Kenya Socialist Web Site

22nd May 2006

 

MOI SHOULD BE IN PRISON, NOT PLAYING DIRTY POLITICS OF DIVIDE AND RULE

“KESDEMO believes that Moi should be tried in a court of law because there is massive evidence that could sustain a case against him so that he can spend the rest of his life in prison instead of loitering around Kenya delivering bogus political summons after running down the country during his 24 years reign of unmitigated terror”.


The Kenya Scandinavia Democratic Movement (KESDEMO) is deeply concerned that former Dictator Daniel arap Moi, a ruthless man who converted Kenya into a one Party dictatorship thereby triggering the 1982 coup, murdered thousands of innocent Kenyans in cold blood, looted billions of tax payer's money through corruption, promoted tribalism, encouraged nepotism, cemented inter-ethnic hatred, instigated bloody ethnic cleansing during the 90s for his political survival, massacred thousands of Kenyan citizens in the marginalized North Eastern Province (Wagalla massacre, Kibish massacre etc) and served Western Imperialism with zeal for 24 years,  is now  attempting to make a political come back using dirty politics he perfected during his long reign of darkness and death.

 

From Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first President who laid the grounds for neo-colonialism in our country, Moi inherited a well tested and iron-fisted method of totalitarianism which he used with abandon to crash his opponents at every opportunity and to assassinate his political rivals to maintain his grip on power. Jomo Kenyatta, the fake “founding father of the Kenyan Nation” is famous for his betrayal of the Mau Mau and his forgiveness of tainted home-guards like John Michuki (the Internal Security Minister) now terrorizing the media with terror gangs and harassing Kenyans in North Eastern Province with heavily armed military personnel.

 

Political assassinations

In his irritating public utterances, Moi has wondered aloud the crimes he committed that should precipitate a national outcry that he should stop meddling in politics by shutting his mouth while in retirement. The courage with which Moi continues with his defiance is a direct consequence of the failure of the Kibaki dictatorship to arrest the ex-despot after Narc came to power and the failure of the regime to set up a structure to investigate “Moi’s crimes against humanity”. Due to the huge volume of these crimes, KESDEMO wishes to give some headlines that could for ever confine Moi behind bars if they are investigated. Bringing Moi to face justice could put to a permanent end what is increasingly becoming “The Daniel arap Moi menace” fuelled by the ex-dictator’s arrogant and unwelcome public outbursts.

 
The Assassination of Owiti Ongili ( former MP), Robert Ouko (former Minister of International cooperation), Bishop Alexander Kipsang Muge, Ben Gethi (former Police Commissioner and General Service Unit – GSU - commandant), Mbuthia Gatoto (Gethi’s second in command) among others are just but few examples of Kenyans who lost their lives as a result of Moi’s policy of systematic assassination “Kenyatta style” of real or imagined opponents.

 

After Dr. Robert Ouko’s assassination, more than 15 witnesses linked to the Ouko murder case were either killed or made to disappear mysteriously under Moi's brutal and evil empire. As capitalist newspapers looking for sensation continue to give Moi coverage, all cases of bloody political assassinations under Moi remain unresolved.

 

During the assassination of Pio Gama Pinto, Kungu Karumba, Joseph Tom Mboya, Josiah Mwangi Kariuki and others, Moi was in government thus the former dictator is a living witness to every major political assassination in Kenya’s recent history. In the case of J.M. Kariuki, former Mau Mau detainee and MP for Nyandarua North, the mutilated body was found dumped in Manyatta Rochumbo by a Massai herdsman called Mosaitwa ole Tunda. JM’s family is still crying for justice in an assassination in which Moi must have been in the know because he was Vice resident under Kenyatta who later sat on a Report by a Parliamentary Committee that was set up to investigate the assassination.

 

Political executions, detentions and massacres

Hezekia Ochuka, leader of Kenya People’s Redemption Council (KPRC), Charles Oriwa Hongo, Robert Odhiambo Ndege, Blamwell Injeni Njeremani, Fenwicks Chesoli Obuon, Joseph Ogidi Obuon, Charles Mirasi Odawa, Walter Odira Ojode, Pancras Oteyo Okumu, Edward Adel Omolo, James Odemba Otieno and George Akoth Otila (all members of KPRC) were executed by Moi in July 1985 for political reasons, executions that Moi should be brought to answer for in a court of law instead of being allowed to issue hopeless political statements across the country.

