BBC: Connections between Kenyan Goverment and Mungiki
BBC News Video on Kibaki’s administration and Mungiki, part 1:
And Part 2:
According to BBC News, sources allege that meetings were hosted at the official residence of the president between the banned Mungiki militia and senior government figures.
The aim was to hire them as a defence force in the Rift Valley to protect the president’s Kikuyu community. The government denied the allegations, calling them “preposterous”.
“No such meetings took place at State House or any government office,” government spokesman Alfred Mutua told the BBC. He said the government had been cracking down on the sect for the last year, arresting their leaders. “There’s no way the president or any government official would meet openly or even in darkness with the Mungiki,” he said.
The allegations come as parliament prepares to open on Thursday, laying the ground for a new coalition government. Although parliament’s focus will be on healing ethnic divisions and creating a coalition government – allegations of state involvement with a banned Kikuyu militia, known as Mungiki, will not go ignored, the BBC’s Karen Allen in Nairobi says.
She says there is growing suspicion that some of the violence that led to 1,500 people being killed and hundreds of thousands displaced was orchestrated by both sides of the political divide.
The BBC source, who is a member of the Kikuyu tribe and who is now in hiding after receiving death threats, alleged: “Three members of the gang met at State House… and after the elections and the violence the militias were called again and they were given a duty to defend the Kikuyu in Rift Valley and we know they were there in numbers.”
On the weekend of 25 January, the Rift Valley towns of Nakuru and then Naivasha were the focus of the some of the worst post-election violence. Eyewitnesses spoke of non-Kikuyu homes being marked, then gangs with machetes – who they claim were Mungiki – attacked people who were from other ethnic groups.
Sources inside the Mungiki have told the BBC that it was a renegade branch of the outfit that was responsible for violence, not them.
A policeman who was on duty at the time, who has spoken to the BBC on condition of anonymity, has also pointed to clear signs of state complicity. He alleges that in the hours before the violence in Nakuru, police officers had orders not to stop a convoy of minibus taxis, called “matatus”, packed with men when they arrived at police checkpoints. “When we were there… I saw about 12 of them [matatus] packed with men,” he said. “There were no females… I could see they were armed. “We were ordered not to stop the vehicles to allow them to go.”
But Mr Mutua said that the government deployed the military to deal with the Kikuyu youth who had tried to take the law into their own hands. “The Kenyan government… used helicopters to drive them away, arrested them and actually got to kill quite a few of them torching houses,” he said. “The government stamped on them immediately.”
The allegations come at a time of growing concern that there was pre-planned violence on both sides of the political fence, in the aftermath of Kenya’s disputed election result.
The International Crisis Group has already raised such concerns and Human Rights Watch is expected to publish its report making similar claims shortly.
There are plans to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the coming weeks to examine claims of election violence. The allegations are likely to be among the themes investigated by a commission created to address the issue of post-election skirmishes.
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[...] BBC: Connections between Kenyan Goverment and Mungiki | Eyes on Kenya [...]
Pingback: Newsflash - the connection between the mungiki and kibaki govenment!!! no surprise - Mashada Forums – 10. April 2008 @ 3:29 am
Dr. Alfred Mutua is fit for the job of Government Spokesman.
It’s not every day that I get to stumble upon an article that reeks of nothing but malice. But these particular ones are, to say the least, works of biased thinkers, and could at best be described as lacking in any objective analysis.
Both writers, in their freedom of expression, which the law of this land and the Kenyan government upholds chose to do a mudslinging at the character of the Government Spokesman of Kenya, Dr. Alfred Mutua, a man who earned his title of doctorate vide hard work and academic excellence.
I believe the role of the Government Spokesman in any country is collecting information about what is happening inside the Administration and around the country, and getting that information to the media and the public in a timely and accurate fashion. I also believe Dr. Mutua has lived to that expectation and obligation.
The argument by one blog writer that the job should have been given to a lawyer, a political scientist, or someone with a background on international relations is foolhardy. Naturally this position has to be filled by an individual from news media background.
Any intelligent person will know that the job is purely Journalistic. The current holder of the office, Dr. Alfred Mutua is therefore in my conviction best suited for the job he does. The description of Dr. Mutua as an “idiot,” is pure personal and the writers on both blogs are waging a personal war when from the word go, they portray themselves as championing a public interest course.
The writers, I may be wrong, but I fear I am right, exhibited a high degree of idiocy on their part. And they admit even in their blogs that Dr. Mutua is “much more learned than the rest of Kenyans whose names begin with mere Mr. Miss, or Mrs.” The inference that Dr. Mutua should “shut up” is therefore in my observation, mediocre.
How could anyone contemplate a situation where a person whose job description is to speak, to shut up! as these advocates of doom would like us to believe? The position being held by Dr. Mutua requires a person who is intelligent in the ways and understands the politics of the country and the world, these qualifications, Dr. Mutua meets and even beyond.
From the expressions by both bloggers, I see a duo whose understanding of the works of media is shallow, and I also see a pack of persons with skewed thought, with aim and intention of spoiling the good name of Dr. Mutua and the government he serves.
I see persons who are intent on pampering their selfish egos. Of course as a patriotic Kenyan I believe that Dr. Mutua is working in the best interest of this nation and that he is working for me. That’s why I am bothered as a Kenyan when I read such egocentric, malicious correspondences from persons I would naturally think are knowledgeable.
Dr. Mutua’s role requires him –as an obligation- to make sure that Kenyan people are getting an accurate account of what is going on in the country. That means the spokesman must essentially not be misleading to the citizenry. One forum through which he executes this mandate is the weekly press briefings usually held at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, where his office is located. In these briefings he usually responds to questions from reporters. The responses emerging therefrom are disseminated to the public vide various news outlets. I will repeat it here that Dr. Mutua has exceeded on this role; I faithfully believe he executes his mandate in a professional manner. But of course I also believe that in life you can’t please everyone. Even Jesus Christ himself couldn’t.
Comment: Naftali Okuko – 10. December 2009 @ 12:27 pm