A Plea To Comrades

[adongo12345]

By Adongo Ogony

This is a public appeal to my friends in the human rights movement. Greetings from the frigid streets of Toronto, Canada.

Congratulations for a job well done in embracing and advancing the efforts for minimum constitutional reforms in the face of an adamant, confused and practically lost government of President Mwai Kibaki.

You and I campaigned for, supported and helped to get the Narc government elected in 2002. I personally have no regrets over those efforts. We have been screwed yes, but the struggle continues and like my good friend Muga K’olale used to scribble on the walls at Muthangari Police Station even as police stood guard over us, “Victory Is Certain”.

The object of this missive is to encourage wider debate and discussions among us and with our friends and even foes in mainstream political groupings. I have always held the view that the constitution of the country is for all Kenyans and nobody is more qualified than the other to contribute towards its realization. That is why I believe we have to talk to everybody.

I am proposing that we set up a human rights lobby team with a high and not so high profile leadership from groups like KHRC, KNCHR, PAT, FIDA, CRADLE, NCEC, 4C’s etc to start active lobbying with the political parties to include meaningful human rights legislative initiatives with the minimum reform package.

As a matter of fact I think we need an urgent forum which could be organized by a group like the KNCHR to decide on what we want and how we intend to campaign for it.

I am glad we are over the debate as to whether minimum reforms are necessary or not. Those who still think they are not necessary are free to take their campaign with Kenyans and good luck to them. Those of us who have crossed the river of denial have serious work to do to ensure that we are NOT swallowed in the bandwagon for mere electoral reforms.

Yes electoral reforms are good for everybody, not just for politicians, but they are not enough. Besides, history tells us that opportunities for the advancement and real development in the human rights agenda for our nation are few and far between even though we never stop fighting. It would be a sin and a crime against the comrades we have lost in this great journey for us to let the present opportunity sneak by us without putting tangible human rights issues on the table. After all people like Martha Karua are complaining the reforms being proposed by the politicians have no impact on the lives of Kenyans, why not give them something to chew on from our perspective.

Secondly we have friends, some real and others out of necessity, on both sides of the political divide. As a matter of fact I believe the human rights agenda could be a unifying factor between the political competitors. No, I have no illusions that all of a sudden everybody on both sides are going to come out and embrace the human rights agenda, but I am also convinced that few of the politicians can afford to come out openly to trash our agenda either.

The following are some practical starting points we need to explore. I categorize these issues under the “righting historical wrongs” theme was already endorsed by the MSF before Martha and company killed it.

On top of my list is launching a campaign for a bill to be introduced to support the dwindling number of Mau Mau freedom fighters and their families.

Finally we got a statute for Dedan Kimathi gracing our capital city. That is a good thing but it was kind of sad to see his comrades sitting down some almost in tatters living in obvious poverty. I say sad because those who were paid to terrorize the Mau Mau nationalists, including some who are now key figures in the Kibaki regime live in luxury and comfort while those who fought to free our country are paupers who can not even afford an aspirin to ease the endless headache.

Colonial employees get pension, why not our soldiers who risked everything for us and for their country? Why for example can’t Mau Mau freedom fighters and their families be entitled to get free medical treatment at the Armed Forces Memorial Hospital, one of the best in the country?

Better still why not build a Mau Mau Memorial Hospital to attend to these great warriors and their families plus the other warriors who have come after them? I know Paul Muite has been involved in the a civil suit against the British government for their crimes against Mau Mau fighters but may be we should also focus on what we as Kenyans and our government can and must do to right this terrible crime of negligence that successive governments have done to those who championed the first liberation struggle of the nation.

For those who might think this is far fetched, take a second and think of what most countries have done with their freedom fighters. In most cases combatants are integrated into the regular army after countries are liberated from occupiers and dictators. That is what they did in South Africa when members of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) were integrated into the South African National Defense Forces (SANDF). Joe Modise, the Commander of MK was the first Defense Minister in post apartheid South Africa. He was instrumental in the integration and rehabilitation of MK combatants.

