Freemasonry hand in Nairobi’s architecture

Freemasonry and Kenyan issues; talk about that and you are likely to elicit varied responses from those listening to you.

A society with secrets, Freemasonry is as much feared by some as it is loved by those who adhere to its tenets. 

It teaches the inclusive nature of all religions, among its other controversial characteristics.

You only need to believe in a supreme being.

The beliefs one holds become an opinion among many.

No place typifies the early and contemporary history of Freemasonry in Kenya like the city of Nairobi. 

Nairobi was, in its early days, an empty place predominantly occupied by wild animals.

However, the Kikuyu lived to the west of Nairobi; Maasais to the south and Kambas to the east.

At this time, these communities had little contact with the Christian Gospel and therefore were animists – involved in African Traditional Religion.

The original founders of the city were Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Somalis.

The Asians, Arabs, Somalis and the Swahilis brought in Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Jainism.

Some of the oldest buildings are from these particular religions.

But it is the European settler community which brought in Freemasonry.

There was a marked increase in the activity of Satanists and other occult activists in the city and country as a whole until a presidential inquiry in demonic worship was established during the reign of retired President Daniel Arap Moi .

The report was handed to the president in 1995 and released in 1999 to religious leaders.

Sources suggest that false religions, cults and occultist activities are headquartered in Nairobi.

 The Europeans and settlers who founded Nairobi certainly had Freemasons within their number.

By 1901 there was a Freemasonry lodge in the new town.

In Nairobi: A Jubilee History it is noted that:

Development of Government Road, then known as the Station Road, was sufficiently advanced in 1901 for the Municipal Committee to assume responsibility for its policing, lighting and cleansing. Municipal Notice No. 3 issued in March assessing the annual rentals, gives us an accurate picture of the first businesses contacted in that street. Firstly, there was Rossenrode, MacJohn & Company who built a hotel which was rented at some time by Tommy Wood as a tea room.

T.A. Wood later built White House in Government Road, when it was developed and a Major Rayne took over the whole of his old hotel, a portion of which was used as a Masonic Lodge (emphasis added).

This building, hosting the Masonic lodge was burned in 1905 as a sanitation measure against plague. The next Masonic hall was built where the Central Bank stands. In 1935, the plot opposite the All Saints Cathedral (then called Cathedral of the Highlands) was granted to the Masonic Trustees to put up the current building at the site.

Freemasonry was to play a great role in the development of the city. Since it is a religion based on the ancient and mystery religions of Egypt, there are Masonic symbols and signs all over the city.

From the testimonies of converted Satanists there are also witches’ covens in the city.

They meet in houses and offices.

Because of their secrecy there is no known place they use.

Still on Freemasonry, their influence on Kenyan Christianity would prove to be definitive in several ways. 

According to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of East Africa’s Moderators report of November 2003 (published in Spark magazine, February 2005) most of the missionaries in late 1800s and early 1900s were missionaries-cum-Freemasons.

Their research, which was undertaken for 10 years focusing on Freemasonry in the Church of Scotland Mission/PCEA, revealed that the missionaries-cum-Freemasons using parish/come mentality bought or were granted land on which they built buildings that extensively incorporated Freemasonry signs and symbols.

Incidentally, Anglican and Roman Catholic Church buildings were not spared.

According to this report, this ensured that Freemasons could manipulate legitimate worship in churches through psychic energy released through Freemasonry signs and symbols.

Their conclusion from the research is that Biblical Christianity is totally incompatible with Freemasonry.

During the 1920s the planning of the municipal town of Nairobi began in earnest.

The government architect during this time was Mr. J.A. Hoogterp who later in the early 1930s resettled in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Sir Herbert Baker, who visited in 1925 and 1926 to handle several on-going and future projects, was a Freemason.

Subsequent plans were designed to make Nairobi the East African headquarters for various organizations.

The comparative plans for the layout of the town were drawn from: Washington D.C, the political, legislative and judicial capital of the USA; Paris, the capital city of France; Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa; Pretoria, the executive capital of South Africa; Canberra, the executive capital of Australia; New Delhi, the capital city of India and La Plata, an Argentinean city. 

All the above cities are widely recognized as Masonic-designed cities. 

A search on the internet also revealed they have Masonic signs and symbols.

In Paris, at Place De La Concorde (originally called Place De La Revolution where priests and Christian nobles were guillotined during the French Revolution) a 246-tonne and 92ft obelisk from Luxor, Egypt was erected in 1835.

