Billow Kerrow on the lack of Social Justice for Somali Kenyans

OPINION

Social justice for the people of northern Kenya is still a mirage

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By BILLOW KERROW

Posted  Wednesday, April 27 2011 at 18:46

In the past one week, the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) has been in North-Eastern Kenya getting a first-hand account of over 45 years of official neglect, deprivation and social injustice visited upon the residents by successive regimes.

The emotional outpouring by the residents has largely been unnoticed nationally, save for the media focus on the monstrous atrocities such as the Wagalla Massacre.

Brutal security operations continue unabated, and even as the Commission was being set up in 2008, security forces tortured and maimed several hundreds in Mandera.

Section 27(6) of the Constitution requires the State to take affirmative measures and policies to “redress any disadvantage suffered by individuals or groups because of past discrimination”.

However, the Commission should pay greater attention to the prevailing social injustice rather than being fixated on historical injustices.

This week, they will be in Mandera County that is reeling from the effects of the worst drought this decade.

Hundreds face death as a result of extreme hunger and thirst, while their economic livelihoods, namely livestock, continue to perish.

The government has a constitutional obligation to provide adequate food and water to all its citizens, without discrimination, among other socio-economic rights outlined in Section 46.

For the marginalised, Section 56 further mandates the government to provide infrastructure, such as boreholes, schools and health facilities as fundamental human rights.

As Indian writer and activist, Arundhati Roy argues, the assault on social justice has eroded its definition, made us lower our sights and curtail our expectations.

The notion of equality has undergone a process of attrition and eased out of equation.

He argues that these human rights violations are increasingly portrayed as unfortunate fallouts from an otherwise acceptable political and economic system.

The TJRC members’ mandate includes investigating the marginalisation of communities, and providing redress where necessary.

Will they order the government to immediately declare the ravaging famine in the region a national disaster and help halt the region’s march to devastation?

They are aware that the region’s youth cannot obtain identity cards due to official

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, in its 2009 publication titled “Foreigners at home – the dilemma of citizenship in Northern Kenya”, accuses the government of institutionalised discrimination on the itizenship of the residents through arbitrary denial.

Can TJRC urgently address this? Section 10 of the Constitution deems that social justice, equity and protection of the marginalised are national values that must be applied whenever State organs implement public policy decisions. Will the up-coming recruitment of 7,000 policemen be done equitably?

Section 232 on public service jobs demands that the State affords ‘‘adequate and equal opportunities and representation of diverse communities’’ in appointments, training and advancement.

Representation is best reflected through the regional, county or constituency population, which roughly mirrors our ethnic diversity.

Based on the 2009 census, and without the affirmative action “privilege” for minorities as proposed by Mr Orwa Ojodeh in Parliament, Nairobi would take 569 jobs, Central 795 Rift Valley 1,814 and North-Eastern 419 jobs.

This is arrived at by dividing the region or county’s population by the national population, and multiplying by the 7,000 jobs.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Bill 2011 is also in violation of Section 250 of the Constitution as regards the composition of the commissioners.

The section stipulates unequivocally that appointments to constitutional commissions and independent offices “shall reflect regional and ethnic diversity of the people of Kenya”.

The Bill suggests that five commissioners be appointed now, and four others in a year’s time.

Which region will play second fiddle to the other? Not North-Eastern, please!

Mr Kerrow, a former Mandera Central MP, is a political economist.

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Malkamarre Massacre in Mandera

  More details of the Moi regime's gross human rights violation in NEP are emerging. Survivors of the Malkamarre Massacre in Mandera described the horrific ordeal they went through at the hands of the Paleolithic tyrant [Moi] and his goons in1982.

 In scenes reminiscent of Nazi Germany, Moi's henchmen put victims in incarceration camps, murdered 332 innocent civilians, mutilated the bodies of the dead and the living, raped women and children and confiscated livestock worth millions of Shillings.

