Where are our leaders when Kenyans are hacked to death in our slums & villages?

By: Jerry Okungu

[ Posted On: 2006-11-08 ]

Our own fellow Kenyans are writhing in pain in Kuresoi, Laikipia and Molo. They are in pain, bleeding and gasping their last breath. They are victims of poisoned arrows, machetes and mindless arson. Marauding thugs and murderers have been unleashed on them by forces of evil that none of us can understand. Death is stalking them at every valley, thicket and mountain top. They are terrified at nightfall.

Children, innocent souls at that, are made orphans and destitute for no fault of their own. Schools, markets and farms are abandoned. It is once more a season of refuge in schools, churches and chief's camps. Yes, the number of internally displaced Kenyans in their own country is swelling; the irony of a country known for its disciplined peace keeping forces across the globe.

Yes, for decades, Kenya has prided itself as an island of peace, surrounded by war torn neighbors. For this reason, Kenya became the beacon of hope for fleeing refugees from neighboring countries in Eastern and Central Africa. They came from as far as DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. They fled for their lives to look for refuge on Kenyan soil. And they found it even if it was at Kakuma refugee camps.

Closer in the city of Nairobi, gangs of militia have been let loose on innocent slum dwellers scrounging for a living. Panga wielding thugs in the name of Mungiki seem to have been licensed to kill and maim with impunity. They have become a law unto themselves. Smoke billowing out of Mathare slums as televised across the globe is testimony that Kenya is on fire! Kenya is literally aflame! Fortunes, life savings and hope are going up in flames.

As the poor and the hungry of Mathare and Kibera contend with killers on the prowl, as they wait for their executioners in the dead of the night, their cries and pleas for help go unheeded. The silence of our political class, our MPs who we elected to provide good leadership is baffling! Where are our Nairobi Members of Parliament? Where are Mwenje, Omondi, Ndolo, Mugo, Ngumo, and Tett who are in the country but have kept mum in the middle of this tragedy? I can excuse Norman Nyagah because he is bereaved. I can excuse Raila because he is out of the country but I cannot understand why our MPs in this city have not jointly called a press conference to condemn these killings, march together to Mathare Valley to talk peace to the residents!

Where are the ODM, Narc Kenya, Ford People, Ford Kenya, Government of National Unity and Kenya National Human Rights Commission stalwarts? Don't the people of Mathare and Kibera matter anymore? Where are the Ministries of Justice, Defense and Internal Security? Don't the people of Mathare and Kibera belong to this country? Don't they pay taxes to deserve state security?

Where are our presidential and parliamentary aspirants for the 2007? Don't the Mathare, Kibera, Laikipia and Kuresoi dwellers have votes? Why the silence in the middle of this national shame and tragedy? Haven't enough Kenyans died already? What else must happen to wake our leaders and armed forces from their slumber? Why the state of this unexplained inertia?

While I condemn the silence of our elected leaders, I get this impression that the Mungiki army has grown in leaps and bounds only compared to the Islamic Courts in Somalia.

The kind of arrogance and daring with which they extort cash from residents of Mathare with impunity indicates that they have formed a parallel government to that of President Kibaki complete with their own taxation system.

They have done this right next to Eastleigh Military Barracks; a sure sign that not even the Kenya Army can deal with them, let alone the once dreaded Fanya Fujo Uone of the Kenyatta era. To prove their point, they have ensured that the people they have displaced in Mathare Valley have camped right at the door steps of the Eastleigh Military Barracks!

What is happening in Kenya today is not only shameful to our country but painful too.

It is painful to realize that we have slowly allowed the state of lawlessness to creep into our society. It is impossible to believe that a democratically elected government, elected on the promise to keep the peace and security can sit back and watch as its citizens butcher one another. It is unthinkable that Kenyans would live to see this wanton destruction of human life happen in their life time.

It is impossible to believe that 30,000 police force, more thousands of administration police and many more thousands of military personnel, who are idle 12 months a year, cannot be deployed to eradicate if not exterminate a bunch of thugs called Mungiki, whose only claim to fame are crude weapons of the 19th. Century. Watching these animals cause mayhem makes many Kenyans wish they were never ruled by a leadership that has lost moral authority to lead.

Then I remembered my friend Brown Makotsi's story of how thugs used to harass, kill and rob them night in night out in Butere. Their militia tormentors were famously known as the Musimbiji brigade. They were a law unto themselves. Villagers would report them to the police, they would be arrested but the following day they would be back to cause more terror to families that had reported them.

The situation became so bad that the elite and the well to do members of the community decided to take the law into their own hands. They recruited their own army to hunt and kill all those Musumbiji brigade members. In just a few weeks, the survivors among the Musumbiji brigade were asking the police to jail them forever to avoid sure death in their villages. The hunters became the hunted. Today, livestock, bicycles and other property do not require overnight watchmen because there are no more thieves and robbers. They were exterminated.

Is this the road the Kenya government wants us to take?

I wonder.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

Jerry Okungu is a freelance political analyst based in Nairobi, Kenya. Jerry also serves as a Board Director at The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. Jerry has written extensively on issues affecting Kenya and the rest of Africa over the years. Other articles written by Jerry Okungu are available at this location

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