The NIS infiltrated the meetings and devised ways of suppressing any protests in Parliament.
JUSTUS WANGA SUNDAY,
APRIL 3, 2016
President Uhuru Kenyatta delivers the State of the Nation address to a joint session of Parliament in the National Assembly on March 31, 2016. Investigations by the Sunday Nation have also revealed that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) infiltrated the meetings and devised ways of suppressing any protests in the National Assembly during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s State of the Nation address. PHOTO | RAPHAEL NJOROGE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Investigations by the Sunday Nation have also revealed that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) infiltrated the meetings and devised ways of suppressing any protests in the National Assembly during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s State of the Nation address.
An outspoken MP from Nyanza, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government, recounted how a section of MPs largely drawn from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) met secretly on Tuesday and Wednesday to plot the action.
During the two meetings, which were co-chaired by ODM national chairman John Mbadi and Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, they were torn between two options: that of walking out en masse the moment President Kenyatta started reading his speech or whistling him down.
The MPs eventually settled on the second option. A few of them would also raise points of orders every now and then to disrupt the proceedings.
KEPT IN THE DARK
“We deliberately kept some of our colleagues out of the picture because they cannot be trusted. We were sure that if we involved them, they could easily have leaked out our plans to Jubilee,” the MP stated.
Those kept in the dark were MPs from Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper party and Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford Kenya and a section of ODM MPs from Western province.
Funyula MP Paul Otuoma was overheard complaining that they were kept in the dark about the plot.
“I was never told that there was such a plan,” he told his colleagues after the speech.
According to Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati, one of the MPs who actively participated in the disruption and was among those kicked out of the House by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi for disorderly conduct, the two meetings were being secretly monitored by government spies.
Mr Arati told Sunday Nation how National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale called him on Thursday morning to warn him that the government was aware of their schemes and would deal ruthlessly with anybody who dared disrupt Mr Kenyatta’s speech.
“(Mr) Duale called me on Thursday morning telling me of the repercussions of our civil disobedience,” he said.
Instructively, Mr Duale also called a press conference that very Thursday morning during which he warned that anybody who dared disrupt Mr Kenyatta’s speech would face dire consequences.
No less a figure than one of the senior Directors of Communication at President Kenyatta’s office, Mr Munyori Buku, also spoke of a plot to disrupt the State of the Nation address a few hours before it happened.
“There is no surprise in Cord’s bandit plan this afternoon,” said Mr Buku.
Newly appointed Government spokesman Eric Kiraithe revealed how the state machinery opted to downgrade the matter rather than suppress it violently.
“They must have been disappointed that the Speaker never resorted to extra parliamentary means to restore decorum in the House, which is the direction they wanted us to go.
Since we have every machinery to ensure what occurred did not take place, we deliberately allowed them to go ahead so they could display their ushenzi (stupidity) and the world has noticed the difference,” he said.
Notably, Jubilee Alliance MPs occupied seats on the side where the Opposition normally sits. As Mr Wandayi protested and was violently ejected, Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu sat behind him and barely moved a muscle.
On the opposite side, Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko made as if to cross the floor to engage the Opposition MPs but it appeared to have been half-hearted as he sat the moment an orderly stretched his arm to block his path.
STRICT INSTRUCTIONS
A source from the Speaker’s chamber disclosed that Mr Muturi was under strict instructions from “powerful forces” outside the House not to allow the Opposition ruin the President’s day.
Demonstrating lack of unanimous support for the disruption, Mr Muturi said he first got wind of it from a section of Cord MPs.
“Some Cord MPs who did not believe in what they were being asked to do came to my office to notify me of the impending disruption. Some were saying, if Tinga (Mr Odinga’s nickname) were the President today, we would not like it if he is subjected to such kind of humiliation.”
He defended his performance on the floor, saying he had to firmly deal with indiscipline.
“When it comes to the Constitution and matters of Standing Orders, they are always at my fingertips and I do not waver in implementing them.”
According to sources, the ODM secretariat facilitated the purchase of more than 100 whistles, which were distributed among willing Cord MPs.
The plan was that all the selected MPs would start whistling immediately Mr Kenyatta started reading his speech to ensure that no business took place.
“We anticipated that Muturi would kick us out one by one but we knew that this would take a lot of time. Whoever was to be kicked out would hand over his or her whistle to those who did not have one. Surprisingly, only a few of us stood up to be counted,” one of the MPs who were expelled said.
“What the speaker did to Wandayi deflated us, it scared many who were to sustain the push. But I am happy we said it loud and clear to Uhuru that we are not happy at the casual manner he is running the country,” he said.
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