By: Abdillahi Alawy
Wasini Kenya
Over 50 Police officers ambushed three houses at Guraya, Mombasa, in a well-planned three-hour intimidating raid that began at 2 am Tuesday. Police took over the Guraya’s Jomo Kenyatta Avenue portion and blocked all traffic movement, locked up night watchmen and all residents who were still awake mainly in and around the busy Lebanon 24-hour bust-stop restaurant at the center of Guraya.
It was reported that the operation was conducted by the Anti-terrorism Police Unit, the General Service Unit, and the Flying Squad. Since the intent was mainly to punish the Muslim villagers and leverage Minister Michuki’s anti-terrorist-campaign foreign trip this week, the top-heavy operation did not catch any of the reported suspects from the Comoros islands.
Two O’clock in the morning is not a time that one expects Gestapo-imitating cops at your door shooting guns in the air, kicking, arresting and blind-folding elderly people for no good reason. In the least, peace-loving citizens don’t want such people to come into their homes, break their furniture and slap old women around. But if that is what Honorable Minister John Michuki has ordered for the Guraya Muslim residents then that’s what he gets.
Muslims, like the rest of the citizens, do want bad people to be arrested and prosecuted. And, Guraya residents are no exception. They are always willing to sacrifice anything to achieve this justice. But, the this raid had all the hallmarks of a bad police force following a bad script of intimidation rather than protecting and securing harmless villagers. From this staged midnight activity, verily, our government has confirmed its active role in the 2001 Bush-declared Crusade against Muslim populations.
The timing of the raid, the intricate bullying styles, the rough tactics and outright trampling of all the rights of the “suspected” citizens left little doubt that this raid had everything to do with Mr. John Michuki’s trip overseas. The minister had gone to adulate his gods in the name of George Bush and Tony Blair that he is highly motivated to punish Kenyan Muslims at any cost.
The Guraya intimidation was meant to become Michuki’s centerpiece of his terrorism trip to the UK and USA this week. It is the hope of all the victimized Gurayans that the drama resulting from this raid gave him something to show to his overseas masters. Moreover, while the whole of Guraya is utterly terrified, Michuki is waiting for his phone call from either George Bush of Tony Blair for a job well-done against the Muslims.
By all means Tony Blair and George Bush’s administrations must have been very pleased to hear of the mock-arrests. These are some of the extra-curricular projects that can make a minister from a loyal sub-Saharan African government a celebrity in Washington or London.
This week’s raid in Mombasa painted a bloody picture in many colours. First, as a typical Michuki’s project it went wrong and became blatantly transparent for all to see. No credible suspect was netted and the all-too-familiar government tactics were exposed. Clearly Guraya is a replication of the Standard Newspapers raid. The only difference is that the Guraya victims did not rattle any snake this time or at any other time since the declaration of the new crusade.
But what is more rattling for the citizens of Kenya and the Muslim community specifically, is the luke-warm reaction from the coastal top government leaders. It is common knowledge that in the pecking order of the Kenyan leadership, it is always assumed, and correctly so, that cabinet ministers are more imperative than MPs.
When it comes to condemning police heavy-handedness such as in the Guraya raid, a joint-ministerial statement would have carried more weight than the lone official complaints from the area MP. MP Najib Balala and his local counterparts did their part in consoling the victims and condemning the raid. Kudos to the religious leaders and the civil rights groups that promptly condemned this raid. But the rest of the Coast government leaders do not seem to be ready to even discuss this incident.
This region has three very visible cabinet ministers and a number of assistant ministers who have strong clouts in Nairobi. It is amazing that none of these ministers managed to give even a two worded statement to the press let alone going to Guraya to console the families that were targeted.
While it was expected of Mr. Balala to condemn the raid because Guraya is in Mvita; it was unexpected that all the three cabinet ministers would let this one go by without letting the public know where they stand on such injustices.
Again, our government continue to let us down. But what is even more troubling is that our ministers have abandoned their Muslim constituents. Subsequently, this lack of firm position against the Guraya raid opens up more room for the government to bully the Muslims with impunity. Instead of strongly red-carding the government for this intimidating raid on the Muslims, our ministers have expressively given this regime a bright green-light to punish a segment of their constituents because of their religion.
Apparently, many Coastal people have given up on aggressive representation from their cabinet ministers; the aggressive and committed representation of coast people will never happen through our current ministers who are too insecure themselves to initiate any special help for their people.
For example, none of the Coastal ministers are expected to pull the Charity Ngilu/ Musikari Kombo’s successful haggling (for example) for senior government positions for their people. None of our leaders are ready to put their established comfort zones beyond any controversial line.
