Post by Onyango Oloo on Jun 28, 2014 11:22:16 GMT 3
A follow up to my earlier digital essay:
Events over the last few days are VINDICATING Onyango Oloo who stated as soon as Issa Timamy was arrested that this was nothing but a ruse, an excuse.
Check out the following media reports:
Next a statement from Musalia Mudavadi and some very revealing comments from Lamu Deputy Governor Eric Mugo who comes from Mpeketoni:
Mudavadi: Lamu Governor Issa Timamy arrest is a cover-up
By Patrick Beja, Standard, Updated Friday, June 27th 2014 at 23:51 GMT +3:
United Democratic Forum (UDF) leader Musalia Mudavadi visited Lamu Governor Issa Timamy in police cells yesterday and claimed his arrest is a cover-up to conceal police incompetence following the killings in Mpeketoni two weeks ago. The Amani coalition leader called for a commission of inquiry to unearth the real culprits behind the violence that claimed 65 people. However, leaders from Coast were divided on whether the arrest was justified. Mr Timamy was arraigned in court on Thursday. Police said he is being investigated for murder, forcible transfer of populations and terror-related offences. "I want to reiterate that the arrest of Mr Timamy was rushed to cover up failures of the security officers. The best way is to have a commission of inquiry to identify the culprits and the weakness of the security machinery and not use the Governor as a scapegoat," Mudavadi said.
Lamu deputy Governor Eric Mugo who accompanied Mudavadi, claimed his life is in danger after receiving threatening calls. Mr Mugo claimed he received some threats even before the arrest of the governor on Wednesday, adding, "some people in Lamu have started political schemes aimed at replacing current county government. Some people have already started politics in Lamu. Even the before the arrest of the governor I started receiving threatening calls with some people telling me to resign," Mugo said.
He added: "Some politicians want the county government dissolved. It is not time for politics; it is time to preach peace in Lamu," Mugo said.
Mugo was baffled by the arrest of the governor even before the security agencies could conlude investigations. See Also: Governor faces massacre charges "The Lapsset project has made some politicians to force their way into government without a proper election. There is a struggle by some people to ensure they are in control in Lamu," he said.
SOURCE: www.standardmedia.co.ke/thecounties/article/2000126275/mudavadi-timamy-arrest-is-a-cover-up
And then there are these first hand accounts from Mpeketoni residents:
Mpeketoni: Government fed us to the dogs as GSU chief waited for orders
By KIPCHUMBA SOME
Updated Sunday, June 22nd 2014 at 08:16 GMT +3
One of the puzzling aspects of the Mpeketoni attack is the total and absolute failure by security forces to respond, although the country was notified of them through social media as soon as they started.
There is a General Service Unit (GSU) at Nyongoro, about 30 kilometres from Mpekotoni on your way to Witu. Again, the red helmeted and fearsome unit did not budge from its base until much later.
“I want to be put on record that I called the GSU base commander there and he told me he had no orders to move into action,” said Raphael Munyua. “The government fed us to the dogs.”
“The casual manner in which they went about their business suggests they were very sure police were not going to come in,” said Mr Johnson Ndolokani, a political activist, among the first people to call the local police bosses.
AP and regular police officers at Mpeketoni say they were simply overwhelmed by the enemy’s superior weaponry just a few moments into the attack. But why then did reinforcement come in at five in the morning, 10 hours after the attack started and at which time the attackers had fled?
Several people who talked to The Standard on Sunday said they informed the local police bosses, including the county police commander, the county commissioner, Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and even State House officials of the attack.
Lamu County Deputy Governor Eric Mugo said he personally called some senior officials at State House and informed them they were under siege. “They promised to inform the police bosses in Nairobi and make the President aware. To date I do not know what prevented them from acting fast enough,” he said.
FIERCE FIGHT
Mr Mugo is a resident of Mpeketoni, and like majority of the town’s people, he was taken aback by the fighting. “My wife thought it was the iron sheets being rattled by the wind.”
