Karua: I see the making of a dictator in Kenya

Martha Karua, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition presidential running mate in the August elections, has cautioned Kenyans against the current regime which she said, has all the characteristics and intentions of ruling in a tyrannical manner.  

Ranging from the alarming speeds with which court cases including fraud, land grabbing and even murders involving senior politicians are being withdrawn, Ms Karua said the country was leading down a dangerous path and only Kenyans can emancipate themselves. 

“I see the making of a dictator in Kenya. Cases are being withdrawn, be it fraud, murder, whatever, they are all being withdrawn. Something is cooking in Kenya and this is the making of dictatorship,” she said. 

She was speaking during the Uganda Human Rights Accountability Conference hosted by the Kenya Human Rights Commission in Nairobi Thursday where key leaders from Uganda, including National Union Platform leader (NUP), Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (popularly known as Bobi Wine) and People’s Front for Transition (PFT), Kizza Besigye, were in attendance.

The event was held in commemoration of the victims of the November 2020 police and military brutality in Uganda that left many injured and dead.  

Ending her long hiatus from public appearances, the Narc Kenya party leader did not hold back her disappointment with the way the Kenya Kwanza government is conducting its mandate and said she will never be silent as injustice prevails. 

“Our silence will make a dictator worse than we have seen. I will not be silenced. I am always inspired by Juliani’s song, “Sitanyamaza maovu yakitawala”. (I will not shut up when evil is thriving). As long as I have breath, I will raise my voice whenever necessary,” she said. 

Ms Karua also commented on remarks made by Bobi Wine who said Uganda’s democratic space was so corrupt that it was their dream to be like Kenya and said Kenyan had its own challenges. 

“There is a general sense of decay in democracy across the world and East Africa, including Kenya is not different. We must raise our voices, and I raise mine in solidarity with Uganda and East Africa until every form of oppression, lawlessness and state capture is done away with in our region,” said Ms Karua.  

On his part, PFT leader, Dr Besigye said it is time Ugandans must rise up and assert their will as citizens and decide for themselves who should lead them since that is the only way of ensuring accountability by leaders.

If they remain meek, then violence and brutality meted out to them by state security personnel will only increase and nothing will make their situation better. 

“Leaders must do what the people want and if they cannot, the people must have the power to push them out. Accountability happens when people have power, not when leaders are good,” said Mr Besigye.  

He voiced his concern over how the current Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni continued to rule with an iron fist that has caused the deaths of many Ugandans saying it was time the dictatorial rule came to an end.

“It is sad that no leader has ever been ushered in or out of power in Uganda by the people but only through bombs. We must give the real power to the people,” he said. 

NUP boss Bobi Wine blasted the international community for turning a blind eye to the plight of Ugandans. He compared how it swiftly acted by ousting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Iraq’s Sadam Hussein on grounds of humanitarian crisis yet when Ugandans were being maimed and killed by its own government, no one thought of taking President Yoweri Museveni out of power. 

“It is very sad that we cannot talk about human rights in our own country. That is why we are here in Kenya to talk about it. In our case, Ugandans are demanding for our right to be human beings and be treated as such,” said Mr Wine, an MP who contested in the 2020 Ugandan presidential elections. He came in at a distant second. 

Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, won the poll with 58 percent of the vote while Wine had 34 per cent.  

Several victims of Uganda’s 2020 election violence narrated their woes at the conference with many saying that despite being harassed, maimed and even losing their loved ones on diverse dates between November and December 2020, they will still continue fighting against the current regime.

Such was the case of Najuka Dorothy whose husband was abducted on December 1, 2020 and has never been seen to date leaving her behind with three children, two girls and one boy.

“I do not know what to tell them whenever they ask me where their father went. I plead with the government to give me back my husband,” she said. 

Frederick Nsuguke lost his son in November 2020 after he was allegedly shot by the military while at his shop. Yasin Usulwa also had a painful time recounting how he was captured alongside his friend and were subjected to torture for days and how his friend, who was HIV positive, died in the torture chambers and he barely made it out alive.