The same happened in Namibia, in Mozambique where FRELIMO soldiers became the official armed forces of the country. In Southern Sudan they are doing the same. The NRM in Uganda did the same.

In Kenya the integration of Mau Mau combatants into the Kenyan army with some training should have been top on the agenda at the Lancaster House constitutional conference. Instead our leaders ordered them to disarm and dropped bombs on those who were still in the forest. It is time to deal with this tragedy and redeem the dignity of the nation.


I think if we frame these issues properly and consult with the Mau Mau veterans to come up with workable legislative initiative, we will get support from all the political parties and it will be a slum dunk in the minimum reform package.

As I have often said, the struggle for freedom and liberty in our country did not end in 1963. It is about time we dealt with the other part of the equation. I publicly raised the issue of passing an Act of Parliament for compensation for victims of torture and other forms of state repression with Hon. Raila Odinga during a forum here in Toronto a few months ago. Raila said he fully supports the idea but indicated he felt the political climate now is not suitable for such action. He promised it would one of their priorities when they form a new government.

I disagree with Mheshimiwa on this one. This is the best time to tackle the matter. The Kibaki government is jittery. They know the human rights groups which supported them and helped them to defeat Moi are pissed due to failed promises. They are not going to come hard on us if we come with some practical things. I am personally tired of hearing Alfred Mutua talk about the closure of Nyayo House Torture chambers as a big success for Kibaki. They can close and burn down the hideous joint for all I care. It does me no good. It adds nothing to the lives (some destroyed) of survivors of the crimes committed in that facility and others like Niavasha Maximum Security prison which was a massive torture centre.

Let’s formulate a reasonable bill with the help of legal experts, approach each party individually and lobby for support. Who is going to oppose us? The idea is to be reasonable and modest. We have tried the litigation way and we are facing road blocks everywhere. Let’s try some comprise where we meet midway.

There are other things we should fight for, like having human rights introduced in our school curriculum to teach our kids the virtues of tolerance and upholding the dignity of all of us. I was perplexed the other day when a school principal had the audacity to expel uncircumcised kids to go and get cut ati because they were getting bullied. What a load of crap. This was a great opportunity for the principal to not only discipline the bullies but also to have discussions on human rights and dignity for all.

Teaching human rights and the history of struggle for a better Kenya that has gone on before and after national independence will cost nothing to the state but it is priceless in terms of the values they bring to the consciousness of our young and not so young people.

I think we have a good start with affirmative action for Kenyan women. Both the Martha team and the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee have come up with some affirmative action proposals. I have problems with both, but at least it is a good start, let’s look at them and come up with some thing with real meat so to speak to really address the marginalization of women in public life.

And then we have the presidential decree on employment for women, let’s get it enacted into law complete with mechanisms to monitor compliance.

I have said enough in the past about the need for legislation to establish a Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission. I leave it to others to come up with their thoughts about such an initiative.

The other burning issue is voter registration and ensuring that all Kenyans who are eligible to vote are given reasonable opportunity to do register as voters.

The proposal from the Muungano rally held on February 17, 07 which is part of the Uhuru Park Declaration on constitutional reforms is that ECK should suspend the one month registration exercise due to start on March 1, 2007.

The problem here is that the ECK is not going to take advice or directions from the opposition. The registration is going to go on and millions of Kenyans are going to be left out of the loop. The estimated number of those who will be left out is 5 million. That is more votes than those who elected Kibaki and his Narc government. One thing that could be done is to introduce a bill for the continuous registration of voters until say one month to the election date. That is what happens in most countries. The problem is the cost, but that could be worked out.

Once again it is imperative to build the momentum for such a bill to get massive support from all sides. If continuous registration is too expensive, may be we can find away to give the ECK two or three months to do their work and get rid of the backlog. The major issue here is to ensure efficient issuing of I.D cards to all Kenyans without discrimination of any kind. Whatever we do, we cannot afford to deny millions of Kenyans their right to participate in national elections.