For these ministers, it is important to hold on to their jobs and maintain a clean record of blind support of the government since a lot is riding on that loyalty. Without any question, it is for the same reasons that you will never hear or see our home grown ministers advance any controversial truths whether it’s the satanic Guraya raids or the lost opportunities for the people of this great province.
aalawy@gmail.com
It was reported that the operation was conducted by the Anti-terrorism Police Unit, the General Service Unit, and the Flying Squad. Since the intent was mainly to punish the Muslim villagers and leverage Minister Michuki’s anti-terrorist-campaign foreign trip this week, the top-heavy operation did not catch any of the reported suspects from the Comoros islands.
Two O’clock in the morning is not a time that one expects Gestapo-imitating cops at your door shooting guns in the air, kicking, arresting and blind-folding elderly people for no good reason. In the least, peace-loving citizens don’t want such people to come into their homes, break their furniture and slap old women around. But if that is what Honorable Minister John Michuki has ordered for the Guraya Muslim residents then that’s what he gets.
Muslims, like the rest of the citizens, do want bad people to be arrested and prosecuted. And, Guraya residents are no exception. They are always willing to sacrifice anything to achieve this justice. But, the this raid had all the hallmarks of a bad police force following a bad script of intimidation rather than protecting and securing harmless villagers. From this staged midnight activity, verily, our government has confirmed its active role in the 2001 Bush-declared Crusade against Muslim populations.
The timing of the raid, the intricate bullying styles, the rough tactics and outright trampling of all the rights of the “suspected” citizens left little doubt that this raid had everything to do with Mr. John Michuki’s trip overseas. The minister had gone to adulate his gods in the name of George Bush and Tony Blair that he is highly motivated to punish Kenyan Muslims at any cost.
The Guraya intimidation was meant to become Michuki’s centerpiece of his terrorism trip to the UK and USA this week. It is the hope of all the victimized Gurayans that the drama resulting from this raid gave him something to show to his overseas masters. Moreover, while the whole of Guraya is utterly terrified, Michuki is waiting for his phone call from either George Bush of Tony Blair for a job well-done against the Muslims.
By all means Tony Blair and George Bush’s administrations must have been very pleased to hear of the mock-arrests. These are some of the extra-curricular projects that can make a minister from a loyal sub-Saharan African government a celebrity in Washington or London.
This week’s raid in Mombasa painted a bloody picture in many colours. First, as a typical Michuki’s project it went wrong and became blatantly transparent for all to see. No credible suspect was netted and the all-too-familiar government tactics were exposed. Clearly Guraya is a replication of the Standard Newspapers raid. The only difference is that the Guraya victims did not rattle any snake this time or at any other time since the declaration of the new crusade.
But what is more rattling for the citizens of Kenya and the Muslim community specifically, is the luke-warm reaction from the coastal top government leaders. It is common knowledge that in the pecking order of the Kenyan leadership, it is always assumed, and correctly so, that cabinet ministers are more imperative than MPs.
When it comes to condemning police heavy-handedness such as in the Guraya raid, a joint-ministerial statement would have carried more weight than the lone official complaints from the area MP. MP Najib Balala and his local counterparts did their part in consoling the victims and condemning the raid. Kudos to the religious leaders and the civil rights groups that promptly condemned this raid. But the rest of the Coast government leaders do not seem to be ready to even discuss this incident.
This region has three very visible cabinet ministers and a number of assistant ministers who have strong clouts in Nairobi. It is amazing that none of these ministers managed to give even a two worded statement to the press let alone going to Guraya to console the families that were targeted.
While it was expected of Mr. Balala to condemn the raid because Guraya is in Mvita; it was unexpected that all the three cabinet ministers would let this one go by without letting the public know where they stand on such injustices.
Again, our government continue to let us down. But what is even more troubling is that our ministers have abandoned their Muslim constituents. Subsequently, this lack of firm position against the Guraya raid opens up more room for the government to bully the Muslims with impunity. Instead of strongly red-carding the government for this intimidating raid on the Muslims, our ministers have expressively given this regime a bright green-light to punish a segment of their constituents because of their religion.
Apparently, many Coastal people have given up on aggressive representation from their cabinet ministers; the aggressive and committed representation of coast people will never happen through our current ministers who are too insecure themselves to initiate any special help for their people.
For example, none of the Coastal ministers are expected to pull the Charity Ngilu/ Musikari Kombo’s successful haggling (for example) for senior government positions for their people. None of our leaders are ready to put their established comfort zones beyond any controversial line.
For these ministers, it is important to hold on to their jobs and maintain a clean record of blind support of the government since a lot is riding on that loyalty. Without any question, it is for the same reasons that you will never hear or see our home grown ministers advance any controversial truths whether it’s the satanic Guraya raids or the lost opportunities for the people of this great province.
aalawy@gmail.com
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