 

Kenyans (like former student leader, Titus Adungosi) who escaped direct execution were simply sent to rot in prison where they were eventually eliminated in a top conspiracy that was masterminded by Moi’s lethal Special Branch. As Moi continues to open his mouth to promote dirty politics of hatred and division in Kenya, KESDEMO wishes to remind the former dictator that he is directly responsible for the illegal arrest and imprisonment of former students like Francis Amaye, Onyango Oloo, Franklin Ottawa, Martin Keya, Maurice Muthania, Joseph Onono and hundreds of other Kenyans, some of whom have never been traced to date.  

 

The long list of Kenyans Moi sent to prison arbitrarily includes more than 2,000 Kenya Air Force soldiers who were sent to rot in prison for as long as 22 years without reason and whose relatives are still crying for justice. Even as we write, the fate of those who were jailed by Moi is not clear. We have in mind Kenyans like Cpl N.I. Abwenje (jailed for 22 years), S. Pvt S.K. Boor (22 years), Cpt P.B. Chesoni (18 years), Cpt Kagoromo (20 years), Sgt M. Kisilu (20 years), Cpl C. Makana (20 years) among others. Definitely, Moi has a case to answer against these illustrious sons of Kenya some of who lost their lives in the “death chambers” that Kenyan prisons are known to be.

 

As part of a wider and dirty strategy to maintain his one Party dictatorship, Moi detained several opposition politicians, academics, students, workers and human rights activists as he, at the same time, brutally tortured, crippled, maimed, forced into exile or killed members of progressive and anti-imperialist Movements and organizations like the December 12th Movement, Mwakenya uprising, FERA among others. Most importantly, Moi was mainly keen on eliminating Kenyans who had clearly understood the need for both the overthrow of capitalism in Kenya and the defeat of Moi’s vicious capitalist class rule which ravaged Kenya for 24 years. Does Moi now think that Kenyans have forgotten his heinous crimes against the Kenyan people?

 

Further, Moi is responsible for the killing of  more than 5,000 Kenyans who perished during his bloody campaign of ethnic cleansing in the 90s. In 1980, 400 Kenyans perished in state-instigated massacres in Garissa, in 1982, more than 2,000 Kenyans were murdered after the coup while in 1984, more than 2,000 Kenyans were slaughtered by Moi’s agents in both Wajir and West Pokot. Does Moi have any moral authority to dictate through the media how the fourth coming by-elections in North Eastern province should be conducted or should he be arrested and brought to face justice? Moi’s crimes, which have been well documented, do not just cover assassinations, illegal arrests, detentions, human rights violations, disappearances or unspeakable massacres.

 

Politics of betrayal and collaboration with Imperialism

The former dictator is responsible for the looting and plunder of more than 300 billion Kenyan shillings from state coffers during his reign of terror, privatization of profitable state enterprises which resulted in thousands of job losses, piling foreign debts which never benefited Kenyans, supervising land grabbing by the rich, destroying domestic industry, opening of the Kenyan economy for massive foreign super-exploitation, running down Kenya’s infrastructure, grinding the health and education systems to a halt, creating huge slums all over Kenya especially in urban areas, abandoning the youth, promoting poverty and suffering on a mass scale, starving millions of Kenyans to death, selling Kenya to imperialism among other unforgivable crimes that are too numerous to be narrated here.

 

Unlike countries like Tanzania and Zambia which supported liberation movements in Africa, Moi constructed a pro-imperialist foreign policy which was anti-African liberation Movements especially in Southern African countries. For example, Moi sided with the West during the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and allowed Kenya to be used by imperialism as a satellite station to destabilize countries like Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe etc.

Every conscious Kenyan knows that during Moi's dictatorial and ruthless leadership which mainly served the interest of imperialism, Kenya became the headquarters of all Western spy and intelligence agencies, a legacy which was inherited by Kibaki. It was also during Moi’s reign that Kenya became a center of arms smuggling, money laundering and drug trafficking in East and Central Africa, illegal activities that Kibaki’s regime continues to promote.

