The Glaring Face of Tribalism and Negative Ethnicity, and How I have Encountered It
Posted by Nanjira on 02-02-2012
It’s become the talk at the bar, at the salon, at every meeting point: tribalism in Kenya. We witnessed it, four/five years ago, and just when its ugly face was coming to light, it was curbed. Since then, we have read and heard of first hand experiences, empathised, sympathised and said that we won’t let it happen again.
This morning, unbeknownst to me, on a matatu ride from Adams Arcade to Lenana Shopping Centre, a matatu driver and conducter have shocked me back to reality on just how bad the situation is.
I owe this post to my inquisitive nature. *Forgive any lack of decorum, poor grammatical compositions, writing this down as I have just experienced it. This is a first hand encounter, and doing my level best to present this sensitive matter as objectively as possible. Anyone reading this must keep an open mind, if not, please check out LOL cats for a happier feeling.*
Seeing as I was in a rush, I entered the matatu to realize I was alone. I had my earphones on, seated at the front with the driver. The conductor asked me where I was dropping off, I missed that. So the driver looked at me to get my attention. When I removed my earphones, I found the two in dialogue about what I was listening to. [Sidenote:Ever since I got dreadlocks, a whole lot of people refer to me as ‘sista’ and lead conversations with ‘wagwans’ and such-like greetings…it’s assumed for me that I’m of the ‘rasta culture’.]
The conductor was implying that I was listening to Metro FM. The driver said I look like the Inooro FM type. [At this point, I’m throwing my eyes back and forth, wondering what is going on]. The conductor then refused that claim, turned to me and asked me if I’m Kikuyu. (Inooro FM is a vernacular radio station that reports in said language.) I decided to play it safe, and answered that I ‘understand’ the language. He stared at me and then offered his conclusion, there’s no way I’m Kikuyu. Why? I asked. ‘Damu huitana’….’Blood calls to blood‘.
Well, I laughed at that and indulged the two gentlemen. The driver then changed his previous stand on my ethnicity after fixedly looking at me, and told me ‘You are not a Waithera.’ (Waithera is one of the more common names from the Kikuyu tribe.)
The conversation then took a new tangent…the driver issued a comment that I don’t quite recall, the intensity of those few minutes is still catching up with me as I write this…the comment was one on how Kikuyus will be known come the next election.
The following are highlights of the ensuing dialogue…grim, in nature.
I asked him what he meant, and he said that this time round ,‘they’ are waiting for any sign of attack, and that 2007/2008 PEVs will be nothing in comparison.[I shall refrain from specifying, he had no grounds to be speaking on behalf of every member of said community] . The conductor reinforced this point by saying that if we thought we’d seen the worst, that we were wrong..
Inquiring further, the driver told me that anyone who stands in the way of Uhuru vying for presidency will face the music. He had a particular look at this point that completely wiped off the smile on my face. He touched on the very sensitive matter of the PEV, and shared his conviction, that Uhuru protected his people when they came under attack in Molo, Naivasha and Nakuru areas, from the Nandis and Luos. (His references…he could have the particular Kalenjin sect wrong…please don’t quote me on this). He argued that Raila should not stand in the way of Uhuru’s bid for the highest office, and that ‘their’ prayer is that he(Uhuru) would be cleared of all charges. If so, there will be no cause for war. He then narrated a recent incident in Thika, where Ida Odinga was speaking, and this old lady walked right to the podium, and in the midst of Mama Ida’s speech/talk, told her that she(the old lady) had a message for Raila: ‘tell him to leave ‘our children’ alone.’ The driver offered his thought on who ‘our children’ were: Uhuru and Ruto…with reference to their status quo.
The driver was of the opinion that the charges should be on the president and the PM, not Uhuru and Ruto. He then talked about where he lives, Matasya (Ngong’ area), and how a Luo man bought property there recently, built his home, and upon realizing that he was the only Luo in the area, predominantly has Kikuyu-origin residents, slaughtered 3 goats, invited the residents to his home and said, ‘I am not Luo.‘ I then asked the driver what that ‘renunciation/annunciation’ meant. I asked him if that declaration will ensure the guy’s security, in the event that things get heated up.
‘Italingana na uchungu tutakuwa tukihisi’….’ It’ll depend on the pain we’ll be feeling.’
Those words imprinted themselves in my mind. I asked this passionate man, what good tribalism would serve, and even he admitted that it’s a bad thing, but that it’s far from over. He even offered that if I’m married to a Luo, now’s the time to get a divorce, for if such a time comes,that there’s a need to take up arms, ‘tutachinja yote, si tu kutairi.‘ [I don’t want to translate that…it’s….intense!]
All this while, I remained the only passenger, as the matatu remained parked at the petrol station past the Junction, opposite the Meteoroligical Dept headquarters, as we awaited more passengers. A guard, whose name tag and therefore ethnic origin I got to deduce, came and informed the driver and conductor that they couldn’t park at the area they had. The driver then told the conductor in Kikuyu, to pay the chap 20shs, that it’s hunger that’s bugging him, and he was back to our conversation.
He asked me where I was when the 2007/2008 ugliness reared itself. I explained to him that where I lived at the time was buffered with army men’s residential areas, and so we were rather sheltered, but could see and hear what was happening, in Kibera for instance, by way of smoke and wails.
In an attempt to inject some different thought into his seemingly convinced mind, (the conductor had since taken up the duty of luring passengers into the vehicle), I offered him these words. ‘If you and I have lived in the same area all this time, if we burn each other’s homes, and we still remain in this place, how then, will we have solved the problem?’. To which he smiled and moved on….
I have probably left out a lot more, and this is not a transcripted conversation. When I got to my drop-off point, I offered each a goodbye, yanked out my phone and sent out a few tweets,whose responses justify this post.
Earlier this week, there was a call to ending hate speech online/on social networks. To interesting responses it was received. What I have just encountered is not just hate speech. It is a conviction. Had I taken the vehicle’s registration numbers and pursued the matter with the courts, I’d probably have traced these two gentlemen and had them charged with hate speech. I didn’t offer my ‘tribe’, so maybe that steered the course of the conversation differently. But even if these two were to be charged with that, they represent, what I believe is a resonating school of thought/conviction. They have aligned themselves behind a political leader, and have sworn to draw blood from anyone who stands in the way of his campaign. The driver even offered that a presidential aspirant, like Peter Kenneth (his offering..not mine) from said community who dared say that Uhuru should be committed to trial, cannot hold rallies in their hometowns. He highlighted this issue by pointing to the recent rally in Ruiru town,by Uhuru and Ruto, and asked me to think about the number of attendees. He informed me that there’s no residential dwelling in that area that would draw out the numbers in attendance from that area alone. These were people from all over Kikuyuland, he said.