But when his two bodyguards ventured out, it became apparent that this was no wind, but a fierce fight they were ill-prepared to confront and did not have the weapons to fight it. And so they took off to the bushes.
Lamu County Governor Issa Timamy said he was informed of the attack almost immediately it started and he called the county security bosses.
“One of them told me he was not aware of the attack, one promised to call back when I caught him on phone and another one did not pick my call,” he said.
He was at the time in his official residence in Lamu Island. Timamy said he was advised by his security not to cross to the mainland.
However, with the local security bosses there, he said, they marshalled a security contingent from the Island that crossed to the mainland around 12 am.
But this contingent, when it arrived, made no attempt to take the fight to the militants. The same is true of the Rapid Deployment Unit stationed at Mkunumbi, about 15 kilometres from Mpeketoni.
“I called the RDU chief and he told me he had no orders to go into action,” said John Mathai, a businessman. “Furthermore, he feared they had no idea about the enemy and they might be getting into a trap,” he added.
What might have contributed to this state of affairs is the fact that communication became almost impossible after the Safaricom transmission mast at Kibaoni ran out of fuel. This happened after the militants, quite strategically, blew up the Kenya Power transformer at Kibaoni earlier at 10 pm.
“No one really knew the nature of the beast we were dealing with. It was scary. These people came extremely well informed and well-armed. It was pitch dark at night, everywhere was on fire from burnt buildings, more explosions and gunfire were renting the air. We did not know whom or what we were fighting against,” said a senior police officer who did not want to be named.
BESIEGED STATIONS
And so even if as Kimaiyo informed the country he had given orders to the police to confront the attackers, nothing was moving on the ground.So comfortable were the attackers that James Gichu, lying in a drainage near Kibaoni petrol station where his friend had been shot off his motorbike, saw a group of the attackers casually parked by the petrol station, perhaps to compare notes.
“They stayed there for almost one hour, just laughing and chatting. They would occasionally make or pick calls on the radio calls and engage in banter in Somali. One or two of them talked Swahili,” he said.
Since Mpeketoni police station has no houses for officers, most of them stay in rented houses in town and usually leave their guns at the station when they go home. It proved difficult for officers to regroup more so after the militants besieged their stations.
It may not be known to many, but Musalia Mudavadi and Issa Timamy were YEAR MATES at the University of Nairobi in the early 1980s.
I have a very strong suspicion that whoever the people who are cooking up the charges against Issa Timamy, there are probably in their thirties. Certainly they are not OF MY GENERATION-early fifties. Why do I say so?
Well, if they were old enough they would surely have known that Issa Timamy was a CLASS MATE of Attorney General Githu Muigai at the Faculty of Law. They would have known that Timamy was also a year mate of Isaac Ruto and by extension, people like Mwandawiro Mghanga, Oduor Ong'wen, David Murathe and slightly ahead of Richard Onyonka, Philip Murgor, Onyango Oloo.
Incidentally, Musalia Mudavadi, along with most of the people I have mentioned, with the notable example of Isaac Ruto were among the hundreds of University of Nairobi students rounded up by the Moi regime in the aftermath of the 1982 abortive coup. Yes, Mudavadi was also arrested- for the same reason that rugby stars Vitisia and Ken Sagalla were picked up: being a member of the Mean Machine and therefore according to the warped logic of Special Branch at the time, "ready suspects" for being behind the coup plot!
Why do I bring up the age and generation factor?
First, because I very much doubt if people like General Michael Gichangi were part of those who pushed for the arrest of Issa Timamy. From the NIS files, surely the spooks would have known that someone like Timamy- a conservative Muslim lawyer who has served on corporate boards like the Moi-linked Sameer Group, with professional colleagues and peers like Githu Muigai and a close associate of Najib Balala, would hardly be even on the LONG LIST of outside suspects to be investigated in the Mpeketoni killings.
