Haji: I'm not to blame over Tana clashes

Defence minister Yusuf Haji has distanced himself from the inter-communal violence in Tana River County that has left over 100 people dead.

The minister, who is also in charge of the Internal Security docket, refused to withdraw his remarks that linked Dhado Godhana (Galole) to the fighting in Tana River between the Orma and the Pokomo.

The minister said that Mr Godhana’s vow that he could not attend a meeting with him (Haji), meant to reconcile their people, and the threat that “more was to come” as long as Haji was still at the helm of the Internal Security Ministry raised questions that led Mr Haji to order the investigations.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, the minister said MPs had heard Mr Godhana proclaiming within the corridors of the House that he won’t attend a meeting as long as it is called and chaired by Mr Haji.

Skip meeting

Mr Godhana skipped the meeting when Mr Haji met all the MPs to address the killings in the area. Instead the Galole MP met elders in Garsen constituency.

“Why is it that he was meeting elders in Garsen constituency without the presence of the area MP (Danson Mungatana)?” posed Mr Haji.

The minister said it was “obvious” that his constituency (Ijara) bordered that of Mr Godhana (Galole), and therefore, there was no link between their proximity and the fighting between the Pokomo and the Orma.

“I am neither an Orma nor a Pokomo; the fighting is not in my constituency and it is not in Godhana’s constituency,” said Mr Haji

The minister lamented that Mr Godhana had given media interviews in which he mentioned him (Haji) in bad light, and even linked him to al-Shabaab, because he claimed that aliens from Somalia got identity cards in Ijara.

Mr Haji said that constituents from Mr Godhana’s area had cut water supply to Masalani, and that when a water bowser was sent they turned it away. This, the minister said, affected the hospitals in the area.

With that, the minister ended his unsolicited personal statement to the House.

Mr Haji was responding to a call for an apology that Mr Godhana had sought in the House last week.

Then, Mr Godhana denied culpability terming himself as a “polished, trained, and committed peacekeeper”.

The MP was charged with incitement to violence at a Nairobi court on and later released on a Sh500,000 cash bail. The case is set for hearing on October 2.