Orders came from ‘above’, witnesses tell TJRC
Senior officials at the time of the 1984 Wagalla massacre have hinted that the government was aware of the operation that led to the death of 57 members of the Degodia community at an airstrip.
While testifying before the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) last week, former provincial commissioner Joseph Kaguthi described the structure of the provincial administration to stress that blame should not be put squarely on the then Wajir DC Manasseh Tiema for ordering the operation.
“The government acted as a team and whatever happened at the districts was directed through a chain of command originating from the Office of the President and the ministry of Internal Security, and the DC’s action was recognised,” said Mr Kaguthi.
His statement was supported by the then North Eastern deputy provincial commissioner Alexander Njue who said that the District Security Committee was an authority in itself and whatever decision it reached and executed was recognised by the government.
It emerged that the operation to round up and detain males from the Degodia ethnic community was done secretly without involving security and intelligence officers stationed at North Eastern Province.
Mr Paul King’ori, who was at the time the Provincial Criminal Investigation Officer, told the truth commission that the operation was sanctioned from the headquarters.
Even after the people had been massacred at Wagalla airstrip, Mr King’ori said he was barred from conducting investigations into the incident.
Mr Kaguthi confirmed that the Kenya Intelligence Committee (KIC) trip to North Eastern was planned and sanctioned by the then deputy security secretary in the Office of the President.
The team held a meeting with the Wajir District Security Committee a day before the operation.
Brigadier (rtd) Philip Chebet who was an army major at Garissa in 1984 said he could not explain why the security team travelled directly to Wajir instead of passing though Garissa, which was the provincial headquarters.
According to Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat’s testimony, the objective of the trip was to give the members of the Kenya Intelligence Committee opportunity to acquaint themselves with the problems faced by civil servants and assess development projects.
However, some witnesses discounted this as a cover-up, stating the major objective was to discuss security situation in the province.
Mr Kaguthi recounted that he could not remember any development project the team visited in Wajir apart from the meeting at the DC’s office in which security dominated the talk.
Brigadier Chebet said he attended all the briefings by the district security teams and all featured security situations in their areas.
“In the three days the team was in North Eastern, they only visited three projects – a borehole which had not been completed, a police housing unit and a perimeter wall around the police line,” said Brig Chebet.
Mr Kaguthi confirmed attending a dinner party hosted by the provincial commissioner on the night of the killings but said he was barred from attending an intelligence meeting because he was not a member of the security team.
Ambassador Kiplagat admitted signing a visitor’s book at the Wajir district commissioner’s office after repeatedly denying ever attending a meeting in Wajir to discuss the escalating security problems in the region.
Former Finance Minister David Mwiraria maintained that a visit by the Kenya Intelligence Committee to Wajir was purely to assess development projects.
But on a closer scrutiny, he admitted that the trip was sanctioned to resolve the Shifta movement in North Eastern Province.
Mr Mwiraria, who was at the time of the Wagalla massacre the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, told the commission that he earlier denied being in the delegation that went to Wajir on the eve of the fateful day for fear of victimisation.
“In the context in which we were operating in, it was risky to speak out your mind. One could be detained or get killed for telling what happened,” said Mr Mwiraria and went on to blame the regime of former President Moi of making it difficult for people to talk about the Wagalla massacre.
Brigadier Chebet irked the commissioners when he first denied that there was no movement of soldiers on the day the killings took place but later admitted releasing army vehicles to reinforce the operation at Wagalla airstrip.
Mr Kiplagat and Mr Mwiraria’s inability to remember what happened during their trip to Wajir drew criticism from the commissioners, with some stating it was a deliberate attempt to conceal information.
Commissioner Berhanu Dinka said it was illogical for someone who was on the ground and visited the area a day before the massacre to say he cannot remember what happened.
