After lighting up a firestorm over his plans to sue an X critic who had linked him to the 2007/8 post-election violence, former radio journalist Joshua Arap Sang has now re-ignited a debate around one of Kenya’s darkest periods and one that saw thousands killed and even more maimed and displaced.
Sang’s threat to take X user Nyamisa Chelagat to court over her assertions that he was a key player in the post-poll skirmishes saw thousands of Kenyans on X rise up in arms, ready to defend Chelagat – by all means necessary – and rubbish his legal intentions.
Irked by her insinuations, Sang had taken to his X account to issue a threat, writing: “For others to learn a lesson of wrongly accusing people, this one must meet me in court in January so that she can present the evidence she alleges I participated in the 2007/8 PEV.”
This was after he had directly messaged Chelagat on X, making his plans clear and even threatening to send the DCI to find her. Nonetheless, Chelagat remained unfazed – even scornful.
The former radio journalist’s move appears to have now badly boomeranged on him as not only has Chelagat sustained her attacks, she has whipped up a storm which has seen hundreds of people lining up to share their macabre experiences at the hands of political opponents – many sharing harrowing details of how they narrowly escaped death and barely made it with bloody wounds and scarred souls.
Some, who sustained arrow wounds and other lesions occasioned by beatings, deep cuts and crude attacks have also come forward to share what they’ve described as an ongoing nightmare; a horror they’ve been forced to live with for years and one which irreparably changed their outlook on life and blighted the deepest parts of their world.
Using the hashtag #FufuaICC, these Kenyans have brought to the fore the unspeakable horrors and unimaginable atrocities which were meted on innocent Kenyans just by the account of their tribe, political affiliation or ancestral homes.
One Kenyan wrote: “I was 12. Someone pulled out a head at the bridge at Ahero and said “Naenda kuzika mtu wetu aliuliwa Nakuru”. They cleared the roadblock for him without saying a word.”
Another wrote: “I was 7âŚMy mum was heavily pregnant she was in so much panick and shock during and after all that.. She got a severe headache that affected her for 2 monthsâŚit was never diagnosed but I know preeclampsia is what killed her during child birth of my sisterâŚ.”
Yet another wrote: “2007 in Rungiri. Our landlord Baba Ciru knocks our door. “Odhis (my dad) wewe toroka usipatwe, wanakuja (Mungiki) tutaficha mama na watoto.” We were lucky we had good neighbours and my mother had a good rapport with them. Otherwise we could have been killed⌔
Lenny Papito, yet another eyewitness to the extreme brutalities, also shared his memory, saying: “My old man was summoned by a group of about 50 machete wielding young men to reveal which of his tenants in Naivasha were Luos. He said he had none. They insisted someone told them his tenants were Luos. He stood his ground. They left. He had them hiding in our home for 2 weeks⌔
On her part, X user Waithera Karanja said, “I was 15. I was sent to the shop just before Kibaki was sworn in, idk where these men armed with crude weapons came from but I watched someone get hacked and I froze, I still remember the sound that panga made when it landed on the manâs skull. I still dream about it 17yrs later.”
After what appears to be an endless thread of testimonials – most of them painfully dark and ghastly – a Ray Otieno simply shared a little thought, saying, “From this thread, it’s clear that communities committed atrocities against each other; Kalenjins against Kikuyus, Kikuyus against Kalenjins, Luos against Kikuyus and Kikuyus against LuosâŚWe must now move forward and make a promise of never again. Never again shall that happen in this country.”
Popular city lawyer James Wanjeri also shared some wisdom, writing, “Itâs good that the children victims of 2007/8 PEV violence which was actually planned and executed are talking about their experiences openly, something the older generation lacked the courage to do.”
As the conversation continues to gather heat and take new dimensions each day, X personality appears to have already predicted the inevitable trajectory. He wrote: “Sitashangaa nikiona in the next few days the political class waki activate to talk about ‘Malicious Fear mongering’, ‘Letting PEV wounds heal’ and ‘Dark past and focusing on rebuilding and cohesion.’ Uzuri tuko na evdens kwa kalatas!Tunawatolea one by one.”
By Citizen Digital