Former SLDF fighter wants suspects freed before probe

By Robert Wanyonyi and Boniface Gikandi

Former top Sabaot Land Defense Force (SLDF) Commanders have requested the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) to suspend its sessions until suspects being held in prison for related crimes are released.

John Kanai who spoke on behalf of 84 former militia members said the reconciliation process being undertaken in the area was of little consequence if both parties were not involved.

He added that the truth team must first strive to ensure that those suspects arrested due to SLDF activities are released from prison and resettled back on their farms before a proper reconciliation process begins.

Skewed land allocation

"I am ready to be forgiven by anyone I wronged and I am also ready to forgive. However, reconciliation requires both parties involved. How will the process go on while we are held here in prison while only one party in involved in the reconciliation," said Kanai.

The former SLDF Commander said problems in Mount Elgon were as a result of a skewed land allocation process and accused the Provincial Administration of the time for the violence that followed the dispute over land.

"The Provincial Administration teamed up with political leaders to ensure that they chose what would please them and the Government and completely ignored what the local people wanted. Such treatment left majority of the people with little option but to rebel," said Kanai.

A rare moment was witnessed when the father of former SLDF leader and founder Wycliffe Matakwei, Mzee Komon Matakwei briefed the TJRC team circumstances that may have led to the uprising.

The old man dressed in a Khaki short and top accused the Government of treating residents of Mount Elgon as second-rate citizens, prompting a rebellion by youth.

"When there was trouble at Molo and Kipkelion, the Government moved fast to restore order and find a lasting solution to the problem. Why was it so hard when it came to Mount Elgon? I am annoyed because the Sabaot people are the only community that seems not to have attained its independence," said Komon.

Meanwhile, TJRC heard chilling testimonies from victims of police terror in one of the Mungiki bedrocks in Murang’a district. During a TJRC session at Kahuro Market, the residents detailed how security agents who were allegedly pursuing members of the outlawed Mungiki sect in 2007 tortured them.

Trigger-happy police

TJRC Chairman Bethwel Kiplagat heard how young men died from police bullets, houses burnt and children disappeared as they sought cover from the trigger-happy police.

Kiplagat told the public that views collected by the commission would help unearth the truth.

"We have heard of cases of killings by police from this areas but the commission will give its recommendations to the Government," said the chairman who was flanked by two other commissioners.

In 2007, Kahuro had been a security operation zone after the sect members were involved in several incidents of beheadings.