National Assembly Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi claims that what is going on in Nyanza appears to be state-sanctioned genocide in Kisumu, Migori and Homa Bay.
Wandayi charged that in the three counties, people are being pulled out of their houses and shot or clobbered to death by police officers.
“The genocide-like operation underway in Luoland is not accidental. It is coordinated and premeditated. It is being coordinated by political and government leaders both from the community and outside. It is unfortunate and indeed depressing that our own sons and daughters in government are working with outsiders to allow the extermination of the Luo,” Wandayi said in a statement on Sunday, July 23, 2023.
He went on: “Under the watch of our own sons and daughters in high positions in government and those who claim to be working with the government, our people are butchered. What is being done to our people here, under the watch and supervision of our own sons is only similar to what was done to the Jews in Europe by Hitler.”
While calling on the President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza regime to realize that the way to sustainable peace, stability and justice in Kenya is respect for the rule of law and human rights, Wandayi charged that ever in the history of the country have the Luos gone through the kind of systematic genocide-like treatment.
“What is going on now is way beyond what happened in 1969 or the tribal clashes of 1991/1992. Neither Jomo Kenyatta nor Daniel arap Moi subjected us to what Ruto is subjecting us to. I assure our people to take heart. God never sleeps. Like the Jews of Europe who survived the genocide and took over the world, the Luo will not only survive. We will also thrive,” Wandayi said.
Wandayi noted that the deployment of the police officers in Nyanza depicts a determination by the state to perpetuate ethnic cleansing, adding that there is no justification whatsoever for the use of live bullets against unarmed civilians.
“Police being deployed in Nyanza and everywhere else must at all times act in accordance with the Constitution and the law. Right now, they are acting against both the law and the Constitution. There can be no justification whatsoever for police to pull people out of their homes and shoot or clobber and kill them as police are doing in Nyanza.”
While calling for impartial, effective and expeditious investigations on all cases of crime and police brutality and/or excessive use of force, Wandayi further charged that peaceful assembly as guaranteed by the Constitution should be protected and facilitated.
“We call on the government to demobilize and disband all illegal armed groups and militias who are killing our people in Nyanza. The government has a duty to ensure that the freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are upheld,” he said.
He went on: “We expect security forces to carry out their duties and responsibilities with complete impartiality and without regard to ethnicity, political persuasion, or other partisan consideration. In Nyanza, the police are partisan and they are pursuing an ethnic agenda. It must stop.”
Wandayi noted that given what the people have gone through, he called on the local community, religious, political, business and civil society leaders to speak loudly and openly about the brutality in Nyanza.
“We also call on them to intervene materially and in kind to help those in need and distress. As members of Parliament, we are also currently putting together some resources to be channelled to our people. We are together in this. Our people must not be denied these just because we are Luos. Police have a duty to enforce law and order to protect life and property.”
Wandayi further called on their people to refuse to be blackmailed or intimidated, charging that they are here by right and will fight for their space and their rights.
