Open Letter to Prime Minister Odinga

 By Onyango Oloo

To the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister:

Mzalendo Mwenzangu,

Nikitangulia:

Heri na fanaka za mwaka mpya.

I hope and trust you are well.

We all received your New Year message in our living rooms via satellite hook up to India where you are currently on a 10-day official visit.

As we linger at the door step, about to enter next year which is already this year; as I write these lines in the flickering flames of the almost burnt out candle that is 2011; we know that 2012 is pregnant with hope and trepidation; 2012 may be a harbinger of promises or a receptacle of uncertainty.

Eons ago, the ancient Mayans of the Americas boldly predicted that the World as we know it would be extinguished on December 21, 2012.

But humankind, having survived many a doomsday prediction, is confident of marching on in the quest for social progress, deepening prosperity and widened democratic  vistas.

As Kenyans, we wait with bated breath, for the ICC pronouncements on the fate of the Ocampo Six even as we await our courts to rule on whether we go to the polls in August or December.

In the penultimate Kenyan presidential race, you, Raila Amolo Odinga, enter 2012 as the candidate everyone wants to vanquish.

I could wander and meander, pondering and wondering over this and that; however, knowing your tight schedule, let me cut to the chase and reveal the reason for this open letter to you from me.

I am writing over the matter of Miguna Miguna, your personal advisor and a joint secretary, along with Professor Kivutha Kibwana, for the Grand Coalition Government of Kenya.

As you are all too aware, the matter of his abrupt suspension without pay from his official duties has elicited and excited a lot of comment, discussion and debate all over Kenya-in homes, work-places, matatus, newspaper columns, letters to the various editors and all over cyberspace, the blogosphere and other social media outlets and networks.

I am the founder and administrator of Jukwaa, which since its inception in August 2005, has emerged as among the most focused and disciplined Kenyan online discussion forums.

The matter of Miguna Miguna’s suspension has dominated the political interventions on Jukwaa for over three months now.

Being a diverse forum, the views expressed in Jukwaa have ranged from passionate support to outright denunciation of either Miguna Miguna or yourself with a new thread on the subject being launched on a weekly if not daily basis, with several interventions from Miguna himself jumping in to clarify, skewer or augment yet another riposte, rejoinder or broadside.

In these rambunctious digital free for alls I opted not to play the role of the detached and bemused umpire, but rather, waded in and out of what was frequently an all out mud wrestling match.

What was Onyango Oloo’s considered opinion in the matter of Miguna Miguna’s suspension by your office Dear Prime Minister?

Well, I said several things which are needless to reproduce in this essay in their entirety.

But perhaps this posting dated 5:45pm, October 20, 2011 neatly crystallizes my thoughts:

Miguna is a close friend of mine and a political comrade.

So is Adongo.

I regard James Orengo and Raila Odinga as political comrades as well.

The fall out between the Prime Minister and his former political advisor has been well chronicled here in Jukwaa.

Since we are constant contact, Miguna knows my views.

Onyango Oloo believes that Miguna was mistreated by the Prime Minister in terms of the way his suspension was handled from the very outset. He should seek and secure redress. He has a right to be angry and ventilate his rage.

As a Kenyan, he also has a democratic right to express his views and articulate his political differences with anyone, including Raila Odinga.

I too have a track record of being very public and candid in my views. In the past decade, I have written and published Open Letters to among others, Mwai Kibaki, Kiraitu Murungi, Adhu Awiti and yes, Raila Odinga (way back in 1999).

Where perhaps I differ with Miguna is on how to handle contradictions.

I am using “contradictions” here in the Marxist sense because those of us from that dialectical and historical materialist school of thought firmly believe that life itself develops organically through the resolution, over time of contradictions in the complex, holistic interplay between thesis and anti-thesis segueing into a synthesis at ever higher levels.

Marxist-Leninists recognize two forms of contradictions:

ANTAGONISTIC and NON-ANTAGONISTIC contradictions.

Examples of antagonistic contradictions are those between master and slave; feudal lord and landless peasant; colonial governor and rural squatter; neo-colonial dictators and anti-imperialist cadres.

Antagonistic contradictions cannot be resolved except through revolution and drastic social, economic and political transformations.

Non-antagonistic contradictions are those differences and tensions that can be resolved peacefully, amicably, through dialogue and so on.

Illustrations of non-antagonistic contradictions can be the differences between friends; the tension between parents and their teenage offspring; lovers’ tiffs; ideological debates between comrades or arguments between business and professional associates.

