Kenya Socialist Web Site
HARAKATI ISSUE NO. 7 (December 1999/January 2000)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MURDER IN THE AIR AS LUO MAFIA STRIKES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 29th November, Jared Aroka, Joseph Goga, Meshack Otieno and Antony
Adiwa, four LE hoodlums, burst into the house of Mr. Okoth Osewe with an
LE statement which they used as a "decree" to break the law, threaten, harass,
invade and confiscate property, all in the name of LE/KANU cooperation. It
was the quick intervention of the police that saved the situation. The invasion
is now a police case as Mr. Osewe has filed criminal charges against the
four. What the infamous invasion has exposed is the extent to which political
opportunists are ready to go to guzzle blood money.
As we went to press, the whole of the LE establishment in Stockholm had gone
underground, unable to cope with local and International condemnation of
the invasion. The incident, which has become a major topic in Stockholm,
was a major fiasco that will haunt LE members for a long time. The crude
move that was seen by KYMS as an attempt to silence Mr. Osewe was a classic
example of a KANU masterminded operation.
To understand the pathogeneses of the whole invasion a quick survey of the
backgrounds of the invaders may be of help. Until the invasion, nobody knew
that Joseph Goga, Meshack Otieno and Antony Adiwa were connected to LE in
any way. What was known is that until 1995, both Joseph and Meshack operated
Kamukunji, an exclusive Kenyan club that used to be at the basement of the
Kenyan embassy in Stockholm. The club was closed down by the Swedish authorities
after it was discovered that tax-free alcohol was being sold at the club
illegally through the conspiracy of the scandal-ridden and discredited Kenyan
embassy in Stockholm.
The closure of the club was masterminded by Mr. Onyango Sumba, a Kenyan exile,
who was chucked out of the club by both Joseph and Meshack to "stop him from
discussing politics" in the club. Mr. Sumba closed down Kamukunji using the
illegal dealings at the club as excuse. The closure of the club was a big
scandal that was well covered in both the Swedish and Kenyan media. Three
weeks before the invasion, Joseph attempted to sell two computers to Kultur
Centrum (Culture Centre) in Stockholm but failed when a worker conversant
with computers alerted the organisation that the computers were old models
that were not worth the price that had been tagged on them.
Jared Aroka, a virtual introvert, is also a political new comer in Stockholm
who was introduced to Raila Odinga by Mr. Onyango Sumba early last year.
Since then, he has been trying to position himself as the leader of NDP Scandinavia
as a way of facilitating the link between LE and KANU through the Kenyan
embassy in Stockholm. At the centre of this link is the issue of fund-raising
for NDP 2002 elections, Tom Ojanga's Parliamentary ambitions in Rangwe constituency
and LE projects in Kenya". The current showpiece in the long list of LE projects
is the "IT project" which has manifested itself through the delivery of computers
to Kenyan schools in a deal that critics have said, is shady.
In Stockholm, the name of one of the invaders is permanently associated with
embezzlement of public funds. This is the case, whether one is talking about
Kisero, a web-based Luo organisation, Rawat (a defunct Luo organisation that
operated from Stockholm), or the "Opwapo Ogaye funds". Opwapo is a Kenyan
exile who died before Kenyans could raise enough money to enable him get
specialised treatment in Cuba during the early nineties. By then, Jared was
one of those in charge of the Opwapo funds. According to one Kenyan who was
at the centre of these funds, the late Opwapo could have travelled to Cuba
if funds had not been embezzled.
Kenneth Aroka, the younger brother of Jared and Chairman of LE, is a pompous
bloke who displays massive excitement with contacts with the Kenyan ambassador
to Scandinavia Mr. Michael Sergon. Since he surfaced from obscurity in July
this year under the ragged LE outfit, he has been cultivating the drab image
of a well-placed "capitalist elite" sailing in the high seas of wealth and
abundance. Because Jared has had credibility problems arising out of inexplicable
underhand dealings, LE has been pushing the obscure Ken on the front-line
to help the organisation fight against charges that it is being led by tainted
characters. It is for this reason that Jared holds no position in LE.
