PETER HABENGA OKONDO’S GIGANTIC IMPACT TO NASCENT KENYA’S
DEV’T MIGHT BE BURIED IN LATE BISHOP MUGE’S DEATH.
HE WAS A SCAPEGOAT.
EVERYTIME HIS NAME POPS UP IS JUST ABOUT THAT
MYSTERIOUS DEATH. HE CONTRIBUTED QUITE A LOT FOR THIS COUNTRY AT NATIONAL LEVEL
!
* Late Hon Peter Habenga Okondo, did not kill or involved in the death of outspoken Anglican Bishop Alexander Kipsang arap Muge’s death which remains a mystery to date.
* Late Okondo was a victim of bad politics of following blindly still prevalent even today
……..Death threat Like all the Kanu boys of the time, Okondo took the war
against those who were fighting for democracy personally, to show how loyal he was to the regime for
top positions he held then
* Kenya's good history should never archived without his name ....from constitutional making , governance , Commerce and Industry etc .....
* Bunyala should name one main Road and permanent landmarks
after his name …Current MP should spearhead that .
* Thro’ the MP ….we should organize a public event to remember him as a community .
On August 20, 1990, Kenya’s Labour Minister Peter Okondo did
the unimaginable - he offered to resign during an era public officials were not
known to quit. Okondo was bathing in criticism following the death of the then
outspoken Anglican Bishop Alexander Kipsang arap Muge.
About three days before the bishop’s death, Okondo told Muge
that he would not return home alive if he dared visit Western Kenya. The
daredevil bishop took on the challenge, but true to Okondo’s threat, he did not
return home alive. Some of those who were born at the time of Muge’s death now
have their
Many Kenyans still remember him for his efforts in
championing for democracy, fight against corruption, ethnicity and land
grabbing. The clergyman was born in 1948 in Nandi County and became the first
bishop of Eldoret Diocese. He joined a bandwagon of clerics who were critical
of the excesses in government and as a result, became a marked man.
The fight for democracy intensified in the late 80s and
early 90s when the call for a multi-party system of government reached fever
pitch. Death threat Like all the Kanu boys of the time, Okondo took the war
against those who were fighting for democracy personally, perhaps to show how
loyal he was to the regime.
There has been speculation that Okondo did not mean it when
he issued the death threat to Muge who perished in a road accident along the
Eldoret-Turbo road after a visit to Busia.
A former intelligence officer, James Lando Khwatenge, who worked with the Special Branch in Eldoret
at the time, reportedly told the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission
(TJRC) that the clergyman was killed by police officers who were sent directly
from Nairobi to “finish” the outspoken bishop and to use an accident used for
cover up. Khwatenge was widely quoted in the media as saying that the bishop’s
death on August 14, 1990, was the final job on what police called Operation
Shika Msumari.
He said Kanu loyalists who wanted to assassinate Muge merely seized threats issued by the
former Labour minister against the bishop and used him as a scapegoat. TJRC
listened to the former intelligence officer while conducting hearings on
unresolved political murders since independence. The bishop was killed when a
milk truck crashed into his car as he was returning home after visiting Busia.
No evidence was, however, presented to show that his death was anything but an
accident. The driver of the truck was charged with causing his death through
reckless driving and sentenced to seven years in prison, but he died after
serving only five years.
The attorney general ordered an inquest in response to the public outcry over his death and
widespread suggestions of foul play, but nothing came out of the inquiry. The
clergyman was famous for fighting corruption, land grabbing, political
assassinations, bureaucracy and other social ills and did not confine the fight
for what he believed in to Kenya’s borders. Bishop Muge is also remembered over
his open stand against homosexuality made on May 17, 1990 during a visit to the
USA. He based his condemnation on classical understanding of the scriptures.
correct account .
Antony Muhuma
Bunyala Residence .
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