In African folklore, there is a character that looms large for its polished deception, which guile often results in sizzling dramatic irony. The story usually culminates in a situation where the devious, meek-looking carnivore is entrusted with the care of the docile herbivores, often depicted as sheep.
There is likelihood that lore might imitate life in the on-going dialogue over the Kenyan crisis, particularly given the appointment of people linked to tribal violence as negotiators and engineers of peace.
William Ruto was recently appointed by ODM as one of its three negotiators in the Kofi Annan-led mediation efforts that aim to reconcile Kenyans after a spate of post-election violence. Given numerous accusations against him, alleging links to and inspiration of the violence in the Rift Valley, the question must be asked: Is Kenya entrusting its peace negotiations to a war-monger? If indeed William Ruto is a war monger, how can we expect him to negotiate in good faith in the larger interest of the country? As this description in Time magazine states, Ruto holds the key to this crisis . "William Ruto, part of Odinga's inner circle, and his ilk are key to this crisis. Yes, they attend peace talks, but they're accused of inciting ethnic violence on the side. Who is this man, Ruto? William Samoei Ruto is the youthful and articulate member of parliament for Eldoret North. He is very good on the stump, and his urbane manner and mostly flawless English and Kiswahili set him apart from older generation of Kalenjin politicians who speak tortured versions of both these languages. A member of the Nandi sub-tribe of the Kalenjin meta-ethnic group, he shares a name with the legendary Kalenjin hero, Orkoiyot Koitalel Turugat arap Samoei, whose resistance to British colonialism led to his death at the hands of the British imperialist Captain Richard Meinertzhagen. Many Kalenjins view Ruto as the reincarnation of Koitalel, or at least a descendant. Like Koitalel, Ruto is seen as defending Kalenjin rights; these are imagined in pre-contact terms when the Nandi numbered 30,000 and raided their neighbors with impunity. This myth is instrumental in understanding how Ruto was able to emerge as the foremost Kalenjin leader before he was even 40 years, dethroning former President Daniel who is seen as hailing from the Tugen, a smaller Kalenjin sub-tribe, and supplanting the likes of Nicholas Biwott, who hails from the less gallant Elgeyo sub-tribe of the Kalenjin. Despite his shinning political star, Ruto has been accused of instigating clashes that have led to the displacement of thousands of people in the Rift Valley in organized violence. For reference, see Senior Counsel Mutula Kilonzo's interview on how violence in the Rift Valley was organized here. To be fair to Ruto, he has not yet been tried and found guilty of such incitement or for his role as the kiptainik (leading warrior). However, there is a sizeable amount of published information that suggests a link between him and the violence. Amongst other reports, he was cited for hate speech in a document called Still Behaving Badly: Second Periodic Report of the Election-Monitoring Project, published in December last year by the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC). This report was but a tip of the iceberg. According to the Parliamentary Hansard of April 2007 on page 346, a former assistant minister for Planning and National Development, J. Serut, named Samoei (Ruto), amongst others, as the group that was inciting people in the Mt. Elgon area of Kenya. The violence in that area - and as far as Kitale - claimed 200 lives last year, mainly members of the Bukusu community who are seen, like the Kikuyus and Kisiis, as having illegally occupied land in the Rift Valley that "belongs" to the Kalenjin. A dozen policemen also lost their lives in the Mt. Elgon violence blamed on the so-called Saboti Land Defence Forces (SLDF). Interestingly, a Fred Chesebe Kapondi, who was arrested and charged with the violence last year, was elected as Member of Parliament on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket. His charges are still pending in court and he will have to divide his time between parliament and the courts. Kapondi is in good company in the ODM. Ruto, and others such as Franklin Bett, a member of parliament from the greater Kericho district which has seen a lot of violence directed at Kisiis and Kikuyus, belong to ODM. Bett was also named in parliament by Serut for his role in fomenting violence. While it could be argued that Serut was misusing parliamentary privilege to name individuals such Ruto, what is clear is that Ruto’s name keeps coming up whenever incitement is reported – in and out of parliament. According to KNHRC’s report on the Constitutional Referendum published in September 2006, Ruto was once again named for incitement in the run up to the constitutional referendum of November 2005. KANU Youth ’92, Kalenjin Warriors and Mayhem