‘Ethnicity is a disease of the political elite.’ Raila once said. Have the political elite preached at and inundated their political following with the notion that ethnicity will bring forth justice? Because that’s what I deduced from these two men this morning. It is a conviction, a viable alternative remains unpresented.
Allow me to sign off by imploring you to watch/listen to this special feature on Kenya’s State of Tribalism that was filmed last year, in Nairobi, that had an interesting pool of participants sharing their insights and experiences.
My take out is this: the online hate speech we have observed online is but a hint of what’s being whispered round every corner of this country. The political volcano translates directly into a ethnic/tribalistic one, and therein lies the problem.
The Mau Mau Never Fought for Kenya But for Land that was Later Robbed by Jomo Kenyatta
Every time we talk about Uhuru (independence, not Uhuru Muigai), the Mau Mau are propped up as the ones to fought and liberated this country. This is fallacy and should be viewed with a lot of caution. When the white man arrived, they displaced natives from their prime land sending then to the African Reserves. Each tribe had their share of land being grabbed from them. The Mau Mau fought colonialists to recover their land not to bring independence. I am yet to hear of any Mau Mau fighting in Nyanza, Western Province or Rift Valley. They were concentrated in Central Kenya where their land had been grabbed. Nobody should masquerade as a liberator of the whole country having fought only to recover his land.
In Rift Valley, we had Samoei who led the Nandi Rebellion against the colonialists but we rarely hear of him when freedom is talked about, in Western we had Nabongo Wanga, in Maasai land we had the Laibons. The true fact is that the likes of Achieng Oneko and Oginga Odinga were the true liberation fighters. They were not fighting for any land in particular because the colonialists did not invade Luoland. They wanted the Whiteman to go so that Kenya would be governed by Kenyans. Those old enough will remember when Odinga said, ”Kenya is marua by thuon”. He talked about Kenya not Nyanza. A true patriot. There are some people who keep lording it over everyone how it is the Mau Mau and by extension, the Kikuyu who brought independence to Kenya.
The unfortunate thing is that the true Mau Mau fighters did not gain or recover their land after independence. Masqueraders such as Kenyatta grabbed all the land and shared among themselves and their cronies. Did Kenyatta go to the bush to fight the white man? While the likes of Dedan Kimathi were fighting in the bush, Kenyatta was dining with the white man in London. After independence the masqueraders arranged for the Kikuyu peasantry to go to Rift Valley where the Kalenjins were still slumbering, milking their cows so that they grab all the prime land. The Kalenjins were cheated with two pieces of silver to relinquish their land to the Atwaras. Their eyes opened when it was too late and they have to try all sorts of things to recover the land but wapi! Some will have to go to The Hague for that!
The peasant Kikuyu has never recovered from this atrocity. Landlessness and poverty hangs over them like the sword of Damocles while the Kikuyu nobles like Michuki, Karume and Kenyatta family own large tracts of land. Even after the PEV and the consequent displacement of the Kikuyu from Rift Valley, Kenyatta family has not even given an inch of land to one landless Kikuyu. I wonder how they still worship this man.
Ok. Sorry for digressing, we were talking about Mau Mau. Fast track to the present, the second liberation and the story is repeating itself. Just like masqueraders of yester years, we have new masqueraders such as Kalonzo, Ruto, Uhuru and Mudavadi propping themselves as liberators and reformers. While the likes of Raila and Kiraitu were in the “bush” fighting for freedom from Nyayo philosophy, they were busy wiping a**. They are forgetting that the freedom they have to hold prayer rallies and spew tribal hatred came through sacrifice by the like of Raila Odinga, James Orengo, Martin Shikuku, Masinde Muliro. It is so ironic that people from western Kenya are always liberators while the beneficiaries are the Central and Eastern people. Where did the watermelons come from? Who resisted the new constitution and only accepted halfheartedly when Baba Jimmy said so? Was it not Uhuru Kenyatta and the Michukis, the Kalonzos and the Rutos?
Whenever we talk of independence I do not ever want to hear this Mau Mau again. Lets us reward the real heroes!!Was Saitoti a Hero? that’s for you to decide. Let some people stop lording over everybody, eti they are the ones who fought for independence, everybody had their contribution!. And let the Rutos and Uhurus of this world not tell us how they are really going to change Kenya. What new idea are they bringing on the table if not corruption, impunity, tribalism and maintenance of status quo?
“We in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply conscious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning to colonialism in disguised forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our continent and still holding back millions of our brothers. We need it to secure total African liberation. We need it to carry forward our construction of a socio-economic system that will support the great mass of our steadily rising population at levels of life which will compare with those in the most advanced countries”
Kwame Nkrumah, “Africa Must Unite!”, 1960
IN order to halt foreign interference in the affairs of developing countries it is necessary to study, understand, expose and actively combat neo-colonialism in whatever guise it may appear. For the methods of neo-colonialists are subtle and varied. They operate not only in the economic field, but also in the political, religious, ideological and cultural spheres.
Faced with the militant peoples of the ex-colonial territories in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, imperialism simply switches tactics. Without a qualm it dispenses with its flags, and even with certain of its more hated expatriate officials. This means, so it claims, that it is ‘giving’ independence to its former subjects, to be followed by ‘aid’ for their development. Under cover of such phrases, however, it devises innumerable ways to accomplish objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism. It is this sum total of these modern attempts to perpetuate colonialism while at the same time talking about ‘freedom’, which has come to be known as neo-colonialism.”
Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of imperialism, Kwame Nkrumah 1965
“But as the struggle sharpens, even these measures of neo-colonialism are proving too mild. So Africa, Asia and Latin America have begun to experience a round of coups d’etat or would-be coups, together with a series of political assassinations which have destroyed in their political primes some of the newly emerging nations best leaders. To ensure success in these endeavours, the imperialists have made widespread and wily use of ideological and cultural weapons in the form of intrigues, manoeuvres and slander campaigns.”