It was a gift of the Viceroy of Egypt, Mohamed Ali to the king of France, Charles X.

This obelisk had stood at Luxor, Egypt for 3,500 years.

At Louvre, which is shaped like a Masonic temple with statues of Isi and Manco-Capac, son of the Inca sun-god, there is a large glass pyramid – pyramids are central to Freemasonry.

Washington D.C, on the other hand, has the following symbols within its design – compass, square, Triple Tau, and the upside down pentagram.

The Washington monument is also made in the shape of ancient Egyptian pyramids.

Are there any significant discernible signs or symbols imbedded in the original plan or layout of the city?

The Nairobi Master Plan shows clearly the incorporation of compass and square in the Nairobi Hill.

It also seems that the shape of the Kenya Centre incorporating all the major civic and central government buildings is in the form of an Ankh.

Here is why: The map with the “Kenya Centre” was part of the headline for the East African Standard, October 2, 1948.

Mayor Alderman F.G.R. Woodley (after whom Woodley estate is named) said:   “The assent of Government to its preparation marks a definite step in our development … An expanding township had, in fact, reached the stage where a new purpose and directive was imperative, to fit it for the mature role of a Colonial Capital…. It is indeed the key of the door (emphasis added).

An Ankh to ancient Egyptians was the “sign of life”.

It was the symbol of the key which opened the door between the material and the non-material.

Additionally, a letter written by George Power in November 2001 to new masons in the province of Atrim, Ireland, states, “Masonry gives you a key to a door, opens a path to your feet but you are not forced to open the door or follow the path.”

Seasoned observers suggest they see Masonic significance in the architecture, location or positional relationship of the central buildings in the city, especially those representing the political, economic, educational or religious powers of the city and also say Freemasons lay some of the cornerstones.

Such buildings include the Law Courts, City Hall, Parliament Buildings, Kenyatta International Conference Centre, the Holy Family Basilica, the East African Commission, Kenya Railways headquarters, County Hall, Kenya National Archives, Kenya National Museum, Kipande House, Memorial Hall, McMillan Memorial Library, All Saints’ Cathedral and St. Andrew’s PCEA. 

The Freemasons Hall situated on Nyerere Road (formerly Kirk Road) was built in 1935, according to Nairobi: Jubilee History 1900-1950.

The first Masonic lodge was on Moi Avenue as early as 1901.

The second building is believed to have been constructed where the Central Bank stands today.

The current building was built on a permanent underground river that runs across Nairobi from the Ngong Hills.

Freemasonry watchers also raise queries about various city parks, barazas, those who commissioned and funded them, artwork in public places and buildings as well as the background and possible significance of the statues and monuments of the city and those they have inspired elsewhere in the country. 

Some of the Freemasons – constituting the so-called “South African connection” – who influenced Nairobi and wider Kenya by dint of history are British industrialist Cecil Rhodes and his protégé Sir Herbert Baker; individuals in colonial Kenya influenced by Rhodes include Lord Delamere and Colonel Grogan.

Freemasonry was spread around the world through the British Empire.

It involves every career and every profession.

Despite denials, it is missionary in nature.

According to Masonic Secrets and Rituals Exposed, a book by Peter Ndakwe, Freemasonry played and continues to play a role in the founding and spread of the following:  Theosophical Society, Christian Science, Unitarianism, Jehovah Witnesses (its founders were Freemasons), Mormonism (founder Joseph Smith was a high ranking Freemason), ecumenical/interfaith movements (e.g. the World Council of Churches), Satanism (symbols used are drawn from Freemasonry alongside other occult sources) and the New Age Movement.

There is wide membership all over the world, including the who-is-who in global politics, business, media, popular culture and even faith. 

The most prominent, and confessed Freemasons in Kenya, include ex-Attorney General Charles Njonjo and former Vice President Moody Awori. 

It should be noted that according to Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Devil Worship in Kenya (Daily Nation, August 5, 1999) released to religious organizations (but not to the public) the following towns had Masonic lodges:  Mombasa, Nairobi (Freemasons Hall), Nakuru, Nyeri, Kisumu, Eldoret and Kitale.

This means that five of Kenya’s eight provincial headquarters and two key district headquarters – bread baskets of Kenya to be precise – have a Masonic influence.

