MOMBASA, September 1 – Coast politicians sponsored youth to cause mayhem in the region during the post election violence, the Commission of Inquiry into the Post Election Violence (CIPEV) heard Monday.
Coast Provincial Commissioner Ernest Munyi told CIPEV that the politicians incited the youth to the violence and gave them drugs and alcohol after the Presidential results were announced at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi on December 30, 2007.
Munyi said that initial investigations revealed the violence was ethnically driven and targeted some communities living in the region.
He said that leaflets was circulated asking the communities to vacate the district.
The PC also reported that utterances from politicians and the slogan ‘No Raila No Peace’ had contributed to the aggression.
Munyi, who was the first to testify before the Commission that started its hearing proceedings at the Mombasa Municipal Council hall, however said that the violence was witnessed in a few political hotspots within the province and not the entire region.
The PC further told the commission that live broadcasting by both the local and international media ignited Kenyans to cause more mayhem.
The PC nevertheless told the commission that since the campaign period, the provincial administration had expected violence to break out irrespective of who won the election.
Munyi revealed that the National Security Intelligence Service had already informed them that chaos was likely to erupt after the announcement of the poll results.
He told the Commission that normalcy returned to the province after local leaders and FM stations joined hands to preach peace.
“The Provincial Administration played a major role in encouraging peace in the hot spots during the post election violence period,” he said.
Munyi singled out land as a thorny issue in the region, since majority of coast people have lived as squatters for many years.
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