Earlier I posed whether Moi tells himself that his regime's torture activities were justified. Now I wonder whether Moi knew everything that was going on, or whether someone else was in command and fooling everyone, including Moi. Certainly Moi would have known that people were being tortured, but I wondering whether he was aware of the magnitude of power thirst in those he had chosen to trust.
I came across this 2003 story, posted at
www.usenet.com/newsgroups/soc.culture.kenya/msg00084.htmlThe story brings into the picture of these torture stories the role of Moi's political powerhouse, Hezekiah Oyugi. It gives the sense that Oyugi went to great lengths to create and keep power, and I am left wondering whether Moi was not decieved to endorse a purely Oyugi-power consolidation enterprise that would become the foundation of a dark age as we now know.
Source:
www.eastafricanstandard.netHezekiah Oyugi: `The Governor'By Douglas Okwatch
If George Washington University law professor, Arthur S. Miller, was Kenyan, he would con-veniently substitute "Establishment" in his famous quote with "Kitchen Cabinet".
Or more appropriately, Mafia. Then, assuming that he is giving a talk on democracy and governance to a local audience, it would be unlikely that anyone would challenge his assertion — also in the quote — that the person we send to State House after every five years following the General Election in fact rules at the behest of a small clique.
That a coterie of power brokers from whom the head of state sought counsel did surround Kenya's two previous presidents, even though this fact was always vigorously denied.
And, that, only eight months down the line, elements akin to a Mafia are already emerging in President Kibaki's popularly elected
government.
In the twilight of his presidency, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's founding father, was barely in charge. A caucus of his tribesmen who came to be known as the Kiambu Mafia threw an impenetrable ring around him, then arrogantly took over the task of running the government as a vicious succession battle raged.
When he died in 1978, paving way for Daniel arap Moi's 24-year
helmsmanship, cultist personalities synonymous with usurping the presidency returned. Only names and faces had changed.
Now, before Nicholas Biwott, Hezekiah Oyugi was perhaps the most powerful political cult figure that presided over the Moi era in the 80s. Even his biographer would have found it unbelievable that a man of such obscure educational background could so deftly infiltrate, then consolidate, a position of such immense political, and economic influence around the presidency by outwitting his rivals and ruthlessly dealing with anyone who challenged his authority.
Eleven years since his death in August 1992, a huge chunk of Hezekiah Oyugi's vast political and financial empire has crumbled. In the 80s at the peak of his influence, visitors, in their hundreds, daily streamed to ka woun Ogango.
But months after his tragic death, they reduced to a trickle. Then
they petered out. Today, Oyugi's palatial Kanga home in Rongo
Kamagambo is almost desolate. Regardless woun Ogango will, for many years to come, be remembered as Kenya's political king maker per excellence, who built around him a formidable axis of power.
Oyugi for most of the decade was Moi's blue-eyed boy. He influenced key appointments to Government. Then viciously plotted the dismissal of those who antagonised him.
Perhaps Franklin Bett who became a powerful Comptroller of State Houses still recalls exactly how he got there. It was wily Oyugi who skilfully engineered his recruitment. Oyugi knew all too well that to get access to the President's direct line, you had to put your own man there, next to the throne.
Variously known as "Governor" or "Kalam Maduong" (big pen), Oyugi easily made and broke politicians. For instance, he didn't like something about David Okiki Amayo, then a powerful Kanu chairman.
That's how the Karachuonyo politician met his waterloo. It is Oyugi who confined David Okiki Amayo to a career assistant minister, even when the President had time and again indicated a desire to elevate the Karachuonyo veteran politician to a full Cabinet position.
Oyugi thrived on political intrigues to create a juggernaut. To endear himself to the ruling elite, he built an ignominious spy machine that operated in parallel with the Special Branch collecting intelligence, which he directly fed to State House. James Kanyotu, the Special Branch boss, had sleepless nights thanks to Oyugi.
It is Oyugi who conceptualised mlolongo, Kanu's election rigging
machine, at a time that the ruling party was becoming increasingly unpopular with the electorate, owing to the high-handedness of its top elite.
The former Internal Security Chief's biography can never be complete without mentioning the role he played in Kanu's political survival games that included the arrest, torture and prosecution of alleged Mwakenya elements.
Using the acumen of originally unknown dukawallas such as Ketan Somaia, whom he plucked from a Kisumu street, Oyugi then proceeded to build an immense financial empire.