Available reports show that Ruto has been mentioned in the same breadth with violence for a long time. Ruto made his considerable wealth as a leader of the Youth for KANU ’92, a dubious lobby group that was formed to support the Presidency of former dictator Daniel arap Moi. At the time the organization was formed, he was a Masters student in zoology at the University of Nairobi. He abandoned his studies to throw his weight with Moi’s totalitarianism and to take advantage of the free money flowing into the organization. This organization was famous for one thing: its bottomless pockets. It was never clear where the money came from, but it has been claimed that former Central Bank governor Eric Kotut, a fellow Kalenjin, printed paper money to finance Moi’s campaign. Other reports allege that this money came from the Goldenberg swindle which started in the early 1990s, and in which the Kenyan taxpayer lost over Shs. 80 billion. If this is true, Ruto, his YK’92 colleague Cyrus Jirongo, as well as Musalia Mudavadi, the finance minister at the height of the heist, have a good motivation to prevent a government that might prosecute them. Aware of this murky past, the British have slapped a ban on Ruto so that he cannot travel to the UK. YK’92, as the lobby was called, was manned by youthful operatives in flashy suits, the most conspicuous ones being Ruto and Jirongo. However, the YK’92 represented the urban, sophisticated face of a campaign whose mantra was to show that multiparty politics was not going to work in Kenya. The mission of YK’92 included vote buying, bribery, and intimidation. In the rural areas of the Rift Valley, the more unsophisticated phase of YK’92 was in operation. Styled as “Kalenjin warriors,” and armed with bows and arrows, some of industrial grade, their mission was to drive out Kikuyu, Kisii, Luo and Luhya voters. It is notable that the very first clashes broke out in Nandi, Ruto’s neighboring district that still retains the name of the tribe. A report compiled by Human Rights Watch called Divide and Rule, notes: The ethnic clashes first broke out on October 29, 1991, at Meteitei farm in Tinderet, Nandi District, on the border of Rift Valley, Nyanza, and Western Provinces….As the fighting continued, the Kalenjin community was accused of attacking the Luo community….Luo leaders, whose community was the first to be affected by the clashes, concluded that the violence was the direct result of the majimbo rally held at Kapsabet a month earlier. After the violence erupted, leaflets were distributed in the area warning Luos and other non-Kalenjins to leave the area by December 12, 1991, or “face the consequences.” The leaflets were signed by a group calling itself the Nandi Warriors.
These Nandi Warriors later became known as the “Kalenjin Warriors,” as more attacks were launched on non-Kalenjins. According to Divide and Rule, “The attackers were often identically dressed in informal uniform of shorts and tee-shirts and always armed with traditional bows and arrows as well as pangas. Sometimes, the warriors would have their faces marked in the traditional manner with clay. The warriors would loot, kill, and burn houses, leaving death and destruction in their wake.” Some of the fiercest fighting was between the Kalenjin and the Luo. This is how Divide and Rule puts it: “The Kericho-Kisumu road was temporarily closed as “Kalenjin warriors” armed with bows and arrows battled with Luos across the road. The confrontation between the two communities followed an attack by Kalenjins against hundreds of Luos residing in Nandi and Kericho Districts during which the Kalenjins had looted and burned Luo homes. The Luo community responded with a counter-attack. A Luo policeman trying to stop the fighting allegedly killed a Kalenjin, resulting in a new attack by the Kalenjins against neighboring Owiro farm, populated by Luos.” Given this history, it would appear that the Luo, in their bid for power, have suppressed their memory and allowed themselves to be dragged by their leaders into a pact with the devil for political expediency. Although the Kenyatta regime was accused of carrying out targeted assassinations of politicians deemed to be a threat, it is true to say that in terms of ethnic groups, there is no community in Kenya that has caused more death and destruction to fellow Kenyans than the Kalenjin. Keeping Democracy at Bay
According to researcher Prisca Mbura Kamungi in her 2001 report: The Current Status of Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya: "Research into the violence indicates that the affected communities were mainly supporters of opposition parties. The Kenya government got into pluralism involuntarily due to internal and international pressure, 13 and it is alleged that KANU leaders were firmly resolved on either reverting the country to one party status or keeping genuine democracy at bay." The way democracy was to be kept at bay was through Majimboism, a form of uniquely Kenyan ethnic federalism, calls of which have been associated with violence since Kenya’s independence from Britain in 1963. People in the Rift Valley, specifically Kalenjins, were incited against fellow Kenyans who had settled in their midst. This was done with a specific purpose: ensuring that the opposition, then mainly Kikuyu and Luo, did not garner the required 25 percent in the Rift Valley for their presidential candidate. KNHCR put it succinctly in one of their aptly named reports called Killing the Vote. If enough pro-democracy people could be killed or displaced, why, it was possible for authoritarianism to prevail. As reward for executing the violence, local people were told that those non-local people who had settled in their midst had exploited them for social benefits. That they had settled in their areas away from their ancestral lands was pointed out as evidence of this exploitation. Kamungi writes: “The violence was therefore explained by politicians to be caused by resentful locals who wanted these benefits for themselves, an aim achievable only through eviction of the 'aliens' or 'foreigners'.” What is often lost to most observers is the connection between the violence of 1992, 1997, and 2002, and 2007. For a start, the violence