 If I remember correctly, 1982 is the year the glumpy faced pig of a leader, Daniel Moi, was saved from the guillotine by a Nepian by the name General Mahmoud. How dare he reward us with such tyranny?
Also, and I say this with no hint of 'qabaliya' or malevolence, weren't General Mahmoud and Moi  the Batman and Robin of the 80s? And why didn't the former stand up for his people?

Here is an excerpt from The Daily Nation's report;

More than 330 people were killed during the 1982 Malkamarre Massacre in Mandera, the Truth commission has been told.
Survivors, testifying before the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission at its hearings in Mandera Town, on Tuesday, said scores of people were also raped and maimed during the 1982 security operation.
Mr Issack Adow Abdi, 80, said they were rounded up by security officers hunting down bandits, beaten and some shot dead as they attempted to escape.
“I have not sired a child due to the painful torture I underwent as the officers mutilated my private organs,” Mr Abdi said.
The victims, he said, never sought legal redress, since the nearest law court was located some 400km from Mandera Town.
The commission heard that many, who witnessed the heinous acts, fled to Ethiopia and Somalia and decided not to return to Kenya.
Ms Dunia Abdullahi said many women were raped in Lulis, Banisa and Elmole in Mandera West District.
“Women in this area silently share the stories of how they were raped, some say they cannot hold back urine to date,” Ms Abdullahi said.
She said some of her relatives were killed while others fled to Ethiopia.
Asked by Commissioner Gertrude Chawatama if they could recall the officers who headed the operation, they said they only remembered a Major Halkano of the Kenya Army.
Victims of the Shifta war also recounted their ordeal before security officers put them in concentration camps.
“It was hell. We were pressed between two rocks — the shiftas killed, maimed and looted our property since we refused to join them while the Kenyan forces did worse instead of pursuing our tormentors,” Mr Guliye Mohamed said.

Wagalla Massacre Victims Want Hussein "Maendeleo" Questioned

  He is not going to like this. Former Dujis MP and Klepto-Minister for Life, Hussein Maalim, has been mentioned in the same breath as those who were responsible for the horrible massacre of innocent Somalis in Wajir in 1984. Witnesses alleged the former Minister played a role in the massacre and should thus face inquiry over his actions, The Nairobi Star reports.

According to my own sources who know the guy and meet him regularly, he is said to be suffering from clinical depression since his ouster in 2007.

 Look, Mr. Minister, don't get us wrong, the transition from an illiterate autocrat MP to just another old Somali man wearing a three-storey Kofia can be a bit difficult. Seriously though, take care of yourself. Exercise regularly, read the Qur'an {it helps with depression} and take a hobby, like playing "Shax/jar" under some abaq. Or pay the old "fadhi kudirir" a visit. And by the way, if and when you go to prison, invite the whole crew of "Wayaha Cusub" to help in chasing away the blues. I'm sure you can afford the bill.

Here is an excerpt from The Nairobi Star's article

Former Cabinet minister and Dujis MP Hussein Maalim should be questioned among potential witnesses to the Wagalla massacre, the TJRC was told.
Ismail Bishar a witness who was in Wagalla when the 1984 massacre happened, told the Commission that Maalim was then Minister for Provincial Administration. “Maalim should be questioned alongside M M Tiema who was acting DC, C M Wabwire who was the OCPD and a Mr Wachira who was in charge of CID,” Bishar said. He said the massacre was carried out by the armed forces, the AP and Regular police.
He demanded compensation for the massacre saying he was fired from his job as a civil servant for being vocal about the rights of the victims. He said the government has never bothered to explain why it killed more than 5,000 people.
Bishar said the security personnel arrived and rounded up men from the Degodia clan and took them to the local airstrip. “We don’t know why we were picked for the genocide,” he told the commission. “They were stripped naked and forced to sleep on their bellies for five days. They were burnt using their own clothes,” he said.
Efforts to sing the national anthem to draw sympathy from the officers bore no fruit. The residents were sprayed with bullets on the fifth day as they attempted to flee from the illegal confinement,” he said.
Another witness, Mohammed Dagane, said the government should apologise for the massacre and then institute compensation for reconciliation to commence between the government and the residents.
He ruled out forgiveness for the perpetrators of the massacre. “The individuals involved directly or indirectly should face prosecution and the survivors compensated,” Dagane said.
He said the province has been neglected in health and education. “What we have as hospitals don’t even meet the standards of dispensaries,” he said.
During the hearing at Wajir Red Cross Hall the commission briefly adjourned to confirm that a victim, Garad Siney, lost his manhood during the massacre. Five others with varied injuries exhibited them to the commission.