I am therefore SPECULATING that perhaps some of those youngish hawks who have latched on to what is today referred to as the "Presidency" or other cabals in the corridors of Jubilee power MAY have colluded with those I referred to as tenderpreneurs, speculators, private developers and land grabbers (or wakora, matapeli na walanguzi) salivating over the LAPSSET project to execute the FIRST coup d'état against a validly elected governor of a county government.
Here is my suggestion to Keriako Tobiko and other Kenya Government authorities:
Please release Governor Issa Timamy IMMEDIATELY. You really HAVE NO CASE. This thing is likely to LEAVE YOU WITH A LOT OF EGGS ON YOUR FACE. Save yourself from further embarrassment.
Events over the last few days are VINDICATING Onyango Oloo who stated as soon as Issa Timamy was arrested that this was nothing but a ruse, an excuse.
Check out the following media reports:
Governors on Thursday protested against the arrest of Lamu Governor Issa Timamy in connection with the Mpeketoni massacre.
In a statement issued by Mr Isaac Ruto, the chairman of the Council of Governors, the county bosses asked the Interior Cabinet Secretary, Mr Joseph ole Lenku to take full responsibility for the senseless killing of innocent Kenyans in Lamu County and stop shifting blame.
“Timamy’s arrest is a diversionary issue and we take great exception over the matter. The National Government should not blame counties over its failure to contain insecurity in the country,” Mr Ruto said on Thursday.
He added: “Lenku should resign over the attack and general upsurge in insecurity across the country.”
Mr Ruto spoke as Mr Timamy was presented before a Mombasa court on Thursday over the Mpeketoni killings.
The Bomet governor said thorough investigations should have been conducted before anyone was blamed. He said security agencies had failed to prevent the attack.
Mr Ruto also expressed displeasure over the recent summoning of governors by Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo to record statements over security matters.
Mr Ruto, who was accompanied by his deputy, Mr Stephen Mutai, challenged the National Government to gazette the regulations concerning County Policing Authority to allow counties to play a role on provision of security.
SOURCE: www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Issa-Timamy-Court-Case-Mpeketoni-Killings-Isaac-Ruto/-/1064/2363180/-/156yrxs/-/index.html
In a statement issued by Mr Isaac Ruto, the chairman of the Council of Governors, the county bosses asked the Interior Cabinet Secretary, Mr Joseph ole Lenku to take full responsibility for the senseless killing of innocent Kenyans in Lamu County and stop shifting blame.
“Timamy’s arrest is a diversionary issue and we take great exception over the matter. The National Government should not blame counties over its failure to contain insecurity in the country,” Mr Ruto said on Thursday.
He added: “Lenku should resign over the attack and general upsurge in insecurity across the country.”
Mr Ruto spoke as Mr Timamy was presented before a Mombasa court on Thursday over the Mpeketoni killings.
The Bomet governor said thorough investigations should have been conducted before anyone was blamed. He said security agencies had failed to prevent the attack.
Mr Ruto also expressed displeasure over the recent summoning of governors by Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo to record statements over security matters.
Mr Ruto, who was accompanied by his deputy, Mr Stephen Mutai, challenged the National Government to gazette the regulations concerning County Policing Authority to allow counties to play a role on provision of security.
SOURCE: www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Issa-Timamy-Court-Case-Mpeketoni-Killings-Isaac-Ruto/-/1064/2363180/-/156yrxs/-/index.html
Next a statement from Musalia Mudavadi and some very revealing comments from Lamu Deputy Governor Eric Mugo who comes from Mpeketoni:
Mudavadi: Lamu Governor Issa Timamy arrest is a cover-up
By Patrick Beja, Standard, Updated Friday, June 27th 2014 at 23:51 GMT +3:
United Democratic Forum (UDF) leader Musalia Mudavadi visited Lamu Governor Issa Timamy in police cells yesterday and claimed his arrest is a cover-up to conceal police incompetence following the killings in Mpeketoni two weeks ago. The Amani coalition leader called for a commission of inquiry to unearth the real culprits behind the violence that claimed 65 people. However, leaders from Coast were divided on whether the arrest was justified. Mr Timamy was arraigned in court on Thursday. Police said he is being investigated for murder, forcible transfer of populations and terror-related offences. "I want to reiterate that the arrest of Mr Timamy was rushed to cover up failures of the security officers. The best way is to have a commission of inquiry to identify the culprits and the weakness of the security machinery and not use the Governor as a scapegoat," Mudavadi said.