I also think we need to tighten the laws to punish ECK officials and returning officers who participate in vote rigging. That Kisauni by-election just gets my stomach turning. It is not enough to just over turn the fraudulent results. The officials, who changed numbers, threw away ballot boxes and did other crazy things to rig Mr. Mwaboza in should be punished. If there is no law to punish them we need one so that we can discourage future riggers. The ECK should take a good look at the Kisauni fiasco and tell us how they are going to get their act together.

I have said enough about the need for Electoral Tribunals to facilitate prompt resolution of disputed election results. The recent statements by Justice O’Kubasu and even Mr. Samuel Kivuiti the ECK Chairman regarding the ridiculous delays in hearing election petitions should spur all of us into action to seal this hole in our electoral system. It is embarrassment and a great injustice to all Kenyan voters.

By the way what is up with the Kibaki supporters raining cash from the sky at funerals? Is that the next frontier? Apparently there is another Narc activist, not to be confused with the original Narc activist, mama bling bling.

This new Narc activist, a Mr. Stanley Livondo has been caught live on national TV dropping bundles of cash to mourners in a rather extravagant effort to buy support for Narc K in Western Province. This to me is a pointer on how crazy things are going to be come the next General Elections. Being an M.P is now a guaranteed route to massive wealth. These fellas are going to kill each other to get to parliament. More reason why we need airtight laws to save the nation from utter chaos.

If we can negotiate all these issues and then bring in the bread and butter issues like enacting the constitutional review process into law, something everybody agrees is necessary we might be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat.

We need the minimum reform process to run concurrently with the process to get the nation a new constitution by middle of next year. It is doable and the key is engaging in meaningful dialogue. The one thing we can’t afford is get sucked in to Martha Karua’s MSF again. I suggest that Muungano team should ask for a meeting with the president and his team and set the ball rolling. Chances are Kibaki’s handlers are going to tell not to accept such a meeting because he is too important to meet with Vinyangarikas from the opposition. If I was the president I would ignore such advice, put a good team together and meet face to face with the Muungano team. That is not going to happen. This means the battle is headed to parliament and that is why I urge my compatriots in the human rights movement to start lobbying hard with every M.P and every party. It can be done.

Finally I think we should take a good look at the proposals by Maina Kiai Chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights to have the 80% of the Draft that Kenyans agree on entrenched into the constitution while we resolve the 20% contentious items.

www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143965060&date=19/02/2007

I like this proposal because the argument before was that we should accept the whole thing and fix the bad parts later. The problem with that approach would have been the fact that the bad aspects of the draft would already be enacted into our laws and would be used by our greedy politicians to screw everything up. I think Stephen Musau's piece also adresses the same question. These issues are worth a closer look by Kenyans.

www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=92278

www.timesnews.co.ke/22feb07/editorials/comm1.html

The writer is a human rights activist.

[adongo12345]

I have heard problems providing this link so I am going to just paste the story. I think it is a good piece.

www.eastandard.net/archives/sunday/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143965027&date=18/02/2007

The long unending road to law review

It’s the same old story to constitutional reforms since the colonial government handed over the reigns of power to Kanu. The party in power since then has never had the desire to rid the country of colonial-inspired legislation to try to keep the citizens down, writes Sarah Elderkin


Founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta leads his then ministers, the late Paul Ngei and Julius Kiano, among other high ranking Kenyans, during the Lancaster House constitutional conference in London in 1963.

It is amazing that, in the 44th year since Independence, Kenyans still do not have a constitution that ensures them their full rights and governs everyone fairly.

It is even more amazing that there are still people in Kenya who want to perpetuate this situation, and who in doing so, continue to use bad, old, colonial-inspired legislation to try to keep their fellow citizens down.

Demonstrations and meetings are banned, licences/permissions have to be acquired, the local administration is used to promote one particular party, systems of patronage, punishment and reward are employed to intimidate or bribe — it’s a complete re-run of everything that happened between 1960 and 1963, again between 1963 and 1964, and again between 1966 and 1969 (not to mention in later years).

Only the players have changed. Otherwise, everything stays depressingly the same.

From 1960 to 1963, it was the colonial government seeking to repress Kanu by these very same methods, which the colonial authority had devised and entrenched in Kenya’s governance to keep its hold on power.

Methods got deeply entrenched in mindsets of some


Unfortunately, these methods also got deeply entrenched in the mindsets of some who, in all the years since, have never managed to crawl out from beneath this blighted heritage.

From 1963 to 1964, it was Kanu repressing the opposition party Kadu, using the same old systems for dealing with government opponents that it had inherited from the colonials.

From 1966 to 1969, it was Kanu again, enthusiastically embracing everything it had complained of during the colonial era and using it to crush the KPU — as well as introducing some carefully crafted legislation of its own for the same purpose.

And so it continued throughout the next couple of decades — decree after decree, constitutional amendment after constitutional amendment, all with only one aim: keeping the ruling party and its favoured ones in power.

Now, in 2007, more than four decades on from Independence, we still have whichever party is in power (I’m not sure which one it is at the moment) carrying on with the same old discredited, outdated, outmoded, long-discarded-elsewhere policies (if these actions can be dignified with the word ‘policies’).

When are we ever going to grow up and get rid of all this ‘Dark Ages’ repression?


Members of the Katiba Watch group led Eldoret North MP, Mr William Ruto, former Butere MP, Mr Martin Shikuku, Ms Wahu Kaara, Karachuonyo MP, Dr Adhu Awiti, and Bomet MP Mr Nick Salat, in a march to agitate for constitutional reforms in Uhuru Park, last year.

When shall we ever get leaders who have the self-confidence and good will to demolish the false battlements that the unenlightened hide behind to defend themselves against the people’s will?

Demand for minimum reforms

When shall we ever have leaders who are prepared to move out from behind the faÁade of working ‘in the public interest’ and actually listen to the public, and give us what we really want?

Some of our leaders have tried their best, and every little bit they have achieved has taken us a step nearer the time when we shall be free of the colonial baggage that we keep dragging after ourselves wherever we go.

The Bomas draft constitution was one such step forward. It was a reflection of what the people wanted, but the government felt threatened by it, so wanted to change it. The people and their leaders historically rejected this meddling.

What happened next to improve the position of the common person? Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Until Raila Odinga (Be honest. Isn’t he the engine that sets in motion any drive towards change? If not, tell me something I’ve missed) issued a statement on August 6, last year, and opened the demand for minimum reforms ahead of the next general election.

His call has been taken up, expanded, formalised and further vocalised by the laudable work of the Parliamentary Committee on the Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs, ably led by Paul Muite.

And the government response to all this? That the people calling for change are doing so in order to get themselves into power.

Battling the same old demons

Eh? Did I miss something again there? How does a constitution that is the same for everybody favour any particular individual? The argument is not even logical.

What the government actually means is that, under a new or amended constitution, it will no longer have an unfair advantage, and it might, therefore, lose to the popular will of the people.

Who would have believed that, so many years on, Kenya would still be battling the same old demons?

Exactly 45 years ago last Wednesday, on February 14, 1962, the second of three meetings to prepare a constitution for Kenya’s independence began at Lancaster House, in London.

The first meeting had taken place two years earlier, in January 1960. No agreement was reached then, and the colonial secretary issued an interim constitution that allotted parliamentary seats.

That interim constitution was the first step on the road to the distorted and mangled electoral legacy that was to be Kenya’s enduring burden. It included constituency boundaries redrawn by the colonial authority.

By the time of the elections in March 1961 for the common roll seats that had been allotted at the conference, there were two parties, Kanu and Kadu.

Kadu, one of whose leaders was Daniel arap Moi, was not insisting (as Kanu was) that Kenyatta be released from colonial detention before the next government was formed.

Kadu was not insisting (as Kanu was) on having an all-African government. Kadu was not insisting (as Kanu was) on having all the so-called White Highlands made available to Africans.

Boundaries drawn in Kadu’s favour

For obvious reasons, the colonial government really liked Kadu — and really hated Kanu. As a consequence, throughout the electioneering period, Kanu consistently found its campaign efforts frustrated by the colonial authority.