 

When Moi was the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), he was constantly used by Western imperialism to work against African unity, a betrayal which culminated in Moi being used to deny Colonel  Mohammed Gadaffi to take over the Chairmanship of OAU in Libya. At each and every stage, Moi has been anti-Kenyan people, anti-African people, anti-Kenyan liberation Movements but pro-imperialists and pro-wealth grabbers who are milking Kenya dry.

Needless to say, former dictator Moi is directly responsible for the arrest of Abdulla Ocalan, the Chairman of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) who was arrested in Kenya and handed over to the Turkish authorities who continue to incarcerate him. Although the whole conspiracy was master minded by the CIA in conjunction with the Turkish regime, Moi was used to facilitate the operation in his capacity as a loyal puppet of imperialism. In handing over the PKK leader, the Kurdish liberation Movement suffered a major set back because of Moi's lack of common sense and tendency to boot-lick America. Throughout his 24 years of dictatorship corrupt Asian businessmen have been thinking for Moi, the last having been Kamlesh Pattni who masterminded the Goldenberg scandal Kibaki has been unable to address.

During Kenyatta and Moi's dictatorship, Kenya became a playground of Western military operations where the American marines (6th Fleet) and other NATO pact war ships were given a military base in Mombasa to counter the so called "Communist threat" under the Warsaw pact Treaty. By unashamedly accommodating foreign soldiers who were mainly “sex tourists” prying on young Kenyan girls especially at the coastal city of Mombasa, many young girls suffered brutal sexual molestation at the hands of adventurist sex tourists while some gilrs lost their lives.

 

We have in mind girls like Kabura who was strangled to death by an American Marine called Sandstrom during the 80s, a crime which forced the former Attoney General James Karugu to resign after Sandstrom was set free. British soldiers on military operations in North Eastern province routinely raped women and impregnated young girls, leaving numerous bastards behind, all in the name of Moi’s hospitality. Numerous Kenyans have been killed or crippled by unexploded bombs, land mines and other ammunition left behind by British soldiers. Some bomb and rape victims have only recently taken their cases to court to demand redress using their injuries and bastards left behind by British soldiers. How can Kenyans now forget and allow Moi to continue spilling dirty politics in retirement when the ex-dictator has very serious pending cases to answer?

Moi, the land grabber protected by President Mwai Kibaki
By haphazardly making provocative political statements, Moi is, in reality, trying to sanitize himself through puerile KANU style politics which he mastered and which makes opportunists and idiots in Kenya to refer to him as "Professor of politics". For KESDEMO, this is rubbish. From the days of colonialism, Moi has been an agent of white settlers who stole thousands of acres of land in Kenya. Although he is in the news “addressing issues”, Moi failed to address the question of land during his reign, a trend which Kibaki continues to follow as Moi tells Kenyans to respect Kibaki. The former dictator is himself one of the most well known land grabber being protected by Kibaki’s administration. President Kibaki is currently blocking and protecting land grabbers through his failure to release and take action on the so called “Ndung'u Land Report” which details land grabbing in Kenya.

Although Moi is now issuing useless political statements, he has never issued a single statement when it comes to the eviction by force of landless squatters especially those in Mau forest and in the Rift Valley. In these regions, Moi’s former Vice President and now President, Mwai Kibaki, together with the ex-dictator’s former British colonial home guard, John Njoroge Michuki (Kimendeero), have repeatedly been evicting people using scotched-earth policies like burning houses, torching Churches, burning schools and destroying food stores to deprive people of their means of survival.

 

As these serious crimes continue to be committed, government agents are also murdering and raping poor squatters who cannot afford lawyers to defend them. Why has three regimes failed to resettle the landless in Kenya more that 40 years after fake Uhuru and why is both Moi and Kibaki not talking about the issue of landlessness which is more urgent?

Although he is openly campaigning for KANU, Moi has not said a word about the hundreds of Kenyans who are under attack by the government in the name of  “disarmament”. Today there is a vicious and brutal military campaign going on in Western Pokot, other parts of Rift Valley and North Eastern Provinces. In these areas, the Kenyan army is committing terrible human rights violations by burning houses, raping women, mass arresting old men and children thereby causing massive suffering of marginalized and neglected Kenyans. Why has Moi been silent in the face of fascism carried by military and Para-military forces and where military helicopters, tanks, armed personnel carriers, automatic guns, mortars etc are beings used unscrupulously to kill and disperse the marginalized Kenyans into Uganda and other neighboring countries?

