Tuju set for Kisumu return after stoning incident

Presidential aspirant Raphael Tuju is expected to tour Kisumu on the weekend, days after his entourage was stoned in the lakeside city.

Mr Tuju said Wednesday he squarely blames Prime Minister Raila Odinga for the incident as the people involved sung “Agwambo and ODM slogans.”

Mr Odinga is referred as Agwambo by his staunch supporters. Agwambo means something out of the ordinary in Dholuo.

The former Rarieda MP who was one of President Kibaki’s advisors said since Mr Odinga is the ODM party leader “the buck stops with him.”

“ODM is a party with a large following. They are partners in the current coalition government. The Prime Minister’s party instead of helping with investigations following an incident of violence is busy spinning propaganda,” Mr Tuju told journalists at his campaign offices in Lavington, Nairobi.

Mr Odinga has, however, condemned the violence and advocated political tolerance.

On Tuesday, ODM secretary general Anyang Nyong’o and Kisumu Town East MP Shakeel Shabbir said the event was stage managed to heighten political temperatures in the country.

The two said after an ODM parliamentary group meeting that the party’s investigations showed none of the people caught on camera throwing stones came from the area.

But Mr Tuju said: “I like to tell the media and this country that I was not surprised (by ODM statement). It is part of communist and Hitler style propaganda to release such outrageous statements that people are so shocked they cannot even respond.”

“Throwing stones is primitive behaviour. Propaganda to defend stone throwing is even more primitive. Kenyans can live with lies and propaganda associated with opinion polls. But propaganda should not be used to abet violence in the political process,” Mr Tuju said.

Mr Tuju said Mr Odinga should have sought factual information from relevant state agencies on stone throwing before ODM released the statement terming it propaganda.

“They should not announce on one day that they condemn violence and following day make statements that wink at the youth who perpetrated the violence,” Mr Tuju said.

Denying that the disruption of his tour was stage managed, Mr Tuju said: “I have no record of stone throwing in my constituency.”

He regretted that unemployed youths were being misused to cause violence after being paid peanuts.

Mr Tuju said he will return to Kisumu this weekend and also attend a church service “as no one can chase me from my home area.”

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission, some politicians and religious leaders have condemned the incident and called on Kenyans to learn to accommodate divergent views.

Last Friday, the youth who stoned Mr Tuju’s entourage said he had not apologised over the violence that erupted in Kisumu in 2005 when he led the banana team that was campaigning for the proposed constitution to the town. A number of people died as a result of the mayhem.