In 2006 State agents and hirelings raided Standard but...

By PATRICK MATHANGANITheir first stop that night was the KTN studios at I & M Tower in the heart of the city, where they switched off the television station, terrorised staff and made away with computers and other equipment. They later stormed the Group’s printing plant on Likoni Road, Industrial Area, damaged the press and burnt copies of the day’s newspapers.
To date, those responsible for the shameful incident, including a serving Cabinet minister, are yet to be prosecuted, and the Standard Group is yet to be told the reason why it was attacked in such a cowardly fashion. The stolen equipment is also yet to be returned.
However, newly leaked US embassy cables from that period have opened a window into what top government officials may have known or thought about the night attack, which was ordered by the then Internal Security minister John Michuki, and directed by two Caucasian mercenaries for hire, who later came to be known locally as the Artur brothers.
According to the classified embassy cables, former US ambassador William Bellamy claims that Gichugu MP Martha Karua, then the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, told him "Kenya had a rogue press and something had to be done to bring press practices into line with laws and regulations."
Bellamy says Karua, who has announced her intention to vie for the presidency in next year’s elections, only appeared concerned that the then Internal Security Minister John Michuki did not consult widely before giving the order to raid the Standard Group offices, and claimed Standard editors may have burned the newspapers themselves.
"As for reports that police had burned thousands of copies of The Standard, Karua denied that that had happened," and even claimed "The Standard’s editors had burned the papers themselves to discredit the police," wrote Bellamy.
Political opponents
The former minister, once a fierce defender of President Kibaki’s policies, has since fallen out with the Head of State.
Bellamy says Karua made the remarks during a meeting with Ambassador Bellamy, the Swedish Ambassador, and Justice PS Dorothy Angote, and that she also blamed the international community for quickly criticising the Government over the raid.
"When the Swedish Ambassador joked that the image the Government had created for itself was so bad that one could almost believe political opponents had mounted the raid to discredit the Government, Karua stunned us by replying that she couldn’t rule that out," wrote Bellamy.
He noted that Karua’s "instinct was to search for ways to justify it and shift the onus of responsibility on to the press."
But yesterday the Gichugu MP and Narc-Kenya chair dismissed the claims: "Those were the writer’s [Bellamy’s] perceptions which are wrong. I was not privy to the raid nor do I know the real reason even today, and that is why I asked for [the] Kiruki report," she told The Standard.
Bellamy said in his secret communication that the raid could have been "an opening move in a campaign to intimidate critics and opponents of an increasingly shaky and directionless Kibaki administration."
He added: "Kibaki himself has had absolutely nothing to say about the worst credibility crisis of his Presidency, or the alleged serious and national security threats his security minister claims to have thwarted."
One of the classified cables sent from the US embassy in Nairobi leaked by the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks quotes Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka saying the mercenaries had been brought into the country by a Narc activist, who ensured they travelled in Government cars and enjoyed State security detail. The activist, who now champions PNU causes, often boasts of connections to State House.
"Musyoka said he had heard of plans to secretly install a portion of the mercenaries in an office within the Police Criminal Investigations Division. One of them, in fact, was to be appointed de facto deputy of CID," says one of the cables signed by former US ambassador, William Bellamy. It is dated March 9, 2006.
The ambassador wrote that the Arturs played "a clear role" in the infamous raid.
During a hearing by a presidential commission chaired retired Police Commissioner Shedrack Kiruki into the Arturs saga, it was claimed that the two had been issued with identification showing they were deputy commissioners of police.
Musyoka was then in the opposition ODM, together with Prime Minister Raila Odinga. He joined Kibaki’s PNU side in 2008, days after the disputed presidential election in 2007.
The cable says the activist took the two men for a lavish trip in Dubai, where she spent up to Sh4.8 million on "unspecified merchandise."
According to the cables, Kalonzo also told Bellamy he met some of the mercenaries, who were interested in arms deals. During the meeting, they asked Kalonzo how they could meet with DRC president, Joseph Kabila.
"The friend who had introduced them later came to (Kalonzo) Musyoka concerned that these individuals were hit men, not arms dealers, and had simply wanted to meet Musyoka to be able to identify their target," wrote Bellamy.
However, yesterday, the VP spokesman, Kaplich Barsito, declined to comment on the claims made by Bellamy in the cable.
"The case of the Artur brothers is truly unfortunate. That their presence was not good for the country cannot be gainsaid. That said, however, it is critical that that saga is behind us, and Kenyans must remain vigilant that such misadventures do not occur again," Barsito said.
Another cable paints a grim picture of the situation in the country at the time, saying the Government had resorted to blackmails and death threats on anyone who challenged it.
Systematic threats
"While Kenya appears outwardly calm, many of those closest to the political action are now scared. The raids on the media stunned many Kenyans, who say they never expected such a step by their post-Moi, democratic government. Reports of foreign mercenaries, systematic threats and blackmail, and possible narco-corruption at State House now have them positively reeling. They now fear what may come next."
The cable quotes a former Director of Public Prosecutions saying the mercenaries initially stayed at a suite at the Grand Regency Hotel, which had been wired by the chief suspect in the Goldenberg scam, Kamlesh Pattni.
The Narc-turned-PNU activist, along with a former CID director, were said to be "among those using the suite to entertain any number of Kenyan business and political figures," says the cable.
The cable says interviews with the mercenaries’ neighbours at a house in Runda where they later stayed said they had bodyguards who were likely not Kenyans.
However, in a meeting between an embassy official and then presidential advisor Stanley Murage, he denied any foreign involvement of mercenaries.
Yesterday, the Government Spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua released a statement that suggested the State was more uncomfortable with the First Family’s name featuring in the media through the leaked cables, than with the content of the classified communication and their implications.
"The Government wishes to reiterate that these stories are based on cables sent to Washington by American envoys to Kenya, who are quoting sources who claim to have an understanding of the government, institutions and private citizens. They are mere speculation and personalised assessments, which have so far been far from the reality," wrote Dr Mutua.
"We take particular exception to leaks alleging that President Kibaki slept on the job and others pertaining to the residential matters of the First Family. The information contained in the stories and attributed to the WikiLeaks are full of innuendos, falsehoods and have no basis in truth," added Dr Mutua in a statement.
He added: "We wish to inform Kenyans that these claims are in bad taste and influenced by opinions of persons pretending to have an understanding of the workings at State House"