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The Enigmatic Assassination of J.M. Kariuki: A Legacy of Courage and Controversy

As we usher in the 49th anniversary of J.M. Kariuki's state-sponsored murder, we would do well to remember where  we have come from as a country...because  we are fast headed back there. Josiah Mwangi Kariuki,  renowned for his fearless stance against government corruption and social injustices, met a tragic end in March 1975. His mysterious assassination remains one of the most enigmatic and controversial events in Kenya's history, leaving behind a legacy of courage, controversy, and unanswered questions. Born in 1929, J.M. rose to prominence as a vocal critic of the government of President Jomo Kenyatta. His impassioned speeches and tireless advocacy for the rights of ordinary Kenyans earned him widespread admiration and respect, but also made him a target of powerful forces within the establishment. On the night of 1 March 1975, Kariuki was last seen leaving a nightclub in Nairobi. It would be the last time he was seen alive. In the days that followed, his disappearance sent

Kalonzo opposes Mediation as talks success makes him irrelevant

Long after this story was posted, Kalonzo was reported to have said "Don't rush into power sharing". This vindicates us...

Traitor-in-Chief Kalonzo Musyoka is having sleepless nights, we can now reveal. A man full of himself and buoyed temporarily by Kibaki's overtures to shore up his stolen presidency, the Annan mediation efforts have brought bad news to Kalonzo. The self-declared peacemaker found himself becoming increasingly irrelevant once Kofi Annan set foot in Kenya and succeeded in bringing Kibaki and Raila together. The likelihood of a transitional government in which president Raila Odinga is involved is sure to shove Kalonzo even farther to the cold periphery. This is giving him nightmares and But he is not taking it lying down, we can now reveal.

The king-maker-turned-coup-plotter is reportedly pushing a pro-democracy-anti-GNU-with-ODM stance in a bid to remain relevant. Kumekucha reported earlier today that Kalonzo had bragged to Kenyans in London that the Annan talks were "aimed at asking Raila and Kibaki to hand over power to him as a moderate". Kalonzo moderate whose foot! Kalonzo must be crest-fallen as he reads about the apparent softening of positions by the ONLY two parties to this dispute.


Things started getting complicated for the overambitious Christian when word leaked that he was in the thick of a military scheme to take over of power with a soft arrangement for him to form an interim government. Kalonzo lives in a delusion in which others work for and hand over the pay to him. Things looked so certain for him that in his wry smile at Thief-in-Chief Kibaki while the latter was flying out for the desperate PR mission in Addis, told it all. That talk of the Kalonzo military miracle petered out faster than it had emerged as soon as word leaked that he was given a dressing down and instructed to publicly declare support for Kibaki. That is why you read of all that crap about odm-k being in a tactical coalition with PNU.

Kalonzo left the country thereafter for an assignment abroad including a detour through the UK and finally the US. While in the UK, he was snubbed by the premier and the Secretary David Milliband, the man in charge of Britains Foreign office. Instead, Kalonzo was met by the same man he had met in Nairobi, Lord Mark Mallock-Brown who by Kenyan equivalents is an assistant minister in charge of the African desk. In diplomatic-speak, Kalonzo was simply unwelcome in London when Kenya was receivfing firm signals to yield ground to the ODM government of the Peoples' President, Raila Odinga. Remember that Lord Mallock-Brown had come to Nairobi a fortnight or so earlier and so there was really nothing new for him and Kalonzo to discuss. Kaonzo's presence in London came at the wrong time, being immediately after the former British diplomat in Nairobi and Kibaki-basher, Sir Edward Clay was declared persona non grata. That may explain the cold reception in the powerful capital in Europe. The UK government has since expressed her disapproval of the move by Nairobi to demonise her knighted diplomat, which was rightly interpreted to be a cowardly act of intimidation for a vocal advocate of good governance in Kenya. The Brits said as much. While serving in Nairobi, Clay derided Kibaki's ministers as arrogants who vomited on the shoes of donors.

