Kenya Times, Kenya
March 10 2006
Raila names hitmen
By BENSON AMOLO
LANGATA MP Raila Odinga yesterday identified alleged mercenaries on
government hire holed up in an upmarket estate of Nairobi. The MP
said the alleged hitmen had now been moved from Runda Estate to a
house in Lavington.
Raila has accused the foreigners of leading the March 2, raids on the
Standard and KTN newsrooms.
Yesterday he said two of the foreigners were Armenian nationals who
were sneaked into the country as investors by a son of a prominent
real estate valuer in Nairobi early this year.
Initially Raila had identified the alleged mercenaries as Russians.
Yesterday he said that nationals from other countries had also been
hired to do unspecified work for the state..
He told pressmen attending an MPs’ workshop in Nairobi that the
alleged mercenaries were moved to a safe house frequented by
Tanzanians in Lavington estate on Thursday night.
According to Raila the Armenians were allegedly recruited by two
Kenyans in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last October and later
introduced to a businessman named in the Goldenberg report when they
visited Kenya in January this year.
The businessman later introduced them to a Narc activist, with whom
they agreed to do business and other unspecified political work. They
later travelled with the activist to the UAE capital, Dubai, where
they were introduced to her seniors for future business deals. She
has also allegedly introduced them to senior officials in government
to discuss unknown business, according to a diplomatic source..
Copies of passports supplied to the Kenya Times indicate the two men
born on May 14, 1970 and January 15, 1973 respectively entered Kenya
for the first time on January 23, this year, and were issued
residence visas for two years. Their passports bear stamps indicating
they travelled to Dubai between 2005 and this year.
Their presence, however, has introduced a new scandal within the
police force following unconfirmed reports that the Armenians and
their Kenyan handlers attacked and wounded a CID officer attached to
them on Wednesday accusing him of leaking information on their
activities to journalists and diplomats.
Earlier Odinga had claimed the alleged mercenaries were moved from
Runda Estate to a protected house in the Lavington suburb of Nairobi
to camouflage their stay and mission.
He said neighbours were scared of divulging information on the said
mercenaries and added that media publicity had now occasioned their
frequent movement. Odinga claims the Runda house has been leased to a
company involved in export/import business from January 31, this
year. He says that a Swede employed by a packaging company lived
there until June last year.
Odinga first made the allegations early this month and claimed hired
killers initially thought to be from the Russian Federation led the
March 2 assault on The Standard and KTN that widened the split
between Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, who was abroad during the
raids, unaware of the plots on the media and CID Director Joseph
Kamau, believed to have sanctioned them.
The mystery escalated yesterday when Odinga linked a senior CID
officer with the mercenaries and accused the officer of visiting the
hitmen at their Runda abode. He accused the press of allowing Kamau
and the government to misinform the public on this matter and for
failing to follow up his first reports. A morning to evening vigil by
pressmen at the Runda property yielded nothing on Thursday but Odinga
was not finished yet.
`Had you cared to keep vigil at the Runda premises yesterday you
would have seen the mercenaries leave last night,’ he said and
claimed that the unspecified number of men were snatched away in the
dead of the night on Thursday. `A truck came at 9.30 pm yesterday and
took away the mercenaries and equipment. We know where they are now,’
he said and claimed the men are now hidden at Woodmere Apartments on
Nairobi’s Lenana Road. He claimed that the a KPLC electrician who
went to the Runda abode to read the electricity meter at the time of
the foreigners’ movement was denied entry to the property.
`We know where they slept last night and we know they will be moved
as soon as the government hears these reports.’
Odinga claimed the truck registered as KAU 967 W off-loaded a
container with unknown material at the Runda abode, owned by a real
estate investor who acquired it in 1999, before driving away with the
foreigners.
On Wednesday, Ali ordered investigations into Odinga’s allegations as
Kamau denounced them and accused the Lang’ata lawmaker of inflaming
the country with lies and propaganda. Odinga stuck to the story and
provided names of the said gunmen and the people he believes brought
them into the country and provided a map of the property in Runda
where they lived after being spirited from a hotel in the centre of
Nairobi.