Kanu could not register or address voters because it could not get licences to hold meetings. It could not get licences to hold meetings because it had no branch office-bearers. It could not elect branch office-bearers because it could get no licences to meet to elect them.

It was all a vicious circle and none of it made any sense — except to gleeful colonials, who were no doubt delighted that their ‘policies’ were working so well.

The election boundaries the colonial authorities drew allowed Kadu to win 11 seats in the elections, with just 16.4 per cent of the vote, while Kanu got 19 seats — but with a whopping 67.4 per cent of the vote. The boundaries had been drawn wildly in Kadu’s favour. (Does this story begin to sound familiar?)

At the second Lancaster House meeting, in 1962, 45 years ago last week, a framework for self-government was negotiated. It was to be based on the Kadu regional constitution, because the colonial authority — always afraid of any national African organisation (which Kanu was, as opposed to the regional groups that formed Kadu) — favoured it.

Ruling party has eroded and bastardised the constitution

The moderates in Kanu were won over and the regional constitution was agreed. It allowed for a two-chamber parliament, a weak central government, and six regional governments, each of which had administrative, financial and executive powers, and control over land and their own police.

That was the constitution with which Kenya would go to Independence on December 12, 1963.

But the Kanu side had cunningly agreed to this because it knew it would win the parliamentary majority in the May 1963 independence elections, and it knew that, as soon as independence was achieved, it would begin to introduce constitutional changes that would curb the powers of the regional assemblies.

Once again, this was the beginning of an insidious process that has continued throughout the years of independent Kenya, where the ruling party has eroded and bastardised the constitution — not in order to aid the development of the nation but in order to shore up its own position of power.

The third Lancaster House conference, finalising the regional independence constitution that made Kenya a dominion of the Commonwealth, took place in London in May 1963, shortly after the independence elections, which had indeed been won by Kanu.

From 1963 to 1964, it was Kadu’s turn to complain. It could not hold meetings, due to a countrywide ban on public gatherings in April 1964 (after the army had engaged in a short-lived mutiny at Lanet).

But Kanu ministers circumvented the ban by calling their trips "ministerial tours". The ban was lifted just before local government elections the same year but Kadu still experienced difficulty getting licences for its meetings.

History of preventing opposition from functioning properly

In addition, Kadu’s constitutional position and the regional governments’ power had been quickly eroded by decrees and constitutional amendments post-1963, until Kadu finally threw in the towel in November 1964 and its members were absorbed into Kanu.

A month later, the regional constitution was replaced with a republican unitary constitution and Kenya became a de facto one-party state.

This colonial and early-independence history of preventing the opposition from functioning properly, and of the ruling authority changing the rules to suit itself, laid the groundwork for the attitude the Kanu government adopted towards the Kenya People’s Union (KPU) from 1966 to 1969, when the KPU was banned, and then to any other opposition thereafter until 2002, when another group took over that would subsequently continue where Kanu had left off.

On April 19, 1966, Oginga Odinga and Bildad Kaggia, tired of a government that was unresponsive to the people’s need for land, that was applying the nation’s scarce resources unfairly and mainly in one province, that was refusing to actualise its non-alignment policy and which had not implemented its promises on education and health, led 28 MPs across the floor of the House to the opposition benches. Odinga and others resigned from Kanu and formed the KPU.

From then on, the Kanu government used all the means at its disposal to intimidate, harass and silence the KPU — verbally, through false allegations of subversion, with violence, and ultimately through detention without trial.


Amendments designed to enhance Kanu’s supremacy


President Jomo Kenyatta said of the KPU, "I have heard that there is a jigger who wants to enter our foot. We, Kanu, shall trample on it like flour."

Jiggers in our foot, snakes we dare not rattle . . . not much has changed in ruling party rhetoric since 1966.

Not long after the KPU was formed, a slew of constitutional amendments began that were designed solely to enhance and entrench Kanu’s supremacy and its grip on power.

