The allegations made by Joint Government Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo at a funeral on Saturday that foreign mercenaries linked to Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs are planning to assassinate Kenya’s Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, must be investigated with urgency. If they are in any way true, action must of course be taken to protect the Prime Minister. If they transpire to be baseless then Jakoyo Midiwo will have some serious questions to answer.

It was in a speech at the funeral of Dr. A. L. Gondi in Bondo District on Saturday, attended by the Prime Minister, his wife Ida and several cabinet ministers, that Gem MP and Chief Whip Midiwo, Raila’s cousin, made the dramatic statement.

“CHAIRMAN, THEY WANT TO KILL YOU”

Midiwo was quoted as saying, “jakom jogi dwa negi” (chairman, they want to kill you) and then went on to state, “You are about to die in a few weeks to come. I am ready to record a statement even before the Bondo OCPD to confirm the seriousness of the matter”. Jakoyo Midiwo then went on to say that the plot had been “finalised”.

He asked, by all accounts, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Sam Ongeri to investigate the matter and the alleged involvement of ‘foreign individuals’, and if accounts of his speech are accurate, also alleged that a meeting had been held last Sunday (April 1), attended by two ministers, a senior security officer and a permanent secretary, at which the alleged plot to kill Prime Minister Odinga was discussed.

Turning to Odinga, Midiwo said, “Your life is in real danger and these people want to kill you at all costs. I have told Orengo and PS Carey Orege about this”.

MIDIWO ARRESTED?

At this point the reports of what happened next become somewhat confused. The Sunday Nationreported that Midiwo was arrested at his rural home in Wagai village about four hours after the funeral and taken to Bondo police station. Today’s Daily Nation however, carries a denial from the Nyanza police boss Njue Njagi that any arrest took place.

Either way, Jakoyo Midiwo seems to have declined to make a statement to the Bondo police and has said he will only do so today (Tuesday) in front of CID officers in Nairobi.

POLICE INVESTIGATION

Today’s newspapers are reporting that the Director of Public Prosecution, Keriako Tobiko, has ordered an immediate police investigation into the allegations and it is presumed that Jakoyo Midiwo will finally make a statement.

Prof Ongeri, meanwhile, is reported to be consulting his lawyers regarding the “baseless” allegations.

As if the story wasn’t fueled enough by Midiwo’s dramatic outburst, ODM’s opponents are suggesting that the allegations were made to deflect attention from the party’s internal troubles.

ODINGA REMAINS CALM

It is to the credit of Prime Minister Raila Odinga that he appears to have remained calm and sanguine throughout this episode. Apparently he was unaware that Jakoyo Midiwo was going to make his public statement at the funeral and “was caught off-guard”.

Addressing a congregation in Kisumu on Easter Sunday, Odinga called on leaders “to stop creating fear and despondency among the people”.

JAKOYO MIDIWO HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

The Kenya Forum fervently hopes that no such plot to assassinate the Prime Minister exists. If it does exist we hope the truth will be speedily uncovered and the plotters brought to justice. Either way, Jakoyo Midiwo has questions to answer.

Why did he seemingly wait up to a week before telling of the alleged plot? It is obviously a very urgent matter if he believed the story. Why then did he decline to make a statement to the police straight away?

If Jakoyo Midiwo’s allegations do turn out to be baseless he must face the consequences, in law and politically.

There is bound to be more to this story. The Kenya Forum will report back.