Kalonzo's next destination was an equally cold Washington. His presence in the USA was overshadowed by two embarrassing events namely Kenya's trial in the Senate and a waiting reception by hostile Kenyans. At the same time that he was in Washington to attend some prayer meetings, Kenya was receiving a good proportion of media and Senate attention. The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on African Affairs was receiving witness reports on the senseless rigging and violence in Kenya. To make matters worse for Kalonzo, ODM Diaspora, a well co-ordinated and passionate group was readying themselves to give him a 'rousing welcome'. Word got to him, in advance, and the Kenyan diplomats in a face-saving dive cancelled a scheduled meeting between Kalonzo and Kenyans in the USA. Usually, any Kenyan delegation visiting a world capital finds it warm to receive and host a delegation of patriotic countrymen and women who for one reason or another reside in that host country. It was not to be for Kalonzo who chickened out of the parley. Later, Kalonzo met the Senate leaders who are presiding over the Senate hearing, at which forum some unflattering things have been said about Kenya and its institutions done no justice. The Senate hearing by itself equates Kibaki-Kalonzo banditry to any other regime (usually the dictators) that has been examined in the Senate hearings. Such embarrassments were a preserve of Zimbabwe and pariah other states. Sadly Kibaki has taken her there and we don't know how long we will be in that dehumanising abyss. That was embarrassment again for the miracle-believing bandit veep.

Let us focus on Kalonzo's meeting with Senator Rush Feingold of Wisconsin, who is also the Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Africa in the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations and New Jersey Congressman, Mr Donald Peyne. First remember that he was not invited to the US by Washington, another diplomatique to mean he was not wanted really. Note the source of the "we did not invite him", yes it was non other than the US Chief diplomat in Nairobi, Michael Ranneberger. Let us remind ourselves that after a spirited campaign again managed by the ODM diaspora and a number of other interest groups who called or emailed their senators, Senator Feingold sponsored a motion in the Senate on the dispute arising from the outcome of the presidential election results leading up to the Senate hearing to which Maina Kiai and Njoki Ndungu made prsentations. Curiously, while meeting with Hon Peyne, Kalonzo, while supporting (albeit half-heartedly) the Annan-led mediation efforts had reservations about what we understand him to be saying.

Kalonzo is reported to have said and we quote "Kalonzo argued that proposals for power sharing were reasonable, BUT such arrangements could reverse democratic gains made over the years and run contrary to the Constitution, which declares that Kenya is a multi-party democracy". Kalonzo went ahead to sing to the Daily Nation and the US State department saying that a power-sharing arrangement “is not a panacea” for Kenya’s crisis. We ask you to read that again as we wonder what is a panacea according to the miracle believer. Meanwhile, go back to what Kalonzo, Amos Kimunya and Karua said when ODM insisted on an international mediator ostensibly because "we are not at war". On countless occassions, Kalonzo insisted that Kenya did not need an international mediator because it was not at war. He wanted to arrogate himself the middleman's role between Kibaki and Raila. ODM would have non of it. This hurt him. Kofi Annan's arrival and the international community's resolve never to allow the world's top diplomat's effort to fail meant Kalonzo became irrelevant and increasingly isolated in the scheme of things. It also meant that although Kalonzo has sang of his diplomatic and conflict resolution, Annan believes otherwise. For a man who boasts mediation knowledge, which is doubtful, it was a slap in his face that Annan could get Kibaki to talk to (not at) President Raila, one on one.

Kalonzo is a wounded man. He has an over bloated ego that is easily punctured and ODM worked on that personality foible recently when, after being appointed by Kibaki to head a team to "dialogue" with ODM, he was summarily rejected as a broker who was not party to the dispute between PNU and ODM. To save face, he went on to announce that his team was heading to the country for reconciliation. One wonders which ground was he going to. The people who rejected Kibaki and his 23 ministers as well as rejecting the wiper mirage of miracles are bitter, and rightly so. The revolution was illegally stolen by people who are enjoying the spoils with the Traitor-in-Chief. Kalonzo is yet to leave town on those abortive peace missions in the countryside. And we are waiting for him where we are to tell him what he could not be told by the ODM diaspora after ducking them.

As if Kalonzo's date with fate was not over yet, he met his waterloo in a potentially damaging court case yesterday in which Dan Maanzo and Julia Ojiambo accuse him of reneging on an alleged verbal agreement to nominate them. Kalonzo has handed the two party tickets to two Muslims (Ambassador Mohammed Affey and Ms Shakira Omar) in a bid to hoodwink the NEP and Coast into his scheme of things. This court battle portrays Kalonzo as a poor manager of his party and the bandits at SH cannot afford to "hire" an embattled foot soldier with enough baggage of his own. They will soon offload him. It is indeed doubtful whether having failed to steal the speaker's and his deputy's positions in spite of the boisterous assurances by Mutula Kilonzo in the run up to the showdown with ODM, he has no midas touch left. The brilliant and more eloquent Karua may soon be doing more than the servant-to-the-thief-in-chief.

