TJRC told State approved 'punishment'

Friday, 17th June 2011

By ALLY JAMAH

A secret report by an intelligence official who was part of a Government delegation that visited Wajir a few days before the Wagalla Massacre cited "communal punishment" as a strategy to end banditry.

The report by Paul Murimi, a top official of the former Special Branch service, was the subject of debate in Thursday’s hearings at the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) in Nairobi.

“One of the solution is communal punishment where tribal element is concerned and detention of known criminal collaborators,” Murimi wrote in the report meant for the then spy Chief James Kanyotu.

The details came to the fore after he took the witness stand to shed light on the five-page report that summarised the observations during the Kenya Intelligence Committee (KIC) visit to North Eastern Province between February 8 and 10, 1984.

In the report labelled ‘secret,’ Murimi reported that the visiting KIC team agreed with the Wajir District Security Committee to use “communal punishment” to end banditry.

Murimi said the move was meant as a last resort to dissuade warring communities from protecting criminals among them.

But he denied that the meeting specifically discussed the impending security operation where thousands of Degodia men were rounded up and held at Wagalla Airstrip for three days in the open sun without food and water.

 “It is assumed that every community is privy to activities of some criminal elements among them and communal punishment was one of the means to end the insecurity,” he said.

He claimed that the measure was to be implemented only in the case of cattle rustling, but commissioners cast doubt on the explanation, saying it was not indicated anywhere in his report.

“This report indicates the attitude of inflicting communal punishment to residents of North-Eastern Province, which even continued after the Wagalla Massacre,” said commissioner Ahmed Sheikh Farah.

But Murimi insisted that the KIC trip was to familiarise the delegation on development and other security matters, saying there was no discussion about the Wagalla operation.

Unlike previous witnesses who were part of the KIC delegation, Murimi said the KIC-DSC meeting was a two-way discussion where suggestions were exchanged and not one-way briefings by District Security Council.

He said he learned of the Wagalla killings while returning to Nairobi.

The secret report also quoted discussions between KIC and DSC on the socio-economic development of North Eastern Province to help residents feel they are part of Kenya.