to their constituents in openly tribal terms; a few months ago Chris Murungaru went on Kameme FM to lash out at Edward Clay for launching a war against the Agikuyu because Kenya had now a Kikuyu president; the other day, a Nairobi based netter who happens to be a Mgikuyu and SUPPORTER of the NAK clique revealed that GEMA had been having a series of meetings in Nairobi with ominous implications..

One chooses to leave out the wild rumours which are too outlandish to repeat minus further corroboration.

At the end of the day, MEGA will die a swift and natural death for a very simple reason:

Ordinary Kenyans, including the Agikuyu, Meru and Embu REJECTED the politics of UKABILA decades ago and any leader who tries to rally people on a narrow ethnic agenda will find himself or herself facing the people’s wrath.

Kenyans today are worried about the devastating effects of the adverse policies of the IMF, the World Bank and the transnational corporations on our economy and flowing from that, the cost of living and quality of life. They want jobs, they want housing, they want food, they want clean water, they want decent education, they want access to affordable health services, they want security from marauding criminals, they want the roads to be safe for traveling, they want to live in peace with their neighbours, they want stability, they want social progress, they want democracy, they want justice.

If a government led by a Mgikuyu, Mmeru or a Muembu can help usher in the above, they will support it. On the other hand, if anyone, irrespective of their ethnicity stands in the way of the above, they will be swept aside.

Many of those things cited above are captured in a document that the Kibaki government prefers to sit on and that is the Zero Draft passed at Bomas.

In my opinion, it borders on the CRIMINAL for people like Njenga Karume, Nduati Kariuki, Peter Kuguru and other GEMA gang leaders to try and recruit innocent Kenyans from the Mount Kenya communities into this doomed tribal outfit called MEGA.

In 1935,

Georgi Dimitrov a Bulgarian communist who happened to lead the anti-fascist forces in his country cautioned his compatriots that the best time to fight fascism is BEFORE it takes root.

In the year 2005, Onyango Oloo, a Kenyan communist who happens to support the democratic and patriotic forces within and outside Kenya is warning all Kenyans, especially those indigenous to the central part of the country that the best time to confront the tribal and fascist danger of MEGA is NOW.

Onyango Oloo
Toronto

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Must Amos Wako Go?

Onyango Oloo Adds His Ndururu Saba to a National Clamour

By the way, before I say anything further, let us remember a famous speech that

Mzee Jomo Kenyatta delivered EXACTLY 42 years ago when KANU won the FIRST multi-party elections that paved the way for Madaraka(Self-Government) a few days later on June 1, 1963. Here is that memorable speech. Perhaps we can use it as a yardstick to measure how far the various KANU regimes of Kenyatta, Moi and now Kibaki have moved or not moved in delivering their lofty promises to the Kenyan wananchi.

Next, let us hear some more eloquent words from one of the most articulate members of Mwai Kibaki's cabinet:

Ladies and Gentlemen, lawyers occupy a special place in society. They are the custodians of justice and thus have a unique role in shaping the destiny of any society. It is therefore critical for all of us who share in this noble profession to maintain the highest standard of nobility in all our undertakings…I would also like to encourage organizations and individuals in the voluntary sector to jealously guard the rule of law through all our actions. Let us maintain sobriety and carry out all our activities beyond suspicion.



Amos Wako, [speaking at the official launch of Chambers of Justice held at the gala dinner hosted at the

Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi's Central Business District on the evening of Wednesday December 4th 2002.]


In the hullabaloo and brouhaha sparked off by the kafuffle following in the wake of the startling termination of capital charges against a member of one of Kenya’s most prominent elite families, one’s ear drums are almost punctured by the cacophonous din clamouring for the head of Amos Wako, the current Attorney General of Kenya, who like a pair of mitumba shoes, was handed down from the previous Moi-KANU kleptocracy to the current Kibaki-NARC slothocracy.

“Wako Must Go!” is the frustrated Kenyan war cry ringing from Pwani to Chepkube since the office of the AG has tenure and the individual occupant not so easily ejected because of political expediency.