“Freemasonry works for the destruction of Christianity from within and without,” says a Nairobi-based researcher. 

The lead story in the February edition of the New African magazine suggested that secret societies are “the way forward for Africa.” 

 “Powerful secret societies in the West and elsewhere rule their countries and the world behind the scenes.  They meet annually or thereabouts in secret locations.  They discuss and take decisions on major policies affecting their countries in the world,” wrote Baffour Ankomah, the magazine’s editor.

He continued:  “Their membership cuts across politics, business, media, military, diplomacy, academia, etc.  And they gel things done as planned.  Being part of the same world, doesn’t Africa also need its own secret societies (multiples of them, minus their sinister side) to defend its interests globally and speed up its development?” 

Secret societies he looked into include Skulls and Bones, The Bohemian Grove, The Round Table, The Inquiry, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg and Afrikaner Broderbund. 

“They are all variations of Freemasonry,” notes another Kenyan watcher of secret societies.

And he adds:  “We need to take stock of their role and influence in our past, present and future history.  We especially need to assess their influence in shaping the Kenya we have at the moment.”

*I belong to no secret society myself, and yearn to join none.  Am also greatly indebted to the researchers who have allowed me to quote them so generously in this article.

Something is rotting in Denmark

Only a few weeks after giving “devolution of power” an entirely new meaning, my MP is making the debate over balance and proportionality of power at the national level look like nothing at the constituency level.

Wananchi are beggining to think that they might have made a mistake, – popular party, they are saying, but suspect representative.

Quotes about Jesus from the second millenium

*I first published this August 13, 2006.

Via rejesus

“O hidden strength! A man hanging on a cross lifts the weight of eternal death; a man fixed on wood frees the world from everlasting death. O hidden power!”
St Anselm (1033-1109)

“Jesus was lost in his love for God.”
Rumi, Sufi poet (1207-73)

“When I was abandoned by everybody, in my greatest weakness, trembling and afraid of death, when I was persecuted by this wicked world, then I often felt most surely the divine power in this name, Jesus Christ… So, by God’s grace, I will live and die for that name.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546)

“Christ teaches and commands us to learn of him, for he is meek and lowly in heart and so shall we find rest to our souls.”
Schleitheim Confession, 1527

“No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so devoutly loved.”
John Knox, Scottish reformer (1514-72)

“Not only do we not know God except through Jesus Christ;
We do not even know ourselves except through Jesus Christ.”
Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher (1623-62)

“Gentle Jesus, meek and mild…”
Charles Wesley, hymnwriter (1707-88)

“Socrates dies with honor, surrounded by his disciples listening to the most tender words -the easiest death that one could wish to die. Jesus dies in pain, dishonor, mockery, the object of universal cursing – the most horrible death that one could fear. At the receipt of the cup of poison, Socrates blesses him who could not give it to him without tears; Jesus, while suffering the sharpest pains, prays for His most bitter enemies. If Socrates lived and died like a philosopher, Jesus lived and died like a god.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher (1712-78)

“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”
Thomas Jefferson, American founding father (1743-1826)

“I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of people would die for Him.”
Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor (1769-1821)

“If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not crucify him. They would ask him to dinner, hear what he had to say, and make fun of it.”
Thomas Carlyle, British historian (1795-1881)

“I believe there is no one deeper, lovelier, more sympathetic and more perfect than Jesus – not only is there no one else like him, there never could be anyone like him.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist (1821-81)

“Jesus died to save men – a small thing for an immortal to do – and didn’t save many, anyway. But if he had been damned for the race, that would have been act of a size proper to a god, and would have saved the whole race.”
Mark Twain, American author (1835-1910)

“Jesus died too soon. If he had lived to my age he would have repudiated his doctrine.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844-1900)

Quotes about Jesus from the first millenium

*I first published this August 13, 2006.