And the Russian embassy in Nairobi on Thursday denied knowledge of
its nationals on a killing mission and demanded investigations as the
Shadow minister for Defence Joseph Nkaissery demanded an inquest.
Odinga asked reporters neither to trust the government’s explanations
on this matter nor accept Russia’s denial at face value saying: `The
government itself is a suspect in the matter. Its word cannot be
taken seriously.’
He argued that the Russian embassy should not be dragged into the
matter because no one has suggested Moscow brought the killers.
`The Russian embassy should not be involved in this. Mercenaries are
private people, on hire. They are not coming on the authority of
their governments.’
Nkaissery accused the Kibaki regime of trivialising the mercenary
allegations by issuing conflicting statements and deploying a
layman-government spokesman Alfred Mutua- to discuss complex security
issues. The retired general said the conflicting statements from Ali
and Kamau on the mercenaries’ issue is cause for concern.
`Raila’s statement should not be taken for granted. It is the duty of
the government to neutralise any threats to national security. It is
incumbent upon the government to investigate this matter. Everybody
wants to know who those hooded people were (those who raided the
Standard and KTN).’
He said the country expects the Internal Security minister or senior
officials of police, military and intelligence to reassure the
republic on this matter and not Mutua’s denials.
`Alfred Mutua is a layman in this matter.’ If the government proves
there are no mercenaries, Odinga should be brought to account for his
allegations.
Meanwhile the Langata MP and Leader of the Official Opposition Uhuru
Kenyatta denounced President Mwai Kibaki for standing with his
ministers accused of orchestrating the March 2 raids. On Thursday
Kibaki said Internal Security minister John Michuki and Information
counterpart Mutahi Kagwe will not be sacked which Kenyatta and Odinga
disagreed with yesterday. They talked on the sidelines of an MPs’
workshop in Nairobi. Kenyatta said Kanu demands accountability over
what he called an attack on democracy but Odinga was more pointed
declaring the president’s Thursday statement in Eldoret as
provocative and contemptuous.
`The president is trying to show contempt for the people. We expect
the president to realise the public is not happy with what took place
on the March 2 raids.’
Odinga said Kibaki was mistaken to stand by disgraced ministers and
insisting they will not be sacked.LANGATA MP Raila Odinga yesterday
identified alleged mercenaries on government hire holed up in an
upmarket estate of Nairobi. The MP said the alleged hitmen had now
been moved from Runda Estate to elsewhere in Lavington.
Raila has accused the foreigners of leading the March 2, raids on the
Standard and KTN newsrooms.
Yesterday he said two of the foreigners were Armenian nationals who
were sneaked into the country as investors by a son of a prominent
real estate valuer in Nairobi early this year.
Initially Raila had identified the alleged mercenaries as Russians.
Yesterday he said that nationals from other countries had also been
hired to do unspecified work for the state..
He told pressmen attending an MPs’ workshop in Nairobi that the
alleged mercenaries were moved to a safe house frequented by
Tanzanians in Lavington estate on Thursday night.
According to Raila the Armenians were allegedly recruited by two
Kenyans in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last October and later
introduced to a businessman named in the Goldenberg report when they
visited Kenya in January this year.
The businessman later introduced them to a Narc activist, with whom
they agreed to do business and other unspecified political work. They
later travelled with the activist to the UAE capital, Dubai, where
they were introduced to her seniors for future business deals. She
has also allegedly introduced them to senior officials in government
to discuss unknown business, according to a diplomatic source..
Copies of passports supplied to the Kenya Times indicate the two men
born on May 14, 1970 and January 15, 1973 respectively entered Kenya
for the first time on January 23, this year, and were issued
residence visas for two years. Their passports bear stamps indicating
they travelled to Dubai between 2005 and this year.
Their presence, however, has introduced a new scandal within the
police force following unconfirmed reports that the Armenians and
their Kenyan handlers attacked and wounded a CID officer attached to
them on Wednesday accusing him of leaking information on their
activities to journalists and diplomats.
Earlier Odinga had claimed the alleged mercenaries were moved from
Runda Estate to a protected house in the Lavington suburb of Nairobi
to camouflage their stay and mission.
