By: Gwada Ogot
In Kenya, assassinations have been a regular feature of its succession politics. Kenyan scholar, Charles N. Mwaura in a study paper titled – ‘Political Succession and Related Conflicts in Kenya,’ notes that when elite interests broaden, violent conflict does manifest itself through assassinations of leading political figures.

The conflicts, he writes, often relatively restrain and characterize by competition among elites for political power and restrict within the status-quo. Assassinations and murder, he says, become alternative instruments of elite competition against those who threaten the ruling faction and he mentions Pio Pinto, Tom Mboya, Ronald Ngala, J.M. Kariuki, Robert Ouko and Alexander Muge, as key casualties in the first three decades of elite contest.

Tom Mboya was just 39 years old when he was shot dead by a lone gunman in 1969 while Josiah Mwangi Karuiki was barely 42 years old in 1975 when he was murdered by suspected state agents in horrid circumstances.

Public suspicion for their murders was largely directed at heirs-apparent within the Kenyatta government. Mboya and Karuiki emanated from Kenya’s two rival ethnic groups- the Luo and Kikuyu but despite this, both remained popular in each other’s ethnic backyards.

Several factors however eradicate murder as a plausible action today. Above the fact that the nation’s newly promulgated constitution bars any presidential candidate with pending criminal charges from contesting elections, the ongoing actions against senior members of the status quo by the International Criminal Court at The Hague and the unfolding events in the Middle East and North Africa also contribute.

Playlist: Kenya — Political Assassinations [ MORE FROM YOUTUBE ]

   Independent Kenya Leaders(Early sixties) – From Left: Paul Ngei, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Jomo Kenyatta,
   Tom Mboya and Njoroge Mungai

So in the fourth decade, play in the Kibaki succession manifests through Courts of Law, Media and Parliament. The variation is that while the assassinations of the first three decades’ were executed as early pre-emptive actions, the fourth decade is typified by new media character assassination and criminal proceedings. Yet, in spite of this, murder cannot be completely ruled out in the Kibaki succession.

In his study of Conflict in Africa, T. William Zartman, identifies attempts by post-colonial regimes to self-consolidate and to control national political space as a primary cause of conflict including external forces with vested interest in who captures state power.

The chilling assassination of Dr. Robert Ouko in 1982 provides sufficient illustration. Dr. Ouko was found murdered hardly a month after a trip to America, during which he was supposedly identified by American government officials as a possible successor to then president Moi.

Currently, several presidential contenders face serious criminal allegations- most from the status quo, in effect validating Mwaura’s contention of an exclusive contest. The main alter of sacrifice has been the internet including the traditional media, courts and of course parliament.

Hon. Moses Wetangula, the immediate former Minister for Foreign Affairs and new leader of the Ford Kenya Party, was compelled to step down from office after serious corruption accusations were tabled against him in parliament. Regardless of this, formal charges have yet to be instituted against him.

Another contender, Eugene Wamalwa, the 43 year old Member of Parliament for Saboti constituency and younger brother to former vice president, the late Michael Wamalwa also faced mention in parliament on allegations of drug dealing just as he was trying to kick start his presidential bid.

Likewise, secondary aspirants like Jazz player Joseph Hellon and his friend turned foe Quincy Timberlake haven’t been spared internet sleaze and court action either. Roundly shred on the internet, Hellon was in addition humiliated in a much publicized house eviction while Timberlake was locked up for days before being arraigned in court as a suspected illegal alien. Both actions followed their launch of the Placenta Party and declaration to contest the presidency.

However, the matter of William Ruto, 44 and 48 years old Uhuru Kenyatta, son to Kenya’s independence leader, Jomo Kenyatta attracts particular mention. Both face criminal charges at The Hague and therefore stand technically barred from contesting the presidency in 2012 unless acquitted. Besides, there is the historical irony of Uhuru’s case owing to events surrounding his father’s succession and the potential impact of their trials on the Kibaki succession.

Rightly or wrongly, both fault presidential rival and status quo compatriot Prime Minister Odinga for their predicament, in circumstances they directly link to the Kibaki succession.

Messrs. Ruto, Uhuru and Raila share a knotty history since the 1998 cooperation and subsequent merger between the Kenya African National Union (KANU) and the National Democratic Party (NDP) in 2002. All could lose out on the presidency in related but nevertheless completely different circumstances courtesy of their present quandary.

Whether by design or default, with the exception of Uhuru Kenyatta, all the Kibaki succession casualties hail from the larger Western Kenya. The issue here is not the guilt or innocence of these individuals- for that is the courts business-but rather the indication of a regional consolidation stratagem when beamed from Kenya’s fractured political and ethno-geographic fabric.

Likewise, frequent accusations from a house of representatives littered with men and women of straw, raises eyebrows, principally in regard to the current Rota of who is tied first and next for guillotine.

As the Kibaki succession date draws closer, the message, especially to young presidential aspirants is clear- Beware!

Yet in practice, admonition hardly counts where political ambitions are concerned and more candidates are expected. As Marcus Garvey once fittingly opined- ‘Men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences’- and the trillion dollar question is- Who next?