Last night a Kenyan sister living in Britain entreated me to write a digital essay calling for the removal of Amos Wako.

This digital essay is definitely about Amos Wako, crime and punishment;later I end up touching very slightly on the cross-cutting issues of race, ethnicity and class.

I am not sure I will join the baying mobs licking their hungry lips even as they sniff Wako’s blood and preview his head being politically detached from his professional career through mounting public and nation-wide pressure.

“Wako Must Go!” “Wako Must Go!” “Wako Must Go!”
I hear many Kenyans shout.

Really?
Must Wako Go?
Why Must Wako Go?
Wako Must Go?
Kweli?
To be replaced by Nani bin Fulani?


And if he goes, who comes to take his place?

Remember before Wako we had Muli, Kamere, Karugu and Njonjo.

What difference did they make in terms of legal reforms, social justice and the rule of the law?


Sir Charles Mugane Njonjo, Kenya’s longest serving Attorney General (1963-1980) was notorious for his shoot to kill dictums and the way he summarily deprived hundreds of Naivasha prison inmates their right to a one third remission of sentence. We also know the dastardly political role he played during the Kenyatta and Moi era before he fell out politically with the latter(while continuing to do business with him to this day); Joseph Kamere (1981-83) was a by-word for professional incompetence while Justice Guy Muli perfected the art of toadyism and slavish abeyance to the whims of the powers that be. Some people argue that Kenya’s most principled Attorney General was actually James Karugu who not surprisingly holds the record for serving the shortest stint(1980-81).

For more historical background about this hot potato public office and its various bearers, click on this link to read this excellent piece by Tom Maliti.

Before we comment further on Amos Wako, let us look at his actual job description.

Here it is in full.

Let us zero in on this section:

MISSION STATEMENT

To advise the Government on all legal matters for purposes of facilitating and monitoring the rule of law, protection of freedoms, democracy and efficient delivery of legal services.

CORE FUNCTIONS OF THE OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL
Principal legal advisor to the Government in relation to the matters set out herein below:
• Constitutional matters, by advising on appointment to constitutional offices, interpretation of the constitution in the government, and guardian of the constitution.
• Advising on all prosecutions matters, undertaking all criminal prosecutions and representing the state in appeals and revisions.
• Undertaking civil litigations involving government and its agencies.
• Undertaking drafting of bills, subsidiary legislation, notice of appointments to state corporations, constitutional offices and public offices.
• Supervision and maintenance of legal standards and ethics by ensuring that advocates conduct themselves professionally and that standards of legal services rendered to the public are improved and maintained.
• Registration services by undertaking duties of Registrar of business names, chattels transfers, adoptions books and newspapers, building societies, business companies, deed of arrangements, hire purchase agreements, legitimized persons, limited partnership, marriages, societies, trade unions and college of arms.
• Performing duties of official receiver, bankruptcy and company liquidation and the copyright office.
• Administration of public trustee services through deceased persons estates and minor trusts, the proper administration of wakfs under the wakf commissioners, management of custodianship of enemy property during times of war and affairs of persons who are adjusted mentally incompetent.
• Provision of free legal aid to public servants in the course of their duties and accessibility of justice to the poor who cannot afford the services of a lawyer.
• Legal advice to the Government and its agencies on Commercial Contracts, Agreement, International Treaties and Conventions
• Copy Rights
POLICY PRIORITIES
i. to provide efficient, comprehensive and competent advice to government and its agency,
ii. to create a conducive legal environment and suitable system for maintenance of law and order which is attractive to socio-economic development,
iii. to facilitate promotion of law abiding culture for a cohesive society,
iv. to provide legal aid,
v. to undertake research into crime and delinquent behaviour


I am very much fascinated by the Mission Statement of the Attorney General’s office:

To advise the Government on all legal matters for purposes of facilitating and monitoring the rule of law, protection of freedoms, democracy and efficient delivery of legal services.

For the next few paragraphs I want to use this mission statement as a litmus test to see if Amos Wako has failed to execute his professional obligations as our country’s Attorney General.

