The National Security Council believes Cord lead by Raila Odinga is planning a civilian coup and that its demands for the replacement of the IEBC Commissioners are a smoke screen.
The council has met twice in the last two weeks to discuss how to deal with the protests by Cord over the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission which it believes has a strongly pro-Jubilee bias.
The NSC is the top security organ in Kenya. It is chaired by the President and consists of the Deputy President, ministers for Defence and Interior, the Attorney-General, the Chief of Kenya Defence Forces, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Services and the Inspector-General of the National Police Service.
It exercises supervisory control over national security organs and it assesses and appraiseses the objectives, commitments and risks to the Republic in respect of actual and potential national security capabilities.
The primary object of the national security organs and security system is to promote and guarantee national security in a none partisan manner
Two weeks ago, it concluded that Cord wanted a revolution to force President Uhuru Kenyatta out of office or to make him share power with Cord.
Members inside the council argued that the opposition was then planning to have elections postponed for at least two years.
Then on Sunday the NIS boss Maj Gen Philip Kameru briefed the NSC that Cord was mobilizing extensively for Monday. The NSC resolved to deploy heavily to prevent the protestors from accessing the CBDs of major towns.
Cord has dismissed the claims as “figments of fertile imaginations”.
“Those claims must be treated with the contempt they deserve. They amount to whistling and shooting in the dark. If they are looking for targets, Cord will not give them any,” said Cord co-principal Moses Wetang’ula yesterday.
In a press conference yesterday, Government spokesman Eric Kiraithe said government has detailed intelligence reports that some politicians were out to take power through “extra-constitutional means”. He warned them, “We have taken note and appropriate action will be taken.”
But Wetang’ula dismissed the claim as laughable.
“The government has the capacity to find out who the foreigners are, how is soliciting the cash and in what form or currency, This juvenile allegations must be substantiated,” added Wetang’ula.
Kiraithe justified the use of live bullets on protesters, arguing that using violence for political purposes is terrorism. On Monday the police shot dead three protestors in Kisumu and Kisii while ten more were hospitalised with bullet wounds
“If you confront a police officer, you will be met with necessary and proportionate force,” Kiraithe said. “The law does not allow any officer to forfeit his firearm or to be stoned.”
He denied that police was doing ethnic profiling of protesters and claimed were being paid between Sh200 and Sh2000 by top Cord politicians.
“As Senator for Kisumu, I am ashamed of the attitude of law enforcement agencies in Kisumu. Their action reveals ethnic profiling of the Luo nation which has taken root among Jubilee potentates. This must stop,” Anyang’ Nyong’o said yesterday
Eric Kiraithe claimed that unnamed politicians are seeking funding from political players in the region to destabilise the Jubilee administration but did not speficy the region.
Cord leader Raila Odinga ia is a close friend of Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli and has flown to Dar es Salaam several times to meet him for private talks since he became president in November 2015.
“Kiraithe is an exhibit of an incompetent regime that is resorting to propaganda to run away from the problem of the day. Our agenda is one, reform IEBC and the electoral infrastructure,” Cord Chief Executive Officer Norman Magaya told the Star.
“We do not need outside help to deal with Jubilee,” he said.
On Monday rioting affected nine counties – Kisumu, Siaya, Kakamega, Migori, Homa Bay, Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru and Meru.
Kiraithe claimed protesters in Siaya attempted to storm a police station while those in Migori attempted to free prisoners in a GK vehicle.
He said 29 officers were injured on Monday including 20 in Siaya who were pelted with stones.
Kiraithe claimed there is a politician who has realised 2017 is his last but did not name Raila.
Kiraithe claimed that some politicians intentionally went to the Coast to “urge violence” after the first three Mondays were quiet there.
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka was in Mombasa over the weekend while Raila was at a conference in South Africa.
Kiraithe dismissed a statement by diplomats yesterday urging for dialogue and an end to violence.
“There has to be due process,” Kiraithe insisted.
“Violence will not resolve the issues regarding the future of the IEBC or ensure the 2017 elections are free and credible,” European and US ambassadors said in a joint statement yesterday.
“Kenyans should talk, and any compromise must be implemented in accord with Kenya’s Constitution and the rule of law. As partners, we stand ready to support such a dialogue in any way that is useful,” they said.
Credits:Article as Published by:The Star