Via rejesus

“Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Jesus’s disciples (1st century, Mark 4:41)

“Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.’”
Early speculation about Jesus (1st century, Luke 9:18-19)

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
St Paul (1st century, Colossians 1:15-16)

“God has revealed himself in his Son Jesus Christ, who is his Word issuing from the silence…”
St Ignatius of Antioch (died 110)

“The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrise.”
Clement of Alexandria (150-215)

“Jesus whom I know as my Redeemer cannot be less than God.”
St Athanasius (296-373)

“Jesus has now been celebrated about 300 years, having done nothing in his lifetime worthy of fame, unless anyone thinks it is a very great work to heal lame and blind people and exorcise demoniacs in the villages of Bethsaida and Bethany.”
Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor (331-63)

“He who alone was free among the dead – because he was free to lay down his life and free to take it up again – was for us both victor and victim… and it is because he was the victim that he was also the victor.”
St Augustine (354-430)

“Christ is the great hidden mystery, the blessed goal, the purpose for which everything was created.”
St Maximus the Confessor, Byzantine theologian (580-662)

“I believe in… Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost. Born of the Virgin Mary. Suffered under Pontius Pilate. Was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. the third day he rose again from the dead.”
The Apostles’ Creed (6th or 7th century)

Quotes about Jesus from the 20th and 21st centuries

*I first published this August 13th, 2006.

Via rejesus

“Whether you think Jesus was God or not, you must admit he was a first-rate political economist.”
George Bernard Shaw, Irish comic dramatist (1856-1950)

“I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”
H.G. Wells, British author (1866-1946)

“I cannot say that Jesus was uniquely divine. He was as much God as Krishna, or Rama, or Mohammed, or Zoroaster.”
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political leader (1869-1948)

“A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.”
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political leader (1869-1948)

“There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that he believed in hell… It is a doctrine that put cruelty into the world and gave the world generations of cruel torture; and the Christ of the Gospels, if you could take him as his chroniclers represent him, would certainly have to be considered partly responsible for that.”
Bertrand Russell, British philosopher (1872-1970)

“Christianity is the only religion on earth that has felt that omnipotence made God incomplete. Christianity alone has felt that God, to be wholly God must be a rebel as well as a king.”
G.K. Chesterton, English critic and author (1874-1936)

“From my youth onwards I have found in Jesus my great brother.”
Martin Buber, Jewish philosopher (1878-1965)

“As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene….No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”
Albert Einstein, physicist and atheist (1879-1955)

“Jesus Christ is to me the outstanding personality of all time, all history, both as Son of God and as Son of Man. Everything he ever said or did has value for us today and that is something you can say of no other man, dead or alive. There is no easy middle ground to stroll upon. You either accept Jesus or reject him.”
Sholem Asch, Jewish author (1880-1957)

“In Jesus, God wills to be true God not only in the height but also in the depth – in the depth of human creatureliness, sinfulness and mortality.”
Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (1886-1968)

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
C.S. Lewis, British author (1898-1963)

“In his own lifetime Jesus made no impact on history. This is something that I cannot but regard as a special dispensation on God’s part, and, I like to think, yet another example of the ironical humour which informs so many of his purposes. To me, it seems highly appropriate that the most important figure in all history should thus escape the notice of memoirists, diarists, commentators, all the tribe of chroniclers who even then existed.”
Malcolm Muggeridge, British journalist (1903-90)

“Every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the one person in the world at that moment.”
Mother Teresa (1910-97)

“He might be described as an underprivileged, working-class victim of political and religious persecution.”
Prince Phillip (born 1921)

“I accept the resurrection of Easter Sunday not as an invention of the community of disciples, but as a historical event. If the resurrection of Jesus from the dead on that Easter Sunday were a public event which had been made known…not only to the 530 Jewish witnesses but to the entire population, all Jews would have become followers of Jesus.”
Pinchas Lapide, Orthodox Jewish scholar, Germany (born 1922)

“An unsurpassed master of the art of laying bare the inmost core of spiritual truth.”
Geza Vermes, author (born 1924)

“If Jesus had been killed 20 years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.”
Lenny Bruce, American satirist (1925-66)

“It is as wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what was done in his.”
Tony Benn, British politician (born 1925)

“After the fall of so many gods in this century, this person, broken at the hands of his opponents and constantly betrayed through the ages by his adherents, is obviously still for innumerable people the most moving figure in the long history of mankind.”
Hans Küng, German theologian (born 1928)

“Jesus Christ was an extremist for love, truth and goodness.”
Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader (1929-68)

“Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind.”
Mikhail Gorbachev (born 1931)

“If Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he wouldn’t be able to stop throwing up.”
Woody Allen, American comedian (born 1935)

“We’re more popular than Jesus now.”
John Lennon, Beatle (1940-80)

“2,000 years ago one man got nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be if everyone was nice to each other for a change.”
Douglas Adams, British comic author and radical atheist (1952-2001)

Take away Jc’s unique claims and Gadaffi will luv Bible

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse.”