Kwame Nkrumah
“Where the more subtle methods of economic pressure and political subversion have failed to achieve the desired result, there has been resort to violence in order to promote a change of regime and prepare the way for the establishment of a puppet government.”
Uttered in Arabic by Prophet Maged Gimian, from Egypt, at ICCPE hall, Nairobi, Kenya, On April 28th 2007
Translated word by word by Dr. Nabil Morcos into English
“The Lord gave me the scroll, and said to me “ Eat it” , so I ate it, and it was sweet in my mouth but bitter in my belly. Then the Lord said to me “ Prophesy now over people, tongues, nations and tribes. I have called you to Kenya, as I have called Jonah my servant, to convey the gospel of grace before the eternal gospel which is full of judgment to my people in Kenya. This is the time of grace, the time of acceptance and the time of salvation; the time when epochs will change. I’ve sent you to them, to my people in Kenya, because I love them, so that they won’t lose their history and their destiny as a nation.
This is a very difficult time over the whole world, for I have put in the heart of the beast that is coming out of Hades to wipe out peoples, nations and tribes from existence. (Some) nations will be crushed away completely. Old political borders will be removed in (various) geographical areas, to be replaced by new political borders. Old political systems will collapse, resulting in economical destruction to many nations. Some nations which have been starving will be satisfied, but only at the expense of the destruction of other nations. Other satisfied nations will get hungry to the mercy of God and to the loaf of bread. International and regional Political plans and coalitions will change, and the assistance coming from dependence on Babylon and its power will collapse.
(Some) nations will fall down once they see their great symbols (leaders) break down in front of their eyes. Construction of many towers of Babylon will come to a stop; and nations, tribes, homes and families will divide and break up, and the brother will kill his brother in a spirit of ecstasy to bring victory to the beast and to Babylon which is carried by the power of the satanic beast.
This is the time of the judgment of God on all those nations and people which have submitted to the spirit of Babylon. They will be destroyed by the beast. Yet I’ve put in his heart to accomplish my own purposes. I am the chastiser of nations, am I ignorant? I am the chastiser of nations, for I have made and formed the nations; can I then be ignorant? For they have despised me! They call my name upon themselves but only my name without their wholehearted obedience. (Therefore) I will severely shake nations , and many civilizations will vanish away. Yet my mercy won’t be removed from them.
This is why I’ve sent you to Kenya, for I have given Kenya a short (grace) period to recognize the time of her visitation by the Lord, for this is the time of Kenya’s visitation, for I have loved Kenya, and the blood of its saints who were martyred is still screaming in my ears. Yet, here is the patience of the saints and their faith.
I have loved Kenya, therefore I’ll grant her a (grace) period of 10 years starting from today the 28th April 2007 , to repent and turn back; for my people to repent from deception, crookedness , and maliciousness; from worldly ways and agendas, and from sordid/shameful gain. I am calling my people to repent. Let your leaders climb up with me to the mountain of Olives, to Gethsemane and let them shed blood instead of tears, so that I won’t wipe away my people in Kenya and allow them to be taken to captivity and their land given away to another nation.
Let the political, economical and spiritual leaders of Kenya proclaim that Kenya is for Christ; yes, Kenya is for me, and not for strangers. Kenya is currently governed by a strange economical power, for all its wealth goes to strangers. What a pity that my beloved people in Kenya are poor, eating the crumbs like dogs from the tables of their masters. I have blessed the land of Kenya, but its wealth is in the hands of strangers. Those strangers govern Kenya economically by exercising an evil spiritual power, emanating from the spirit of Babylon and spirit of the beast. They control everything, yet from behind the scenes.
Let my people turn back to me so that I may have mercy on them from all strangers and evil people. Fear God, ye spiritual leaders of my people in Kenya. Why are you craving after the love of money? There is great abundance in my heavenly stores for you. Be sanctified, get purified and call upon the Lord so that I may heal your land and raise the dead. You will then witness the generation of my miracles and signs, and you will then witness the acts of Elijah and his power when it sweeps upon this country, exposing and destroying all the principality of Jezebel; defeating and killing the prophets of Baal; and destroying all idolatrous worship. You will then witness – from the east, west, north and south- my prophets who are carried by the wind of the spirit of Elijah, restoring the hearts of Kenyans to one another, so that the Lord will raise new families who are sanctified, purified and healed, and who will form a great nucleus for a new generation that the Lord will create to restore Kenya, lest my judgment comes upon you.
I love you, so help me to lift you up. Come close to me and I will come closer. Don’t touch my anointed ones. Don’t kill my prophets. Release the generation of Elijahs and I will then encourage you.
I am reminding you one more time: I have given to you a grace period of ten years starting from now, so that you restore Kenya to me. If you won’t raise the heroes, Kenya will fall down in a progressive series of a very steep decline in the form of disasters, starvations, wars, with the end result that Kenya will fall down and be given to another, and vanish away from existence with no salvation.
Beware, for if Kenya falls down, many other nations will fall down and vanish away by the vanishing of Kenya. Beware of the strangers amidst you, and from the stranger and false prophet who is coming these days, bringing to you the law/code ( Sharia) of the gentiles and not my law, in order to govern maliciously and wilily. I will have mercy upon you says the Lord.
The Lord showed me that Kenyans are kindhearted and generous, but there there land is being exploitated. Listen , Oh people of Kenya. You are not slaves in this land. You are the owners of this land. God wants to restore the wealth of this land to you.
The Lord showed me another thing about Kenya: How can the church in Kenya send out missionaries as long as it is lingering in poverty, and the wealth of the country is not owned by the church? The Lord, therefore, tells you: Restore the wealth of this land to you. The Lord warns you from the stranger, but not from the refugee. There is a stranger who is governing you via a strange spiritual economical satanic power. Time has come to see great ( Kenyan) Christian businessmen who would govern the economy of Kenya instead of the stranger.
Then there is another stranger that is already coming to Kenya. It is another strange religious power which has no spiritual history in this land, yet it is now invading Kenya in a very subtle and secretive way. (Those words were given to me by the Lord before I’ve ever met any person from Kenya). The destiny of Kenya is in your hands. The destiny of East Africa and many other African nations, including the destiny of Egypt is in your hands. Don’t ever say “I am a despised nation “ Or “ I am a small nation”, for the Lord has his own laws: He chooses the despised and the those who are not, to nullify those who are.
