If Onyonka was telling the truth on Al-Shabaab ties, a probe is in order

Assistant Foreign Affairs minister Richard Onyonka seems to have suffered a bout of Foot-in-Mouth disease.

Last week, the youthful politician appeared on some morning TV chat show where he wowed listeners with his eloquence and grasp of issues.

Some of those who called in even suggested that Mr Onyonka deserved full ministerial position.

Maybe that’s why he let the accolades from TV viewers get to his head, for soon afterwards, he called a press conference to make grave pronouncements on the Kenyan military incursion into Somalia.

Before we go into how Mr Onyonka threw the cat amongst the pigeons with revelatory disclosures on Kenya’s links to Al-Shabaab leadership, a little diversion is in order.

First of all, an assistant minister is not exactly as important as his title may suggest. He has absolutely no authority to make policy or make pronouncements on policy unless he is reading a speech on behalf of is minister who may be engaged elsewhere or is answering questions in Parliament.

Thus when Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula was away Down-Under escorting President Kibaki to the Commonwealth Conference, Mr Onyonka did not assume any ministerial responsibilities that would allow him to field a press conference; and if he did, he should have limited himself to the script.

But then Mr Onyonka is an eloquent and engaging fellow, and if he missed the chance to assert himself during the enforced absence of Minister Wetang’ula and PS Thuita Mwangi over the Tokyo embassy scandal, the war against Al-Shabaab gave him the chance to shine.

And shine Mr Onyonka did, with controversial off-the-cuff remarks once he was through with the routine written statement.

Earlier that morning, CNN, quoting an unnamed Cabinet minister, had reported that Al-Shabaab had contacted the Kenyan Government seeking a truce.

Around midday, the reports had been strongly denied by Government spokesman Alfred Mutua, who told his audience that the spectre of negotiating with an illegal organisation did not arise.

The only negotiation, he asserted in his best Cobra Squad fashion, would be down the business end of a gun.

Reports of contacts with Al-Shabaab were also denied by Dr Mutua’s immediate boss, Public Service head Francis Muthaura, in a rare foray into public debate.

Dr Mutua would also have known that CNN would not betray a confidential source and therefore would not trot out the minister to back its report.

The matter would have ended there until later that evening Mr Onyonka started running off at the mouth.

First, he confirmed that, indeed, the government was in touch with Al-Shabaab leaders, and would be willing to negotiate on condition that they put down their weapons.

That actually was the normal diplomatic humdrum, quoting protocols under which such discussions could take place, and the need to always keep diplomatic channels open even when matters had escalated to violence.

What really outraged, however, was Mr Onyonka’s frank admission that the Kenyan Government had constantly engaged with Al-Shabaab leadership and had deliberately allowed them to set up shop in Nairobi.

To many shocked commentators, it was not merely about keeping open communication channels with a key stakeholder in Somalia, as Mr Onyonka wanted to convey; it was about tolerating and turning a blind eye as a terrorist group turned Nairobi into one of its most critical operational hubs.

It is generally believed that Nairobi forms an important financial, communications and logistics base for Al-Shabaab as it plots and wreaks terror in Somalia and across the region.

Mr Onyonka was confirming that allowing Al-Shabaab to grow roots in Kenya was a government decision.

The heated denials from Internal Security minister George Saitoti and Defence minister Yusuf Haji actually mean nothing because it has been obvious all along that Al-Shabaab could not have turned Kenya into its base without official connivance.

Perhaps an official inquiry is called for.

Meanwhile, since we know Al-Shabaab leaders so well and have kept track of their investments in Kenya, we have the leverage to engage them beyond the battlefield.

mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com