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Michuki ‘sleeping on the job’
DAILY NATION
Story by NICHOLAS OKEYA and KENNEDY LUMWAMU
Publication Date: 4/16/2007
An Anglican bishop has blamed the Internal Security Minister John Michuki for “sleeping” while Mount Elgon is on fire.
Bishop Timothy Ranji of Mt. Kenya South diocese said it was disheartening to see Mt Elgon clashes continue to escalate while the ministry of internal security, with all the resources under its disposal, had failed to contain the skirmishes.
Addressing the press after the end of a three-day biannual Synod meeting at Bishop Kariuki Integrated Community Training Centre in Wangige, Bishop Ranji blamed the minister for “sleeping on the job.”
He said it was unbelievable that an armed militia can sprout and blossom right under the nose of the government and nothing is done to nip it in the bud.
“Where was the government apparatus when the so called Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) was being formed? It is only now that the outfit is causing havoc that the government is waking up from slumber, this is unacceptable in a working nation like ours,” the bishop said.
He told Minister Michuki to “wake up” and visit Mt Elgon and see for himself what was going on and if the security personnel were doing their work properly to end the clashes or they are the one exacerbating it.
The Mt Elgon clashes have claimed 145 lives and displaced more than 45,000 people in Cheptais and Kopsiro divisions.
“We in the diocese of Mt Kenya South are disheartened with what was going on in Mt Elgon and in some parts of Meru, and we call upon the government to take a decisive action to restore peace in the affected areas,” Bishop Ranji said.
He said if the government had failed to tame armed militia groupings in the country, then it should be prepared to fight a protracted war like the one that had gone on for about 20 years between the government of Uganda and a rebel group called Lord’s Resistance Army of Joseph Kony.
“Dangerous groups like SLDF, Mungiki, Taliban and Kamjesh should be wiped out completely,’’ he said.
In Eldoret, lawyers have called for the immediate release of a politician believed to be behind the violence in Mt Elgon.
Law Society of Kenya North Rift chapter chairman Simon Lilan said the release of Mr fred Chesebe who was arrested last week would hasten the restoration of peace in the district.
"If the government is genuine about the amnesty given to the militia men it should set him free if they believe he is connected to the mayhem,’’ he
added.
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