I have repeatedly said to Kenyans that without Majimbo they are wasting their time in the word unity.There will be no peace in Kenya if there is no Majimbo.The regional Governance is only the solution.No tribe trust another tribe in Kenyans. Kenyans should ask themselves why Kibaki is appointing his people ( Commissioners) in other people’s regions? Is that what the devolve Government is all about? Kenyans must open their eyes to see what Kibaki and AG Muigai are trying to do and if it is in the new Constitution or unconstitutionally.
Kenya’s politics
Still too tribal
Kenyans have the jitters as they start gearing up for next year’s elections
Jun 9th 2012 | NAIROBI |
WHEN a group of idealists calling themselves “patriots” and “nationalists” tried to hold a political rally in Limuru, half an hour’s drive north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, they ended up being chased into the forest by police firing live rounds and tear gas. The police labelled them “dangerous” and “criminal”. The organisers’ grave error was to tell the crowd that they were not obliged to vote for someone from their own ethnic group.
Among the speakers was Ngunjiri Wambugu, a businessman involved in politics for the first time because he reckoned that Kenya’s business climate has been soured by tribal squabbles. It was time, he said, to nudge people along the road from “tribe thinking to Kenya thinking”.
If only. The last time Kenyans went to the polls to elect a president, the ensuing dispute left 1,500 people dead and 300,000 displaced. The chaos, much of it orchestrated by leading politicians, tore the seams of Kenya’s patchwork of more than 40 tribes, with violence erupting largely along tribal lines. Tribalism, plainly, was still the bane of Kenyan politics.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague wants to try the alleged ringleaders for crimes against humanity. A trial date is expected to be set on June 12th. The coming presidential election, due in March next year, may well clash with it. Two of Kenya’s leading candidates may find themselves in a Dutch dock just when they would rather be on Kenya’s hustings.
The most prominent is Uhuru Kenyatta, a son of the country’s founding president. Many think he is also the country’s richest man. The ICC has recently jailed a former head of state, Liberia’s Charles Taylor, and in 2008 indicted Sudan’s incumbent, Omar al-Bashir. Kenyans could set an unfortunate precedent by electing a head of state while he is actually on trial at the ICC.
Nairobi’s political elite reckons it has learned the “Bashir lesson”: the African Union, it seems, will defend one of its own if he is still in office. Witness the fate of Jean-Pierre Bemba: once he had lost the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006, he ended up at the ICC. The fear is that Mr Kenyatta will see the coming election as his get-out-of-jail card and play it for all it is worth. President Mwai Kibaki, who is to stand down after two terms in office, may be persuaded to withdraw co-operation from the ICC to protect Mr Kenyatta if it insists on summoning him; they are both members of the Kikuyu tribe, the largest and richest in Kenya. But if that happened, it could lead to turmoil at home, international sanctions imposed from abroad, and a loss of confidence in Kenya’s economy.
Kenya is governed by a ramshackle coalition that includes prominent people from every main tribe, with power determined by complex alliances of the main groups, most of them rent by internal rivalries. Most political parties still act as vehicles for tribal champions. “Tribal politics is alive and well,” said Murithi Mutiga, a commentator. “It’s a numbers game which makes elections more like a census.”
Mr Kenyatta’s new grouping, the National Alliance, is energetically shoring up support in Central Province, heartland of the Kikuyu and the closely related Meru and Embu, most of whom tend to vote in a block. Some of his supporters gave a taste of the coming campaign when they told voters they should “elect a dog” as long as it was wearing the new party’s colours.
Mr Kenyatta has teamed up with another tribal champion, William Ruto, a Kalenjin, who is also facing trial at the ICC. They have formed an alliance known as the G7, which embraces seven supposed champions, whose main aim, it seems, is to stop the prime minister, Raila Odinga, from becoming president. In case Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are both prevented from running by the ICC, they have poached Musalia Mudavadi, a lesser light in Mr Odinga’s party, to lead their alliance instead.
Most observers think Mr Odinga narrowly won the last presidential contest but had to settle for the lesser job of prime minister in a coalition following the disputed election. He has tried hardest to build a coalition across the tribal spectrum. But his base is the Luo people of western Kenya, who have long felt done down by the Kikuyu and Kalenjin. Though his performance as prime minister is widely regarded as chaotic, he broadly retains Western governments’ backing, which he may use in an effort to persuade the UN Security Council to defer his rivals’ ICC trial until after the election. That would rob Messrs Kenyatta and Ruto of one of their main campaign issues.
Kenya’s messy politics has hurt its economy. A recent Harvard study suggested it should be growing at 7% rather than 4%, the latest figure. The government is belatedly trying to improve the country’s shoddy infrastructure, for instance by building a series of multi-lane roads around Nairobi. But the political instability still puts off investors and corruption remains rife. The finance ministry’s top civil servant recently told Parliament that as much as a third of the budget was lost to graft.
Saitoti was a known Homo-sexual /Daniel Arap Moi /GG Kariuki are well known Homosexuals in Kenya! The late Wamalwa was also a Homosexual who died of Hiv/aids .Why should Kenya elites denie that Kenya has no Homosexuals?
Am a Kyuk and i heard what UK said. Regardless of what maana ya ndani na ya nje means, the guy was simply very ARROGANT. Ati “Hague ti kwa nyina, nituguthie kuo tugetetere”. This man ought to know how to respect other people, and especially so their mothers. What’s hague got to do with somebody’s mum?.
The guy is not a presidential material. The fact that he’s kenyatta’s son or his Dad’s Pic happens to be in kenya’s legal tender or that he happens to be “in-charge” of kenya’s money matters doesn’t qualify him to be president. He is loosing it by the day and stands to loose more when hague beckons.
Mr Kenyatta – together with Mr Muthaura – is allegedly criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator pursuant to article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute for the crimes against humanity of:
•murder (article 7(l)(a));
•deportation or forcible transfer (article 7(l)(d));
•rape (article 7(l)(g));
•persecution (articles 7(l)(h)); and
•other inhumane acts (article 7(l)(k)).
The Glaring Face of Tribalism and Negative Ethnicity, and How I have Encountered It
Posted by Nanjira on 02-02-2012
It’s become the talk at the bar, at the salon, at every meeting point: tribalism in Kenya. We witnessed it, four/five years ago, and just when its ugly face was coming to light, it was curbed. Since then, we have read and heard of first hand experiences, empathised, sympathised and said that we won’t let it happen again.