I am sure only less than three people will raise their eye-brows in astonishment to see me zooming on the two high profile CRIMINAL cases of the two notorious, armed and dangerous suspects- Young Thomas and Mama Jimmy.

Let me pose the maswali immediately:

When he ordered the termination of the cases against

Thomas Cholmondeley and

Lucy Kibaki was Amos Wako giving the BEST advice to the Government and people of Kenya for the purposes of facilitating the rule of law, protection of freedoms,democracy and efficient delivery of legal services in this country?

The simple and obvious answer is a resounding OF COURSE NOT!

Why?

Let us start with the Lucy Kibaki outrageous assault on KTN Camera Person

Derrick Otieno (memo to Clifford, please be proud of your African heritage and use more of your African names). Here was an Open and Shut Case of Grievous Assault perpetrated in public and carried on national television and news outlets around the world. The Nairobi Chief of Police was a material eye-witness who was standing by as the First Lady went on her violent rampage. If the proper procedures were followed, Lucy Kibaki would now be practicing songs with the women’s choir at the




Lang’ata Prison. Instead, Amos Wako moved swiftly to crush the case after some courageous souls had decided to bring a private prosecution simply because the state refused to arrest the President’s wife.

In terminating that case, Amos Wako violated almost every word in that two line single sentence mission statement for the Attorney General.

By terminating the Lucy Kibaki case, Wako DID NOT facilitate and monitor the rule of law- on the contrary he was an accomplice to the breaking of the law by Lucy Kibaki; he did NOT protect any freedoms-on the contrary he condoned the obscene and pornographic attack on press freedoms happening on World Press Day of all days in the year; he certainly did NOTHING to defend the democratic gains Kenyans had won in the long struggle against the KANU dictatorship- on the contrary, his nolle prosequi trumpeted the arrogance of the powerful elite; and to say that Amos Wako supervised the “efficient delivery of services” by throwing out Derrick Otieno’s case is to unleash one of the sickest jokes in Kenya this year.

Let us apply the same litmus test to the termination of the Murder Case against the trigger-happy Soysambu heir.

How could Amos Wako be facilitating the rule of the law in Kenya when he usurped the powers of a duly constituted of law and undermined the credibility of the police and other investigating officers while essentially rubber stamping the cold blooded assassination of a Kenya government employee who was diligently following up on leads about illegal trafficking in game meat? How could he be protecting the freedoms of Kenyans when he valorizes the personal freedom of Young Thomas over the democratic rights of Sisina’s family to see justice done and the killer of the KWS ranger made to take responsibility for his criminal actions? What democracy is being upheld by a state that clobbers innocent, unarmed and peaceful demonstrators protesting the termination of the murder charges? To whom does Amos Wako efficiently deliver legal services- to the Kenyan taxpayers and voters who are his actual employers or to his class brothers and sisters like Lucy Kibaki, Thomas Cholmondeley and dare I add- Nicholas Biwott, George Saitoti, Daniel arap Moi, Chris Murungaru, David Mwiraria and Julius Sunkuli?Incidentally talking of race, class, murder and crime and punishment in Kenya, it may worth your while to click on the link to hear from Paul Nakware Ekai the killer in


that other high profile murder case that pitted Black and White in Kenya. Here is another link about the same incident.

And one cannot touch this subject without referring to the notorious Sundstrom case that you can read about via this link.

Why didn’t Amos Wako enter a nolle prosequi in

David Makali’s and John Chemweno's case?

How come there are STILL cases pending against various members of the Kenyan human rights community for democratic campaigns against the Moi-KANU dictatorship?

Sticking strictly to the terms stipulated in the job description posted at the Attorney General’s web site, one can say without fear of exaggeration that Amos Wako has been a DISASTER as AG-just like his predecessors.

I sympathize with those calling for his immediate removal from office.

However, I must RESPECTFULLY DECLINE to jump on their bandwagon labeled Wako Must Go.

There will be exactly NADA effect if Wako is yanked today, tomorrow or next week. As the Americans say, same shit, different pile.


