Was Matiang’i heckling a coded message to Uhuru?

Updated Sunday, July 28th 2013 at 15:55 GMT +3

GLANCE FACTS

The people of Kisii feel left out in the Jubilee Government. This was the opportunity for them to ventilate their frustration  

— Beauttah Omanga, Nyamira County Assembly Majority Leader

 

By ROBERT NYASATO

KENYA: Was the humiliation of senior government officials at Gusii Stadium during a funeral service for 15 victims of a school bus accident a coded message to the Jubilee government?

This is the question PresidentUhuru Kenyatta and his handlers should ponder in light of the fact that never has a message of a sitting President been flatly rejected since independence.

But on Tuesday, a rare incident happened before thousands of mourners when a charged crowd resoundingly blocked ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i from delivering the President’s condolence message. The impatient crowd even had the audacity to tell Dr Matiang’i to return the President’s personal donation of Sh700,000 to the bereaved families.

Earlier, the mourners had drowned former Cabinet Minister Sam Ongeri’s address with boos and jeers, forcing him to cut short his speech. Efforts by Matiang’i to introduce Education Permanent Secretary Collette Suda were met with equal resistance.

Political analysts opine that what transpired that day had nothing to do with Dr Matiang’i or Prof Ongeri. They say it was a coded message to the President.

State appointments

Dr Matiang’i, the face of Omogusii in the Jubilee Government, is relatively new in politics and does not have any scores to settle. As for Ongeri, the electorate squared it out with him on March 4 when they rejected his quest to become Kisii Senator.

 “The people of Kisii feel left out in the Jubilee Government. This was the opportunity for them to ventilate their frustration,” Nyamira County Assembly Majority Leader Beauttah Omanga told The Standard on Sunday.

Although Gusii people overwhelmingly supported former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s presidential bid, Omanga says President Kenyatta should ensure the community is not left out in the sharing of the national cake. “We are tax payers like the rest of Kenyans and feel left out in prime government appointments,” he said.

However, a cross section of local leaders have roundly condemned the incident and blamed it on outside forces.

Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka says it was primitive and retrogressive for elected leaders to engage in supremacy turfs during a solemn occasion.

This can’t be interpreted to reflect the feelings of Omogusii towards the Jubilee administration. As a community, we respect and are ready to work with the President,” Onyonka told The Standard on Sunday.

He said organisers of the heckling owe the community and the bereaved families an explanation as to why they chose to turn a funeral  service into a political forum against the “civility of Omogusii”.

€œWe can’t have elected leaders using a solemn occasion to settle political scores,” charged the ODM lawmaker who skipped the ceremony.

Immediate former Kitutu Masaba MP Walter Nyambati shares in Onyonka’s sentiments, saying it was evident that some individuals were out to scuttle Gusii leadership.

“This should serve as an eye opener that we’re being used to the detriment of Omogusii. We need to come together and fight this scheme,” Nyambati said.

 Poll petitions

The two MPs said the “embarrassing situation” was planned by local elected leaders and executed by hired goons who were ferried to the stadium

Nyambati said the heckling and booing of Jubilee-allied leaders had a perspective in pending election petitions against some local MPs.

“Some individuals plotted this move to demonstrate that ODM was still strong in the region but that is not the case as our people can’t be taken for a ride,” Nyambati, a Jubilee operative in Kisii, said.

However, South Mugirango MP Manson Oyongo differs with those critical of the heckling saying the reaction of the crowd was spontaneous and was never planned. Oyongo and Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi said the mourners were angered by President Kenyatta’s failure to attend the occasion, despite having promised to attend.

Differences over venue

The service had earlier been scheduled for Monday but was postponed to Tuesday after difference arose over the venue.

A group of Jubilee leaders led by Kitutu Chache North MP Jimmy Angwenyi wanted the service held at Marani District headquarters on grounds that most victims of the school bus tragedy hailed from the area.

Their position was however resisted by Kisii Governor James Ongwae and local Senator Chris Obure who said the accident affected the entire Gisii community.  The two said it would be fair to hold the mass at the Gusii Stadium, a central point.

Angwenyi boycotted the ceremony in protest over the misunderstanding.

On its part, the Abagusii Culture and Development Council (ACDC) castigated the booing down of Matiangi and Ongeri and demanded an apology. ACDC Chairman Araka Matundura said the heckling amounted to defiling the Abagusii customs of burying the dead in a descent manner.

“As a community, we accord the departed respect and nobody would be shut down, leave alone leaders, during a funeral,” Matundura charged.

Backed by elders from the 13 constituencies of Gusii, Matundura want those who organised the heckling brought to book.

“We have information that those behind the chaos were hired goons transported from outside Gusii to cause mayhem at the behest of some leaders. We’re saddened by the way Ongeri and Matiangi were treated given their social standing,” he said.

The council’s ban on politics in funerals has been largely ignored.

However, Knut National Treasurer Richard Kibagendi, who attended the ceremony, said the Jubilee government had dampened the hopes of Kenyans especially in the way it handled the teachers’ strike.

“Teachers have presence in every village in this country and people are hungry with the current Jubilee leadership and used the forum to voice their hunger,” he said.