While it is true that that some of the contradictions cited in the above paragraph can graduate to irreconcilable hostilities the fact of the matter is that this is the exception rather than the rule.

Now when it comes to the vuta-nikuvute between Raila Odinga and Miguna Miguna, what is the nature of the contradictions?

Are these antagonistic or non-antagonistic?

In my private, one on one conversations with Miguna, I have argued that the tensions, hostilities and conflicts between the duo are NON-ANTAGONISTIC.

I have argued that those of us who are part of the progressive camp in Kenya are on THE SAME SIDE WITH RAILA AMOLO ODINGA.

I have argued that whatever misgivings we have about the Prime Minister, we cannot wily nilly EXPEL HIM FROM THE REFORM CAMP.

Is EVERYBODY in the Kenyan reform camp a card carrying Communist?

Clearly not.

Some of us are socialists, some are social democrats. Many are liberals and dozens upon dozens are nationalists and sincere women and men of faith (Christian, Muslims, Hindus etc), well meaning decent Kenyan citizens who do not care much about ideological distinctions and what not.

We are UNITED by our COMMON VISION.

What is that binding glue?

At the moment I would posit that ANY KENYAN who genuinely believes in the Kenyan Constitution and works strenuously for its faithful implementation is in the PROGRESSIVE and REFORMIST CAMP.

Note: I did NOT say “revolutionary”.

Does my above definition of progressive Kenyans in the REFORM CAMP include or exclude Miguna Miguna?

Does it include or exclude Raila Odinga?

Those are rhetorical questions.

Given the tortured angst evident in the excerpt above, it was with considerable relief and exaltation that I greeted the December 28th announcement that you had, in your capacity as Prime Minister, fully reinstated Miguna Miguna to his job.

Indeed, here is part of an e-mail message I sent to Miguna Miguna on December 29, 2011 reacting to what I thought was very good news from your office:

Whichever way you look at it, the public announcement from the Office of the Prime Minister that you had been exonerated and reinstated with full salary and benefits is a BIG VICTORY and vindication, not only to you as a person but to all progressive Kenyan people…in this context….you must factor in the fact that you are not just Miguna Miguna; you are part of a wider, if amorphous ideological collective which has a long term agenda in reshaping this country in a positive, progressive direction…

That is why I was somewhat perplexed when I got an SMS message from  Miguna Miguna’s phone inviting me to a press conference convened at his Runda residence here in Nairobi.

By now you are familiar with contents of that event which have been archived in this Jukwaa link.

Since I was there I witnessed everything live.

What stood out for me was this key passage from Miguna Miguna's statement:

On Tuesday, December 27, 2011, from about 12:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. – a whole three hours – the Prime Minister and I met, in the presence of a mutual friend, at the Serena Hotel, in the City of Nairobi. It was the Prime Minister who called me, personally, and requested for the meeting.
We had a courteous, respectful, dignified, cordial and professional meeting, which when it concluded, we – the two of us, alone - unanimously agreed, in good faith, that the Prime Minister would make the following announcement, that day, personally or through his office, before he traveled to India.
The agreement was in writing, and was witnessed by the mutual friend. It was to be unconditional and to be implemented immediately without any delay whatsoever. Both the Press Statement and letter of reinstatement were to contain the following terms:
1. That the suspension of Mr. Miguna Miguna, the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Coalition Affairs, be rescinded, unconditionally, with immediate effect, since it was determined that all the allegations against him were unfounded;
2. That Mr. Miguna is hereby ordered reinstated, forthwith;
3. That all arrears, emoluments and accrued interests owed to Mr. Miguna, be paid to him, forthwith; and
4. Upon resumption of duty, Mr. Miguna would be reporting DIRECTLY to the Prime Minister.
We agreed that I would approve - as to form, nature and content - all statements and/or letters that would be issued with respect to this matter.
There were no other terms or conditions the Prime Minister and I agreed on, apart from the four items above.

Which was a preface to Miguna’s stunning revelation that after that cordial, comradely and principled interaction between you as Prime Minister and Miguna as your personal advisor, SOME of the mandarins from the Office of the Prime Minister tried to scuttle that gentlemen’s agreement.

By now, even a goat herd in Kabartonjo, a crocodile hunter in Garsen, an omena monger in Oriang’ Kogweno; a mutura vendor in Mukurweini, a traditional circumciser in Chavakali and a hair saloonist in Gongoni just north of Malindi knows that Miguna Miguna has publicly declined the overture to reinstate him.

