As I was sleeping at KSB State House, a security alert was dispatched that Saidimu ole Ngais, the President of Chama Cha Mwananchi and Secretary General of the newly launched United for Humanitarian Cause In Kenya (UHCK) had fired an e-mail propelled missile in the direction of KSB headquarters.
Ole ngais’s beef is that as Interim Chairperson of the recently launched Movement for Restoration of Democracy In Kenya (MOREDEK), I am personally responsible for the decision by MOREDEK not to attend the UHCK harambee held on Saturday 26th January.
Ole Ngais is slowly emerging as a Kenyan in Stockholm constantly searching for “enemies” he needs to fight and in the process, he is picking on anybody. Before his tirade directed against my person in an email, he took issue with Mr. Daniel Mwaura, Chairperson of Narc-Kenya, attacking the Kenyan ruthlessly and without proper reasons.
To make sure that his attack is “felt all over”, he copies private email exchanges to members of his mailing list, as part of his exhibitionist strategy. Some mails even find their way in gutter blogs thirsting for material to keep them running.
In an email circulated to Kenyans in Stockholm, the “Massai worrior” advised that I should “chill down” and attend the harambee at Bagarmossen. While giving his attack on myself a personal orientation, he lectured me on what I need to do and what I must not do in a “teacher-pupil” kind of conflagration.
Let us look at the facts. MORDEK announced publicly that it was not going to send any representative to the UHCK harambeee. This decision was taken by members in a meeting held on Sunday the 21st January and the Committee was given the responsibility of releasing a Statement stating the MOREDEK position. As the Chairperson of the Movement, I signed the Statement which was then released.
CONCERNS
Both Ole Ngais and Brother Samson who sit in the UHCK Committee were invited by myself through telephone to attend the meeting and update MOREDEK members about developments in UHCK and how the two organizations could work together. Some leading members of MOREDEK had hoped that attendance by UHCK representatives of the meeting could even increase chances of public debates about the crisis in Kenya and answer some questions which were still hanging. Both Ole Ngais and Samson failed to attend the meeting. It is at this meeting where a discussion on the MOREDEK position in relation to the UHCK harambee also took place and a decision taken that although MOREDEK would not be represented at the harambee, members were free to attend it on a personal capacity or send their contributions.
At the time the funds drive was called, there were several issues which were being raised informally by MOREDEK members which needed clarification and in the absence of such clarifications after UHCK members failed to honour invitation to the meeting, MOREDEK members decided to wait for further contacts. This kind of procedure should be normal in any serious organization or Movement.
For example, there was the issue of fund destination which had not been made clear in the invitation letter received by MOREDEK. According to informal reports close to UHCK Committee, funds raised at the harambee were to be channeled through the International Red Cross.
However, other Intelligence reports gathered by myself indicated that a separate account had been opened by the Bagarmossen Church and that it was through this account that funds would be channeled to Kenya. Later, it emerged that funds would be channeled through a Bishop in Nakuru.
I am not writing here on behalf of MOREDEK because I have no such mandate but answering Ole Ngais who published his attack on me at his blog. The question that remained unanswered is the contradiction on the Red Cross-Bagarmossen Church account when it came to channeling the funds to Kenya.
Fund raising is a sensitive issue in Stockholm and the latest controversy involved a case in which Mr. Guthuku wa Muirani, leader of Kibaki Tena Lobby group, had to circulate a Western Union receipt after critics pointed out that funds that had been raised in aid of Muirani’s relatives who were killed in the United States never reached its destination. In the absence of a clear account on how the raised funds would reach Kenya, MOREDEK decided to wait and this position should be perfectly normal.
Another issue which required explanations touched on the composition of UHCK Committee. Although the new group was being sold as a “Non political humanitarian group” which had been born at Bagarmossen church by the faithful, it’s leadership was populated by a coterie of hard-core pro-Kibaki cranks who celebrated soon after Kibaki rigged elections in Kenya.
For example, the Chairperson of UHCK is Mr. Githuku wa Muirani, the leader of Kibaki Tena Lobby group while Mr. Daniel Mwaura, the Chairperson of Narck-Kenya Scandinavia and a “Kibaki damu personality” in Stockholm, also sits in the Committee. Mr. Bryan Njoroge, another leading member of the Kibaki Tena Lobby group who also runs a pro-Kibaki, anti Raila Blog also sits in the Committee.
MANY ORGANIZATIONS GOOD FOR DEMOCRACY
This Committee composition had cast aspersions on the profile of UHCK as a “neutral organization” with the major argument being that if it was neutral, why is it that pro-Kibaki stalwarts are crowding its leadership with known and leading members of Bagarmossen church like Brother Samson and Pastor Tony Muraya taking a back seat?
These are questions which some MOREDEK members like myself expected answered in an open meeting. The view is that if pro-Kibaki operatives were in the Committee, pro-ODM activists could also have been accommodated to give it a neutral outlook.
If you don’t get it, it is like the church in Kenya setting up a humanitarian organization to help raise funds for clash victims, inviting Kibaki to lead it then arguing that the “Church group” is absolutely neutral. Tell that to the birds of the air.
MOREDEK has its own independent Humanitarian wing which concerns itself purely with Humanitarian and Human Rights issues. This wing is being led by Mr. Samson Mande, a Ugandan national who also sits in the UHCK Committee and Mr. Nixon Andu, a Sudanese national. MOREDEK does not therefore need UHCK to conduct humanitarian work in Kenya and the decision by MOREDEK not to participate in the UHCK harambee was not out of any ulterior motive. There is nothing strange in having two different Kenyan humanitarian organizations in Stockholm as long as such organization’s intention is to help victims of the post election violence.
There are thousands of humanitarian organizations doing the same job in Kenya although under different circumstances, just like there are three different Help organizations in Stockholm focusing on assisting needy children in Kenya. These are The Phylis Children’s Home led by Mrs Jacinter Njoroge, The Anna Lindh Network led by Pastor Beatrice Kamau and Beryls Hope led by Ms Beryl Otumba. Jacinter’s Home, located in the Rift Valley, has been hard hit with the crisis in Kenya. KSB has gathered that she is fund raising alongside the UHCK and there should be no problem with this.
This does not overrule the fact that any joint work between two humanitraian organizations could be much more effective. However, before such joint work can continue, there has to be rules of engagement and anybody who questions this view does not understand the art of Networking on a serious scale especially when money is involved.
No organization should try to monopolize humanitarian activities in Stockholm when it comes to the crisis in Kenya. The other day, ODM organized a demonstration outside the Embassy to protest the rigged elections. However, the Party did not complain or accuse other Kenyans who did not attend the demo of being tribalists or refusing to work with ODM. This is how democracy works and the existence of different groups “doing the same thing” is democratic and healthy. Those reading too much into the MOREDEK-UHCK harambee position like Ole Ngais are simply myopic.
After KSB emerged at WordPress in July 2006, several Kenyans based in Stockholm later copied KSB and set up their own blogs. This was positive. It could have been wrong or myopic for KSB to have began complaining as to why these Kenyans were not channeling their info through KSB. UHCK is being used by the likes of Ole Ngais to spread hatred and to victimize Kenyans who are not part of it. UHCK should promote peace among Kenyans, not allow its leaders to personalize its activities through unwarranted attacks propagated via email.
Okoth Osewe
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