It is at this point then that we express our reservations at Kalonzo's commitment to the resolution of the stalemate in Kenya. Kalonzo seems inept at appreciating the economic, humanitarian and democratic implications of the current stalemate. To him, in order to be important, there has to be troublemaker President Raila and a desperate Kibaki. But Annan's mediation is soon going to sort those issues out. Then, Kalonzo's use will melt and he will be dropped like a hot potato. Whereas Kibaki may have been pushed by the Kikuyu businesspeople to make peace with President Raila and allow them make their money, Kalonzo knows that Ukambani has nothing to lose in a long and drawn-out war in Kenya. The Kamba are not serious farmers, neither are they aggressive and business-friendly like the more enterprising Kikuyu who must be feeling the pinch of a Kibaki-Raila fight. Kikuyu businesses are currently suffering boycotts of their products and services. From the hairdressers in Nairobi West, the Mama Mboga in Dandora, the hotelier in Mombasa and Malindi to the manufacturers and importers to the media houses, to the NSE shares, the profits have all plummeted and Kibaki cannot afford to ignore the people who paid a-million-shillings-a-plate-of-unpalatable-sukuma-wiki to boost his rigging war chest.

At the same time, Kibaki had to respond and make concessions after the USA and Canada slapped embarrassing and restrictive travel bans on him and his key war-mongers. He knows that the UK and EU are waiting to follow suit. The US Senate has passed a resolution to freeze all non-essential aid if the Annan talks amount to another tea-drinking jaunt, which is certainly not. A deal between Kibaki and Raila will surely make Kalonzo irrelevant because there will be no need for his loose army of tribalists to shore up the transitional government with a defined agenda. Kenya is witnessing unfolding scenarios which present no opportunity to the opportunist Kalonzo. The show is in Annan's hands and he needs a team of strictly ten people. Four warriors from ODM (VP Mudavadi, Ambassador Kosgei, William Ruto, James Orengo) and the ragtag of Karua and the others hired by PNU to help her. Add President Raila and Bandit president Kibaki and you have ten.

Kalonzo was therefore informed of this possibility that once the item number three is resolved next week and the government is formed, he has to yield either his office or the fictitious clout and power to the ODM as preparations are made for a clean-up of the ECK, constitutional review and new elections. Kalonzo will increasingly become irrelevant and in the coming one year Kenyans will see him for who he truly was, an overambitious but unscheming traitor who cannot be trusted to keep his word even for the man (Dan Maanzo) who rustled a party for him. Meanwhile Maanzo and Julia Ojiambo will be wishing that they had heeded the advise of those who know the son of Tseikuru, that he believes in nothing but "Me, myself and I".

Kalonzo's argument for democracy must be understood to mean that he wants Raila in the opposition "to promote multiparty democracy". We hasten to advise Kalonzo to quit the bandit government and head to where he belongs, to serve as the diminished minority leader of a colourless opposition. He is bound for the dustbin of history, amazingly so soon after he started nursing hopes of checkmating ODM. We are headed to government and Kalonzo is headed in the opposite direction. Democracy has no friend in Kalonzo. When the history of this country is finally written, 2007-2008 will bring forth the role that Kalonzo played in sacrificing the country's democratic ideals at the shaky altar of Tseikuru for little temporary power that slipped through his fingers too soon.

For a man who served Kanu with blind loyalty and virulently opposed multiparty proponents with jest, and whose party (odm-k) in league with PNU pushed the ECK chairman Kivuitu to release the disputed results when reason should have guided him to help heal the country, his role is in the sunset of days. This raw greed for power must not be allowed to ruin Kenya. The result of that haste to release the results, and his dalliance with the SH bandits, is the bloodshed and destruction of property that we have witnessed in Kenya. Kalonzo has not seen that a win by the loser is a reversal of democratic gains. To him, being perched in the veep's office is miracle enough. Sadly, the peoples' wiper is looking for injustice and he will surely not survive with the betrayal that hangs on his neck.

The blood of innocent Kenyans who died at the hands of fellow Kenyans, heartless Mungiki and triger-happy policemen is on his glittering forehead. Each of those people are asking beyond the grave why Kalonzo was not strong enough to join the demand for justice and postpone his rush to join the banditry that is called government.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great article. I've always maintained that had Kalonzo Musyoka been wise and patriotic, the mess in Kenya would never have happened. For example, he had joined PNU before the elections there would never have been a contest.

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