He said neighbours were scared of divulging information on the said
mercenaries and added that media publicity had now occasioned their
frequent movement. Odinga claims the Runda house has been leased to a
company involved in export/import business from January 31, this
year. He says that a Swede employed by a packaging company lived
there until June last year.
Odinga first made the allegations early this month and claimed hired
killers initially thought to be from the Russian Federation led the
March 2 assault on The Standard and KTN that widened the split
between Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, who was abroad during the
raids, unaware of the plots on the media and CID Director Joseph
Kamau, believed to have sanctioned them.
The mystery escalated yesterday when Odinga linked a senior CID
officer with the mercenaries and accused the officer of visiting the
hitmen at their Runda abode. He accused the press of allowing Kamau
and the government to misinform the public on this matter and for
failing to follow up his first reports. A morning to evening vigil by
pressmen at the Runda property yielded nothing on Thursday but Odinga
was not finished yet.
`Had you cared to keep vigil at the Runda premises yesterday you
would have seen the mercenaries leave last night,’ he said and
claimed that the unspecified number of men were snatched away in the
dead of the night on Thursday. `A truck came at 9.30 pm yesterday and
took away the mercenaries and equipment. We know where they are now,’
he said and claimed the men are now hidden at Woodmere Apartments on
Nairobi’s Lenana Road. He claimed that the a KPLC electrician who
went to the Runda abode to read the electricity meter at the time of
the foreigners’ movement was denied entry to the property.
`We know where they slept last night and we know they will be moved
as soon as the government hears these reports.’
Odinga claimed the truck registered as KAU 967 W off-loaded a
container with unknown material at the Runda abode, owned by a real
estate investor who acquired it in 1999, before driving away with the
foreigners.
On Wednesday, Ali ordered investigations into Odinga’s allegations as
Kamau denounced them and accused the Lang’ata lawmaker of inflaming
the country with lies and propaganda. Odinga stuck to the story and
provided names of the said gunmen and the people he believes brought
them into the country and provided a map of the property in Runda
where they lived after being spirited from a hotel in the centre of
Nairobi.
And the Russian embassy in Nairobi on Thursday denied knowledge of
its nationals on a killing mission and demanded investigations as the
Shadow minister for Defence Joseph Nkaissery demanded an inquest.
Odinga asked reporters neither to trust the government’s explanations
on this matter nor accept Russia’s denial at face value saying: `The
government itself is a suspect in the matter. Its word cannot be
taken seriously.’
He argued that the Russian embassy should not be dragged into the
matter because no one has suggested Moscow brought the killers.
`The Russian embassy should not be involved in this. Mercenaries are
private people, on hire. They are not coming on the authority of
their governments.’
Nkaissery accused the Kibaki regime of trivialising the mercenary
allegations by issuing conflicting statements and deploying a
layman-government spokesman Alfred Mutua- to discuss complex security
issues. The retired general said the conflicting statements from Ali
and Kamau on the mercenaries’ issue is cause for concern.
`Raila’s statement should not be taken for granted. It is the duty of
the government to neutralise any threats to national security. It is
incumbent upon the government to investigate this matter. Everybody
wants to know who those hooded people were (those who raided the
Standard and KTN).’
He said the country expects the Internal Security minister or senior
officials of police, military and intelligence to reassure the
republic on this matter and not Mutua’s denials.
`Alfred Mutua is a layman in this matter.’ If the government proves
there are no mercenaries, Odinga should be brought to account for his
allegations.
Meanwhile the Langata MP and Leader of the Official Opposition Uhuru
Kenyatta denounced President Mwai Kibaki for standing with his
ministers accused of orchestrating the March 2 raids. On Thursday
Kibaki said Internal Security minister John Michuki and Information
counterpart Mutahi Kagwe will not be sacked which Kenyatta and Odinga
disagreed with yesterday. They talked on the sidelines of an MPs’
workshop in Nairobi. Kenyatta said Kanu demands accountability over
what he called an attack on democracy but Odinga was more pointed
declaring the president’s Thursday statement in Eldoret as
provocative and contemptuous.
`The president is trying to show contempt for the people. We expect
the president to realise the public is not happy with what took place
on the March 2 raids.’
Odinga said Kibaki was mistaken to stand by disgraced ministers and
insisting they will not be sacked.
try.html