What happens next?

But wait a minute, which offer did he decline?

Was it the face to face offer you gave him at the conclusion of your three hour meeting at Serena?

It cannot be.

On that occasion, you not only shook hands to seal your verbal concurrence, you went ahead and captured the essential elements of that agreement in writing-an act witnessed with a formal signature  by the person Miguna refers to as “a mutual friend.”

Miguna did NOT decline YOUR offer to reinstate him with full salary, arrears and benefits to his job.

So what did he refuse?

Well, if we go back to Miguna Miguna’s statement we see the answer to the above question in black and white.

Here is the relevant passage:

I have declined to accept the decision to reinstate me, on terms and conditions contained in the letter by one Abdul Mwasera, dated 27 December 2011.

Miguna Miguna is clearly adamantly opposed to the startling terms and conditions of Abdul Mwasera’s letter.

Given the background that Miguna laid out during his press conference, it was astounding, nay, shocking to peruse the following letter from Mr. Mwasera which was one of the annextures to Miguna’s press statement:



But why did Mr. Mwasera, an employee in your office who is actually quite junior to Miguna in the first place communicate to Miguna terms and conditions which were diametrically opposed to your Gentlemen’s Agreement at Serena Hotel?

Was he acting on his own?

A highly placed source who is familiar with your Permanent Secretary Mohammed Isahakia’s style of writing confided to me that he saw Isahakia finger prints all over Mwasera’s letter-almost as if Isahakia dictated the letter to Mwasera word for word.

For obvious reasons, I can not disclose the identity of that individual.

Whether he was acting on his own or not, what was the MOTIVE of Mr. Mwasera’s misleading and provocative correspondence which clearly misrepresented your own express instructions?

Was it an attempt to ridicule you, to tarnish your reputation by portraying you as a person who cannot keep his word of honour?

Foolhardy and suicidal as it may seem, one cannot rule out that bizarre possibility.

What is more plausible in my opinion is that one, Mwasera was not acting alone and two, that letter was a DELIBERATE act of provocation by conveying to Miguna he had NO OPTION but to REJECT outright.

But WHY???

Again in my candid opinion it is BECAUSE SOME INSECURE, POSSIBLY TAINTED MANDARINS IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER DREAD THE RETURN OF MIGUNA TO HIS OLD JOB.

They may have ordered the busaa, changaa, muratina, mnazi and champagne too hastily to celebrate what they assumed was the “final exit” and “good riddance” to Miguna Miguna.

That thought is nauseating, stomach churning, in other words DISGUSTING to me.

Contrary to what some online (and offline) pundits who claim to be in your corner posit, Miguna was a VALUABLE ASSET and STRATEGIC ALLY who defended you tenaciously and consistently often alone while some of the aforementioned mandarins and ODM appartchiks played it safe or even surreptiously slept with the ideological enemy.

It is my argument that the desperate attempt to get rid of Miguna by some of the schemers in your office is driven by a crass need to protect their parochial turf, bolster their networks of graft and that these shenanigans have NOTHING to do with advancing your interests either as Prime Minister or presumptive President in 2012.

I can describe them as a millstone destined to drown your political ambitions.

If I had my way, I would hang millstones around THEIR NECKS and DROWN them for sure-either in Lake Victoria or the Indian Ocean.

I took a break from writing this essay just now to watch the 9 pm December 31, 2011 news on the various television channels where I noticed the latest spin from the same forces of impunity embedded in the OPM distorting the truth that they tried to get in touch with Miguna in vain-where the facts of the matter are that Miguna tried to repeatedly get in touch with the key people in that same office with none of them picking his calls.

The same spin continues to trumpet that the Office of the Prime Minister has “accepted Miguna’s decision”.

Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, do these sentiments reflect your views, instructions and advice?

I sincerely hope not.

What message are you sending to all those intelligent, hardworking, diligent, honest, politically committed and socially conscious professionals and other Kenyans who rallied to your presidential campaign in 2007 like Miguna Miguna?


What message are you sending to those of us on the Kenyan Left who have believed that you are the only consistent voice and face of reform in mainstream Kenyan politics?


What message are you sending to Kenyans in the diaspora who fund raised for you; campaigned for you; gave up their jobs and careers to come and work for you? Who voted for you in droves? 

Miguna is just one among hundreds who did that without hesitation.

Is a kick in the teeth their only reward?

