Here is my remembrance post from last year for the sixth anniversary of the murders of Oscar Kingara and John Paul Oulu.
The hit last week of Jacob Juma–a combative and controversial businessman who had taken on a public profile as a vocal critic of corruption in the Kenyatta government, and political proponent of the opposition–was clearly intended to send a chilling message. Care was taken to make sure the killing was unambiguously seen to be an assassination even though it happened overnight without known third party witnesses. It would have been simple to raise doubts about common robbery as a motive if the killers were worried about being caught as opposed to frightening other potential victims.
Juma had been “vocal” on most of the hotest contemporary corruption topics, including the multi-faceted looting at the National Youth Service and the “Eurobond” debt. The day of the hit, May 5, he was focused on the IEBC and “tweeted” a picture of former U.S. Ambassador Smith Hempstone from time of the end of the Cold War and the “second liberation” to the current ambassador.
Kingara and Oulu will continue to be missed as Kenya is faced with yet another extrajudicial killing–the kind of thing that the Oscar Foundation investigated when its leaders where denounced by the Kenyan Government, then assassinated.
This assassination is a clear step backward for Kenya. As Kenyans accept democracy more, they begin to understand that the next election is the way to rectify wrongs and policies. Consequently, they will not resort to violence. This change will only occur if Kenyans believe that the elections are fair and the government is not corrupt. This assassination throws all of that into question.