was perpetrated against other communities by one community – the Kalenjin. It targeted people who had settled in the Rift Valley regardless of their ethnic origins so long as they were non-Kalenjins. The attacks were accompanied by theft and looting of private property by Kalenjin warriors. In these incidences, the government was reluctant to take the Kalenjin head on, thereby emboldening them to conduct the next raid during the next raiding season. These raids coincide with moments when the country was exercising its democracy – elections. It is as if some elements within Kalenjin politics are still intent on keeping genuine democracy at bay. Genuine democracy initially meant multipartyism, which was seen as inimical to Kalenjin interests by threatening “their” hold on power because President Moi is Kalenjin. Today it behoves us to understand it in a more holistic sense, that democracy means not just liberal democracy, but also a general acceptance of the democratic tenets of majority rule, equal opportunity, and rule of law. For Kalenjin nationalists, this is unacceptable. Majority rule to some Kalenjins means that Kikuyus will dominate, even though it is clear that no one community in Kenya can rule without the coming together with other communities. Equal opportunity also does not appear to satisfy some of them; many were unable to take advantage of opportunities availed to them disproportionately by President Moi. Rule of law is also a problem for some Kalenjins; it means that past crimes, including raids by Kalenjin warriors will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that people who acquired public property or bankrupted state companies will also face the law. Given this state of affairs, some prominent Kalenjin politicians continue to portray both majority rule and rule of law as a conspiracy by the Kikuyu to monopolize power and wealth without stating that that mode of governance threatens the Kalenjin way of life. The Gema Numerical Strength and Democracy in Kenya
That is why they find it difficult to accept an electoral outcome that favors a candidate that they don’t control. Currently, the argument is muddled by those who do not want to accept the reality of Kenya’s demographics, which are such that any presidential candidate from the GEMA communities who manages to command the support of that constituency is always at a huge advantage. For a start, such a candidate starts of with 30 percent of the total national vote based on the larger GEMA population (Kikuyu, Embu, Meru) and has to work just to top up the vote and to garner the mandatory 25 percent of the vote in five of the eight provinces. In contrast, a candidate from, say, the Luo, starts of with 12 percent of the national vote. If such a Luo candidate manages to attract the entire Kalenjin vote, he starts with only 24 percent against the GEMA candidate’s 30 percent. In the recent election, that is what happened. ODM’s strategy of vilifying the GEMA created a siege mentality that resulted in a huge voter turn out in a community that generally does not vote in large numbers. PNU candidates in GEMA areas had only one message for their people: get out and vote. And they did; voter turn out in GEMA areas increased significantly compared to the 2005 constitutional referendum figures. Unfortunately, the ODM candidate could not even command the total unadulterated Luhya vote which would have helped to tip the balance. And because Luhya’s did not feel fully invested in an ODM presidency –which they saw as Luo – they did not turn out in large numbers, denying the ODM candidate vital votes. Not to mention, of course, that the Bukusu, a sub-tribe of the Luhya, as immigrants into the Rift Valley, have more in common with Kisii and Kikuyu than with the Luo. Any fair analysis of this electoral outcome has to take into account Kenya’s tribal politics and demographics. As Kiraitu Murungi asked in an article in the Sunday Nation of February 3 2008, are the 4.5 million Kenyans who voted for Kibaki not Kenyans? Kibaki’s first term was remarkable for its tolerance and freedom, besides the economic progress that has been noted by the World Bank, IMF, and notable international and credit rating agencies. It is also remarkable for ensuring the kind of diversity Kenya has never seen since independence. This ethnic diversity and balance was has been noted by Dr. David Throup of John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), an expert on Kenya, in an article published by the Center for International & Strategic Studies. Except for the Ministry of Finance, which Kibaki probably felt he needed to keep close reigns on, the administration was easily the most ethnically diverse ever. However, it is true that Kibaki did retire a number of Kalenjin bureaucrats as it was felt that the government was susceptible to being undermined by some of the Kalenjin bureaucrats beholden to the ideology of Kalenjin nationalism. The reason why a number of senior Kalenjin civil servants were removed after Kibaki came to power, in addition to the need by Kibaki to reward his political supporters, has something to do with the view that the intricate Kalenjin networks established under Moi were a threat to the new regime. However, Kalenjin rank and file was not targeted and retained their jobs in the civil service. The Specter of Violence