Now it is not exactly a closely guarded secret that

Paul Muite and others of his ilk have been LUSTING and COVETING that office for quite a while now- and you notice I invoke the

Ten Commandments with conscious and deliberate irony.

So would Muite be different from Wako? Without a DOUBT.

He would be WORSE!

Why do I say that? It is because Amos Wako, for all his failings as the Chief Law Officer in the country has the saving grace of not having a devious personal agenda beholden to this or that ethnic conglomeration. I have never heard or seen anything credible to suggest that Wako is linked to either the Mount Kenya Mafia, the Rift Valley Mafia, the Got Ramogi Mafia or the Ingwe Mafia(if it exists). That partly explains the ease with which the Kibaki team retained him from the Moi administration. As for Paul Muite it is clear as mud that he would see the AG’s office as properly belonging to him personally as the person who inherited Njonjo’s old parliamentary seat. I could make the SAME IDENTICAL CASE for other would be “political” candidates from other parts of the country like Nyanza, Western, Rift Valley, Central, Eastern, Coast, North Eastern.

In any case, that is hardly the point is it- I mean whether Wako should Go or Muite come in.

The whole rot in the Kenyan judiciary, rule of law, justice etc has to do with one bottle-neck: the failure of the Kibaki regime to provide Kenyans with the democratic constitution that NARC promised in 2002.

You know who should go?

The WHOLE LOT OF THEM!

Twataka Katiba Mpya Ala!!

Onyango Oloo
Toronto

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

A Very Friendly Message to Mr. Murgor





Hon. Philip Murgor,
Director of Public Prosecutions,
Sheria House,
P.O. Box 40112,
Tel: 227461
Fax: 211082
Nairobi
c/o
minister-justice@skyweb.co.ke


Dear Philip:

Salamu kutoka Montreal.

How are things in Nairobi these days?

My name is Onyango Oloo.

I do not know if you remember me.

The last time I saw you in person was
on the morning of Monday, November 1, 1982 at the D Block of the Industrial Area Remand Home in Nairobi
. Remember what happened that morning? The previous night I had gotten into trouble with the night askari because we kept speaking loudly after the 9 pm curfew. Remember it was the night before my sentencing and many of us- how many students were packed in that filthy corridor, 67, 68 or 70? I can no longer remember the precise number, but I had started the ball rolling by informing you that this was finally IT- the next day I would be swung from the Remand Home to the Nairobi Law Courts to Kamiti and you folks- people like Vitisia, Sagalla, Omondi Oludhe, the Aseka brothers, Momoima Onyonka, the late Thumbi, Njuguna Mutonya, the late Mwakdua wa Mwachofi, Onyango CA, Kibisu Kabatesi, Wahinya Boore, Thomas Mutuse, Kirimaina Kimaita, Adongo Ogony, Jeff Mwangi, Ongele Opala, Kadima Osundwa, your friend and my classmate David Mambo, Ciira Wabere, David Murathe and so many other people- you all made things lighter for me by encouraging me to remain strong and steadfast… Then in the morning as I was preparing to go to court KABOOM! There was Officer Muraya and his squad, and remember how I was almost clobbered- only spared because the askaris did not want to see me showing up in court, hobbling, bloodied and bruised. Partly because of that collective pep talk, I was surprised that I was not even afraid of Muraya's threats to have me beaten up. Later on I was told by David Murathe (or somebody else from those ’82 arrests who was picked up again and joined us at Kamiti in 1986 during the Mwakenya Crackdown) that all hell broke loose that morning, that all of you guys were immediately transferred and scattered out of Block D with people like Adongo ending up in the notorious G Block with the hard core wazimu and capital offences remandees.

So where is your pal Mambo these days? I always wonder about the 1982 Industrial Area D Block student inmates because we did share a macabre experience together. It is interesting how things turned out- there you are today as the DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions! Hebu Imagine! Don’t you find that sort of ironic? Did you know that the late JJ Ouma who had been a second year engineering student but had always been a Special Branch informer, immediately dropped out of U of N and went to Kiganjo Kenya Police College where he signed up for official police training? I am not sure if this is true, but I did hear from the grapevine that his own demise came after he was mixed up in that whole Ouko mess- JJ was from Hezekiah Oyugi’s neck of the woods, so I hear.

