Gatundu MP Moses Kuria is a strange cat. He’s singularly inarticulate, but the venom he spits carries heavy meaning. That’s why I wouldn’t dismiss him as an oddball. Not with his proximity to the inner sanctum of power. He speaks and acts with impunity — as though he’s untouchable. But he’s so outlandish that it’s easy to dismiss his antics as a cry for attention. Methinks, however, that he’s usually an emissary. He’s sent to float balloons and test the political gods. Like mud, some of his muck sticks, although most of it falls flat. He’s Jubilee’s sabre rattler. Lately, he’s taken his act to the ICC. He thinks the ICC is like a court in Kibera. Let’s decipher him.
In strange utterances, Mr Kuria has opined it was he and Narc-Kenya honcho Martha Karua — aka the Iron Lady — who “procured” witnesses and fabricated evidence against URP’s William Ruto at The Hague.
He went further and alleged that CORD leader Raila Odinga and Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o “fixed” Mr Ruto at the ICC. The first is a self-confession to a crime under the Rome Statue of the ICC and Kenya’s International Crimes Act. Mr Kuria has publicly admitted — without coercion — that he’s a criminal. The second allegation against Mr Odinga and Senator Nyong’o is defamatory. Both are actionable utterances. Ms Karua has taken Mr Kuria to court. Mr Odinga and Senator Nyong’o should follow suit.
Suing Mr Kuria should be only one strategy against a regime gone amok. Jubilee has made it a habit of vomiting on government critics. While TNA boss Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Ruto mostly keep their noses out of the muck, they have proxies who do the dirty work for them.
Majority Leader Aden Duale, Senator Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki, and Mr Kuria lead a pack of wolves with filthy mouths. The three can be counted on to say anything — including the most incomprehensible epithets — against Jubilee’s opponents. The things they say are so asinine that I don’t think they believe them. But the trio — who are peasant politicians — believe they’ve got to genuflect and sing for their dinner.
The truth of matter is that there would be no wolves if there were no sheep. Political leaders like Mr Duale, Prof Kindiki, and Mr Kuria act like worthless concubines in Jubilee because it’s the truth. They are rented mouths. Like a dirty shirt, they can be exchanged. They — and their bosses — know that parroting for Jubilee is a privilege they wouldn’t enjoy without the patronage of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto. All three were picked out of political obscurity and foisted on Kenyans. Prof Kindiki was a middling academic. Mr Kuria was a marginal PNU youth-winger. Mr Duale was a little known craving to serve the Kenyan elite. But it’s Mr Kuria who’s the master of the feint.
Let’s take Mr Kuria’s ICC shenanigans. The man from Gatundu South doesn’t understand the rule of law. I saw him heading a group of thugs with rungus and pangas inciting them to attack anyone opposed to Devolution CS Anne Waiguru and corrupt NYS boondoggles. I also saw him leading vigilantes against the “war” on so-called illegal brews. We heard him attack the Luo community. His social media accounts drip with hate. So it was no surprise when he came up with wild confessions about the ICC. How can any sane person believe him? Has he been living a lie since he “coached” and “procured” witnesses and evidence against Mr Ruto? Or is he lying now when he confesses?
Methinks Mr Kuria’s plan is part of a wider strategy. It has one of two purposes. The first is to try and flummox the ICC by “tainting” the evidence against Mr Ruto.
He wants to make a mockery of the evidence already before the ICC by asserting that it’s all false and fake. The idea is that a conviction of Mr Ruto would be based on falsehoods. This is meant to sway the judges. Except that the assertions are not made in court under oath. So they don’t matter. In fact, they put Mr Kuria in the ICC’s cross-hairs. But they serve the purpose of showing a restive Mr Ruto and URP that TNA hasn’t abandoned him.
Mr Kuria’s ICC utterances could also be intended to complicate Mr Ruto’s woes at the ICC. If the ICC reads Mr Kuria’s improbable confessions as part of a wider government plot to tamper with the cases — and cause a mistrial — then the judges might hold the state responsible.
Mr Kenyatta and Ruto would be implicated in sabotaging the cases. For Mr Ruto, this can’t be good news. Perhaps that’s exactly Mr Kuria’s mission. Either way, he’s not doing Mr Ruto any favours.