5 Mandera leaders freed, journalist accused terrorist sympathizer
Four Mandera politicians, Billow Adan Kerow, (Mandera senator) Shaaban Ali Qasay (MP for Lafey constituency), Abdiaziz Farah, (MP for Mandera East) Mohamed Mohamud aka Mumad (Mandera West) and Fathiya Mahboub (Mandera Women Rep) have got their freedom back on Thursday afternoon after spending close to four hours at the DCI headquarters in Nairobi.
The politicians whisked to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation from Wilson airport by Flying Squad officers after touching down from Mandera County where they led right groups and journalists after allegations of mass graves in Mandera emerged.
The leaders held a press conference in Nairobi on Monday prior to leaving for Mandera to spearhead efforts to exhume bodies from the alleged mass graves. Kerrow linked the Kenya Defence Forces to the killings and enforced disappearances in North Eastern.
The government denied the claims terming Kerrow’s statements as alarmist.
Interior and National Co-ordination Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery who spoke on Wednesday demanded Journalists (Mohamed Ali and Yasmin Juma from KTN) and the county leaders who spoke an existing mass grave in Mandera withdraw or face the law.
Kerrow apologized yesterday after the search yielded no fruits, an apology he clarified was to Kenyans and Nkaissery, he was today detained on arrival in Nairobi.
“As leaders and as responsible citizens of this country, we found it necessary to issue an apology to Kenyans; not to Nkaissery,” he said.
“We have nothing to apologise to a guy called Nkaissery who himself, with all due respect, has a lot to apologise to the people of this country for the atrocities he committed while in KDF in West Pokot,” added Senator Kerrow.
Mandera West MP Mohamed Mohamud took issue with the Minister blaming him for their predicaments.
He termed the move to take them to the DCI for interrogation as an attempt to intimidate them.
“We will not feel threatened … we will fight for our people. We will continue telling Kenyans where we are wrong. We will continue to support the fight on terrorism, but we will not allow our people be killed.” Said Mumad.
Meanwhile Joseph Nkeissery is directly attacking the journalists specially, popular investigative journalist Mohammed Ali who stood against what the security forces are terming counter-terrorism operation which claimed lives tens of Somali ethnic and Muslims.
Speaking on Wednesday, December 10, the CS claimed that the journalist- popular for his Jicho Pevu investigative programme- is fond of painting the government negatively while depicting Al Shabaab positively.
“This young man called Mohammed Ali has the habit of permanently putting the security organs of this country at the expense of Al-Shabaab,” said Nkaissery.
This is because on Wednesday, December 9, it emerged that there was only one body though preliminary report by KNHCR indicates 25 extrajudicial killings and 81 enforced disappearances linked the security forces.
“He ( Mohammed Ali) has been portraying the security in the negative and the Al-Shabaab in the positive. He shows Al-Shabaab training and our people in the opposite.” Nkaissery went on in his attack against Mohammed Ali.
On Monday, December 7, Mohammed Ali said that there are people who are not happy with his work and are monitoring his every move.
“The truth is that some powerful people in the government do not want people, especially journalists, to say the truth, and that is why I am a target. They are using religion to portray me as a terrorist-sympathiser yet my record is straight. As an investigative reporter, I have always exposed all social ills-whether by Muslims, Christians or atheists,” he told The Standard.
By: Ahmed Mohamed Adan