Massacre Survivors appear before TJRC

NEWS

Massacre widows testify in private

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Stephen Mudiari | NATION Mr Abdilahi Shurie (centre), a victim of the Wagalla Massacre, is led away from the public hearing on the atrocities on April 18. 2011.

By SAMUEL SIRINGI ssiringi@ke.nationmedia.com and ISSA HUSSEIN iissaa_nation@yahoo.co.uk

Posted  Tuesday, April 19 2011 at 22:00

IN SUMMARY

• The commission made the decision after it emerged some of the women were victims of sexual violations

A special session to hear testimonies of women rendered widows by the Wagalla massacre 27 years ago was held in camera on Tuesday.

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• Women wail as they meet Truth team
• Wagalla: TJRC calls ex-security men

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) presiding chairman Ronald Slye made the decision after it emerged some of the women were also victims of sexual violations.

The session, held at Raha Palace Hotel in Wajir town, was led by women commissioners including vice-chairperson Tecla Namachanja.

Some of the women were determined to speak out on the atrocities last Sunday when they wailed at the Wagalla airstrip, where more than 2,000 people were said to have been killed by security officers in 1984. The official figure is 57.

At the open session, former soldier Abdirahman Elmi Daud narrated how he was asked to wake up his colleagues who were to join an operation with the regular and Administration Police to round up members of the Degodia clan.

Mr Daud was an army corporal serving in the 7th battalion based at Wajir military camp.

“I was personally asked to use military lorry since I was a military truck driver to ferry the rounded up residents who were my clan members to Wagalla airstrip,” he said.

He said he witnessed 30 people beg urine from others since there was no water to drink.

The commissioners heard that 30 people felt they were overwhelmed by the suffering and decided to flee from their tormentors leading to massive beating by the security officers.

Mr Daud said he was arrested after he picked up injured victims and secretly took them to a centre created by an Italian aid worker for treatment.

Military orders

He was taken to Wajir Army camp where he was accused by the commanding officer of breaching military orders.

He was later referred to a martial court in Nairobi leading to his early retirement from the force. “I was denied renewal of contract.”

Mr Daud claimed he drove former military chief of staff Joseph Kibwana, who was then brigadier, from the airstrip to the military camp then to Wajir DC’s office where he held a meeting with former TJRC chairman Bethuel Kiplagat and former Provincial Commissioner Benson Karia.

More witnesses continued to speak about the human rights violations they underwent over the years in the region.

Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Dayow told of how he lost his father and five brothers in Hadado during the Shifta war in 1966.

Military men, he said, raided his home and killed his father, five brothers and 300 camels.

Mr Dayow said security officers torched his houses before seriously injuring him. He was detained for 33 days during which his 300 sheep and 400 cows were stolen.

Meanwhile, the commission was told that the ethnic feuds that led to the Wagalla massacre were as a result of the colonial government’s decision to demarcate boundaries in Wajir town along ethnic lines.

Unlike other regions in North Eastern Province, Wajir town was divided into three areas, former Wajir West MP Ibrahim Ali Hussein said.

The east of the town, he said, was left for the Degodia clan, which bore the brunt of the Wagalla massacre.

The west was left for the Ajuran while the south was occupied by the Ogaden.

Mr Hussein, who served between 1969 and 1974, said every community protected its grazing land.

But this changed in the early 1980s when the Degodia clan spread its dominance towards the west, sparking inter-clan flare-up with the Ajuran clan.

Video of TJRC Hearings in Garissa

Law Designed to Keep Somali Kenyans Poor

NEWS

Archaic law linked to poverty in Garissa

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By ISSA HUSSEIN, ihussein@ke.nationmedia.com

Posted  Thursday, April 14 2011 at 20:06

The emergency law creating poverty in Garissa County, the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission has been told.