This morning, unbeknownst to me, on a matatu ride from Adams Arcade to Lenana Shopping Centre, a matatu driver and conducter have shocked me back to reality on just how bad the situation is.
I owe this post to my inquisitive nature. *Forgive any lack of decorum, poor grammatical compositions, writing this down as I have just experienced it. This is a first hand encounter, and doing my level best to present this sensitive matter as objectively as possible. Anyone reading this must keep an open mind, if not, please check out LOL cats for a happier feeling.*
Seeing as I was in a rush, I entered the matatu to realize I was alone. I had my earphones on, seated at the front with the driver. The conductor asked me where I was dropping off, I missed that. So the driver looked at me to get my attention. When I removed my earphones, I found the two in dialogue about what I was listening to. [Sidenote:Ever since I got dreadlocks, a whole lot of people refer to me as ‘sista’ and lead conversations with ‘wagwans’ and such-like greetings…it’s assumed for me that I’m of the ‘rasta culture’.]
The conductor was implying that I was listening to Metro FM. The driver said I look like the Inooro FM type. [At this point, I’m throwing my eyes back and forth, wondering what is going on]. The conductor then refused that claim, turned to me and asked me if I’m Kikuyu. (Inooro FM is a vernacular radio station that reports in said language.) I decided to play it safe, and answered that I ‘understand’ the language. He stared at me and then offered his conclusion, there’s no way I’m Kikuyu. Why? I asked. ‘Damu huitana’….’Blood calls to blood‘.
Well, I laughed at that and indulged the two gentlemen. The driver then changed his previous stand on my ethnicity after fixedly looking at me, and told me ‘You are not a Waithera.’ (Waithera is one of the more common names from the Kikuyu tribe.)
The conversation then took a new tangent…the driver issued a comment that I don’t quite recall, the intensity of those few minutes is still catching up with me as I write this…the comment was one on how Kikuyus will be known come the next election.
The following are highlights of the ensuing dialogue…grim, in nature.
I asked him what he meant, and he said that this time round ,‘they’ are waiting for any sign of attack, and that 2007/2008 PEVs will be nothing in comparison.[I shall refrain from specifying, he had no grounds to be speaking on behalf of every member of said community] . The conductor reinforced this point by saying that if we thought we’d seen the worst, that we were wrong..
Inquiring further, the driver told me that anyone who stands in the way of Uhuru vying for presidency will face the music. He had a particular look at this point that completely wiped off the smile on my face. He touched on the very sensitive matter of the PEV, and shared his conviction, that Uhuru protected his people when they came under attack in Molo, Naivasha and Nakuru areas, from the Nandis and Luos. (His references…he could have the particular Kalenjin sect wrong…please don’t quote me on this). He argued that Raila should not stand in the way of Uhuru’s bid for the highest office, and that ‘their’ prayer is that he(Uhuru) would be cleared of all charges. If so, there will be no cause for war. He then narrated a recent incident in Thika, where Ida Odinga was speaking, and this old lady walked right to the podium, and in the midst of Mama Ida’s speech/talk, told her that she(the old lady) had a message for Raila: ‘tell him to leave ‘our children’ alone.’ The driver offered his thought on who ‘our children’ were: Uhuru and Ruto…with reference to their status quo.
The driver was of the opinion that the charges should be on the president and the PM, not Uhuru and Ruto. He then talked about where he lives, Matasya (Ngong’ area), and how a Luo man bought property there recently, built his home, and upon realizing that he was the only Luo in the area, predominantly has Kikuyu-origin residents, slaughtered 3 goats, invited the residents to his home and said, ‘I am not Luo.‘ I then asked the driver what that ‘renunciation/annunciation’ meant. I asked him if that declaration will ensure the guy’s security, in the event that things get heated up.
‘Italingana na uchungu tutakuwa tukihisi’….’ It’ll depend on the pain we’ll be feeling.’
Those words imprinted themselves in my mind. I asked this passionate man, what good tribalism would serve, and even he admitted that it’s a bad thing, but that it’s far from over. He even offered that if I’m married to a Luo, now’s the time to get a divorce, for if such a time comes,that there’s a need to take up arms, ‘tutachinja yote, si tu kutairi.‘ [I don’t want to translate that…it’s….intense!]
All this while, I remained the only passenger, as the matatu remained parked at the petrol station past the Junction, opposite the Meteoroligical Dept headquarters, as we awaited more passengers. A guard, whose name tag and therefore ethnic origin I got to deduce, came and informed the driver and conductor that they couldn’t park at the area they had. The driver then told the conductor in Kikuyu, to pay the chap 20shs, that it’s hunger that’s bugging him, and he was back to our conversation.
He asked me where I was when the 2007/2008 ugliness reared itself. I explained to him that where I lived at the time was buffered with army men’s residential areas, and so we were rather sheltered, but could see and hear what was happening, in Kibera for instance, by way of smoke and wails.
In an attempt to inject some different thought into his seemingly convinced mind, (the conductor had since taken up the duty of luring passengers into the vehicle), I offered him these words. ‘If you and I have lived in the same area all this time, if we burn each other’s homes, and we still remain in this place, how then, will we have solved the problem?’. To which he smiled and moved on….
I have probably left out a lot more, and this is not a transcripted conversation. When I got to my drop-off point, I offered each a goodbye, yanked out my phone and sent out a few tweets,whose responses justify this post.
Earlier this week, there was a call to ending hate speech online/on social networks. To interesting responses it was received. What I have just encountered is not just hate speech. It is a conviction. Had I taken the vehicle’s registration numbers and pursued the matter with the courts, I’d probably have traced these two gentlemen and had them charged with hate speech. I didn’t offer my ‘tribe’, so maybe that steered the course of the conversation differently. But even if these two were to be charged with that, they represent, what I believe is a resonating school of thought/conviction. They have aligned themselves behind a political leader, and have sworn to draw blood from anyone who stands in the way of his campaign. The driver even offered that a presidential aspirant, like Peter Kenneth (his offering..not mine) from said community who dared say that Uhuru should be committed to trial, cannot hold rallies in their hometowns. He highlighted this issue by pointing to the recent rally in Ruiru town,by Uhuru and Ruto, and asked me to think about the number of attendees. He informed me that there’s no residential dwelling in that area that would draw out the numbers in attendance from that area alone. These were people from all over Kikuyuland, he said.