By MATHIAS RINGA

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Monday continued his attack on President Kibaki’s governing style, describing it as Jua Kali (informal) and “primitive”.

Expressing disappointment at President Kibaki’s creation of new districts, Mr Odinga said only Parliament had authority to do so.

“President Kibaki is behaving in the wrong way. The districts are too many to an extent that district commissioners board matatus to attend functions.

“According to the Constitution, the President does not have powers to create districts. I have not been consulted. Some Kenyans have not even asked for them,” he said.

“Where is the need for a boundary commission when somebody is creating the districts single-handedly?” he asked.

“Why is the President usurping the powers of Parliament? There should be rule of law. The President is running the government in a Jua Kali and primitive way,” said Mr Odinga.

Mr Odinga was addressing the media at the Mombasa Beach Hotel after launching a national oceans and fisheries policy. On Sunday he accused President Kibaki of contradicting him on major government decisions.

   Prime Minister Raila Odinga (centre), Fisheries minister Paul Otuoma (left) and local residents at Mombasa’s Mkomani area.

Mr Odinga urged President Kibaki to seek and respect the opinion of coalition partners before issuing any policy directive on matters pertaining to the governance of Kenya.

He said the President should consult him before making public government’s stance on issues that require consensus and full approval of the coalitions.

“I am the Prime Minister and President Kibaki should be courteous enough to consult me as his partner in this coalition … it makes me feel embarrassed before the public when he contradicts or makes decisions of national importance without my knowledge.”

Decisive action

The PM said majority of Kenyans were fast running out of patience with the constant wrangling and inconsistencies in the management of the country due to the widening polarity among ministers.

Mr Odinga gave the government one year to embrace reforms or else ODM “would take a decisive action”. The PM tore through provincial commissioner Ernest Munyi for not attending the function.

“How could the PC not attend? It shows clearly that the President told him not to come here, and not the Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura.

“Mr Muthaura is a mere PS so I cannot blame him. I share equal power with the President. I wonder why he disrespects me. There were no toilet facilities and even a red carpet to honour me,” he said.

Mr Odinga said the meeting at Kilaguni Lodge fell apart because President Kibaki’s team refused to discuss issues pertaining to the management of the Grand Coalition.

He said the agenda of the meeting was to focus on the achievements and the shortcomings of the coalition. He said there was too much monopoly on the President’s side, with one-sided public appointments.

Solved amicably

The PM at the same time hit out at Government spokesman Alfred Mutua saying he was fond of giving press statements on government matters without consulting the authorities.

On Migingo Island, the PM reiterated that the island belonged to Kenya but said the dispute would be solved amicably. He, however, said the island belongs to Kenya and failed to understand why Uganda was after the island despite the fact that together with Tanzania they own more than 90 per cent of the Lake Victoria.

“Why should we fight because of fish? There is no need of going to war,” he said.

Envoys call on leaders to end bickering and deliver promises

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This is an example of the CIA Meddling in African Affairs during the cold-war era
| Other CIA activities in Africa |

By Douglas Okwatch

Fresh details of a conspiracy that could have provided a motive for the assassination of Cabinet Minister Thomas Joseph Mboya have emerged ahead of the 39th year since his death.

Kenyatta
The CIA appears to have recruited the flamboyant minister and former trade unionist in a heavily funded “selective liberation” programme to isolate Kenya’s founding President Jomo Kenyatta, who the American spy agency labelled as “unsafe.”

Declassified information in an undated issue of Ramparts, an American political and literary magazine published in the 1960s and early 1970s, accessed by The Standard at the Kenya National Archives, shows an elaborate conspiracy by CIA to prop up Mboya and isolate Kenyatta.

Ramparts closed shop in 1975. Whether this scheme sowed seeds of suspicion and mistrust between Kenyatta and Mboya, who at the time of his assassination was the Economic Planning minister and Kamukunji MP, is a matter for further investigation.

The revelations come four months after Mboya’s widow, Pamela, wrote to Mr Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general who also chaired talks that ended political violence in Kenya early in the year, asking that the matter be investigated afresh by a truth commission.

“The assassination of my husband, like others after him, is a matter that has remained shrouded in mystery and speculation, and which has been avoided by successive regimes in this country,” she wrote.

Trail of Questions

In a telephone conversation with this writer last month, Mrs Mboya promised to “drop the bombshell” in an interview. But she later changed her mind. Her last word was that she would spill the beans at an “appropriate time.”

Questions also abound on whether the convicted assassin, Nahashon Njenga Njoroge, was actually executed. The testimony of the assassin’s own brother and anecdotal evidence that he has been seen by a retired military officer, among other claims, pile on the doubts of his execution.

Mboya
Secret letters, also declassified, further show that Mboya had a particularly tumultuous relationship with Mr Mbiyu Koinange, a minister and power broker of the Kenyatta presidency.

In one instance, Koinange wrote an emotional letter to Kenyatta to defend himself against allegations of disloyalty by Mboya.