Philip, believe it or not, I did not take this time to communicate with you in order to chit chat while idly reminiscing about the bad old Industrial Area days.

I am writing to you because I am EXTREMELY pissed off at YOU personally and your boss, Amos Wako.

I mean, Philip, are you out to lunch or something?

Have you guys at Sheria House lost your freaking minds or what?

C’mon, it is getting pretty brazen and blatant.

Can’t you at least PRETEND that there is an ATTEMPT at securing even the slightest modicum of justice?

A couple of hours ago, I came across this Reuters news dispatch that quotes the Attorney General as saying:

"If I was to charge (Cholmondeley) with murder just because the public, media and everybody wants me to, even if there is no evidence, I would be failing the people of this country."

And the following newspaper account reproduces what YOU, Philip Murgor, allegedly blurted out, without a hint of shame, in a telephone interview carried by the May 21st edition of the East African Standard:

Lord Delamere's grandson can neither be charged with murder nor manslaughter even after an inquest, the Director of Public Prosecutions said yesterday.
Mr Philip Murgor said a murder charge would never be sustained because Thomas Patrick Gilbert Cholmondeley did not have "malice aforethought" when he killed Samson Sisina. "Cholmondeley is a law enforcement officer and is licensed to carry a gun to protect himself against attack and any danger posed by human beings and wild animals at his property. Law enforcement officers kill everyday in the course of duty and we do not charge them with murder or manslaughter," said Murgor.

In a telephone interview, the DPP said it would be absurd if persons licensed to carry guns did not use them when their life was in danger.

He said a manslaughter charge against Cholmondeley would not hold because "this is a case where the killing occurred in self-defence. Manslaughter refers to a situation where you do not intend to kill someone but end up killing him or her. In this case and, based on the evidence so far, Cholmondley killed after he was attacked."

The DDP said statements to police indicated that a bullet was fired from the gun of the deceased and that it was Sisina who fired first.

Murgor said Cholmondley would only be charged in a court of law if the public inquest finds that an offence was committed.

The DDP said the attorney-general ordered a public inquest because the evidence did not disclose any offence known in law.

Murgor said statements of witnesses said Cholmondley killed Sisina in self-defence and in the belief that he was a robber.

The inquest, to be presided over by a Nakuru magistrate, would be expected to gather evidence to ascertain whether or not an offence was committed.

The DDP said it was a misnomer for anyone to think that the inquest is to gather evidence to support a charge of manslaughter against Cholmondley.

However, Murgor said the AG's office would abide by the inquest findings and recommendations and "as is the practice, order for further investigations if necessary".

The DPP defended the A-G against allegations that he had moved with unprecedented speed to terminate the case.

"This is a case where the police sidestepped the A-G's office and took the matter to court. The police tricked the State Counsel in Nakuru to sign the charge sheet. When we later looked at the evidence to be relied on in prosecution of the case, we found it not satisfactory. We had to terminate the case," said Murgor.



Is Wako for REAL?

How about you, Philip Murgor?

Is your head still firmly attached to your trunk?

Like I told someone else online not too long ago, I do not know what you folks have been chomping on, or more likely smoking, because whatever it is, it has whacked the rational portions of your brains to smithereens, and I can only wish both of you a speedy recovery so that you regain full use of your mental faculties if that is indeed the case.

Mr Murgor, being a lawyer who has practiced in the profession privately and publicly for a number of years now, I am pretty sure you are familiar with the concept of sub judice, a concept that frowns upon the public commentary on a legal matter that is yet to be determined.

Yes, I know that you had “determined” the outcome of Thomas Delamare’s murder charge, by TERMINATING those charges, so in a manner of speaking you cannot be technically blamed for violating the sub judice rule because as you said in as many words, the Kenya government has pretty much guaranteed the members of that billionaire land owning settler clan that their sole heir can leisurely look forward to the day he inherits the debts, demerits, insider connections and of course the wealth of the fabled/notorious Delamare family.