‘Ethnicity is a disease of the political elite.’ Raila once said. Have the political elite preached at and inundated their political following with the notion that ethnicity will bring forth justice? Because that’s what I deduced from these two men this morning. It is a conviction, a viable alternative remains unpresented.
Allow me to sign off by imploring you to watch/listen to this special feature on Kenya’s State of Tribalism that was filmed last year, in Nairobi, that had an interesting pool of participants sharing their insights and experiences.
My take out is this: the online hate speech we have observed online is but a hint of what’s being whispered round every corner of this country. The political volcano translates directly into a ethnic/tribalistic one, and therein lies the problem.
The Mau Mau Never Fought for Kenya But for Land that was Later Robbed by Jomo Kenyatta
Every time we talk about Uhuru (independence, not Uhuru Muigai), the Mau Mau are propped up as the ones to fought and liberated this country. This is fallacy and should be viewed with a lot of caution. When the white man arrived, they displaced natives from their prime land sending then to the African Reserves. Each tribe had their share of land being grabbed from them. The Mau Mau fought colonialists to recover their land not to bring independence. I am yet to hear of any Mau Mau fighting in Nyanza, Western Province or Rift Valley. They were concentrated in Central Kenya where their land had been grabbed. Nobody should masquerade as a liberator of the whole country having fought only to recover his land.
In Rift Valley, we had Samoei who led the Nandi Rebellion against the colonialists but we rarely hear of him when freedom is talked about, in Western we had Nabongo Wanga, in Maasai land we had the Laibons. The true fact is that the likes of Achieng Oneko and Oginga Odinga were the true liberation fighters. They were not fighting for any land in particular because the colonialists did not invade Luoland. They wanted the Whiteman to go so that Kenya would be governed by Kenyans. Those old enough will remember when Odinga said, ”Kenya is marua by thuon”. He talked about Kenya not Nyanza. A true patriot. There are some people who keep lording it over everyone how it is the Mau Mau and by extension, the Kikuyu who brought independence to Kenya.
The unfortunate thing is that the true Mau Mau fighters did not gain or recover their land after independence. Masqueraders such as Kenyatta grabbed all the land and shared among themselves and their cronies. Did Kenyatta go to the bush to fight the white man? While the likes of Dedan Kimathi were fighting in the bush, Kenyatta was dining with the white man in London. After independence the masqueraders arranged for the Kikuyu peasantry to go to Rift Valley where the Kalenjins were still slumbering, milking their cows so that they grab all the prime land. The Kalenjins were cheated with two pieces of silver to relinquish their land to the Atwaras. Their eyes opened when it was too late and they have to try all sorts of things to recover the land but wapi! Some will have to go to The Hague for that!
The peasant Kikuyu has never recovered from this atrocity. Landlessness and poverty hangs over them like the sword of Damocles while the Kikuyu nobles like Michuki, Karume and Kenyatta family own large tracts of land. Even after the PEV and the consequent displacement of the Kikuyu from Rift Valley, Kenyatta family has not even given an inch of land to one landless Kikuyu. I wonder how they still worship this man.
Ok. Sorry for digressing, we were talking about Mau Mau. Fast track to the present, the second liberation and the story is repeating itself. Just like masqueraders of yester years, we have new masqueraders such as Kalonzo, Ruto, Uhuru and Mudavadi propping themselves as liberators and reformers. While the likes of Raila and Kiraitu were in the “bush” fighting for freedom from Nyayo philosophy, they were busy wiping a**. They are forgetting that the freedom they have to hold prayer rallies and spew tribal hatred came through sacrifice by the like of Raila Odinga, James Orengo, Martin Shikuku, Masinde Muliro. It is so ironic that people from western Kenya are always liberators while the beneficiaries are the Central and Eastern people. Where did the watermelons come from? Who resisted the new constitution and only accepted halfheartedly when Baba Jimmy said so? Was it not Uhuru Kenyatta and the Michukis, the Kalonzos and the Rutos?
Whenever we talk of independence I do not ever want to hear this Mau Mau again. Lets us reward the real heroes!!Was Saitoti a Hero? that’s for you to decide. Let some people stop lording over everybody, eti they are the ones who fought for independence, everybody had their contribution!. And let the Rutos and Uhurus of this world not tell us how they are really going to change Kenya. What new idea are they bringing on the table if not corruption, impunity, tribalism and maintenance of status quo?
(Kenyan Daily Post)
Kwame Nkrumah Quotes
“We in Africa who are pressing now for unity are deeply conscious of the validity of our purpose. We need the strength of our combined numbers and resources to protect ourselves from the very positive dangers of returning to colonialism in disguised forms. We need it to combat the entrenched forces dividing our continent and still holding back millions of our brothers. We need it to secure total African liberation. We need it to carry forward our construction of a socio-economic system that will support the great mass of our steadily rising population at levels of life which will compare with those in the most advanced countries”
Kwame Nkrumah, “Africa Must Unite!”, 1960
IN order to halt foreign interference in the affairs of developing countries it is necessary to study, understand, expose and actively combat neo-colonialism in whatever guise it may appear. For the methods of neo-colonialists are subtle and varied. They operate not only in the economic field, but also in the political, religious, ideological and cultural spheres.
Faced with the militant peoples of the ex-colonial territories in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, imperialism simply switches tactics. Without a qualm it dispenses with its flags, and even with certain of its more hated expatriate officials. This means, so it claims, that it is ‘giving’ independence to its former subjects, to be followed by ‘aid’ for their development. Under cover of such phrases, however, it devises innumerable ways to accomplish objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism. It is this sum total of these modern attempts to perpetuate colonialism while at the same time talking about ‘freedom’, which has come to be known as neo-colonialism.”
Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of imperialism, Kwame Nkrumah 1965
“But as the struggle sharpens, even these measures of neo-colonialism are proving too mild. So Africa, Asia and Latin America have begun to experience a round of coups d’etat or would-be coups, together with a series of political assassinations which have destroyed in their political primes some of the newly emerging nations best leaders. To ensure success in these endeavours, the imperialists have made widespread and wily use of ideological and cultural weapons in the form of intrigues, manoeuvres and slander campaigns.”
Kwame Nkrumah
“Where the more subtle methods of economic pressure and political subversion have failed to achieve the desired result, there has been resort to violence in order to promote a change of regime and prepare the way for the establishment of a puppet government.”
