Investigations into the 1997 Likoni political violence saw several raiders assert that people identified as KANU MPs, candidates, and activists visited the raiders and met with their commanders and a spiritual leader who served as a key advisor.
The raiders alleged that some of these politicians delivered food, money-even guns, and otherwise supported their cause.
Looking back at the events in 1997, the raiders believed that top Coast Province (Coast region) political leaders, working with local interlocutors, orchestrated the events from behind the scenes to benefit the government of former President Daniel Moi.
This interpretation also accorded with other testimonies suggesting that prominent KANU politicians were involved in the plot to spark violence in Coast Province.
The implicated politicians, on their part, uniformly denied sponsoring the raiders. In most cases, they rejected claims that they visited the raiders, and others provided alternative explanations for the assistance they provided, often indirectly, to raiders.
The names of several politicians featured repeatedly in the testimonies given at the Akiwumi Commission on the Coast Province violence as established by the Human Rights Watch.
They included;
Boy Juma Boy:
The MP for Matuga (KANU) at the time of the raids and also Chief Whip for the party in parliament. Later in 1997 Boy lost the KANU nomination to another candidate, Suleiman Kamole.
Suleiman Kamole (or Kamolleh):
A candidate for parliament on the KANU ticket in 1997. In December that year he was elected MP for Matuga, the seat previously held by Boy.
Emmanuel Karisa Maitha:
A KANU politician at the time of the violence. He defected to the opposition Democratic Party after losing the KANU primary in November 1997 and won the race for MP for Kisauni the following month.
He ran as the KANU candidate for the Kisauni MP seat in the previous general election, in 1992.
Mwalimu Masoud Mwahima:
A KANU councillor and also KANU chairman for Likoni in 1997. Mwahima later became Mombasa's deputy mayor and then mayor, a position he held as of early 2002.
Kassim Mwamzandi:
MP for Msambweni (KANU) and an assistant minister at the time of the Likoni raid in mid-1997. He hoped to be re-elected, but was defeated for the KANU nomination in late 1997.
Rashid Sajjad:
The KANU campaign coordinator for Coast Province for the 1997 elections. He also served as a nominated (appointed, rather than elected) MP for KANU and an assistant minister in the Moi government. He was also a government assistant minister.
Suleiman Rashid Shakombo:
A KANU candidate for the MP seat for Likoni. After losing the KANU nomination for the seat to another candidate, he defected to Shirikisho Party of Kenya (SPK) in November 1997. Shakombo ran for parliament on the SPK ticket and won in the general election, becoming MP.
#historynow
Editor's Note: This excerpt was first published by the Human Rights Watch.