Lamu deputy Governor Eric Mugo who accompanied Mudavadi, claimed his life is in danger after receiving threatening calls. Mr Mugo claimed he received some threats even before the arrest of the governor on Wednesday, adding, "some people in Lamu have started political schemes aimed at replacing current county government. Some people have already started politics in Lamu. Even the before the arrest of the governor I started receiving threatening calls with some people telling me to resign," Mugo said.
He added: "Some politicians want the county government dissolved. It is not time for politics; it is time to preach peace in Lamu," Mugo said.
Mugo was baffled by the arrest of the governor even before the security agencies could conlude investigations. See Also: Governor faces massacre charges "The Lapsset project has made some politicians to force their way into government without a proper election. There is a struggle by some people to ensure they are in control in Lamu," he said.
SOURCE: www.standardmedia.co.ke/thecounties/article/2000126275/mudavadi-timamy-arrest-is-a-cover-up
And then there are these first hand accounts from Mpeketoni residents:
Mpeketoni: Government fed us to the dogs as GSU chief waited for orders
By KIPCHUMBA SOME
Updated Sunday, June 22nd 2014 at 08:16 GMT +3
One of the puzzling aspects of the Mpeketoni attack is the total and absolute failure by security forces to respond, although the country was notified of them through social media as soon as they started.
There is a General Service Unit (GSU) at Nyongoro, about 30 kilometres from Mpekotoni on your way to Witu. Again, the red helmeted and fearsome unit did not budge from its base until much later.
“I want to be put on record that I called the GSU base commander there and he told me he had no orders to move into action,” said Raphael Munyua. “The government fed us to the dogs.”
“The casual manner in which they went about their business suggests they were very sure police were not going to come in,” said Mr Johnson Ndolokani, a political activist, among the first people to call the local police bosses.
AP and regular police officers at Mpeketoni say they were simply overwhelmed by the enemy’s superior weaponry just a few moments into the attack. But why then did reinforcement come in at five in the morning, 10 hours after the attack started and at which time the attackers had fled?
Several people who talked to The Standard on Sunday said they informed the local police bosses, including the county police commander, the county commissioner, Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo and even State House officials of the attack.
Lamu County Deputy Governor Eric Mugo said he personally called some senior officials at State House and informed them they were under siege. “They promised to inform the police bosses in Nairobi and make the President aware. To date I do not know what prevented them from acting fast enough,” he said.
FIERCE FIGHT
Mr Mugo is a resident of Mpeketoni, and like majority of the town’s people, he was taken aback by the fighting. “My wife thought it was the iron sheets being rattled by the wind.”
But when his two bodyguards ventured out, it became apparent that this was no wind, but a fierce fight they were ill-prepared to confront and did not have the weapons to fight it. And so they took off to the bushes.
Lamu County Governor Issa Timamy said he was informed of the attack almost immediately it started and he called the county security bosses.
“One of them told me he was not aware of the attack, one promised to call back when I caught him on phone and another one did not pick my call,” he said.
He was at the time in his official residence in Lamu Island. Timamy said he was advised by his security not to cross to the mainland.
However, with the local security bosses there, he said, they marshalled a security contingent from the Island that crossed to the mainland around 12 am.
But this contingent, when it arrived, made no attempt to take the fight to the militants. The same is true of the Rapid Deployment Unit stationed at Mkunumbi, about 15 kilometres from Mpeketoni.