– C.S Lewis in his book Mere Christianity.

Col. Gadaffi has been in neighbouring Uganda lately on some religious duties.

As has become characteristic of him, he advances a rather strange view of history concerning the Bible.

Truth be told, take away Jesus’ very radical and unique claims about himself and the Bible will be a very harmless book in Gadaffi’s hands.

Christians like myself would be most to be pitied if all we hold true about Jesus were indeed a forgery.

The wounded healer

Isaiah 54:10

¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

A few hours after talking about wounds in my past year, I got a rather timely response in the way of an invitation from a long-time family friend who, together with her kid, is emerging out of the darkest of hours in her life.

It turns out that 2005, 2006 and 2007 were difficult years for every Kenyan she had invited for today’s fellowship / catch-up.

Broken lives, lost testimonies, lost opportunities, etc.

Hers, though, capped it all (the good old Beeb does not come closest to describing what actually happened).

“God gave me a vision there and then.  I saw my husband join God by his side, to great rejoicing in heaven, right there and then,” she says.

And she adds:  “The gunmen wanted to kill me too.  We had been married for only a year, and I was 3 months heavy with this young girl.  They had their guns on me but God restrained them after they had killed my husband.”

The couple were sold out to God.

“God’s love has healed me,” she says, radiantly.

Two years later, God is returning her (and the kid who never saw her father) to the same people who pained her, with a message of forgiveness, reconciliation and hope in Jesus Christ.

I’m typing this to Kirk Franklin’s He’ll take the pain away in the background, with the prayer and hope that I / we can allow God to use my / our broken lives to heal others in His both good and tragic world.

It ain’t easy.

But the promise of Easter reminds me that it is necessary, and possible by His grace.

Am looking for Jesus

I went through last year a wounded man.

Looking back, I now believe God carried me through it all, and still will lead me on as I nagivate some of the remaining contours of my story in (hi)story.

At the close of 2007, however, I was in need of a renewal for 2008.

At the dawn of 2008, I felt such a lightness of heart and peace, only dampened by the post-poll crisis in the country (perhaps best captured in messy blogging thereafter).

That would shortly afterwards be followed by a belated but certain, sad confirmation that one of the men I have always held in high esteem in my life is nothing but a spiritual fraud.

His fall can only be compared to that of Lucifer – he knows too much, as a man of God, to have lost it in the way He has.

And he also knows too much about faith to serve the cause of God any good from where he now is, much as he has been putting up the act.

While I had had a serious crisis of confidence in God and man in 2007; this year was inviting me to lose complete faith in individuals and human institutions.

I have bee asking God to restore faith within me – particularly faith in Him.

I’m looking for Jesus afresh, looking to fall in love with Him again.

In doing that, I began a journey through the Bible last week.

The Fall of man in Genesis particularly interested me because feeling the tearful impact of the fallen nature of human beings and institutions at a very intimate level last year, I had hoped that thunder and lightening would fall on some of our leaders in 2007 into 2008, particularly those who had made my 2007 awful and the early weeks of 2008 a nightmare for everyone (I still doubt they will ever pay for it in this life).

In contemplating the foregoing, the sight of Eve falling for the serpent’s tricks because the forbidden fruit was pleasing to the eye, tasted good and would allegedly make her wiser got me thinking about some of the motivations that have informed my own life at times, as indeed those of the piece of land we call Kenya.

My journey in faith ain’t over yet.

There remains much to be gone over.

Much to be prayed and hoped for.

Much to still trust God for.

And much of Jesus to still keep looking and living for.

There is this Jesus I encountered one day in August 1992, and intimately walked with in the wilds of Athi River in my undergraduate days at Daystar.

It is this Jesus I’m looking for, devoid of whatever else I have tried to make of him in the days, months and years following my graduation.

Signs are that He has already found me.

And for that, I will forever be grateful.

Hunger bites in Kenya’s breadbasket

*The story first appeared in Kenya Weekly, a political news magazine to which I contribute these days.

By JESSE MASAI

How did Cherangany constituency join the wider North Rift in becoming a flashpoint of the violence witnessed since last year’s disputed polls? 

With over 200,000 residents and just over 55,000 registered voters, few had expected the multi-ethnic area to explode, especially since it had survived the ethnic strife that hit other parts of the province in years gone by. 

