Boniface Manono aka “Bernard Ngatia”, a Kenyan who reportedly died after brutalization by police during the campaign to disband and send the corrupt IEBC Commissioners home, has “resurrected from the dead” to say that he is alive. The story, which saturated both mainstream and social media, said that the man died out of injuries sustained during a moment of police brutality which was captured on camera. The man has since appeared on national TV to say that he is alive and kicking while his photo has also been published exposing the ubiquitous huge scar on the back of his head to prove that he is indeed the man who was brutalized by police.
The story found its way Online after Boniface went into a coma following his brutalization by a riot police office. After the incident was broadcast with a video clip of the brutality going viral, Boniface’s family members panicked, thinking that he had passed on. The family apparently released information saying that he had succumbed to his injuries and kicked the bucket. Once the news hit the Internet, Cord supporters took over and started sending messages of condolences to the family following the “murder” of a loved one while at the same time wishing that Boniface’s soul should RIP.
Once the family was taken care of, Cord supporters turned to Jubilee government. While Bernard was eulogized as a martyr whose life had been ended abruptly by the thieving Jubilee government, the death was used by Cordasian to underline the murderous nature of the Jubilee government.
It is true that since 2013, Jubilee has been involved in extra-judicial executions of thousands of Kenyans through the infamous Flying Squad aka “death merchants”. It is also true that Jubilee has been involved in political assassinations of real or perceived opponents, the latest case having been the assassination of Cord’s anti-corruption crusader Jacob Juma who was laid to rest las Saturday. Juma himself mentioned Deputy President, William Ruto, as a man who was apparently obsessed with his assassination. In a now popular Tweet, Juma even wrote that his assassination had been planned and that he knew about it. When Bernard, another supposed Cord supporter apparently “died” at the hands of brutal riot police, Cordasians had to go for Jubilee’s jugular. When Bernard “rose from the dead”, the narrative also underwent a transformation.
The man’s “rise from the dead” has excited Jubilee’s supporters especially on Twitter where a war of words is raging with Jubilee shibboleths accusing their Cord protagonists of faking stories to gain political mileage. In fact, some retarded supporters of Uhuru Kenyatta have even theorized that Bernad Ngatia, who hails from Kiambu, is not even a Cord supporter because he comes from Central Province, a strong hold of Jubilee. They have not however answered the question as to why Raila Odinga got substantial votes from Central Province in the 2013 elections which was stolen to install Uhuru Kenyatta as President.
Jubilee dregs Online can continue celebrating the “resurrection of Bernard”, but on a side note, who could have doubted the story when the source was the family acting out of a moment of panic following the brutalization of their son by police? Bernard’s “rise from the dead” does not change the brutality he suffered. Although facts about his “death” have changed, his membership or non-membership of Cord is irrelevant. The bottom line is that no Kenyan should suffer police brutality of any kind while exercising a basic democratic right to peaceful protest.
The “resurrection” of Bernard Ngatia into Boniface Manono does not change the political equation on the ground because Cord’s leadership has said that the Coalition will not participate in the 2017 elections if current IEBC is not disbanded and reconstituted. It is in the interest of Jubilee that IEBC is reconstituted because the Coalition is in power and it is its responsibility to organize a credible election.
Details of IEBC’s corruption scandals (including the Chicken-gate scandal) are in the public domain. The fact that IEBC rigged the 2013 election has even been acknowledged by the most insane Jubilee supporters. Today, no thinking Kenyan believes that the 2013 election was won by Jubilee. The legal and constitutional means Jubilee is proposing for the ejection of IEBC Commissioners have been exhausted by Cord and the Coalition has promised not to return there. In fact, the so called legal process has been frustrated by the very IEBC whose rotten Commissioners are being called upon to quit. Under the circumstances, Cord is asking for the minimum as a condition of participating in the 2017 elections.
For now, the three most important issues that ought to concern Jubilee supporters does not include “Bernard Ngatia’s resurrection”. Jubilee supporters should be obsessed with the urgency to address the issue of the untenable stand of Jubilee government which is seeking to retain the discredited and corrupt IEBC Commissioners after a vast population of Kenyans have lost confidence in them. Second on the line is rampant police brutality on peaceful Cord protesters outside IEBC offices countrywide. Third is the use of banned poisonous gas (in the name of tear gas) on peaceful protesters by police while the fourth key issue is political assassinations of Cord supporters and critics. Additionally, the issue of intimidation and arrest of bloggers aligned to Cord (in relation to other matters raised) constitute more serious issues than the “resurrection of Bernard Ngatia from the dead”
If Uhuru Kenyatta has good and honest advisors, and if he listens to them, they should persuade the President to disband IEBC as soon as possible. The most likely scenario is that with Cord staying put with its Monday protests outside IEBC offices countrywide, tension will be rising in Kenya with the approach of each and every Monday. On a long term, this kind of situation is not good for Kenya and its citizens, at home and abroad. Cord has been left with no option but to use street protests as a legitimate and constitutional tactic of achieving political objectives. Uhuru Kenyatta has no choice. IEBC must go!
Okoth Osewe
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