Amendment number five since Independence, passed hurriedly just nine days after Odinga and the others had resigned from Kanu, required MPs moving from one party to another to seek fresh mandates through by-elections.

Amendment number six followed rapidly in June. It changed the Preservation of Public Security Act to include detention without trial.

Amendment number seven, in December the same year, abolished the Upper House, the Senate, which had provided checks and balances on government activities.

Amendment number eight sought to curb the powers of the Electoral Commission in creating 17 new constituencies it had recommended — because these constituencies were in areas where the KPU was strong.

A constitution amended so many times over

Amendment number nine required councillors, like MPs, to resign and face fresh elections if they moved to another party.

Amendment number ten banned independent parliamentary candidates, who would obviously be too much of a threat to Kanu when it already had to face the KPU. Continuing factionalism in Kanu meant independent candidates might split the party’s vote, and there was also the danger of disgruntled losers defecting to the KPU.

Every one of these amendments was intended either to increase Kanu’s power or to discourage people from joining the opposition. No single amendment enhanced the lot of the common person.

And so it has continued ever since.

We now have a constitution amended so many times over that it is a mishmash of bad colonial law littered with hastily attached patches of self-interest. It’s a mess, and some people would apparently like to keep it that way.

Fortunately, we have an enlightened group of people who want to right the wrongs of the past 50 years. May they have the success they and all Kenyans deserve.

Most of the dinosaurs that existed on this earth died out millennia ago. Powerful as they were, they became extinct because of their inability to adapt to their changing environment. The few dinosaurs we have left might soon be going the same way, and for exactly the same reason.

[Onyango Oloo]

i jumped in cyber space when i saw this. and you know why... remember august 4, 1982 on a certain mombasa bound train somewhere between mtito andei and voi...

enuff sed.

oo
nbi

[adongo12345]

OO

I very deliberately used that title knowing its historical significance in the battle at hand.

Adongo

[adongo12345]

Interesting stuff

www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news_s.php?articleid=1143965295

Kimathi back to haunt Michuki

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By Gakuu Mathenge and Boniface Gikandi

Internal security minister, Mr John Njoroge Michuki, tactfully skipped the historic unveiling of the Dedan Kimathi statue last Sunday, instead visiting his Kangema rural home.


Internal Security minister John Michuki

Michuki, who hardly misses presidential functions in the city, this time stayed away from a ceremony that was to honour one of the most enduring and charismatic Mau Mau heroes, Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi.

Ironically, the ceremony would have been impossible had Michuki’s office, not revoked the 1952 gazette notice that classified Mau Mau as a terrorist organisation.

In Mid 2003, Dr Murungaru issued a gazette notice revoking the notice, effectively making Mau Mau a lawful movement and paved the way for honouring its heroes.

"Mau Mau’s immense contribution to the creation of the Kenyan state needs to be put in its rightful historical perspective," Murungaru said then.

Although he projects the image of a tough guy in Kibaki’s administration, this time he was humbled by history.

Monuments of slave labour

Unknown to many, skipping a presidential function was a wiser option than risk being viewed as an insult to the freedom veterans gathered. In some quarters, it would also have been a desecration of their most important day.

For it is a fact that Michuki made his bones hunting down Kimathi’s Mau Mau fighters in his native Murang’a District, and on the Aberdares Ranges, as a young District Officer II (1955-59).

A son of a polygamous colonial chief, Michuki wa Kagwi, the man who is now internal security minister joined the provincial administration immediately after his O-levels at Mang’u High School in 1954.


Kabukura Gachunga

According to those who came into contact with him, the man whose village nickname is Kimendeero (crusher), did not disappoint his colonial masters.

Apparently, they were so impressed by his record in dealing with Mau Mau that he was nominated for a three months administrative course at Oxford University, UK, in 1961-62 to prepare him for promotion.

In Kangema and the wider Murang’a District, monuments of slave labour in the name of stadium and market spaces dug with bare hands by villagers under Michuki’s supervision stand as testimony of his zeal and legacy.