Last week, a close associate of the late former Provincial Administrator said of Oyugi's ascendancy to power: " . . . I guess . . . (Hezekiah) just happened to be at the right place at the right time."
True. But that's only part of the story. The year 1979 was one of regime change. Like is characteristic of all transitions, a new system was being put in place and the old one phased out.
The change hit the public sector like a maelstrom. Retirements, resignations and layoffs followed. With these changes new and reliable alliances were being built. It was amidst all this that Oyugi arrived in Nakuru as the deputy Provincial Commissioner.
Isaiah Mathenge had only recently retired as the Rift Valley PC
handing over the office to Njuguna Ndoro in an acting capacity. But naive Ndoro would quickly play into Oyugi's hands with his anti-government chatter. The political landscape was then polarised between the anti-Moi and pro-Charles Njonjo camps even though the two appeared to enjoy a cordial relationship.
Unbeknown to Ndoro, every single movement and conversation was quickly relayed across to Stanley Metto, then a powerful figure in the Moi government.
Enjoying the patronage of Metto and Biwott, sly Oyugi was soon
confirmed Rift Valley PC.
Getting to the top, they say, is one thing. Staying up there is quite another. But Oyugi did stay at the top for almost a decade. To help Kanu stay in charge and as political power games intensified, Oyugi's intelligence machine began labelling individuals perceived to be anti-government. You were either pro-or anti-establishment.
The culture of political correctness (or incorrectness) took root,
and at the centre of it all was Oyugi. This labelling was used to
isolate, then detain without trial, perceived anti-establishment
elements.
Mwakenya, that alleged anti-government organisation and purportedly predominantly Kikuyu, was used to crack down on suspected dissidents. Men in trench coats would arrive at their doors in the middle of the night armed with seditious pamphlets called Pambana.
Of course, once taken to Nyayo House, with blinding lights scorching their faces and the menacing figure of James Opiyo looming large, they would quickly confess to owning the pamphlet.
Then of course the details of how they were planning to topple
government would follow.
Withdrawing passports as a way of punishing and confining those perceived to be anti-government gained notoriety at the height of the Mwakenya crackdown in the mid 1980s.
This was the time when Oyugi presided, with an iron fist, over the country's national security matters as the PS in charge of the
Provincial Administration and Internal Security.
Alleged Mwakenya elements who were unlucky to be arrested still vividly recall Opiyo, the notorious chief interrogator. Some called him "torturer-in-chief". His interrogation methods were brutal.
Bernard Chunga who early in the year was replaced as Chief Justice amidst acrimony was the Public Prosecutor at the time with Omondi Tunya as Chief Magistrate.
In South Nyanza, then later the entire Luoland, Oyugi's influence was palpable. He made and broke political careers. He influenced the appointment of Wilson Ndolo Ayah as Foreign Affairs minister after the brutal murder of Dr Robert Ouko.
It can also be recalled that relationship between Oyugi and Ouko were quite frosty. But you didn't dare antagonise the "Governor". So Ouko, despite the chilly relationship, always seized every opportunity to charm and ensure he remained in wuon Ogango's good books.
Dalmas Otieno owes his meteoric rise in politics to Oyugi with whom he also built a financial and insurance business empire.
During the 1988 General Election, Oyugi threw his weight behind Job Omino, who at the time was an extremely wealthy retired civil servant-cum- businessman. Omino who had set his eyes on Ouko's seat had sought Oyugi's patronage.
With Oyugi on his side, Omino and Ouko fought a political battle of titanic proportions. When the dust finally settled, Omino had been vanquished, but Ouko wouldn't forget Oyugi's immense power for a long time to come. Accounts have it that if you sought financial assistance from him, and were in his good books, Oyugi would pick up a phone and tell a bank manager, "miye maduong'" (give the person a huge loan). The order was promptly carried out.
When he hit the rocky patch with calls that he resign following the murder of Dr Ouko, Luo politicians came to his defence.
Led by then powerful Kanu chairman, Oloo Aringo, the politicians that included Raymond Ndong', Onyango Midika, James Mbori, Ochola McAnyengo, Lazarus Amayo, Ochola Ogur, Peter Nyakiamo and Bob Jalang'o called a press conference to defend Oyugi against allegations that he may have been involved in the Ouko murder.
They all felt indebted to the "Governor". They owed him a lot
politically, even financially. They just couldn't abandon the "Governor" only that this time wuon Ogango had began his rapid descent into oblivion.