“Sir, you know my loyalty to you personally, to our Kanu party; of my long loyalty to Kenya and latterly my loyalty to our new independent Council of Ministers.”

“My loyalty is beyond doubt, therefore, my Prime Minister. I frankly feel that there is no need for me to reply to Mr Mboya’s letter.”

“It is unfortunate, ill-timed, egoistic and, if I may say so, an irresponsible letter which is skilfully designed by one of my colleagues to endanger the good working spirit among us.”

Koinange was then Minister of State in the Office of the President and one of the most powerful figures in the Government. He died in September 1981.

The secret letters in our possession cover the period between 1961 and 1966. Desperate to extricate himself from the tag of traitor, Mboya, in a letter on March 11, 1961, pleaded with Kenyatta, who was languishing in a Lodwar jail: “I’d hate to appear a hero at your expense.”

He attached copies of various statements he had made in meetings with the Governor for Kenyatta’s perusal. The move appeared to capture his own internal consciousness that Kenyatta may have begun to perceive him as a threat.

The letters also reveal how the CIA used Kenyatta to finish Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, his Vice-President, politically by amending the Constitution to his office of all powers.

Traitor or nationalist?

Ramparts reported that: “The CIA programme in Kenya could be summed up as one of selective liberation. The chief beneficiary was Tom Mboya who, in 1953, became general secretary of the Kenya Federation of Labour.”

Koinange
Both a credible nationalist and an economic conservative, Mboya who was popularly known as ‘TJ’, was ideal for CIA’s purpose. The main nationalist hero and eventual chief of state, Kenyatta, was not considered “sufficiently safe” owing to his initial deep socialist leanings, the dossier said.

Ramparts quotes Mboya as saying: “Those proven codes of conduct in the African societies, which have over the ages conferred dignity on our people and afforded them security regardless of their station in life.

“I refer to the universal charity, which characterises our societies, and I refer to the African thought processes and cosmological ideas, which regard men, not as a social means, but as an end and entity in society.”

This powerful quote not only captures Mboya’s own prescription of African socialism, which endeared him to the West and made the CIA view his policy as safe, but it also paints the picture of an articulate, sophisticated and ambitious political thinker.

Soon after, Mboya joined the CIA jet set, travelling around the world from Oxford in the UK to Calcutta in India on funds from such conduits as the Africa Bureau and from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

ICFTU, which played a key role in Kenya’s independence through trade unionism, is an aggregation of international trade union secretariats set up in 1949 to counter an upsurge of left-wing trade unionism outside the communist bloc, according to Ramparts. The CIA allegedly funded operations at the time.

But when George Cabot Lodge, one of the directors of the ICFTU, made the statement (believed to have been in specific reference to Mboya at the time) that “the obscure trade unionist of today may well be the president or prime minister of tomorrow,” he left no doubt about Mboya’s personal ambitions and by extension the CIA’s scheme of things.

Initially, CIA’s natural strategy was to underwrite Mboya and his labour federation as a force against Kenyatta. But when tact changed in accordance with the world order and the CIA’s new priorities, it was agreed that Western labour groups stop funding Mboya.

An accommodation with Kenyatta was now thought necessary, particularly to ensure that he did not support rebels in Congo, and to get him to close ranks against the agitating Kenyan left.

But the die had been cast. The CIA, through its activities, had effectively propped up Mboya as a possible future President of Kenya. That threat was real during Kenyatta’s time and even at the dawn of the second decade of his leadership, according to Ramparts.

It was a strategy that the CIA would use again to the benefit of Kenyatta against Odinga — use the credibility of the appropriate militant to crush the rest. The CIA link, which Mboya vigorously fought to distance himself with, would be used later to fight him politically by branding him a traitor and a man who could not to be trusted. He wrote lengthy responses in his defence.

But had the CIA sowed enough seeds of wrath between Mboya and the political establishment in Kenya to provide someone with enough reason to kill him?

REFERENCES:

1. Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya’s murder & the return of one-party State
2. Ready or Not – TIME
3. Setback for Tom – TIME

Writes: David Ochami

President Kibaki has made new friends in a quiet shift of ideology — a move causing disquiet among Kenya’s traditional Western allies, The Standard can reveal.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his newfound friends, (clockwise) Chinese President Hu jintao, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

The exposure of a series of deals discreetly cut between Nairobi and Tripoli illustrates how close Kibaki has become to Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

State House also started courting China, Iran and Eastern European backers following strained relations with Western allies appalled by spiraling corruption and bad governance.

Under Kibaki, China and Iran’s diplomatic and economic influence have risen, converse to falling relations with the West.

But it is Gaddafi, whose latest ‘incursions’ into Kenya has touched off alarm bells. Tripoli’s activities have created the worrying impression of a ‘takeover.’

Kenya’s traditional western allies are jittery over the ideological shift….[MORE >>]

REFERENCES:

1. Uproar over Kenya hotel sale to Libya
2. Kenya government gifts major hotel to Libya for peanuts
3. 20 reasons why President Kibaki’s Government should be overthrown by Kenyans
4. Hotel saga reveals Kenya cracks