Why are Coast leaders so silent on the Guraya terror?

Dr. Abdullahi Alawy

Over 50 police officers ambushed three houses at Guraya, Mombasa, in a well-planned three-hour terrifying raid that began at 2am last week. Police took over the Guraya’s Jomo Kenyatta Avenue 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 bus-stop restaurant in the middle 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 John Michuki’s anti-terrorist-campaign foreign trip this week, the top-heavy operation did not nab any of the alleged suspects from the Comoros islands.
Two o’clock at the crack of dawn is not a time that one expects Gestapo-mimicking cops at your door shooting in the air, kicking, arresting and blind-folding elderly people for no good reason. Indeed, peace-loving citizens don’t want such officers storming into their homes, breaking furniture and assaulting old women. But if that is what Minister John Michuki has ordered for the Guraya Muslim residents then it is sad.

Muslims, like the rest of the citizens, do want evil people to be arrested and prosecuted. And, Guraya residents are no exception. They are always willing to sacrifice anything to see justice done. But, this raid had all the hallmarks of a rogue police force acting illegally rather than protecting harmless villagers. From this staged midnight raid, verily, our Government has confirmed its active role in the 2001 George Bush-declared crusade against Muslim population.
The timing of the raid, the intricate intimidation, the rough tactics and outright trampling on all the rights of the “suspected” citizens left little doubt that the operation had everything to do with Michuki’s trip overseas. The Minister had gone to adulate his masters in the name of George Bush and Tony Blair given that he is highly motivated to punish Kenyan Muslims at any cost.

The Guraya intimidation was meant to become Michuki’s exhibit in combating terrorism on his trip to the UK and US recently. Moreover, while the whole of Guraya is greatly terrified, Michuki is waiting for the congratulatory phone call from either Bush or Blair for a job well-done.
By all means Blair and 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.
The raid in Mombasa painted a bloody picture on many fronts. First, as a typical Michuki’s project it went wrong and was blatantly open 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 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 to the citizens of Kenya and the Muslim community specifically, is the luke-warm reaction from the coastal leaders in Government. It is common knowledge that in the pecking order in the Kenyan leadership, it is always assumed, and correctly so, that Cabinet Ministers are more important than MPs.

When it comes to condemning police heavy-handedness such as the one exhibited during Guraya raid, a joint-ministerial statement would have carried more weight than the lone official complaints from the area MP Najib Balala and his local counterparts. Kudos to the religious leaders and the civil rights groups that promptly condemned this raid. But the rest of the Coast leaders do not seem to be ready to even discuss the incident. Apparently, there is a lot more important work in the up coming Magarini by-election than there is in protecting the rights of innocent Muslims in Guraya.
This region has three very visible Cabinet Ministers and a number of assistant ministers who have strong clout 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 emphasise with the families that were harassed.
While it was expected of Balala to condemn the raid because Guraya is in Mvita; it was in bad taste for the three Cabinet ministers shut in the face of such injustice.
Again, the Government continues to violate the rights of Muslims. But what is even more troubling is that our ministers have abandoned their Muslim constituents. Subsequently, this lack of taking firm position against the Guraya raid opens up more room for the Government to bully Muslims with impunity. Instead of strongly red-carding the Government for this intimidating raid on the Muslims, our ministers have expressively given this regime the leeway to punish a segment of their constituents because of their religion.
Apparently, many Coastal people have given up on effective representation from their political leaders. Serious, aggressive, and committed representation of Coast people will never happen through our current ministers who are timid when it comes standing for the rights of their people.

By the way, none of the coastal ministers are expected to pull the Charity Ngilu/ Musikari Kombo’s style successful negotiation for senior Government positions for their people.
For these Ministers, it is important to hold on to their jobs and maintain a clean record in terms of blind support to the Government. Without any question, it is for the same reasons that you will never hear or see our ministers advance any controversial views whether it’s the Guraya raids or the lost opportunities for the people of this great province.
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Source: SUNDAY TIMES
aalawy@gmail.com
http://www.timesnews.co.ke/06may07/nwsstory/opinion5.html