Wednesday July 16, 2014
LABAN WALLOGA Cord leader Raila Odinga with Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho (next to him) and Senators Moses Wetangula and Boni Khalwale among other guests at the governor’s Ifthar ceremony on July 14, 2014. Mr Odinga asked the government to disclose how many Kenyan soldiers had been killed in Somalia.
Cord leader Raila Odinga has asked the government to disclose the number of Kenyan soldiers killed since the beginning of the military campaign against Al-Shabaab in Somalia three years ago.
“KDF soldiers are dying in Somalia. We only see coffins arriving in Kenya each day but they have not revealed the number of our fallen soldiers to date,” Mr Odinga said.
He and other Cord leaders have in recent weeks been demanding that the government recall the soldiers in the wake of terrorist attacks in parts of the Coast, Nairobi and northern Kenya.
Mr Odinga has also dared the government to arrest him and other Opposition politicians if it had evidence linking them to the recent Lamu and Tana River attacks in which 87 people have died.
Property worth millions of shillings has also been destroyed while scores of families have fled their homes to escape from the murderous gangs.
Mr Odinga was speaking in Mombasa on Monday evening during an Ifthar dinner hosted by Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho at Serani grounds to break the Muslim fast.
He said that Cord leaders Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetangula and Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar were ready to face justice over the killings if indeed the government had evidence against them.
Last month, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku accused unnamed politicians of crossing the red line and warned of possible arrests.
The ODM party leader said: “They are saying because Raila and others went to Mombasa at the Tononoka grounds and incited people, killings erupted in Mpeketoni... How can you utter such words and play around with the lives of people? If Raila, Kalonzo, Wetangula and Omar have a hand, why don’t you arrest and charge them instead of implicating (Lamu Governor) Timamy?”
Mr Timamy was on June 24 charged in a Mombasa court with the killings in Mpeketoni. More than 70 people have in the last two weeks been arrested in a crackdown in both Lamu and Tana River.
Two others have been charged with causing the deaths of the attack victims.
On Monday evening, Mr Odinga blamed the government for the rise in insecurity.
“People are dying like flies. In Mombasa county, gunshots are the order of the day. Just recently, we buried Sheikh Mohammed Idriss who became the 21st imam to have been murdered mysteriously,” he said.
“When Mombasa tycoon Shahid Bhutt was killed (last Friday) they said no stone would be left unturned but to date nothing has been found beneath the stone, no one has been apprehended over the death.”
Mr Joho challenged Coast political leaders to remain in Cord or resign. That was an apparent reference to some ODM MPs from the Coast who have publicly differed with the Cord national leadership especially over calls for mass action.
Speaking during meetings presided over by Deputy President William Ruto in Kwale and Kilifi counties two weeks ago, the ODM politicians who included governors Salim Mvurya, Amason Kingi and the chairman of Coast Parliamentary Group, Mr Gideon Mungaro, said they would work with the government to revive the economy of the region and spur its development.
Mr Joho, who was responding publicly for the first time on the matter, said: “Those who think they are strong enough (on the ground) why don’t you resign?”
He accused the National Government of failing to contain insecurity.
He said if the President wanted to give Muslims goodies during the month of Ramadhan then he should free the people held in the Kasarani camp instead of holding Ifthar dinners in Kakamega.
Mr Omar said Cord leaders would push for the removal of county commissioners and for the role of maintaining security to be given to governors.
The leaders asked the government to publish the original report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission and implement its recommendations to end historical injustices.
Mr Odinga said they would institute a committee to prepare for the referendum, urging coast people to provide a million signatures for the push of referendum.
Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale said: “We will stand by Muslims. This Ramadhan period let the President reward Muslims by freeing the people in the detection camp in Kasarani where they have been locked without any reason.”