An aging generation of villagers and Mau Mau veterans still tremble when they recount their encounter with Michuki as if it just happened yesterday.

Freedom fighters were tortured to death


Reference to Marimira forest in Murang’a sends shivers down the spine of Mau Mau veterans due to harrowing torture they went through.

Marimira forest, in which eucalyptus trees have today replaced the indigenous ones, is located only a few kilometres from Kangema town where the colonial district officers were stationed.

"The location of the divisional headquarters is a vivid reminder of the events that took place before independence. Inside the forest, captured Mau Mau fighters were forced to dig their graves before a firing squad of white soldiers shot them," says Nyambura Kahara, former Mau Mau fighter.

An aging Nyambura from Nyagatugu village describes Marimira as a place where freedom fighters were tortured to death while survivors were taken to the notorious detention camps.

General Ihura stadium in Murang’a town and Rurie stadium in Kiria-Ini, General Kago stadium in Kangema division and Marimira stadium are among monuments of slave labour and torture of villagers suspected of being Mau Mau sympathisers.

According to a recent book on Mau Mau, Britain’s Gulag: The Brutal End of an Empire in Kenya, by American History Professor, Caroline Erskine, during the crackdown on Mau Mau, the entire Kikuyu population was imprisoned in colonial concentration camps, also known as colonial villages.


Isaac Wambugu

The book says the villages were manned and guarded by armed officers. Movement was restricted and starvation, disease and forced labour killed thousands of people, especially children and the old.

Michuki’s duties included supervising villages and construction of the stadia with forced labour.

Call to punish alleged aggressors

Now a Marimira resident and a Mau Mau veteran, Mr Peter Ngure from Gaturi location, says honouring Kimathi alone is not enough. Punishment should be handed to recognisable alleged torturers and aggressors.

"The Government should not only recognise Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi, but also name those who helped to oppress it. We want to know who helped colonialists to humiliate us," says Ngure.

At Kiria-ini, Mzee Kabukuru Guchunga, another veteran who fought with Kimathi in the Aberdares forest, recalls that Michuki was at one time in charge of Kiiru location with it’s headquarters in Kangema and also responsible for digging and leveling of Rurii stadium.

"I have never voted for Michuki even when Kangema and Mathioya was one constituency. I would never vote for him. The labour experience is still vivid in my mind. It did not matter whether it was a pregnant woman, the sick or old. You had to work as punishment for no crime but for just the sake of it," he recalls.

However, since Narc Government declined to make good its pledge to institute a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Michuki and many others may never tell their side of the story.

Nevertheless, the veterans have been exercising their own version of punishment, taunting the minister every election time and reminding him of his unflattering past.

The Sunday Standard team recently traced a Mau Mau fighter who has become famous for publicly taunting Michuki at political rallies with claims that he castrated him after he was captured in the Aberdares in 1957.

‘Insult to the dignity of Mau Mau and descendants’

Speaking at his Kaairo village, Kiru location, Mzee Isaac Kwiha wa Wambugu, however admitted having embellished the story to "punish" Michuki.

"The first time Michuki declared that he was vying for the Kangema parliamentary seat, most of us were outraged. I spiced up my story to fight what I considered an insult to the dignity of Mau Mau and descendants. It was not true that he castrated me. He only tortured me during interrogation at Mariira in 1958." he recalled.

Mariira interrogation camp is currently a Government compound under the ministry of Agriculture at Mugoiri, near Njiiri’s High School.

Kwiha recalls Michuki questioning him but he could not answer due to his oath of allegiance to the Mau Mau. He recalls Michuki as an enthusiastic young man, smartly dressed in finely pressed Khaki shorts and heavy military socks.

"When I refused to answer his questions, I was put into a hole filled with cold water up to the neck, then his men threw frogs into the water. Michuki would taunt me, saying I would rot in water if I refused to denounce Mau Mau."

He continues: "When I persisted in silence, they would beat me and then return me to the water hole. But they eventually gave up."

Perhaps mellowed by his advanced age -he is in his 80s - Wa Kwiha (which translates into a fierce one), no longer has bad feeling against his former tormentor.