RELATED STORIES

• Envoy accused of Garissa killings

The team heard that more than 9,000 cattle were confiscated by the state through an archaic law.

The law reportedly created concentration camps known as villages to curtail the movement of pastoralists and livestock found outside the camps were taken away.

Mr Dubat Ali Amey, a witness who spoke before the commission, said five camps known as ‘kijijis’ were created in Modogashe, Garissa, Balambala, Bura and Ijara between 1965-66 under the leadership of then PC J. J. Mburu.

“Anyone found outside the camps was declared a shifta, and was shot dead while his herd was taken to Kenya Meat Commission to make canned meat that was served to the security forces that conducted the deadly operation,” Mr Dubat said.

The witness said camels were shot dead since the security officers did not like the meat.

He said the move by the state resulted in widespread poverty in Garissa county.

A notorious concentration camp known as Jaribu was cited as one of the worst. There, nine officers also known as the Nine Brothers, reportedly used brutal acts to extract information from locals.

Officers from the Special Branch, Criminal Investigation Department and Kenya Wildlife Service, acting on the orders of then PC Mburu, allegedly tortured and killed anyone who did not cooperate.

The commission sitting at Garissa National Library heard that the officers working with Somalia bandits were involved in wildlife poaching.

“It is known to all the residents of Garissa Town that the 300 people killed in Garissa Gubay in 1980 was because of a bandit called Abdi Madowe who was a notorious poacher and a close friend of the security officers,” Mr Dubat said.

The commission was asked to refer to a 1980 Sunday Nation paper where then PC Benson Karia was quoted saying that for the death of one security officer, 100 Kenyan Somalis would die.

“Police officers killed with impunity,” Mr Dubat said in a lengthy testimony.

Details and Evidence from Garissa Gubay Massacre brought before TJRC

NEWS

Truth team receives evidence on killings

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By  Issa Hussein newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com

Posted  Tuesday, April 12 2011 at 22:00

IN SUMMARY

• Witnesses accuse security officers of shooting, raping and detaining Garissa residents

One of the first witnesses before the truth commission now sitting in Garissa on Tuesday recalled the massacre of 300 people in 1980.

Mr Hamud Sheikh Mohamed, a retired public health officer, told the hearing at the Garissa Public Library that security personnel rounded up residents of Garissa Town, shot at people indiscriminately, raped others and torched houses.

A total of 300 people were killed in the Garissa Gubay massacre.

The witnesses were selected to testify in some cases from among 870 registered with the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission in the region.

Many of the cases are connected to the Garissa Gubay, Bulla Karatasi, Balamballa and shifta war massacres, which affected hundreds of local residents.

Mr Mohamed said people were detained for more than 48 hours with no food or water and left in the scorching sun.

He said the residents suffered for cases where bandits from Somalia killed police officers leading to deaths, destruction and confiscation of livestock.

“At Dujis Dam, 100 camels were killed after security officers pursuing bandits sprayed bullets on the herd as it drank water,” he told the commission.

Other massacres mentioned at the hearing were Galamagala, Liboi and Madogashe, all linked to security personnel flushing out bandits from the region.

Cases of discrimination in the issuance of identity cards, birth certificates and passports were also mentioned. Mr Hassan Osman, a retired civil servant, said that he lost a scholarship after he was denied a passport.

“Some 340 Form Four leavers from Garissa County had their applications for identity cards cancelled by the provincial administration despite going through a labyrinth vetting process,” Mr Osman said.

Lack of ID cards had curtailed freedom of movement, he said, because they are required at police check points on the roads.

Among those who have been summoned to give their side of the story on the past atrocities are the Kenyan ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Francis Sigei, who once served as a district commissioner in Garissa.

Witnesses asked for protection from harassment, saying some of their evidence was against serving officers. However, commissioner Ahmed Farah assured them that there would be no intimidation from State agencies.

The hearing continues until Thursday.