Was this alleged “reinstatement” nothing but a cynical trap to defang Miguna Miguna?

Was it a crude joke designed to push the final nail in Miguna’s political coffin?

Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Raila Odinga:

Miguna is not just a son of the Nyando people who has in laws in Gem and Migori.

Miguna Miguna is a son of the Kenyan political struggle.


Miguna has political brothers and sisters who have spent more than half of their lives fighting for a new Kenya over many decades-some going back over thirty years.

There is a saying popularized by the massive South African trade union movement COSATU:

An Injury to One is An Injury to All.

To paraphrase, an injury to Miguna is an injury to all those patriotic and progressive Kenyans who have been supporting you because they saw you as a beacon of democratic reform.

Mheshimiwa Waziri Mkuu:

Let me close by reminding you of a powerful speech you gave on August 18, 2011.

Remember this was the evening you assembled many of us-ex political prisoners and detainees; Nyayo House survivors; veterans of the December 12 Movement (Pambana), Mwakenya, Kenya Anti-Imperialist Front, Me Katilili Revolutionary Movement, Kenya Patriotic Front, Kenya Anti-Imperialist Front, Kenya Peoples Union, Kenya Socialist Alliance to name just a few. At the high table with you and its immediate environs, were people like retired Archbishop David Gitari, Edward Oyugi, Ida Odinga, Mwashengu wa Mwachofi, Betty Murungi, Koigi wa Wamwere, James Orengo, Gitobu Imanyara, Oduor Ongwen, Ngotho wa Kariuki, Reverend Timothy Njoya, Davinder Lamba and Peter Anyang’ Nyongo.

Remember what you told us?

That the electoral battle in 2012 would pit the forces of REFORM against the forces of REACTION.

Dear Prime Minister, let me ask you this humble question:

Are some of your senior and prominent staffers among the forces of reform or the forces of reaction?

How about Miguna Miguna?

Sincerely,

Onyango Oloo
Nairobi, Kenya

Kenya Can Still Correct Its Mistakes in Somalia

A Digital Essay by Onyango Oloo


This is a follow up to my earlier my earlier digital essay on the quixotic invasion by Kenya into the territory of her north eastern neighbour.

The first big casualty of the Kenyan military foray into southern Somalia has been the truth.

Kenyan print and electronic journalists, female and male, are tumbling over each other in an insane quest to be on the front-line of regurgitating the latest doublespeak from the Kenyan propaganda machine; anxious to earn extra stripes as the most zealous zealot; the most “patriotic” parrot and the most blood thirsty member of the war mongering Kenyan fourth estate. This a point driven forcefully home by Henry Makori, a Kenyan journalist working for the widely read Pambazuka electronic social justice newsletter in a recent piece on how the Kenya is in bed with the military.

With such a fawning, sycophantic mindset the Kenyan media is hardly in a position to interrogate troubling questions raised by organizations like Human Rights Watch who have alleged that Kenyan security forces are arbitrarily detaining people as detailed in the following link.

One of the biggest lies that the Kenyan state has fed our citizens through outright military propaganda and blatant lies from the highest echelons of the political leadership including the President and the Prime Minister is that our defence forces went into Somalia to “Linda Nchi” (protect the nation) after a series of violent provocative assaults by the rag tag Al Shabaab militia.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

According to a series of revelations posted on the whistle-blowing site Wikileaks, the Kenyan authorities have been plotting their moves in Somalia for almost four years now.

For example on the 26th of January 2010, the US Assistant Secretary of Defence had separate meetings with Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and Defence Minister Yusuf Haji.

Here is the summary of that document:

"C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 000159 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/11

TAGS: PREL, PGOV, MOPS, MARR, SU, SO, KE

SUBJECT: ASD Vershbow Visit Highlights Regional Security Issues

CLASSIFIED BY: Mitchell Benedict, Political Counselor, DOS, POL;

REASON: 1.4(B), (D)

1. (C) Summary: During separate January 26 meetings, Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow met with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Defense Minister Yussuf Haji, Chief of Defense Jeremiah Kianga, and Interior Minister George Saitoti. PM Odinga expressed serious concern over regional instability emanating from Somalia and emphasized that the international community has not acted with resolve as needed. The PM was equally concerned about the potential for Sudanese instability before and after the 2011 referendum. Minister Haji expressed his appreciation for defense cooperation and offered new details on Kenya's proposed "Jubaland Initiative" in Southern Somalia. Kenyan officials expressed concern over spillover of violence from Somalia and the flow of Somali refugees into Kenya."