“I called the RDU chief and he told me he had no orders to go into action,” said John Mathai, a businessman. “Furthermore, he feared they had no idea about the enemy and they might be getting into a trap,” he added.
What might have contributed to this state of affairs is the fact that communication became almost impossible after the Safaricom transmission mast at Kibaoni ran out of fuel. This happened after the militants, quite strategically, blew up the Kenya Power transformer at Kibaoni earlier at 10 pm.
“No one really knew the nature of the beast we were dealing with. It was scary. These people came extremely well informed and well-armed. It was pitch dark at night, everywhere was on fire from burnt buildings, more explosions and gunfire were renting the air. We did not know whom or what we were fighting against,” said a senior police officer who did not want to be named.
BESIEGED STATIONS
And so even if as Kimaiyo informed the country he had given orders to the police to confront the attackers, nothing was moving on the ground.So comfortable were the attackers that James Gichu, lying in a drainage near Kibaoni petrol station where his friend had been shot off his motorbike, saw a group of the attackers casually parked by the petrol station, perhaps to compare notes.
“They stayed there for almost one hour, just laughing and chatting. They would occasionally make or pick calls on the radio calls and engage in banter in Somali. One or two of them talked Swahili,” he said.
Since Mpeketoni police station has no houses for officers, most of them stay in rented houses in town and usually leave their guns at the station when they go home. It proved difficult for officers to regroup more so after the militants besieged their stations.
It may not be known to many, but Musalia Mudavadi and Issa Timamy were YEAR MATES at the University of Nairobi in the early 1980s.
I have a very strong suspicion that whoever the people who are cooking up the charges against Issa Timamy, there are probably in their thirties. Certainly they are not OF MY GENERATION-early fifties. Why do I say so?
Well, if they were old enough they would surely have known that Issa Timamy was a CLASS MATE of Attorney General Githu Muigai at the Faculty of Law. They would have known that Timamy was also a year mate of Isaac Ruto and by extension, people like Mwandawiro Mghanga, Oduor Ong'wen, David Murathe and slightly ahead of Richard Onyonka, Philip Murgor, Onyango Oloo.
Incidentally, Musalia Mudavadi, along with most of the people I have mentioned, with the notable example of Isaac Ruto were among the hundreds of University of Nairobi students rounded up by the Moi regime in the aftermath of the 1982 abortive coup. Yes, Mudavadi was also arrested- for the same reason that rugby stars Vitisia and Ken Sagalla were picked up: being a member of the Mean Machine and therefore according to the warped logic of Special Branch at the time, "ready suspects" for being behind the coup plot!
Why do I bring up the age and generation factor?
First, because I very much doubt if people like General Michael Gichangi were part of those who pushed for the arrest of Issa Timamy. From the NIS files, surely the spooks would have known that someone like Timamy- a conservative Muslim lawyer who has served on corporate boards like the Moi-linked Sameer Group, with professional colleagues and peers like Githu Muigai and a close associate of Najib Balala, would hardly be even on the LONG LIST of outside suspects to be investigated in the Mpeketoni killings.
I am therefore SPECULATING that perhaps some of those youngish hawks who have latched on to what is today referred to as the "Presidency" or other cabals in the corridors of Jubilee power MAY have colluded with those I referred to as tenderpreneurs, speculators, private developers and land grabbers (or wakora, matapeli na walanguzi) salivating over the LAPSSET project to execute the FIRST coup d'état against a validly elected governor of a county government.
Here is my suggestion to Keriako Tobiko and other Kenya Government authorities:
Please release Governor Issa Timamy IMMEDIATELY. You really HAVE NO CASE. This thing is likely to LEAVE YOU WITH A LOT OF EGGS ON YOUR FACE. Save yourself from further embarrassment.
? and tomorrow [30/06/14] in court ... the noose ...