Cherang’any’s tranquil, for long the pride of many, was suddenly no more. 

Kikuyu and Kisii residents were especially hard-hit, with over 70 of them reportedly killed, another 35,000 displaced and over 1,300 houses razed to the ground.

At the time of this writing, only Sitatunga ward, seat of Kaplamai Division and nearest to the headquarters of Trans-Nzoia East District, appeared to have had no ugly incident resulting from the post-poll chaos, – but even then, only just. 

Signs that things could turn ugly were evident as early as last October when talk was rife that some area politicians were keen on igniting violence either to displace some voters or generally shift the electoral agenda to who among the contestants could best shepherd the locals against insecurity.

Until then, insecurity in the area had almost always been an issue of occasional small-time theft and the periodic livestock raids from the neighboring Marakwet and West Pokot districts, all of which had been no major cause for worry compared to other constituencies in wider Trans-Nzoia. 

As the campaigns heated up, however, there was increased concern over insecurity bred in Cherang’any itself, especially as local communities began to coalesce around their tribes ahead of the polls. 

Suddenly, there was a proliferation of “council of elders” meetings on the part of all the major tribes residing there, all scheming and plotting on how best to capture civic seats as well as the top seat in Cherang’any constituency.

Money changed hands, with elders being bought across ethnic and party lines day and night. 

Sources suggest at least four aspirants spent well over Kshs. 100,000 trying to woo the elders either way on any given day.

An aspirant, who lost, reportedly spent Kshs. 30,000,000 on the whole of his campaign, a large part of which comprised playing councils of elders against each other depending on how the waves were faring on a given day. 

Complications arose when some areas became no-go zones for campaigns; aspirants were begging to zone off portions of Cherang’any, with deadly consequences.  

One parliamentary aspirant and his entourage were beaten when they campaigned in Sitatunga ward (incidentally his own home area), as some red flags began waving. 

No ugly incident, however, was reported when ODM’s Joshua Kuttuny clinched victory against a crowded field.

Trouble, however, came about when PNU’s Mwai Kibaki was declared victor in the presidential poll and sworn in. 

Cherang’any’s dark nights were flaming constantly, as maize fields, granaries and houses went up in flames. 

Cherang’any has known no peace since then, as its residents – particularly those in the hilly areas bordering Marakwet and West Pokot districts – continue to cry.

One of the most definitive scenarios in the crisis has been the daily attacks in Sinyerere, Makutano, Suwerwa / Kachibora and such other wards of the constituency. 

In Sinyerere, for instance, several well-armed attackers have been visiting in broad daylight, robbing, raping and maiming without fear and hurry; the provincial administration’s response has left much to be desired, both in timing and strength.    

Sinyerere ward, as is indeed much of wider Cherang’any, is mixed in ethnicity – it therefore may be safely suggested that the insecurity in the area is no longer such as can be characterized as ethically targeted. 

Responding to the security situation in the constituency therefore presents a daily change to everyone concerned, not least of all, Kuttuny, the new legislator. 

He has to assuage the fears of some residents that they have more to fear under his tenure than they did before December 27^th, 2007. 

There will also be need for representatives of neighboring constituencies  to be seen to be reining in livestock rustlers from their constituencies who, it would appear, are cashing in on the post-poll chaos and fears in the context of a largely out-numbered and strained police force. 

There is need, too, for the provincial administration to be more pro-active in the area. 

In the end, there will also be the need to clear once and for all just who won the 2007 presidential polls, as this is an issue still much passionately debated in this now fragile area. 

In the meanwhile, a terrible hunger is already biting in one of the country’s bread-baskets.

Clarification, clarification

As Francis Muthaura “clarifies” the PNU position on what Annan and company gave us late last month, I have been left without doubt about three things.

1.  We are not out of the woods yet.

2.  We are not out of the woods yet.

3.  We are not out of the woods yet.

Still on clarifications, my new MP is giving “devolution of power” an entirely new meaning.

I got reports a few hours ago that he today moved the CDF offices from Chebarus, more central and reachable for most residents of Cherangany constituency, to Kachibora trading centre.

Kachibora takes you closer to Marakwet and Uasin Gishu, apart from being the administrative place where we had always wanted to limit travel towards since time immemorial.

Incidentally, it’s only 5 or so minutes from my MP’s rural home in Kipkeikei trading centre.

It will be interesting to see how things in Cherangany shape up in the days to come.