GOVT OWES KENYANS MORE ON ARTURS
By Otieno Onyando

Kenya Times, Kenya
April 24 2007

A WEEK after one Winnie Wangui confessed her deep love for the
infamous Artur Margaryan, one of the alleged Armenian brothers who
caused security breaches at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
before being deported in controversial circumstances, a local daily
published what it described as his (Margaryan) confessions to plots
to kidnap and liquidate some Kenyan Opposition leaders.

Expectedly, the Government reacted to the story by ordering the
arrest of the newspaper’s managers and top editors over what Internal
Security minister John Michuki termed ‘serious issues of national
security.’ Once again journalists were being detained in Kenya for
simply asking the right questions in tandem with their professional
calling.

For this particular newspaper, relations with the Artur brothers have
also presented something of an anticlimax, a welcome irony that serves
the purpose of journalism.

Barely a year after the Arturs were implicated in a raid on its
premises on March 2, 2006, the duo have metamorphosed into the
newspaper’s source of some of the most captivating exclusive headline
news.

Hot on the heels of Winnie’s confessions to a radio station, the
newspaper published pictures of the lovers enjoying good time at a
Sri Lankan hotel. More than anything else, Winnie’s confessions and
the photos reinforce the widely-held view that the Arturs enjoyed
high-level Government protection.

But this analysis will not delve into settled issues like who is
Winnie Wangui Mwai; why the report of the Kiruki Commission has been
embargoed, or whether the Artur brothers were genuine businessmen
since the speed at which developments on the Arturs has occurred
beckons more serious discourse on the state of security in Kenya today.

Just as Michuki was issuing his tough statement on Monday, killings
escalated in the Mt Elgon area of Western province where what began
as ‘tribal clashes’ has evidently matured into a genocide. More than
150 people have been butchered in Mt Elgon in the past six months.

Meanwhile, a militia group has emerged with all the characteristics
of a rebel force known to exist only in banana republics – issuing
ultimatums to the State and indubitably striking when their demands
are not met.

At casual observation, the killings and devastation in Mt Elgon
has little in common with the Artur brothers, the arrests of the
newspaper’s editors and Michuki’s new warnings to journalists. Yet the
extent of Government culpability in both is so glaring any honest mind
would not miss its symptoms and the physical and economic suffering
it visits on innocent souls.

Since the Mt Elgon crisis began, Michuki has not issued any responsible
statement other than reminders that he’s not resigning.

Similarly he has not come clean on the Artur brothers. Michuki’s
every word on the Armenians has aimed at defending himself and the
government and deflect debate on the substantive issues to the conduct
of journalists and newspapers, ‘national security’ and alleged plots to
‘bring down the Kibaki government.’

On the Armenians, Michuki must be asked some questions because despite
several shortcomings and deliberate drawbacks, Kenya is a democracy
in which the press will never abdicate its duty to inform and educate
the public at whatever cost.

Michuki is on record admitting his role in the Standard raid, the
best known crime of which the Arturs have been publicly implicated.

Michuki’s office also misrepresented the Arturs’ saga to Parliament,
with his former deputy, the late Mirugi Kariuki, defending the alleged
brothers as ‘businessmen.’

Later Immigration minister Gideon Konchella and Government Spokesman
Alfred Mutua defended the Arturs’ presence in the country. But given
these positions on the one hand, and the Arturs’ subsequent deportation
on the other, on what basis, if any, does Michuki continue directing
‘investigations’ into the issue?

If Government officials were sacked over their roles (some just very
procedural) in helping the Arturs get visas or access to airports,
why not Michuki and his cabinet colleagues who gave verbal statements
in defence of the ‘businessmen’? Who, if not Michuki in-charge of
national security, appointed the Arturs as deputy commissioners of
police? Why has that person not been named, sacked or prosecuted?

For the last one week since Winnie Wangui’s confessions, Michuki never
intervened to investigate why she meets deported criminals out of
the country. Is it either because the Government had lost interest
in the issue or Winnie is untouchable? In most circles, debate on
Winnie was reduced to the social, her boldness and/or recklessness.

But would a powerful daughter downplay her friendship with fugitives,
even temporarily, even when it threatens her parents’ credibility?

However, Winnie’s confidence can only be understood in the context
of Michuki’s and the President’s contemptuous handling of the tragedy
they both know to be "a serious matter."

Kibaki appointed the Kiruki Commission at a time when the public and
international community was seething with rage over the Arturs. The
Kiruki Commission served its purpose which was, to deflect the heat
and focus.

In the meantime, the killings in Mt Elgon, Tana River and Trans Mara
gives a glimpse of what the Government means by ‘national security.’
Perhaps to the extent that people are safe at State House and can
enumerate the ‘development’ they have gained since 2002, it doesn’t
matter how many Kenyans are killed in far-flung areas like Mt Elgon
or threatened by characters like Arturs.

Accordingly, it seems some deaths are a necessary condition for
the state to run effectively, by trimming political competition and
deflecting debate from pressing national issues. This understanding
of national security does not belong in a democracy.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress