Don’t take assassination claim for granted, follow all the leads

Cabinet Secretaries (from left) Sicily Kariuki, Joe Mucheru and Peter Munya at the DCI headquarters on June 24, 2019. They denied alleged plot to eliminate DP William Ruto. PHOTO | MARY WAMBUI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Every so often, we will hear leaders loudly wailing that their lives are in danger.
  • One priority would focus on establishing if the alleged meetings took place and, if so, what exactly was discussed.

Kenya has a sad history of political assassinations. That is why even today, when it may appear that the culture of such killings ceased with the end of single-party dictatorship, any reports of assassination plots must be swiftly investigated.

Unfortunately, investigations into such threats are often compromised by the culture of politicians crying wolf.

Every so often, we will hear leaders loudly wailing that their lives are in danger. Such wild claims often amount to nothing but serve the purpose of winning attention and sympathy and also galvanising support bases.

POLITICAL HOAXES

However real the likelihood of political hoaxes, it is still incumbent on the authorities to seriously investigate them. It would be unforgivable if the police ignored a complaint because it seemed a bit too fanciful and then somebody was killed.

That is why the police must move with haste on claims of an assassination plot targeting Deputy President William Ruto.

A week has passed since reports surfaced that a clutch of Cabinet secretaries and senior civil servants from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s central Kenya backyard were party to a meeting where the killing of Dr Ruto was floated.

Even as a layman with no training or experience in police work beyond what I learnt from James Hadley Chase and Ed McBain, I would presume that first lines of inquiry would be to establish the veracity of any such reports.

MEETINGS

One priority would focus on establishing if the alleged meetings took place and, if so, what exactly was discussed. That would mean interrogating each and every person who was present and also securing records, notes and any other useful documentation.

Another would be to look into the document that formed the basis of inquiry in the first place. In this instance, there was a letter allegedly sent to President Kenyatta by a CS protesting the agenda of the meeting, giving names and detailing how the proposal to kill the DP was raised.

My own instinct tells me that the letter first spread widely on social media with the identity of the writer blanked is nothing but a very transparent fake.

It is evident that the police are proceeding on the same assumption and, therefore, focusing on the source of the letter rather than its substance.

USUAL LEAKS

If the usual leaks from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations that we regurgitate so uncritically are anything to go by, the sleuths have already narrowed down their inquiries to DP Ruto’s office. In the crosshairs are, supposedly, some propagandists in his communications unit.

Let us remember, however, that the police know they cannot be trusted to be professional and impartial on matters touching on the DP, hence the reported decision to bring in a neutral agency — the American FBI.

The choreographed leaks demolish any claims to impartiality. Even if it is true that the said assassination plot is an irresponsible concoction, no investigation will be complete until all lines of inquiry have been scrupulously pursued. The CSs and others adversely mentioned in the allegation must, therefore, record statements, as should whoever put the police on the case.

A side issue is that, if it was really just an innocent meeting to discuss development in central Kenya, citizens from elsewhere who don’t have Cabinet representation might want to ask where they will get development.

* * *

As I pen this, it is going to a fortnight since controversial social media activist Robert Alai was arrested for posting photographs of Kenyan soldiers killed in a terrorist attack.

Whatever offence Mr Alai may have committed is a misdemeanour. Only despotic regimes use anti-terrorism laws to silence journalists and bloggers.

XENOPHOBIC THREATS

Also being held inordinately long is Starehe MP Charles Kanyi Njagua alias Jaguar, who is close to a week in custody over alleged xenophobic threats. It is not a crime to be stupid!

Anyway, I am beginning to wonder if there is a connection to this trend of locking up people for lengthy periods before trial on minor offences and the appointment of former Chief Justice Bernard Chunga to some advisory role in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Justice Chunga served that same office with notoriety before his elevation to head the Bench. He was the DPP responsible for prosecuting hundreds of Kenyans first subjected to unspeakable terror by operatives of the precursor of the National Intelligence Service who ran the Nyayo House torture dungeons.

That remains the darkest chapter in the history of the Kenyan justice system. Mr Chunga is very fortunate that he was not called to account. Bringing him back provokes bitter memories for those who suffered.

[email protected] @MachariaGaitho