On the other hand, the BRILLIANT idea of convening a consolation “public inquest” came from Sheria House.

Why on earth, then, did you, Philip Murgor feel COMPELLED to say things like:

"The manslaughter charge cannot hold because this is a case where the killing occurred in self-defence. Manslaughter refers to a situation where you do not intend to kill someone but end up killing him or her. In this case and, based on the evidence so far, Cholmondley killed after he was attacked."

Apparently, Mr Murgor, the arresting and investigating police officers who had the chap arraigned on first degree murder charges had a different opinion from the one you express so irresponsibly in an interview with one of Kenya’s two leading dailies.

So what will be the point of the so called “public inquest” if the second most senior person at Sheria House has rushed to the defence of young Thomas?

Philip Murgor, I am pretty sure you have seen, heard or read of the national and international outrage that greeted your controversial decision to unleash the aristocratic bird before the Sisina family had their day in court.

This reaction from the Kenya Human Rights Commission is among the most restrained and polite.

When you get a chance, go online and check out my dramatic sketch for a second trial of the so called “Lord”.

In any case, Philip, I personally do not think you have ANY CREDIBILITY left when it comes to the pursuit of justice.

Do you remember what you told Mrs. Margaret Mbai, the widow of Dr. Odhiambo Mbai on Tuesday, February 2, 2004?

Let me refresh your memory by quoting from a section of your response to Mrs. Mbai:

"I urge you to forward any additional, relevant evidence on the death either to myself or to the director of criminal investigations. This is to further assure you that the Attorney-General will consider these in determining the issue of any prosecution."

Remember that little letter, Philip Murgor?

What ended up happening to the leading suspects in the Mbai case?

Did Margaret Mbai ever get justice?

Does the Kenya government know the identities of the people who killed her husband? Will she ever get closure?

This is what millions of Kenyans know:

Another group of high profile killers got off scot free.

Did your office ever pursue those leads printed in the Standard that identified the shooter and his Tanzanian hideout?

Did you take seriously the testimonies that fingered NARC Chief Whip Norman Nyagah as the mastermind who bankrolled the hit on Dr Odhiambo?


Of course you did No Such Thing.

For their pains in bringing the truth about Mbai’s death to the public domain, your office targeted David Makali, a widely respected news editor and a police officer who seems to have committed the late Sisina’s crime- doing one’s job in terms of investigating criminal activities by the high and mighty.

Dr. Odhiambo Mbai who some of us knew, is today lying lifeless in a grave somewhere in Nyanza province while his youthful assassins are probably boasting non-chalantly how they literally got away with murder.

From the look of things, it would appear that you, Philip Murgor, would earn tons of money advising other public prosecutors around the world on how to lose open and shut cases of plain, capital murder especially when the chief suspects are rich and/or well connected.

And speaking of the police and their methods of investigation, let me be the first to underscore my horror at their often rotten methods that has left many dead, maimed and psychologically scarred. So I will not romanticize the Kenyan detective profession.

What is absolutely BIZARRE about Amos Wako is that today he can say:

"If I was to charge Cholmondeley with murder just because the public, media and everybody wants me to, even if there is no evidence, I would be failing the people of this country."


Philip Murgor:

Please excuse me while

I VOMIT!

Why did I just throw up?

It is because I cannot believe that someone like Wako who has never seen a political thug that he cannot defend or protect is today posing and posturing as someone with even the tiniest traces of ethical probity.

Philip, turning to you again, sometimes I am not sure if you ever did the paradigm shift changeover from Central Bank of Kenya lawyer to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

In the remote possibility that you did, can you then give me the 411 on when the following cases of state thuggery against ordinary Kenyan wananchi will be investigated and the rogue cops brought to justice?

Will Nicholas Biwott ever be tried for the murder of Robert Ouko?

Will James Opiyo ever be tried for torturing the so called dissidents at Nyayo House?Will the father of your nemesis ever be prosecuted for Goldenberg and its aftermath?

Will Omar Masumbuko and other associates of the late Karisa Maitha be made to account for the roles in the infamous Likoni Massacre?

