TJRC’s headache will be assassinations

The TJRC is in a tight corner. The country, led by the Cabinet, seems to have left all of its political problems to the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. No justice will ever be done through Bethwel Kiplagat’s Commission unless the bitter truth is exposed. May be among the most unpalatable truths that Kiplagat will have a hard time trying to expose will be political assassinations that have taken place in the country since independence.

The real number of Kenyans who have lost their lives for political reasons will never be known. Neither will the reasons ever be exposed. One of the explanations for political assassinations not to be fully exposed is the fact that the murders were either committed by very powerful people in the Government or extremely influential people outside the Government. Some of the people concerned may be still alive and still in power. For that reason the country does not quite know the inside story of the assassinations of Tom Mboya, Pio Gama Pinto, JM Kariuki and Robert Ouko.

The big question is: Will Kiplagat’s team have the courage to expose the real planners and executors of these murders? Time alone will tell because the manner in which Kiplagat gets the answer to that vital question remains to be seen. It is that answer however that will determine whether or not the TJRC is worth respecting, trusting and spending money on.

Shot down on the then Government Road exactly 40 years ago on 5th July 1969, Thomas Joseph Mboya, was easily the most popular politician in Kenya. There was very little doubt that he would have easily stepped into Jomo Kenyatta’s shoes as the country’s second President following Kenyatta’s death, which was expected at any time, as the old man was not particularly healthy. Mboya's death, through an assassin’s bullet, stunned the country and automatically united all the Luos in Kenya who had previously been torn apart by the Tom Mboya-Oginga Odinga rivalry.

The man who was arrested and tried for Mboya’s murder, Nahashon Njenga Njoroge, was found guilty and hanged so fast that he had no time to tell the real story behind the killing. The abruptness in which all events concerning the murder, trial and the execution clearly indicated that the powers that be were trying to hide something. This was particularly the case when Nahashon Njenga told the people arresting him to “go for the big man”. During the trial no one really wanted to know who the “big man” was. Will Kiplagat’s team get to the truth and reveal “the big man” behind Tom Mboya’s death? Time alone will tell. Whether Kiplagat will have the courage to summon all the living “big men” of Kenyatta’s time, remains to be seen.

Another mysterious political assassination in Kenya is that of Pio Gama Pinto which took place in Parklands, Nairobi on 25th February 1965. The man arrested after the murder was Kisilu Mutua. A very quick trial, followed by an even quicker execution through hanging, took place at the speed of lightening. Nobody had ever heard of this man before, but he could have been hired by Pinto’s many enemies. As a real communist who understood the dogma’s theory and practice, he was an enemy of the British colonialists who had detained him on Manda Island during the state of emergency in Kenya.

If the British eliminated Pio Gama Pinto they must have done so to make sure communism would not spread in East Africa. Before his assassination, Pinto was very concerned with the brainwashing of the masses. He helped Jaramogi Oginga Odinga establish the Lumumba Institute which was only concerned with teaching Marxism to young Africans. The money to establish the institute came from Eastern European countries which made Jomo Kenyatta’s kitchen cabinet very disturbed.

Because Pio Gama Pinto was popular with all the other pro-Jaramogi members of Kanu he easily got himself nominated to both Parliament and the East African Legislative Council. As a founder of the party’s newspaper Sauti ya Kanu Pinto was very determined to spread Leftist theories and principles to the wananchi of Kenya. This must have disturbed Tom Mboya, James Gichuru and Jomo Kenyatta himself; but were they so angry with the Kenyan Goan as to get rid of him through an assassin’s bullet? Kiplagat’s team will have to tell us. Are there any living people who know the inside story of Pio Gama Pinto’s assassination? TJRC will have to find out. Will it succeed? Time alone will tell? Is there any hope of ever getting to know the truth about the death of Pio Gama Pinto? That remains to be seen.

Another political darling of the people murdered during Jomo Kenyatta’s regime was Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, known to everyone as JM Kariuki. He was mysteriously killed by unknown people and his body left on Ngong Hills for hyenas to feed on. A badly mutilated body was discovered on March 2nd 1975. Infuriated by the death, Parliament appointed a Commission to investigate on the real causes if the brutal act under the chairmanship of Elijah Mwangale.

Though the report named several senior police officers as the murderers of JM, not a single person has been taken to court to face charges of killing JM. The questions Kiplagat’s team has to try and get answers to are: Who were the cruel killers of JM and who sent them to do that dirty job? While trying to get those answers it is not difficult to imagine who would have liked to see the popular politician out of the way. First of all the man was extremely rich and no one knows where he got his money from. All that is known is that he was among Jomo Kenyatta’s first private secretaries when the old man was released from detention by the British just before the country’s independence.

The story goes that old Jomo sent JM to some East European countries to collect a “gift” for him. He passed through London on his way back home and opened a bank account in which he deposited for himself half of what he was given. How true is this story? Kiplagat’s team will have to find out. Will they succeed? Time alone will tell. Is there anybody who knows the truth about this story and is willing to expose everything? That remains to be seen.

Apart from that story, JM was a fearless Member of Parliament who specialized in exposing Jomo Kenyatta’s exploitation of the poor in Kenyans. He used to organize other members of parliament to oppose Jomo’s efforts to make himself the undisputed despot of Kenya. He once gathered scores of MPs at his Gilgil farm where they made the famous Ol-Kalau Declaration to oppose Jomo in Parliament. Did Jomo Kenyatta eliminate JM? Kiplagat’s team will have to find out. Will they succeed? Time alone will tell. Are there some people willing to tell the truth about that matter? That remains to be seen.

The other political assassination that will give a headache to the Kiplagat team is that of Robert Ouko whose mutilated body was found on 13th February 1990. There is a big difference between this murder and the other three. The assassination of Robert Ouko, who was Daniel arap Moi’s Foreign Minister, has been documented in many investigations including that of foreign experts. Books have been written implicating very important personalities in the Moi regime including Nicholas Biwott. This is the one investigation in which Kiplagat’s team should come out with a lot of truth. How it will handle that truth to bring about justice and reconciliation, however, remains to be seen.