Catholic Diocese has
sparked off a hue and cry from the Sabaot community, nearly 800kms away on the
slopes of the Mt Elgon traversing Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia counties.
Fr Dolan has earned the
ire of the community by demanding the exclusion of a leading and veteran
politician Wilberforce Kisiero from the recently commissioned Historical Land
Injustices Taskforce questioning his integrity.
Fr Dolan who once
worked at the Kitale Catholic Diocese as the head of the Chapter of Peace and
Justice Commission during the 1990/92 tribal turmoil in the country had also
lumped Coast politician Kasim Mwamzadi together with Kisiero as people who
lacked quality to serve in the HLIT.
The Catholic priest
under the auspices of a civil society Haki Yetu had written to the National
Lands Commission chairman Mohammed Swazuri to remove Mwamzadi and Kisiero from
the 47-man HLIT for alleged grabbing of public land at the Coast and incitement
to 1990-92 violence in Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia respectively.
But in a terse
rejoinder released in Kitale, Kisiero dismissed Fr Dolan’s claims and instead
asked the catholic priest to strengthen the unity amongst Bukusus, Tesos and
Sabaots in Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia as part of the mandate of HLIT to make
recommendations that would enhance national cohesion.
In the six-page
rebuttal, Kisiero who is a former Mt Elgon MP and assistant minister in retired
President Daniel Moi Kanu regime, said the recommendations made by the HLIT
will not be final as they will be subjected to debate by the National Assembly
before adoption.
Sabaot Supreme Council
of Elders asked Fr Dolan, a columnist in a local Sunday newspaper, to stop
inciting Kenyans against Kisiero as a member of the HLIT.
SSCE members led by
former Kitale deputy mayor, Pius Mzee arap Kauka, described Kisiero as a “clean
man” and asked the NLC boss to ignore Fr Dolan and his cronies and consider one
more slot for the Sabaot community in the HLIT.
The other SSCE members
who included Susan Moss, Gregory Ngeiywa and Sile Sisimwo alleged that Fr Dolan
was transferred to Mombasa from Kitale after inciting Trans-Nzoia residents
against the government.
They observed there was
no way the Sabaots and Bukusus will be put asunder since they have intermarried
for many years.
On his part, Kisiero
said Fr Dolan who had based his claims on the Akiwumi Judicial Commission on
tribal clashes had failed to recognise the fact the commission’s report was
rejected by the government for being biased.
Saying the Akiwumi
report was biased for having targeted the Kalenjin community, the former Mt
Elgon legislator wondered why some individuals mentioned alongside him had been
appointed to serve in various public positions.
Kisiero’s statement
read in part. “There are a total of 187 people adversely mentioned including
myself. It is obvious that many of these people have continued to serve in
various capacities in public service and no one has raised a red flag the way
Fr Dolan has done against me”.
He claimed the Akiwumi
Commission was biased against the Kalenjin community by ignoring the plight of
the Bongomek sub-tribe in Kanduyi, Bungoma county, who were thrown out of their
ancestral land during the 1990/92 clashes.
Among those mentioned
in the Akiwumi Report are politicians Nicholas Biwott, Mark Too, Elijah
Mwangale (deceased), Jackson Kibor, Christopher Lomada and Wafula Wabuge
(deceased).
The ex-assistant
minister gave a chronology of events where Sabaots were ejected from their
ancestral land by colonialists and sought refuge in Uganda, Maasailand and West
Pokot before coming back to reclaim their farms in Trans-Nzoia during the
1990/92 heydays.
“If the so-called
returnees came with firearms, I cannot be blamed in any way because it is the
responsibility of the government to ensure firearms are not smuggled into the
country. It was neither my responsibility to guard the borders of our country
nor persuade or force families not to visit one another. The said returnees may
have felt they had legal right to go back to their ancestral lands but never
ever at one time did I visit their areas with the aim of persuading them to
come back to Kenya.”
According to Kisiero,
the Bukusus voted for him during the 1992 multi-party general elections as the
Mt Elgon lawmaker despite the clashes.
“This is a clear
testimony of the good rapport I had with the Bukusus which has remained intact
to date. Together, we have worked hard to unite the Mabanga 2010 Mou which led
to the sharing of elective political positions in Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia
counties during the 2013 general elections,’’ he said.
The only sin he
committed, he said, is that the tribal clashes occurred at a time when he was
MP and as a leader, the aggrieved people and opponents got an opportunity to blame
his leadership.
“But I am still
confident and conscious that I have not incited anyone to engage in tribal
clashes. I am well sure my detractors were driven by malice and witch-hunt to
have me crucified for sins I did not commit’’.
Kisiero supports the
government in dismissing the Akiwumi Report “which even didn’t make any
recommendation for prosecution”.
He quoted the
government’s comment: “It is obvious, in all circumstances that the Akiwumi
commission approached the evidence with a biased mind against the Kalenjin and
Maasai communities, particularly in dealing with the clashes in Rift valley’’.
He blamed his woes on
one William Omuse Osuru whom he said he lied to the commission that he had
attended political rallies in Endebess, Trans-Nzoia county, where he allegedly
issued incitement orders.
He said he had recorded
a statement with CID men over the alleged rallies by the roadside for the fear
of eruption of fresh clashes if the sleuths visited him at his Saboti home.
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