Kwame Nkrumah – 1969
by Kweku Anderson (Student, Ghana)
Uttered in Arabic by Prophet Maged Gimian, from Egypt, at ICCPE hall, Nairobi, Kenya, On April 28th 2007
Translated word by word by Dr. Nabil Morcos into English
“The Lord gave me the scroll, and said to me “ Eat it” , so I ate it, and it was sweet in my mouth but bitter in my belly. Then the Lord said to me “ Prophesy now over people, tongues, nations and tribes. I have called you to Kenya, as I have called Jonah my servant, to convey the gospel of grace before the eternal gospel which is full of judgment to my people in Kenya. This is the time of grace, the time of acceptance and the time of salvation; the time when epochs will change. I’ve sent you to them, to my people in Kenya, because I love them, so that they won’t lose their history and their destiny as a nation.
This is a very difficult time over the whole world, for I have put in the heart of the beast that is coming out of Hades to wipe out peoples, nations and tribes from existence. (Some) nations will be crushed away completely. Old political borders will be removed in (various) geographical areas, to be replaced by new political borders. Old political systems will collapse, resulting in economical destruction to many nations. Some nations which have been starving will be satisfied, but only at the expense of the destruction of other nations. Other satisfied nations will get hungry to the mercy of God and to the loaf of bread. International and regional Political plans and coalitions will change, and the assistance coming from dependence on Babylon and its power will collapse.
(Some) nations will fall down once they see their great symbols (leaders) break down in front of their eyes. Construction of many towers of Babylon will come to a stop; and nations, tribes, homes and families will divide and break up, and the brother will kill his brother in a spirit of ecstasy to bring victory to the beast and to Babylon which is carried by the power of the satanic beast.
This is the time of the judgment of God on all those nations and people which have submitted to the spirit of Babylon. They will be destroyed by the beast. Yet I’ve put in his heart to accomplish my own purposes. I am the chastiser of nations, am I ignorant? I am the chastiser of nations, for I have made and formed the nations; can I then be ignorant? For they have despised me! They call my name upon themselves but only my name without their wholehearted obedience. (Therefore) I will severely shake nations , and many civilizations will vanish away. Yet my mercy won’t be removed from them.
This is why I’ve sent you to Kenya, for I have given Kenya a short (grace) period to recognize the time of her visitation by the Lord, for this is the time of Kenya’s visitation, for I have loved Kenya, and the blood of its saints who were martyred is still screaming in my ears. Yet, here is the patience of the saints and their faith.
I have loved Kenya, therefore I’ll grant her a (grace) period of 10 years starting from today the 28th April 2007 , to repent and turn back; for my people to repent from deception, crookedness , and maliciousness; from worldly ways and agendas, and from sordid/shameful gain. I am calling my people to repent. Let your leaders climb up with me to the mountain of Olives, to Gethsemane and let them shed blood instead of tears, so that I won’t wipe away my people in Kenya and allow them to be taken to captivity and their land given away to another nation.
Let the political, economical and spiritual leaders of Kenya proclaim that Kenya is for Christ; yes, Kenya is for me, and not for strangers. Kenya is currently governed by a strange economical power, for all its wealth goes to strangers. What a pity that my beloved people in Kenya are poor, eating the crumbs like dogs from the tables of their masters. I have blessed the land of Kenya, but its wealth is in the hands of strangers. Those strangers govern Kenya economically by exercising an evil spiritual power, emanating from the spirit of Babylon and spirit of the beast. They control everything, yet from behind the scenes.
Let my people turn back to me so that I may have mercy on them from all strangers and evil people. Fear God, ye spiritual leaders of my people in Kenya. Why are you craving after the love of money? There is great abundance in my heavenly stores for you. Be sanctified, get purified and call upon the Lord so that I may heal your land and raise the dead. You will then witness the generation of my miracles and signs, and you will then witness the acts of Elijah and his power when it sweeps upon this country, exposing and destroying all the principality of Jezebel; defeating and killing the prophets of Baal; and destroying all idolatrous worship. You will then witness – from the east, west, north and south- my prophets who are carried by the wind of the spirit of Elijah, restoring the hearts of Kenyans to one another, so that the Lord will raise new families who are sanctified, purified and healed, and who will form a great nucleus for a new generation that the Lord will create to restore Kenya, lest my judgment comes upon you.
I love you, so help me to lift you up. Come close to me and I will come closer. Don’t touch my anointed ones. Don’t kill my prophets. Release the generation of Elijahs and I will then encourage you.
I am reminding you one more time: I have given to you a grace period of ten years starting from now, so that you restore Kenya to me. If you won’t raise the heroes, Kenya will fall down in a progressive series of a very steep decline in the form of disasters, starvations, wars, with the end result that Kenya will fall down and be given to another, and vanish away from existence with no salvation.
Beware, for if Kenya falls down, many other nations will fall down and vanish away by the vanishing of Kenya. Beware of the strangers amidst you, and from the stranger and false prophet who is coming these days, bringing to you the law/code ( Sharia) of the gentiles and not my law, in order to govern maliciously and wilily. I will have mercy upon you says the Lord.
The Lord showed me that Kenyans are kindhearted and generous, but there there land is being exploitated. Listen , Oh people of Kenya. You are not slaves in this land. You are the owners of this land. God wants to restore the wealth of this land to you.
The Lord showed me another thing about Kenya: How can the church in Kenya send out missionaries as long as it is lingering in poverty, and the wealth of the country is not owned by the church? The Lord, therefore, tells you: Restore the wealth of this land to you. The Lord warns you from the stranger, but not from the refugee. There is a stranger who is governing you via a strange spiritual economical satanic power. Time has come to see great ( Kenyan) Christian businessmen who would govern the economy of Kenya instead of the stranger.
Then there is another stranger that is already coming to Kenya. It is another strange religious power which has no spiritual history in this land, yet it is now invading Kenya in a very subtle and secretive way. (Those words were given to me by the Lord before I’ve ever met any person from Kenya). The destiny of Kenya is in your hands. The destiny of East Africa and many other African nations, including the destiny of Egypt is in your hands. Don’t ever say “I am a despised nation “ Or “ I am a small nation”, for the Lord has his own laws: He chooses the despised and the those who are not, to nullify those who are.