With the invasion, many Kenyans openly question why LE members have suddenly
opened a war with Kenyan exiles, attack asylum seekers and engage in dirty
politics reserved for KANU sycophants. A common trait evident among the invaders
is their affinity to break the law. One of them has been to prison while
two others own decrepit cars which they drive around Stockholm without driving
licenses (a very serious crime in Sweden). This trail of information is open
secret in Stockholm.
Why did LE decide to attack HARAKATI and invade the house of one of it's
Editors? The answer is that since it's emergence, HARAKATI has been in the
fore-front in exposing the stealthy designs of LE and the organisation's
links with the Moi/KANU dictatorship in a way that has complicated the group's
operations. After HARAKATI No 6 went out, information from the Embassy has
revealed that the Ambassador had expressed dissatisfaction with LE members
whom he accused of leaking sensitive and confidential information to KYMS
members. The pinpoint accuracy and extraordinary detail that was carried
in the last HARAKATI about the LE-Embassy connections has been threatening
the very life-line of the LE-Embassy relationship.
Following the HARAKATI reports, a source at the Foreign Affairs Office in
Kenya has informed KYMS that the Ministry has served the Ambassador with
a warning letter due to alleged corruption and shady dealings that are inconsistent
with a diplomat of his standing. As we write, certain Embassy staff have
not been paid their salaries for three months, forcing a Swedish employee
at the Kenya Tourist Office to quit his job. We understand that salaries
of surbodinate staff members at the Embassy are always late while vital equipment
at the embassy are out of function. Following the re-call of James Chemai
(the former Kenyan Ambassador to the USA) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
a few months ago, Mr. Sergon has reason to worry about his possible recall
by the Dictatorship. If he is to fight for his survival in Office, sacrificing
LE by abandoning the organisation will be his option number one.
Another reason for the LE invasion is linked to the crisis within LE. A major
impact of the story published in HARAKATI No. 6 was the side-lining of Gordon
Osodo who was advised by the LE leadership to keep a "low profile" after
his criminal record that LE has been trying to hide was exposed. Likewise,
Tom Ojanga, the LE hawk whose every posting at Kenyaonline discussion group
draws condemnation, was also advised to keep his mouth shut as other LE members
worked on a damage control mechanism. The problem is that the HARAKATI articles
found LE members with their pants down, sparking off suspicion, blames and
counter-blames as to how information had been leaked out. The publication
of names of individuals who were not yet openly associated with LE put these
members in an awkward situation as the organisation battled to save it's
image in the eyes of the Kenyan Ambassador Mr. Sergon. Threatened with a
possible split within it's ranks and loss of contact with the Kenyan Embassy,
a new plan had to be hatched to show that something was being done to deal
with the HARAKATI problem.
At the time of the invasion, the exposure of LE in HARAKATI had led to virtual
cold-blood between the representative of NDP Scandinavia and the Kenyan Embassy
in Stockholm. This was because the NDP leadership in Scandinavia had been
kept in the dark about the secretive LE-Embassy courtship, a ritual whose
elaborate details meant that NDP Scandinavia should have been brought into
the picture. The attempt to sideline the NDP Rep in Scandinavia was brought
out clearly in the HARAKATI articles thereby exposing the hidden agenda that
LE did not want anybody to know about.
For NDP headquarters in Nairobi, developments in Stockholm were pushing the
party into taking a stand as to who was in control of the situation in Scandinavia
- Mr. Onyango Sumba or Mr. Jared Aroka. When HARAKATI splashed the story,
LE strategists were still in the process of getting Raila Odinga to assume
LE patronage and to get NDP Nairobi to endorse the organisation and give
it legitimacy in the eyes of the Kenyan Ambassador Mr. Sergon, a process
that was nipped in the bud by revelations of behind the scenes LE-Embassy
dealings. In fact, the HARAKATI revelations seem to have endangered possibilities
of Raila assuming LE patronage because it exposed a dirty side of LE that
may have been unknown to Raila. With KYMS having identified LE as a group
of self-seeking opportunists that needed to be exposed, LE leadership seem
to have arrived at the conclusion that a fight back was necessary. For KYMS,
the invasion was a declaration of war.