In these marginalized areas, there are no roads, hospitals, clinics, schools, universities, running water and industries while life expectancy is below 40 years. What is available is the Catholic church trying to convert Muslims into Christianity. The child mortality rate is high while malnutrition of children and deaths out of treatable diseases is the norm. Life styles of populations in these areas of Kenya are still similar to those of the days when white pioneers of colonialism arrived in Kenya to pave the way for land grabbing and exploitation of the country’s human and natural resources.

Moi should be locked in Kamiti Maximum Security prison
Instead of being allowed to deceive Kenyans with politics of opportunism and boot licking, Moi should be in Kamiti maximum security prison together with his former cohorts. KESDEMO is appealing to Kenyans to demand the bringing to justice of Moi and all those who committed human rights violations, economic crimes, murder, torture, ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity, just like Chilean people who have been demanding the execution of former dictator Agustino Pinochet.

 

Former Argentinian military dictators are being hunted for crimes committed during their reign of terror and there is no reason why Moi should be allowed to walk free in Kenya where he continues to spit rubbish thinking Kenyans are still living in darkness. Israelis continue to hunt Nazi war criminals who committed acts of murder more than 60 years ago so why should Kenyans "forgive and forget" about Moi's crimes and atrocities just as Kenyatta forgave home guards who killed and maimed Mau Mau freedom fighters?

Moi is irritating Kenyans today and undermining the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) because ODM failed to heed KESDEMO's advice that they mobilize Kenyans for snap elections after they won the referendum. Immediately after the referendum victory, ODM had the opportunity to remove Kibaki from power and prevent him from protecting his class ally - Moi - who is now being used by the same Kibaki to divide and strangulate ODM because ODM has lost political initiative.

 

Members of KESDEMO believe that, ODM is paying the price of political short-sightedness and allowing well known traitors, political prostitutes, opportunists, thugs, human rights violators, tax evaders, land grabbers and economic criminals who have never sided with the exploited Kenyan people to penetrate and sabotage the Movement from within.

Moi's re-entry into politics is a confirmation that the privileged capitalist ruling class will always protect themselves regardless of the crimes committed in office unless the masses are ready to rise and say "No". Kibaki has not brought to justice a single thief (Anglo-leasing, Goldenberg etc) and this is why he continues to allow Moi, one of the most corrupt former dictators, to roam around the country sowing seeds of discord to marginalized communities who suffered under him and who continue to suffer marginalization under Kibaki.

 

Kenyans must reject fake leaders like Kibaki and Moi whose history is well known and documented since the days of fake independence. KESDEMO is appealing to North Eastern people and elsewhere in Kenya to ignore, reject and boycott Moi's hopeless political meetings and messages which are being promoted by the capitalist media to divide Kenyans and to spread useless sensation.

If forces behind KESDEMO were in power in Kenya today, Moi and all those who have committed political murders, economic crimes and human rights violations would be in prison. Those who have grabbed land, protected foreigners who have committed murder, sold the country to imperialism and converted the country into a haven for money laundering, human and drug trafficking would also be rotting in prison.

 

Further, those who have promoted wanton exploitation of workers, stolen tax payer’s money through corruption, killed justice and promoted economic and mental slavery of millions of Kenyans would all be rotting in special prisons after facing justice. KESDEMO believes that Moi should be tried in a court of law because there is massive evidence that could sustain a case against him so that he can spend the rest of his life in prison instead of loitering around Kenya delivering bogus political summons after running down the country during his 24 years reign of terror.

 

Martin Ngatia:

ngatia_martin@hotmail.com

 

Okoth Osewe:

osewe@hotmail.com

KESDEMO Central committee

 

KENYA SCANDINAVIA DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT (KESDEMO)

Kenya People's Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO-Mapinduzi), Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA), Kenya Social Forum in Norway (KSF - Norway), Muungano Ya Akina Mama Scandinavia, Organization of Kenyans in Denmark (OKD) and Association of Kenyan Students in Finland (AKSIF). ALLIES supporting statement: Kenya Socialist Community in London and Kenya Democracy Project (KDP).

 

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Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA)
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