Back to Ruto. In 2002, it was alleged that he had slapped Reuben Chesire, a Nandi elder and a former Chairman of the Industrial Development Bank over a dispute at State House, Nairobi. If that was an allegation, however, a threat by Ruto that he would assault Chesire at a future date was reported in fact by the Daily Nation which also links Ruto to incitement and violence in the Rift Valley. According to UK's Daily Telegraph , during the 2002 campaign Ruto was one of two government ministers warned by the Electoral Commission for "serious polling offences." One of the more memorable moments in KANU's otherwise dismal 2002 campaign, was a rally in Gatundu in 2002, where the Eldoret North MP insisted that KANU would form the next government with or without the support of the Kikuyu. In saying so, he was perhaps alluding to the extra-constitutional strategies employed to prevent them from voting. This warning came amid "increasingly persistent allegations of intimidation, fraud and looting of state funds." In the current violence, voices are increasingly emerging that link Ruto directly to the violence in the Rift Valley. TIME magazine reports "In Eldoret, for example, some locals accused William Ruto, a leader of Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement and a Kalenjin, of hate speech in the run-up to the vote. "He's the main inciter," said a man named Benjamin, who refused to give his last name for fear of punishment. "He said that if we are not going to win as ODM, we will not accept to stay with the Kikuyus. They will have to go." And this report by The Statesman sets out clearly that Ruto participated in pre-election agitation for violence. Interviews with the victims, as well as the perpetrators of violence, indicate that the violence in the Rift Valley, was well organized in advance by Kalenjin elders and leaders. In fact, even before the first vote was cast, a total of 70 people had already died, many in opposition strongholds. This was clearly a harbinger of things to come. In this interview by the BBC carried out in Eldoret, Kalenjin fighters who clearly regret killing Kikuyus, said that they were asked to kill Kikuyus by their leaders. Ruto's response to these accusations is that he is an undeserved target of lies by the human rights commission, forcing the commission to defend itself: "We are not biased because our job is to hold the political class accountable no matter who they are," Kiai said. Ruto's party, the ODM, has gone a step further to muddle the debate by electing to confuse the issue of ethnic cleansing with the sort of violence (excessive even) that might occur in any government in the course of maintaining law and order. In a pre-emptive move, the ODM took the government to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The ODM charges centered around deaths that occurred in the process of restoring calm following the violent demonstrations inspired or called for by the ODM. These demonstrations caused loss of life in Kenya, and disrupted the economies of neighboring countries. In taking the government to the ICC, the Opposition party is trying to cast the government in the same mold as Charles Taylor and Slobodan Milesovich. However, it is unlikely that the charges will hold given that the Kenyan police have largely acted professionally under extreme provocation, with reports of police trucks being searched by mobs in illegal road blocks in the Nandi and Kipsigis districts. The deaths that occurred at the hands of the police mainly took place in the thick of street battles as the Kenyan police were trying to restore calm after opposition supporters engaged in violence, mayhem, disruption, looting, rape, and murder. It is noteworthy that before violence broke out, the Kenyan police had no history of mass murder of opposition supporters, targeted or accidental. It is true that the Kenyan Police Service is by no means a posse of angelic shepherds. Just last year there were accusations that police killed members of Mungiki, but this controversial group is not part of the opposition. So far this year, close to 1000 people have been killed in the post election violence. Of this number, the police have killed less than 100 people. 90 or so of the victims were killed in the revenge attacks in Naivasha and Nakuru and it is likely that PNU supporters have killed many people in Nairobi. However, it goes without saying that the bulk of the victims have died at the hands of ODM's supporters in their 'spontaenous fury'. Unfortunately, William Ruto was amongst the very last national leaders to call for peace. So far, he has not gone to Kalenjin areas to confront the mobs and to ask for calm. In comparison, Uhuru Kenyatta, Cyrus Jirongo, Lewis Nguyai, Fred Gumo, Martha Karua, Linah Kilimo and others have gone to the streets to reason with mobs and their appeal has been heeded. Ruto and other ODM MPs insist that they cannot face their constituents before the resolution of the presidential vote dispute. In other words, they are using violence as a bargaining tool. Ruto's silence on violence is louder than those who shout "No Raila, No Peace," betraying their resolve to install Raila in office by force, regardless of whether he won or not and regardless of the human cost or the consequences to the wider economy. This determined and stubborn silence, has now led to some attacks being waged in Ruto's name. When raiders went to the home of Ken Matara, they burned his house because some members of his Kisii community people had attacked Ruto in South Mugirango constituency. So why are men with histories of violence sitting at the negotiating table discussing peace? Is Kenya entrusting a leopard to look after the sheep?
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Thanks for the info and the back up links...
"Where there is smoke there is fire"