Mr. Okoth Osewe, a left-wing journalist who is also trained in Veterinary
sciences, is in exile because of "The Power Base", a book he wrote about
the murder of the late Dr. Robert Ouko. In June 1995, the script of this
book was examined by top refugee lawyers in Sweden in a public tribunal where
the case was tried together with the cases of other refugees across the world.
The lawyers at the Tribunal concluded that Mr. Osewe ought to be granted
asylum because "he had a very clear case".
One of the invaders who has abandoned the organisation and confessed to two
Kenyans has said that at the time of the invasion, the computer in Osewe's
house had a price on it because the invaders believed that the script of
The Power Base is in this computer. Mr. Osewe was granted political asylum
in March 1996 following a confidential report from the Swedish Embassy in
Nairobi that suggested that his life would be in danger if he was repatriated
to Kenya. By trying to seize the computer, the invaders were actually looking
for a prized commodity for sale. The publication of the The power Base has
been blocked because of the safety of witnesses still in Kenya and unresolved
questions of libel.
However, it was the international dimension of the Stockholm invasion that
widened the picture and brought to light the presence of "Luo Mafia" in Europe
and "murder in the air". Bob Awuor, a Kenyan who jumped out of LE because
of the organisation's links with the KANU dictatorship, was the first to
sound the alarm. In an e-mail widely circulated in the net, Mr. Awuor detailed
events within LE just before the invasion in a way that provoked Kenyans
into calling for an investigation. It emerged that the invasion in Osewe's
house was also linked to efforts to silence both Bob and Carrey Francis Onyango,
a Kenyan who lives in Vienna and who was expelled from LE after he raised
questions about the credibility of certain members of the group.
The Osewe invasion plan seem to have been hatched by Kenyan security forces
operating in Stockholm soon after a Cabinet Minister visited Stockholm to
meet KANU sychophants. The discrete entrance into Osewe's house, the huge
muscle power that was involved, the lame excuse to gain access into the house
and the timing of the operation at night made the invasion look like something
that has been in the cooking pot for weeks. The LE statement the group delivered
was dated 12th November, 17 days before the operation was executed. KYMS
believes that the operation was delayed for almost two weeks following the
death of Osewe's father who passed away a day after the statement was written.
According to leakages that have so far been gathered by KYMS, the plan was
based on seizing Osewe's computer to be used as a source of intelligence
material or eliminating the Kenyan journalist then blaming the incident on
Swedish Neo-nazis. Three weeks before the incident, Mr. Osewe's name had
appeared in the Swedish Neo-nazi death-list that contained a total of 747
names. The list, which became the subject of discussion in Swedish national
TV, mainly contained names of anti-racists and left wing activists. Mr. Osewe
has been in the fore-front in the fight against racism in Sweden. At least
one Swede whose name appeared in the list has been assassinated by the Neo-nazis.
For KYMS, the invasion underlines the need for Kenyan political activists
around the world to take note about alarms that have been raised about the
new Kenyan security forces charged with dealing with political opponents
abroad. LE is an organisation being used by the dictator to frustrate efforts
aimed at bringing about genuine political change in our country.
Opposition in Kenya has been humbled and given that the opposition has no
programmatic alternative to KANU, it has become harmless. KYMS appeals to
all Kenyans who understand the hollow agendas of organisations like LE to
team up and help expose these organisations. Their members should be isolated
and condemned because of their retrogressive role in the struggle to liberate
our country from Neo-colonialism. The situation in Kenya needs revolutionary
ideas and co-ordination of work at all fronts with progressive individuals
or groups who are interested in changing the situation. In this effort, there
is no room for opportunists and other reactionary forces who have aligned
themselves with the enemy to sabotage the struggle using some of the dirtiest
tricks in the book.
Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance
(KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com
Home
Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance
(KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com
Home