Kinoti kicks up big storm with talk of awaking PEV ghosts

The start of investigations into atrocities committed during the 2007 post-election violence has kicked up a storm, even as Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti appeared to change tune on the depth of the fresh probe. 

Deputy President William Ruto and his allies yesterday rubbished the new investigations as being politically motivated, as Mr Kinoti said no case that had gone through the judicial process would be reopened.

The DCI, in a press briefing on Monday, paraded people whom he said had recorded statements over threats related to the 2022 succession politics, eliciting strong reactions from the DP’s allies who claimed that the move is aimed at scuttling the Dr Ruto’s chances of making a stab at the presidency by projecting him as a violent leader.

In a day characterised by press conferences and a social media storm, everyone who thought what Mr Kinoti said touched on them had something to say.

In Nairobi, politicians led by the DP termed the move as being politically motivated and aimed at coercing Kenyans to accept the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report. 

“The provocative incitement to ethnic hate intended by the resurrection of the post-election violence is an evil attempt to resuscitate the tribe project destroyed by the hustler movements’ realisation that poverty and unemployment deliberately bred by poor leadership is our problem not our tribes,” said the DP in a tweet.

In Eldoret, the epicentre of the violence 13 years ago, survivors said the move by Mr Kinoti evoked bitter memories of how their lives were permanently changed during months of madness.

No one, to date, has been held criminally responsible for planning or financing the 2007 post-election violence (PEV) that claimed the lives of more than 1,300 Kenyans and displaced over 600,000.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, Dr Ruto, were charged at the Hague-based International Criminal Court in relation to the violence but the cases were terminated for lack of evidence against them.

Cases collapsed

Official court records show that 1,337 cases touching 13,000 incidences were taken to court in the aftermath of the violence. Most of them collapsed due to their special nature and the political desire to dispense with them quickly. Since then, every attempt to bring to bring to book those responsible has failed.

A plan to set up a local tribunal that would have brought closure on the violence failed in 2009 after MPs shot down the Bill in parliament. The International Criminal Court (ICC) too failed to nail any perpetrators after all the cases brought before it collapsed.

When the DCI on Monday created an impression that he would reopen some of the cases whose investigations had not been completed, it was only natural that some politicians would breathe fire.

“My address was in no way intended to mean that we are going to open completed cases which were investigated and closed,” said the DCI.

“It was an acknowledgement of concerns raised by Kenyans, to assure the public of the commitment of the DCI to investigate threats to security and sensitise the public on the need of peaceful co-existence,” he added, while insisting he had no intention of reopening closed cases on the 2007 post-election violence.

Thirty seven MPs allied to the DP, led by Elgeyo Marakwet senator Kipchumba Murkomen, his Kericho counterpart Aaron Cheruyiot, Nakuru senator Susan Kihika, Kandara lawmaker Alice Wahome, among others, accused DCI of “being used by his political masters to cause havoc in the country”.

“It is clear that Kinoti and his masters only wish to cynically exploit the terrible traumas of PEV to anchor a diabolical and divisive political agenda, distract public attention from his paymasters’ political frustrations, incite communities into violent conflict, coerce Kenyans into supporting the doomed BBI adventure and undermine their rivals’ standing,” said Ms Kihika who read the statement on behalf of the team at Parliament Buildings.

The MPs said the DCI wants to exploit the 2007/08 poll chaos “to instil fear in the Rift Valley and coerce its residents into supporting toxic and divisive political enterprises and problematic 2022 succession schemes”.

The MPs said if the state is interested in resuscitating previous cases, then it should not do so selectively but wholesomely, for the sake of justice of all Kenyans.

“In this spirit of revisiting, we also ask the President to address the nation on the fate of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) Report and as well as the recommendations of all past commissions of inquiry. This will forestall political hirelings from weaponising such reports in future for divisive political agendas,” the MPs said.

Nominated MP David Sankok asked Kenyans to rise above the incitement being perpetrated by the DCI since they have co-existed in peace since the 2007/2008 post-poll chaos.

Reopening old wounds

“Our physical wounds had healed and we cannot afford to reopen them when we had decided to move on as a united country,” Mr Sankok said.

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwa alleged a well-oiled plan aimed at recruiting people to cause violence in parts of the Rift Valley, specifically in Njoro.

“We want to categorically tell the DCI that should anything happen to any leader or any Kenyan in any part of the country, then he and his masters will be held responsible,” Mr Ichungwa said. 

Victims of the violence said that a revival of the post-election cases is tantamount to re-opening of old wounds.

“Life has never been the same again. The repercussions of the violence include mistrust and fear, especially every time we are nearing an electioneering period,” Mr John Karanja, a resident of Molo, told the Nation.

Another resident, Ms Regina Wambui, said memories of the election’s aftermath are still fresh, 13 years later.

“It happened, lives were lost and property worth millions of shillings was destroyed, but the best thing is to forgive each other and move on,” said Ms Wambui.

Mr Joseph Omondi, a resident of Naivasha, one of the most affected areas in the Rift Valley, told the Nation that the violence greatly altered the way people live in the cosmopolitan town, adding that an unacknowledged cloud of mistrust still exists.

A resident of Molo, Mr John Ondimu, who saw the post-election violence devastate the town, says residents seemed unwilling to re-invest in the area following the destruction of property during the chaos.

“The town was completely reduced to ashes, but it is rising. Peace was restored among communities that could not see eye-to-eye. We only need to uphold the peace,”Mr Ondimu told the Nation.

According to Mr Ondimu, who is currently putting up rental houses in the town, the area is among the most sought-after residential locations in Nakuru.

Reporting by Vincent Achuka, Samuel Owino and Eric Matara