The Orange Democratic Movement in Scandinavia (ODM-S) welcomes the announcement by the
Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations that it would intervene to establish the truth regarding the hijacked Ukrainian ship carrying heavy load of weapons whose destination has been the subject of deep controversy.
We welcome the move by the Committee’s Chairman Adnan Keynan to get to the bottom of the matter by summoning everybody who might be in a position to throw more light over the crisis with a view to resolving key issues surrounding the ship and its cargo.
Among those the Committee intends to summon are: Defence Minister Yusuf Haji, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetang’ula, former Defence Minister Njenga Karume, his former PS Zachary Mwaura and Sudanese Ambassador to Kenya, Mr. Majok Guandong.
Most importantly, ODM-Scandinavia welcomes the move by the Committee to travel to Southern Sudan, the alleged destination of the ship’s cargo, as part of its investigation together with its planned trip to Ukrain, the origin of the ship. The Committee has indicated that it will also summon officials of the Kenyan Chapter of the East African Seafarers Association led by Mr. Andrew Mwangura in a bid to establish the truth about the ship and its cargo.
ODM-Scandinavia believes that this is the way to go. In an earlier statement, we had called for the exploitation of Mr. Mwangura’s knowledge over the issue to try and understand the pattern of piracy in the Indian Ocean region.
The reputation of Kenya is at stake because of what could turn out to be the work of corrupt and criminal officials who might have been involved in the transaction. So far, and despite repeated appeals, the Kenyan government has failed to produce documents to prove that the cargo of arms aboard the ship belongs to Kenya. This failure had lent credence to suspicions that the government, through its Spokesperson Dr. Alfred Mutua, may not be telling the truth on the matter.
The arrest of Mr. Mwangura, who was the only official shedding light over the issue and who was the first to raise possibilities that the ship’s cargo was destined for Southern Sudan despite an International arms embargo, was the most telling action that the State was itself, in a state of panic regarding the military hardware aboard the ship.
Now that Parliament has taken a bold step to intervene on the matter, ODM-Scandinavia believes that Mr. Andrew Mwangura should be released forthwith, not just because he forms part of the investigation by Parliament but because his arrest was illegal, unnecessary, thoughtless and totally unjustified. Because of deprivation of freedom, mental and psychological torture, arbitrary separation from family and other ills Mwangura may have suffered, he should be compensated while officers who ordered his arrest should be made to account.
In arresting Mr. Mwangura, ODM-Scandinavia believes that the Kenyan police overreacted on a matter of national importance. If it is established that the ship was headed for Southern Sudan with military cargo that was destined to traverse through Kenyan territory and with the conniving of State officials, ODM-Scandinavia believes that all State officials who may have been involved in the racket should be made to face Justice for bringing the country’s tattered reputation into further disrepute.
WHY SHOULD KENYA BE STOCKPILING HEAVY WEAPONS?
The kind of irresponsible response from the State that was witnessed after suspicions about the hijacked ship were raised could have been expected from the regime of former dictator Daniel arap Moi which operated above the law, not the Grand coalition government which is expected to be more transparent, democratic, sober and accountable.
ODM Scandinavia wishes to remind Parliament that the case of the hijacked ship is not the first incident when arms are alleged to have passed through Kenya to Southern Sudan. Evidence exists to the effect that on 2nd November last year, 17 T-72 tanks that were allegedly headed for Southern Sudan derailed at Kokotani, about 30km from Mombasa, an accident that damaged five tanks. Then, on January 25th, 33 more tanks were ferried to Southern Sudan by train after the cargo arrived at Mombasa.
Secondly, Kenya is known to purchase arms from Western imperialism, not from the former Soviet Republics. The purchase of arms by a government is a long drawn out process that includes budgeting, tendering through competitive bidding, testing of equipment, training of staff to handle the new equipment, award of tender among other requirements. The whole process is backed by heavy documentation that should be available to prove that the arms cargo belonged to Kenya. In digging into the bottom of the matter, the view of ODM-Scandinavia is that part of the work of Parliament should be to establish who owns the cargo aboard the hijacked ship.
If the cargo belongs to Kenya as Dr. Alfred Mutua said in a Statement and was paid for by tax money, what Parliament needs to establish is why the Kenyan government is not involved in any way in negotiations to secure the ship’s release and why the ship was not under escort by the Kenyan Navy especially when it was passing through dangerous pirate infested waters along Somali coastline.
Another issue for Parliament to dig is why Kenyan has not responded militarily to the crisis. The United States has a battle ship watching “every move” of the pirates to ensure that the pirates do not off load its cargo while a Russian battle ship is reportedly on its way to monitor the ship. Through France, the European Union has decided to be patrolling the Indian Ocean region as a counter to pirate activities. If the military cargo belongs to Kenya, why is the Kenyan military asleep when arms purchased by the tax payer are under the control of a rag tag conglomeration of pirates demanding ransom?
Another question which Kenyans need to be told is why the government is stockpiling heavy weapons when the country is broke and depends on Western handouts to finance the budget. The Office of Prime Minister is running on money donated by the Americans, hospitals have no drugs, schools have no books while millions of Kenyans have no food to eat. The country is not at war while it is allegedly spending money on old second hand T 72 Soviet tanks. Why?
Lastly, ODM-Scandinavia believes that the investigation by Parliament should not be limited to the hijacked ship but should be extended backwards to include other suspicious shipments which may have been shady. We hope that the planned investigation will get to the bottom of the matter and put it to rest once and for all.
Martin Ngatia
Vice Chairperson
Orange Democratic Movement – Scandinavia
About the Author