While you ponder these questions, I will pause here and await your response.

By the way, with all the money the Kenyan tax payers are pouring into Sheria House, surely Philip, how come you guys cannot afford even an El Cheapo web based OFFICIAL email address?

Onyango Oloo
Toronto

Saturday, May 21, 2005

The Second Trial of the So Called Lord...



The So Called "Lord" Delamare


Seenoi Sisina(widow of the man Thomas MURDERED)

Rough Sketch of a Future Play

A Work in Progress by Onyango Oloo

(This first draft written between 10:09 am and 11:34 am Eastern Standard Time, Saturday, May 21, 2005 in Montreal, Quebec in solidarity with the long standing struggles around land rights and other democratic and cultural campaigns of my Maasai and other Kenyan compatriots outraged at this neo-colonial racist atrocity...)




































ACT ONE

SCENE ONE

[Darkness. It is after midnight on LORD DELAMARE's Gilgil ranch. In the distance we see the lights illuminating the Kenyan billionaire’s mansion. Heavily armed African security guards patrol the property. Off stage, the rumble of thunder. Lightning flashes angrily on and off. Silence.Thunder. Howls of an approaching storm. Silence. The faint murmur of chanting voices. The pitter patter thud thud thud of dozens upon dozens and dozens of approaching feet. Suddenly a tenor solo leading an acapella rendition of a traditional Maasai song, a chorus of tenor, bass, bass baritone voices respond to the soloist with their own lilting and booming kiitikio and kibwagizo. The singing goes on for another two or three minutes, getting louder as the singers approach the stage. We can now see them: hundreds of Maasai women, men and children with spear wielding young morans at the front lines leaping up and down doing the famous Maasai dance routines as the crowd brandishes their clubs, swords, shields, spears, bows and arrows in unison and for emphasis. It is a colourful spectacle with various shades of crimson, burgundy and ochre shukas draping the loins of the advancing party who are bedecked in beautiful jewelry, bracelets, face paint and dyed hair. Panic in the distance as the security guards and their Alsatian hounds sense an invasion. Firimbis rent the air, following by robust rounds of gun fire. The advancing party with everyone holding aloft a burning mwenge marches on oblivious to the whizzing bullets, panic stampede and barking canines. Their singing and dancing get louder and angrier, louder and angrier as they loom closer and closer to Lord Delamare’s lair. Suddenly the front door of the mansion opens and out rushes out the Kenyan safari cowboy Thomas Cholmondeley sans eye glasses, unbuttoned pajama tops, crumpled pajama pants and mismatched hush puppies clutching his trusted .357 Luger Revolver looking for fresh KWS rangers to slaughter.

LORD DELAMARE: Iko wewe Fanya nini Katika private property yangu ninyi ghasia Maasai? We pana jua I am a very important man? Wewe taka mimi iko piga Sisina Mwingine risasi sasa hivi. Ondoka from my ranch mara moja ama mimi will be forced to take drastic steps! Ochieng! Kamau! Sapalan! Ruto! Hamisi! Mutiso! Wanjala! Abdi! Mosaisi! Mwangeka! What are you waiting for? I gave you the order to shoot these primitive savages the moment they entered the ranch! Go ahead! Shoot them! You know NOTHING is going to happen to you. We have very good friends in Nairobi as you saw the other day. Finish them!

PAUSE. NONE of the above named security guards make a move. They look defiantly at Lord Delamare. Finally, Kamau, the supervisor of the group moves closer to Lord Delamare. He points HIS gun at his employer.

KAMAU: Bwana Kubwa please put down your gun. You are under arrest!

LORD DELAMARE(shocked and confounded): What on earth are you talking about? Have you forgotten who pays your salary around here? Tell you what. You are fired!!!! Now hand over that weapon to me immediately you black monkey! Come on boy, I don't have all night. Ochieng, yes, from today you are the new supervisor.

OCHIENG: Sir, I do not think you understand what is going on.

[In the meantime, the singing and dancing, acrobatic leaps and brandishing of weapons continue. The crowd has now surrounded the mansion and has formed a semi-circle around Lord Delamare and his security guards.]

