Kenya: Murder of Evangelical leader is another mysterious political crime

In what appears to have been a murder by hired killers, an Evangelical leader of Kenya, Bishop Joseph Segel, of the Redeemed Gospel Church, was shot down inside his church on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on July 3 by gunmen, who went straight for their target. He was known as a strong Red (No) opponent of the proposed Constitution, which will be voted on in a national referendum on 4th August.

On. Sunday July 4, the day after Segel’s murder, a church rally in Mukuru kwa Reuben, a large slum in Nairobi’s Industrial Area was petrol-bombed. And in Malaba Town, a few days earlier, on the border between Kenya and Uganda, the congregation at a prayer rally was attacked by Greens (Yes) supporters of the proposed Constitution, and sound equipment destroyed, under the eyes of armed police, according to a report.

The June 13th prayer rally in a central Nairobi park, where 6 people were killed and over 100 injured by 3 grenades is still fresh in everyone’s mind. The public is waiting to know who was responsible.

Have these Mafia-style outbursts of lawlessness anything to do with the upcoming referendum? Most likely, yes. Kenyans are used to this kind of politics; they complain among themselves about it, shrug their shoulders and get on with life.

Who is behind these attacks? Are they centrally organized, or just carried out by thugs hired by some big man for the occasion, to send out a very clear warning or, even more infamously, by national or local Yes and No leaders themselves? Kenyans resign themselves to the fact that they may never know.

The names of Kenyan political leaders and religious personalities suspected as being the victims of assassins over the years and killed in mysterious and usually brutal circumstances, are well known by the man in the street: Tom Mboya, J M Kariuki, Robert Ouko, Fr John Kaiser, a US priest and, more recently, Fr Jerry Roche, an Irish missionary.
In many parts of Africa, the wheels of justice grind on slowly, but what is worse is the lack of accountability and, consequently, the lack of the people’s trust in the judicial system. Celebrity cases get mired down in politics and financial corruption, and most people suspect the real truth hardly ever surfaces. Political decisions and choices tend to follow the self-interest of local and national bosses and are dictated, implicitly and explicitly, by them, very often reflecting a local ethnic bias.

Is this the way the voting will follow on August 4th, or, in the case of the supposed strongly Green areas will the voice of priests and pastors be heard and prevail, and abortion be rejected? The former Kenyan President, Daniel arap Moi, has already said in a big public rally that, as a Christian, he cannot vote for a Constitution which has many positive things, but negative ones too, like abortion, and one could add the proposed complete freedom of the airwaves –but not the responsibility that must go with it-, and the weak definition of marriage, which can later be amended or manipulated.

These incidents may be the last ones of violence; we sincerely hope they are, but now that the campaign is warming up, there is no guarantee of that.
Power (even a whiff of power) can corrupt, and killing the nuisance who won’t keep quiet or go away is the easiest way of sending out a warning; and of instilling the necessary level of fear, to discourage people from voting, or from voting according to their consciences.