Click here to read more about what they discussed.

We are further informed that:

"During a one-day visit to Kenya on the 29th of January 2010, US Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism Daniel Benjamin, discussed threats from Somalia, Islamic extremism inside Kenya, border security and Kenya's efforts to aid the Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG)when he met with George Saitoti, Minister of Interior and Provincial Administration.Saitoti was joined by Mathew Iteere, Commissioner of Police, Commandant K. Mbugua, Administration Police (AP), MG Michael Gichangi, Director General of the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS), and Nicholas Kamwende, Chief of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU). The delegation met separately with Brigadier Phillip Kameru, Director for Military Intelligence (DMI). Accompanying Amb Benjamin to these meetings were Lee Brudvig, Nairobi Deputy Chief of Mission, Mark Thompson, S/CT Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism (Operations) , COL Rich Clarke, Joint Special Operations Command, MAJ Craig Miller, Liaison to S/CT, and Samuel Madsen, East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative Coordinator.

Details of that meeting are available here.

As far back as December 8, 2009 according to Wikileaks,

"During a meeting on the margins of the Djibouti IGAD ministerial visiting US Deputy Assistant Secretary Wycoff and Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs Wetangula agreed to continue to work together to promote stability and political reconciliation in Somalia. DAS Wycoff told Wetangula that the USG continued to strongly oppose the Kenyan "Jubaland" initiative as a bad idea that would more likely add to Somalia's instability than to help stabilize the country. Wetangula defended GOK plans to pursue its Jubaland (southern Somalia) initiative, implied that it was in evolving concept, and offered to facilitate better USG understanding of Kenya's plans. He also urged, as he had in interventions at the ministerial, international community support for the Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Wycoff agreed and highlighted the importance of supporting the Djibouti Peace Process (DPP) and efforts to promote political reconciliation. When the subject was raised, Wetangula excluded further expansion of the teeming Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya, which he said had received 12,000 refugees in November. The Foreign Minister took a hard line on Eritrea. He told DAS Wycoff that he had rebuffed efforts by the visiting Eritrean Foreign Minister to solicit support for a new Somalia reconciliation process. The Kenyan government had expelled Eritrean diplomats that Wetangula thought had played a role in the mid-September suicide bombing attack on AMISOM in Mogadishu."

To access the cable, press on this link.

More ominously, Wikileaks informs us that

"A high-level Kenyan delegation headed by Foreign Minister Wetangula used a long January 30 meeting on the margins of the AU Summit to lobby Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Johnnie Carson's support for the GOK's long-incubating Lower Juba initiative. Wetangula, the Minister of Defense, the Director of the National Security and Intelligence Services, and the military's chief-of-staff each in turn highlighted the dangers to Kenya emanating from Somalia and advertised an incursion into Somalia by the roughly two thousand Somali forces currently being trained by the GOK as the best solution. The Kenyan delegation assured A/S Carson that both Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Government of Ethiopia supported Kenya's efforts and insisted that A/S Carson's longstanding concerns about the Kenyan plan had all been addressed. 2. (C) Summary and comment continued: A/S Carson tactfully, but categorically refused the Kenyan delegation's attempts to enlist USG support for their effort. He worried that the Lower Juba initiative could be very expensive, that it could catalyze clan and sub-clan rivalries, that success could create a rival to the TFG, that the GOK could be unwittingly providing training to future or current ONLF members, and that the GOK was not prepared to handle the domestic repercussions should their effort fail. The January 30 meeting marked Wetangula's third attempt to enlist A/S Carson's support and was only the latest in a long-running campaign by the Kenyan government to win USG agreement to its initiative. The persistence with which the GOK is courting the USG suggests, if nothing else, that they have finally awakened to the implications for Kenya of long-term instability in Somalia and are attempting belatedly to address the problem."

If you want to download the cable in its entirety go to this site.

Even without prior knowledge of these now exposed Kenyan government top secrets, many people-Kenyan and non Kenyan- were quick to denounce this misadventure.

This writer was among the very first to come out publicly to express disquiet with Operation Linda Nchi.

A group of Kenyan writers and public intellectuals issued a statement carried in the Africa Report expressing their opposition to the war.

Another Kenyan, the young upcoming writer S. Abdi Sheikh, who hails from the northern Kenyan town of Wajir did an analytical piece for Somali Point which you can access at this link. Abdirahman Hassan Tammam published his opinion in the same publication at around the same time as did Michael Weinstein.