OCHIENG': Lord Delamare please surrender your gun right NOW or I may be forced to shoot YOU.


LORD DELAMARE: You too, Ochieng'??! I must say I am really disappointed. I thought you were a very promising young man with a bright future in front of you. What a shame! Well, we’ll see what happens. Ruto. You are now in charge. Forget about the little quarrel we had last year when I demoted you. Looking back I can see that Ochieng here gave me a lot of misleading slander about your work. Please do what you can to disperse these hooligans.

Ruto SLAPS Lord Delamare viciously across the face.


RUTO: Nyamaza Kaburu! Leta bunduki!


LORD DELAMARE: Abdi, Mosaisi, Hamisi, Mwangeka do something! You see why Kenyans have been suffering for forty years? It is these Kavirondos, Kiuks and Kales! It is time we the small tribes- and you know us wazungu are also an ethnic minority-it is time we came together and ended the domination of these Big Tribes.

Abdi spits on Lord Delamare while Mosaisi and Hamisi finally disarm the shocked Kenyan aristocrat.


PAUSE.

The singing gets louder as the Maasai crowd closes in on Lord Delamare. Some are chanting “Ua! Ua! Ua! Maliza! Angamiza! Ua! Ua! In the distant rumbles of thunder. Suddenly all the lights in the mansion go off. The stage is now lit with hundreds of mwenges burning brightly and for the next five minutes the theatre is engulfed with the booming chorus of the crowd, their voices rising to a crescendo, accompanied with all the acrobatic leaps, brandishing of weapons and militant dancing. Suddenly an old woman makes her way slowly from the depths of the crowd to the front clutching a ciondo. She hobbles until she gets within five inches of Lord Delamare’s sweating and agitated face. She wipes Delamare’s face with a fly whisk. From her ciondo she takes out what appears to a handful of jivu (ash) and powdered makaa(charcoal) and sprays it over the forehead of the surprised billionaire. Now she takes out a gourd and using a pamba-tipped stick, she paints a pattern on Delamare’s face with what looks like fresh animal blood- to the ululations, whistling, cheers and clapping of the crowd. She abruptly leaves, disappearing back into the depths of the crowd. Eleven Maasai Moran armed with spears perform a war dance in front of the captive. A middle aged man dressed in traditional Maasai garb, but wearing designer glasses emerges with a lap top under his arm and a cell phone in his right palm.


He vigorously shakes the hands of Mwangeka, Mutiso, Ochieng, Ruto, Kamau, Abdi, Mosaisi, Sapalan and Wanjala. He hugs all of them in turn.


SISINA (in a Kenyan-North American “educated” accent): Thank you my Kenyan brothers. Thank you. This was a well-coordinated operation. I am now convinced that my uncle did not die in vain. Justice will seen to be done, this time not the Philip Murgor or Amos Wako way, but the Maasai way.

PAUSE. SISINA blows a firimbi and the security guards who stand in formation to present arms.


WANJALA, MUTISO, SAPALAN, MOSAISI, ABDI(together): It is time to hand over the prisoner Thomas Chomosijuinani alias Jizi Kaburu Mlowezi Delamare to the Maasai People’s Court!

Vigelegele. Chanting. A very vigorous rendition of the dance we have been watching since the beginning of the scene.


LORD DELAMARE: Where are you people taking me? Wait! Wait! Ngoja! I think we can work something out! What do you want? Money? I have tons of it! Is it land? I can give you 60, 000 hectares right now! Where are you taking me? Wananchi! I am a Kenyan too! Tuelewane mabibi na mabwana! Mimi napenda ng'ombe ya kienyeji! Mimi iko na Mtoto Mbili Tatu wa Kimaasai! Hapana jua bibi yangu nyumba ndogo anatoka Kajiado! Please do not do anything to me! I beg you please do not cook me alive!

[The surging crowd ignores his pathetic yelps as they frog march him off stage. Gilgil ranch is on fire...]

END OF SCENE.

End of ACT ONE.

To Be Continued….