PNU lost it again in Mutula Kilonzo’s transfer

Who is thinking for Gema’s political gangsters?

On Monday, both President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga reshuffled their sections of the Cabinet. While this action was legal under the National Accord and Reconciliation Act through which the Coalition government was cobbled, the reshuffle was part of crisis management in both Kibaki’s PNU and Raila’s ODM.

In PNU, Mutula Kilonzo, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, was transferred to the Ministry of Education. Kilonzo was replaced by Eugine Wamalwa, a Presidential aspirant. Perhaps, the transfer of Kilonzo is the easiest to understand. As the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Kilonzo has been the official government authority to interpret the Kenyan constitution in relation to the thorny ICC cases but his “frank talk” has been rubbing anti-ICC big wigs in PNU the wrong way.

Kilonzo has unequivocally told the ICC suspects (especially Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto) that following the confirmation of charges against them, they should rest assured that they cannot vie for Presidency under the Kenyan constitution. When a series of appeals submitted by the suspects were rejected by ICC, Kilonzo consistently told them that they were wasting time and that the best they could have done in the situation was to prepare to defend themselves at the ICC. Recently, when Gema tribalists met in Limuru and declared that they would write to the ICC to postpone the cases until after election, Kilonzo was one of the first top government officials to remind them that supporters of an indicted person cannot stop a case from proceeding using some road side declarations and this is the truth.

At some point, Kilonzo’s outspokenness was perceived by the suspects to mean that he was working in cahoots with his Wiper Democratic Party boss, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, who refused to condemn him in G7’s public forums amid calls that Kilonzo be suspended from Kalonzo’s Party because he was apparently moving in the opposite direction in relation to his Party’s position on the ICC indictments.

What may have escaped attention is that Kalonzo was not in a position to condemn Kilonzo for taking an antagonistic position on the ICC issue. This is because at that point in time, Kalonzo stood to gain in the event that Uhuru and Ruto were kept out of the Presidential race. In the eyes of Kalonzo, Kilonzo may have been doing a great job because once Uhuru’s and Ruto’s names went missing on the ballot paper, Kalonzo hoped that he would be the candidate the two would automatically back and, through this game, Kalonzo may have hoped to map out his “katikati route” to State House.

Theoretically, this was possible but the strategy seems to have been derailed after Kalonzo’s close supporters made a huge blunder by alluding to this strategy at a “Prayer meeting” in Ukamabani and in the presence of both Uhuru and Ruto. The consequence was that Kalonzo was chucked out of the fragile G7 Alliance and, although he rushed to Kibaki to save his political strategy from disintegrating, the damage had already been done and Kalonzo never recovered.

Today, it can be safe to state that Kalonzo is out of the G7, without a political Alliance, treated as a traitor everywhere he goes or simply viewed as a “water melon” who appears to support a position during day time when he is in his “green coat” but opposes the same position at night when he puts on his “red coat”. Although Kalonzo is the main loser in the Kilonzo-ICC-G7 politics, Kilonzo appears to have gained out of the various episodes, given his dirty and insecure past.

Removal of Kilonzo will not better the chances of the “Ocampo four”
Before his outspokenness on the ICC cases, Kilonzo was viewed more as a former lawyer of former Dictator Daniel arap Moi whose crimes against humanity have been well documented. Kilonzo  played a big role in helping President Kibaki stay in power following the stealing of Raila Odinga’s Presidency in 2007 without raising any objections. The new education minister was part of the team which negotiated the National Accord while, his ODM-Kenya, is the formation which gave PNU a critical numerical boost to help PNU thieves (who had stolen the vote) to form government.

By then, Kilonzo was not as outspoken against the injustice of stealing an election but, rather, was very supportive of the thieves who were being commanded by the late John Michuki, the de facto President until his death. Having been in the inner core of the conspirators who helped Kibaki stay in power illegally, Kilonzo was rewarded with the Metropolitan ministry before being transferred to the Justice ministry following the resignation of “Iron lady”, Martha Karua who left in a huff. Kilonzo took over Karua’s docket without questioning the circumstances under which Karua resigned (major decisions being made by Gema loyalists behind her back in her Ministry after being sidelined).

As Kilonzo took his Ministerial position following the signing of the National Accord, Kalonzo, his boss, had already been appointed Vice President as part of a secret deal that was sealed at State House to enable PNU to steal elections in 2007. The leakage of this deal is what led to the burning of The Standard Newspaper offices by the Artur thugs who were imported into the country by Michuki to do dirty PNU work then allowed to escape unscathed. Kilonzo did not condemn the illegal acts of the Artur brothers even through personal opinions.

As Moi’s lawyer, Kilonzo knew about the wanton human rights violations by Moi, summary executions, political assassinations, mega corruption scandals and numerous crimes against humanity which Moi committed while in office. Instead of speaking up against these unacceptable and inhuman practices, Kilonzo defended the former President with gusto.

One can argue that Kilonzo was simply doing his job as a lawyer but then, when you switch professions to take up politics or to hold high public office, your past is likely to haunt you. This is why former chief Prosecutor Banard Chunga, has never contemplated jumping into elective politics following his murky role in government during the Moi dictatorship. Despite Kilonzo’s curious history, his opportunity to comment on the ICC cases has, somehow, cleansed his dirty image and currently, he is being seen more as a hero than as a cog in former Moi’s engine of injustice against millions of Kenyans, killings and massacres in the Rift Valley after every election Moi rigged to return himself to power for twenty four years.

By being the sole government Minister on PNU’s side supporting the ICC process and telling Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and their supporters off, Kilonzo has become the sole voice of reason in a sea of sycophancy fuelled by narrow ethnic agendas mooted by Gema’s political gangsters scheming to defy ICC. Kilonzo’s hard hitting statements have increased his political credibility in the eyes of the public and he must have known that he was gaining a lot of political mileage through his utterances on the ICC issue.

Moving Uhuru and Ruto a step closer to the ICC
Under the circumstances, the transfer of Kilonzo from the Justice Ministry is yet another indication that the Gema ruling class is getting ruthless and desperate following the indictments and subsequent dismissals of appeals to ICC. The dilemma is that the removal of Kilonzo will not better the chances of the Ocampo four but will signal to the Court that it needs to act because the suspects are continuing to use government machinery to further their agenda of frustrating ICC efforts to bring the suspects to justice.

If they still have the power to influence transfers or sackings within the Cabinet, it means that they will continue to do so at every opportunity.  Apart from not issuing pro-ICC statements, there is nothing Eugine Wamalwa will do to stop the ICC cases and whoever is advising Kibaki or his PNU henchmen is either an armature or a sleeper on the job.

Kilonzo was being seen by the public to have been doing the right thing by advising the ICC suspects correctly. By removing such a person from office because of vested interests, Kibaki and PNU are sending the message that they do not care about the rule of law, public opinion and, most importantly, the Constitution which Kilonzo has been defending with a lot of vigor.

In the final analysis, PNU and the hawks who pushed for Kilonzo’s transfer have lost it yet again although they seem not to realize the huge loss. The Kilonzo transfer is further proof that the PNU team handling the issue have lost their minds because they seem to believe that Uhuru and Ruto can still be saved. After they lost it with the fake “UK document” produced in Parliament recently, the team ought to have returned to the drawing board instead of making a fresh and defective move that has moved Uhuru and Ruto a step closer to the ICC hole.

Okoth Osewe

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