MPEKETONI TRAGEDY IS SHROUDED IN CONFUSION

From media reports, Presidential communique and debates in our legislature; one can easily conclude that we live in confused times as a country especially when tragedy occurs.

We can therefore conclude that like other tragedies we have experienced before, the current double-talk by leaders from different persuasions will fade as soon as the victims of the Mpeketoni massacre are interred.

Two key theories have been fronted as the cause of the two day mayhem- pointing fingers on the Al-Shabaab terror group and Cord leader Raila Odinga.
However, what puzzled me is a delegation to Statehouse on Thursday by political and religious leaders from the Coast. They floated before the President the issue of land at the Coast as the main cause of the massacre. These leaders have known all along that the land question at the Coast is thorny but waited for people to die in Mpeketoni before seeking audience with the President.

Ironically, it was in September last year that President Uhuru gave out 60 thousand title deeds to the Coastarians and promised to issue 3 million more title deeds throughout the Country in a span of five years.

It all sounded problem solved to land question at the Coast but, where we are today, over 60 innocent lives has been lost mysteriously. Before the sputum dries out, leaders from the region come to seek audience with the President as if they didn’t know that the problem existed.
My critical view on the situation in the country is this: we have become like a doctor who knows the infection of his patient but prescribes painkillers instead of antibiotics to kill the bacteria.

To put it more succinctly, we cannot solve the land problem in Kenya if the Ndungu Land Report and the TJRC commission findings are gathering dust. The TJRC report provided concrete avenues to address historical injustices especially on land at the Coast but the current leaders who are key beneficiaries of the injustices cannot be trusted to implement the reports. Otherwise, what we have seen from the Jubilee government is just piecemeal gestures to score political points.

It’s sad that some of the title deeds they issued last year were not legit.

Kenyans wonder where the tangible contingency measures the “digital leadership” promised to put in place during the campaigns to spur socio economic development and also avert calamities in our land!

Where is the tough media house with tough journalists to ask tough questions what the current leadership stands for when theirs; is to wait for tragedies and thereafter start whining and laying blame games?

President Uhuru Kenyatta, should stop talking tough and wearing fake faces during calamities… he spoke tough during the Westgate terror attack and promised the nation a commission of enquiry to unravel the truth but all was mere empty words to buy time, burry the victims and forget about it.

Riding a high horse and repeatedly remind Kenyans that he is the President is now monotonous. We want results from you Mr. President. Even the cockroaches know you are the President of Kenya.