A Ghanaian pundit, Kweku Osei, weighed in with this interesting perspective; while Zimbabwean commentator Tendai Marima, used the Aljazeera platform to say this.

The influential, subscriber based electronic newsletter Africa Confidential carried a series of well-researched articles featuring interviews and hard nosed assessments. Click here to see the first article; go to this link to access the second one and to access the third article press here.

From the United States, Jeremy Scahill composed a very compelling essay published in one of that country's most progressive publications while here in Nairobi his compatriot Andrew Franklin, an ex-Marine who is now a financial consultant in the Kenyan capital did an opinion piece for the Business Daily.

From the viewpoint of a Somali national, I think that Prof. Abdi Ismail Samatar's analysis and proactive proposals are among the most far reaching.

Internationally respected and renowned scholar-activist, the Jamaican-born Pan Africanist revolutionary Dr. Horace Campbell recently contexutalized Kenya's foray into Somalia as part of a wider imperialist project bent on the recolonization of Africa.

This is a view echoed by Ali Dirshe, the President of the Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance.

I recently finished reading Afyare Abdi Elmi's book Understanding the Somalia Conflagration: Identity, Political Islam and Peacebuilding.


I consider it essential reading for ANYONE who wishes to understand in depth what is going within the depths of that complex conflicted Horn of Africa nation. I recommend to all Kenyans- especially those who are quick to wrap themselves in the Kenyan national flag and trumpet their jingoism through earnest ring tones on their cell phones based on the tune of the country's national anthem. Of particular interest should be Chapter 6: "The Role of Regional Countries and Organizations in the Somali Conflict"; Chapter 2:" Understanding the Sources of Somali Conflict"; Chapter 5:" Understanding the US Policy toward Somalia" and Chapter 4:" Making Sense of Islam and Islamic Awakening in Somalia".

The Kenya government continues to make unforced errors in relation to Somalia. Let me list a few of those mistakes:

1. It is morally, politically and militarily wrong for Kenya to invade Somalia- a neighbouring African state.
2. It is reprehensible for the Kenyan government to LIE so brazenly to its own citizens about its real reasons for invading Somalia.
3. It is against the Kenyan constitution for the Kenyan government through its security forces to violate the human rights of its citizens and those of a neighbouring country, especially defenceless civilians under the veneer and using the canard of allegedly defending itself from Al Shabaab.
4. It is dangerous for Kenya to retreat from its laudable foreign policy based on respect and peacebuilding to embrace this reckless quixotic misadventure.
5. It is unwise for the Kenyan government to allow itself to be a pawn, a puppet and a tool for US led imperialist aggression in Africa.
6. It is foolhardy for top Kenyan leaders-including Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki to go globetrotting, especially to Israel which alienates so many peaceloving people, and especially Muslims to seek military, intelligence, financial and other support to ratchet up its conflict against real or perceived enemies in Somalia and within the country.

What some may ask, should the Kenya government do?

Well I have a few suggestions:

(a) Immediately withdraw all Kenyan troops from the territory of Somalia;
(b) Seek peaceful solutions to the Somali conflagration by acknowleding that it is the Somali people-within and outside the country-especially the civic formations who must take the lead in ending the conflict in that Horn of Africa nation and state;
(c) Delink itself totally from the machinations of the US through Africom;
(d) Recognize the authority and the legitimacy of the African Union in leading regional, continental and international efforts in restoring peace and national harmony in Somalia;
(e) Giving up the outlandish fantasy of annexing parts of Somalia and creating buffer zones like the proposed "Republic of Jubaland";
(f) Deepening thorough socio-economic reforms in Kenya, especially by tackling the endemic youth unemployment which is by far the biggest attractor of past, present and future Kenyan born Al Shabaab militia militants;
(g) Encouraging the flourishing of a free and independent Kenyan media, that instead of joyfully donning military elements, flak jackets and bullet proof vests, will instead carry out thorough research, hold the military propagandists to account, speak truth to the chest thumping political mandarins and inform the Kenyan citizenry with facts rather than DOD press releases;
(i) Investigate and prosecute all cases and instances of human rights abuses carried out by the Kenyan police, paramilitary, armed forces and of course Al Shabaab and their supporters whether these violations have occurred on Kenyan territory or within the boundaries of Somalia.

I could go on and on for about fourteen other pages, but I guess I will stop here for today.

Onyango Oloo
Nairobi, Kenya