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I have repeatedly said to Kenyans that without Majimbo they are wasting their time in the word unity.There will be no peace in Kenya if there is no Majimbo.The regional Governance is only the solution.No tribe trust another tribe in Kenyans. Kenyans should ask themselves why Kibaki is appointing his people ( Commissioners) in other people’s regions? Is that what the devolve Government is all about? Kenyans must open their eyes to see what Kibaki and AG Muigai are trying to do and if it is in the new Constitution or unconstitutionally.
http://www.economist.com/node/21556601
Kenya’s politics
Still too tribal
Kenyans have the jitters as they start gearing up for next year’s elections
Jun 9th 2012 | NAIROBI |
WHEN a group of idealists calling themselves “patriots” and “nationalists” tried to hold a political rally in Limuru, half an hour’s drive north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, they ended up being chased into the forest by police firing live rounds and tear gas. The police labelled them “dangerous” and “criminal”. The organisers’ grave error was to tell the crowd that they were not obliged to vote for someone from their own ethnic group.
Among the speakers was Ngunjiri Wambugu, a businessman involved in politics for the first time because he reckoned that Kenya’s business climate has been soured by tribal squabbles. It was time, he said, to nudge people along the road from “tribe thinking to Kenya thinking”.
If only. The last time Kenyans went to the polls to elect a president, the ensuing dispute left 1,500 people dead and 300,000 displaced. The chaos, much of it orchestrated by leading politicians, tore the seams of Kenya’s patchwork of more than 40 tribes, with violence erupting largely along tribal lines. Tribalism, plainly, was still the bane of Kenyan politics.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague wants to try the alleged ringleaders for crimes against humanity. A trial date is expected to be set on June 12th. The coming presidential election, due in March next year, may well clash with it. Two of Kenya’s leading candidates may find themselves in a Dutch dock just when they would rather be on Kenya’s hustings.
The most prominent is Uhuru Kenyatta, a son of the country’s founding president. Many think he is also the country’s richest man. The ICC has recently jailed a former head of state, Liberia’s Charles Taylor, and in 2008 indicted Sudan’s incumbent, Omar al-Bashir. Kenyans could set an unfortunate precedent by electing a head of state while he is actually on trial at the ICC.
Nairobi’s political elite reckons it has learned the “Bashir lesson”: the African Union, it seems, will defend one of its own if he is still in office. Witness the fate of Jean-Pierre Bemba: once he had lost the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006, he ended up at the ICC. The fear is that Mr Kenyatta will see the coming election as his get-out-of-jail card and play it for all it is worth. President Mwai Kibaki, who is to stand down after two terms in office, may be persuaded to withdraw co-operation from the ICC to protect Mr Kenyatta if it insists on summoning him; they are both members of the Kikuyu tribe, the largest and richest in Kenya. But if that happened, it could lead to turmoil at home, international sanctions imposed from abroad, and a loss of confidence in Kenya’s economy.
Kenya is governed by a ramshackle coalition that includes prominent people from every main tribe, with power determined by complex alliances of the main groups, most of them rent by internal rivalries. Most political parties still act as vehicles for tribal champions. “Tribal politics is alive and well,” said Murithi Mutiga, a commentator. “It’s a numbers game which makes elections more like a census.”
Mr Kenyatta’s new grouping, the National Alliance, is energetically shoring up support in Central Province, heartland of the Kikuyu and the closely related Meru and Embu, most of whom tend to vote in a block. Some of his supporters gave a taste of the coming campaign when they told voters they should “elect a dog” as long as it was wearing the new party’s colours.
Mr Kenyatta has teamed up with another tribal champion, William Ruto, a Kalenjin, who is also facing trial at the ICC. They have formed an alliance known as the G7, which embraces seven supposed champions, whose main aim, it seems, is to stop the prime minister, Raila Odinga, from becoming president. In case Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are both prevented from running by the ICC, they have poached Musalia Mudavadi, a lesser light in Mr Odinga’s party, to lead their alliance instead.
Most observers think Mr Odinga narrowly won the last presidential contest but had to settle for the lesser job of prime minister in a coalition following the disputed election. He has tried hardest to build a coalition across the tribal spectrum. But his base is the Luo people of western Kenya, who have long felt done down by the Kikuyu and Kalenjin. Though his performance as prime minister is widely regarded as chaotic, he broadly retains Western governments’ backing, which he may use in an effort to persuade the UN Security Council to defer his rivals’ ICC trial until after the election. That would rob Messrs Kenyatta and Ruto of one of their main campaign issues.
Kenya’s messy politics has hurt its economy. A recent Harvard study suggested it should be growing at 7% rather than 4%, the latest figure. The government is belatedly trying to improve the country’s shoddy infrastructure, for instance by building a series of multi-lane roads around Nairobi. But the political instability still puts off investors and corruption remains rife. The finance ministry’s top civil servant recently told Parliament that as much as a third of the budget was lost to graft.
Listen and watch the Most farcist Kikuyu Musicians namely De-Mathew/Shiru/ Muigai >
http://moderatekenyan.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/unnecessary-noise/
Saitoti was a known Homo-sexual /Daniel Arap Moi /GG Kariuki are well known Homosexuals in Kenya! The late Wamalwa was also a Homosexual who died of Hiv/aids .Why should Kenya elites denie that Kenya has no Homosexuals?
Am a Kyuk and i heard what UK said. Regardless of what maana ya ndani na ya nje means, the guy was simply very ARROGANT. Ati “Hague ti kwa nyina, nituguthie kuo tugetetere”. This man ought to know how to respect other people, and especially so their mothers. What’s hague got to do with somebody’s mum?.
The guy is not a presidential material. The fact that he’s kenyatta’s son or his Dad’s Pic happens to be in kenya’s legal tender or that he happens to be “in-charge” of kenya’s money matters doesn’t qualify him to be president. He is loosing it by the day and stands to loose more when hague beckons.
He should be ASHAMED of his utterances.
Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta
Charges
Mr Kenyatta – together with Mr Muthaura – is allegedly criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator pursuant to article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute for the crimes against humanity of:
•murder (article 7(l)(a));
•deportation or forcible transfer (article 7(l)(d));
•rape (article 7(l)(g));
•persecution (articles 7(l)(h)); and
•other inhumane acts (article 7(l)(k)).
http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Situations+and+Cases/Situations/Situation+ICC+0109/