"I bump into the minister occasionally and we joke about our past. At times he gives me some money to buy something to eat," says Kwiha, whose mud walled house is perched on a steep hill on the edge of the Aberdares forest.

Kwiha and Michuki did not attend the unveiling of Kimathi statue. But while Kwiha could probably not afford bus fare to Nairobi, Michuki probably feared bumping into Kwiha and other veterans.

[adongo12345]

www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143965356&date=26/02/2007

Brinkmanship should give way to dialogue

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By PLO Lumumba


Sometimes, politicians behave as if the only thing they learn from history is that they learn nothing from it.

In 1997, the country was in the clutches of tumult with the Government adamant in the face of calls for reforms. It was not until property was destroyed and lives lost in protests that a subdued Government agreed to grace the negotiation table.

Today, history is on the verge of repeating itself. While the Government is inviting the Opposition and the civil society to dialogue, its fists are clenched and the accompanying rhetoric is that of soldiers at daggers drawn. In response, the Opposition is also at daggers drawn, arguing that the Government’s claim that it desires dialogue is a ploy aimed at delaying or defeating reforms. Once again, we have travelled through a time machine and 2007 could as well be 1997.

If men and women are to be judged by their words, there is no doubt that we need a new constitution. Indeed, the last election campaigns were partly on the basis that a new law was to be delivered in 100 days. What we appear to forget is that the review process went its full course and an adulterated draft was rejected at the referendum. Today, ODM-Kenya’s campaign slogan is Maisha Bora, Katiba Mpya, while and Narc-Kenya’s could very well be Katiba Sasa.


Blame game irrelevant


So the difference is that ODM-Kenya wants a new constitution after the elections, but some changes before. Conversely, the Government wants a new constitution before the elections and is ambivalent on pre-election reforms. It is not politic to apportion blame as to who contributed to the rejection of the draft constitution during the referendum because it is water under the bridge.

Let politicians assume that Kenyans made informed democratic choices in voting for or against the draft. The ‘No’ voters may have thrown the baby with the bath water, but the deed is done. While a new constitution is the real deal, the political environment does not lend itself to making it. It is possible to prepare a draft and even to conduct a referendum, but the draft, however good, is in the danger of being sacrificed at the altar of narrow politics.

In other words, this year does not provide a ‘constitutional moment’. In the circumstances, the best thing is ‘essential reforms’, not ‘minimum reforms’ which mean different things to different political players. What, then, are the ‘essential reforms’? They are reforms that guarantee free, fair and transparent elections and oblige the next Government to complete the review process and midwife the birth of the long-awaited constitution.


Essential reforms


My list of ‘essential reforms’ includes amendment of the Constitution to anchor the review process. Also crucial are changes that empower the Electoral Commission to move to court and bar candidates who perpetrate violence or engage in corrupt practices. Others are amendments requiring candidates to file expenditure budgets before elections and returns after elections and petitions to be finalised within six months of the election.

Amendments to increase nomination slots to Parliament for women, people with disabilities and minorities (this should be valid up to 2012 when comprehensive provisions relating to representation will have been dealt with in a new constitution) are also critical.

The law should also be changed so that presidential candidates do not seek parliamentary seats and a parliamentary committee vets presidential appointments on pre-determined criteria.

Essential reforms should also include amendments allowing Kenyans abroad to vote and those who have applied, but not received IDs to vote. Amendments should also require that for a person to be declared President, he or she must garner at least 51 per cent of the votes cast and 25 per cent of votes in at least majority of the eight provinces in the first ballot and a simple one in the re-run.

An amendment should be enacted clarifying that if in the first ballot a candidate garners more votes, but does not meet the provincial threshold, while another meets the presidential threshold but has less votes, both candidates shall participate in the re-run. Essential reforms should not be used to introduce sinecure offices for power sharing purposes or interfere with the basic structure of the Constitution. Kenya needs dialogue, not political brinkmanship.

The writer is a lawyer and former secretary of the constitutional review commission