Throughout Tuesday, December 11th, the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm has been in deep crisis precipitated by an impending political showdown between the Kenyan Ambassador and a group of Kenyans who believe that the Ambassador is not acting in the interest of Kenyans in Scandinavia.
According to one independent source and top KISS agents who have prioritized the case “as a matter of National concern”, the Ambassador called a crisis meeting at the Embassy late Tuesday afternoon and it was not until past 17.00 hrs that the meeting ended.
Key officials who attended the meeting were Her Excellency Mrs Purity Muhindi, her Deputy Ms Josephine Awuor, Mr. George Kinyua, the outgoing First secretary and Mr. Daniel Kottut, the incoming First secretary.
Top on the agenda was the question of strategy on how to deal with the situation at Jamhuri reception which, the Embassy fears, might turn ugly if it is invaded by a group of angry Kenyans baying for the Ambassador’s jugular.
There is general panic at the Embassy because the Mission does not have concrete Intelligence to work with. The first problem is that Embassy security does not know the identities of individuals involved in the operation although KSB has established that the group has at least fifteen hard-core members divided into two platoons, one being led by Mr. Tarus Mbugua (Who is also the Commander in Chief) and another one being led by Mr. William Twitoek (The Deputy Commander). Secondly, the Embassy does not know what the group intends to do and this weakness has hampered the development of any serious counter-plan.
Beside the fifteen solders who will lead the main assault, there is an unknown number of “foot solders” which includes at least two radical Kenyan ladies who have fought many battles in Stockholm and who are completely upset with Ambassador Purity. The fifteen are veterans of the “Cheruiyot Rescue Operation” and the Jamhuri disruption (dubbed “Operation Jamhuri”) will be their second assignment before Christmas.
According to latest Intelligence briefings by KISS agents, the foot solders will enter the main hall at Plaza Hotel with the stealth of terrorist bombers, then keep cool to await for an opportune moment to “press the button” ie strike.
At the Embassy crisis meeting, there was a lot of desperation as to how the Embassy should handle the crisis. The first option that was put on the table is that the Embassy should inform police about the impending threat and if the cops ask for evidence, then the Ambassador could refer them to KSB where the threat is being dissected in every direction by “expert surgeons”.
However, there is what police can do and what they cannot do. The Swedish police are not like the Kenyan police who could have rushed to the place with rungus and tear-gas. The Embassy will have to show that the group of Kenyans are committing a crime before police can move in.
EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STRATEGIS AT “OPERATION JAMHURI”
If the group have a permit to demonstrate, the work of the police will only be to ensure that the demo is peaceful regardless of the amount of noise they are making outside the venue. If the group have no permit to demonstrate, it will still be difficult for police to move them away from the venue if they convert the action into a picket outside the Hotel. What this means is that they will have to be less than ten people standing outside the Hotel entrance and operate without a public address system.
They will have to stand at a location considered a “public area” because if they are standing within the precinct of the Hotel lobby, the police will have the right to move them away. If, on the other hand, they are on public ground, the police will simply have to watch them from a distance and wait.
Given the geography of Plaza Hotel, “public ground” begins just about two meters or so from the entrance and this means that the group will have the possibility of getting in good contact with each and every person entering the Hotel to attend the reception.
The serious damage that the group could inflict if they go for the “picket strategy” is that they will be able to talk to anybody attending the reception and try to convince them to boycott the event through arguments based on Cheruiyot’s attempted kidnap and other anti Purity propaganda. Depending on the level of organization, the group might deprive the Embassy of the crowd they need to call the event a reception because they can be able to turn people away without police intervention.
With this strategy, the police will not be able to stop members of the group from talking to people entering the Hotel as long as those people stop to talk to them. If they are creative, the group could print some anti-Purity leaf-lets for distribution outside the Hotel. This is allowed during a picket. As long as they are peaceful, the police will not act. If the Embassy is planning to call in police as per decisions at the Tuesday crisis meeting, this move will not prevent action. That is the easy part.
The harder nut that will be difficult to crack could be the group’s “Internal strategy” ie what they will do once they smuggle in activists posing as “ordinary guests”. The activists could begin to engage the non Kenyan guests in discussions directed against Purity to alert them that the reception they were attending had serious problems.
Once they capture the attention of these guests, they should be able to pass over anti-Purity leaf-lets to them and once everybody begins to read, attention will be directed towards Cheruiyot and the problem Kenyans are facing with Purity and company at the Kenyan embassy. This kind of action will have the powerful psychological effect of lowering spirits at the reception and as the guests settle down after understanding that there is a problem, the group could advance into a new stage of the struggle.
This kind of strategy will be difficult to deal with because as long as they are peaceful, it will be impossible for the Embassy or security guards at the hotel to stop the activists from talking to people or giving them leaf-lets to read. As a defence mechanism, the group could claim that the leaf-lets contain important information and serious questions about Kenya’s independence which was being celebrated.
A ROTTEN EGG OR A CAKE ON THE FACE OF HER EXCELLENCY
If she attends the function, it is known from previous experiences that the Ambassador will be readily available in a Kitenge dress (complete with a head dress) and walking around majestically as she tries to shake hands with guests, smile with Wakenya and carry herself around in a moment of mingling with Wananchi. It is at this point that the Ambassador could be made to answer difficult questions.
If there are members of the group that are ready to be arrested, then the situation will, most likely, turn ugly because those who are ready for police will be able to shout expletives at the Ambassador and try to disrupt her program completely.
If anybody begins to shout at the Ambassador, the Embassy will have the right of calling Hotel security guards to keep the peace but if there are many people shouting at the same time and protesting when others are being restrained by the guards, police will have to be called in because the guards are not allowed by law to arrest (they can restrain).
If they are few, guards cannot be able to deal with many people at the same time (and black people are known to be bad news) so they will have to call back up. The standard procedure is that if the “rioters” are more than ten, the riot police will be called in to restore order at the reception (remember the riots when Nairobi Mayor Dick Waweru was in Stockholm?). The police link could be tricky if not sweaty for Her Excellency and could give KSB lots of new and interesting propaganda, complete with pictures!
If arrested, what will happen is that the police will ask for IDs and look for explanations about what might have happened. They might then take a statement on the spot then request the suspect to leave the venue. If the suspect refuses, they will arrest, take the suspect to police station then release him/her.
The significance of police coming to the venue is that it will have an “anti-climax” effect on the reception which might then come to an end prematurely because many guests will not want to be in a chaotic reception where riot police are called to arrest some guests. Fresh problems could emerge if the activists begin to abuse non Kenyan white guests, asking them why they are consuming tax payer’s money when a Kenyan cannot be treated because the Kenyan government says it has no money. This could create a quiet conflict between the activists and the guests, forcing the respected guests to leave quietly. As part of psychological war-fare, the guests could even be threatened that there’s gonna be a very big fight and that they gotta go!!
The agenda is to disrupt the reception and the maximum damage that can be expected in the situation is double edged – if someone manages to throw a rotten egg at the Ambassador or to slap a cake on the face of Her Excellency. This could be classic although we have to warn that you have to keep your fingers crossed! On the whole, we hope that there will be no incidences!
Okoth Osewe
KSB NOTE
This is just an outline of a possible scenario to help KSB readers have a rough picture. It has been drawn from intelligence gathered over time. KSB will not be responsible if this outline or parts of it turns out to be real at the reception.
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