MAY 1, 2023.

STATEMENT ON SHAKAHOLA MASSACRE AND PROTEST RALLIES:

We called you to make a brief statement on two issues: first, the Shakahola cult massacre and secondly the protest rallies planned for tomorrow.

Yesterday, Hon. William Ruto announced plans to set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to probe the Shakahola cult deaths. The regime also declared war on our protest activities planned for tomorrow.

Ruto’s announcement on Shakahola underscores part of the problem we are facing as a country with the Kenya Kwanza regime.

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Ruto does not seem to know that the concept of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry appointment by a President is unconstitutional in Kenya since 2010.

Under the 2010 Constitution and its entrenchment of Separation of Powers, the exercise of judicial power is only as provided by Article 1 and Chapter 10 which provide as follows:

1. The people have delegated their sovereignty of judicial power to only the Judiciary and Independent tribunals established under the Constitution.

2. Only Parliament can establish a subordinate court or an independent tribunal through an Act of Parliament.

3. Only Parliament can determine the jurisdiction and functions of a court or independent tribunal.

4. It is also now the law as determined by our courts that only the Judicial Service Commission can determine who would be employed to serve in such a tribunal.

5. Indeed, Section 13 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act is very clear that an inquiry shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding. This makes it an absolute preserve of the Judiciary under our Constitution. A president no longer has power to make any decision on the constitution of a court or an independent tribunal nor who sits in judgment in such court or independent tribunal. Yet again, Ruto is trying to undermine and overthrow the constitution.

We wish to state as follows:

1. In the matter of Shakahola and the growth of cult activities in the nation, Mr. Ruto is as much a suspect as is all the cult pastors from Shakahola and beyond. He owes the people of Kenya an explanation before he purports to be trying to solve the problem.

2. The so-called pastors are the people who set up the so-called sanctuary at Ruto’s former official residence in Karen as the deputy president. They did not stop there. These so-called pastors proceeded to deliver prophesies and promise miracles about how Ruto would perform as president.

3. These cultic pastors were among the people who supposedly sanctified State House when Ruto arrived there, pretending to be holier than every other Kenyan. They proceeded to prophesy how great his regime would be.

4. These so-called pastors have organized mega prayer rallies, attended by so called prayer warriors that include Mr. Ruto, Mr. Rigathi Gachagua and their spouses, supposedly to sanctify the land. They ended up defiling the land.

5. These so-called pastors aided the introduction of mandatory fasting that started in 2015 at the DP’s residence in Karen and which have been carried over to State House where everyone is compelled to fast every Wednesday regardless of their faith, effectively making State House essentially a Shakahola annex.

6. Sometime in May 2022, Mr. Ruto’s family claimed to have prayed for impure borehole water at their Karen residence and turned it clean when a purification machine had failed. We see no difference between this claim and the outrageous ones made by cult pastors like performing fake miracles and extorting money from believers with calls like 'Tuma Mbegu Ya 310' or fast until you meet Christ.

7. The cult leaders are behind the decision by Ruto to establish a Faith Diplomacy office where he has gone ahead to provide a list of 100 members to be recruited into Public Service Commission as intercessors supposedly to pray for counties and the government. Nobody knows the identity, the qualifications of the so-called intercessors, how they were identified and where they fit in a government where religion and state are separate entities.

8. Ruto is the leader of the cult movement disguised as Christianity in Kenya. Ruto, Gachagua and their families must tell Kenyans when and how they knew these cult leaders and what they knew about them.

9. Ruto and Gachagua must tell Kenyans how much these so-called pastors contributed to their 2022 campaign, how many times have the so-called pastors accessed State House since the start of this regime.

10. As we stated as the start, Ruto must know he has no powers to appoint a Judicial Commission of Inquiry, so that option is out.

11. We are all aware that judicial commissions of inquiry have been the tool of choice whenever the government has something to hide, like we believe Ruto does now.

12. Parliament must swing into action, come up with a select committee, and get to the roots of the cultic activities in the country and the abuse of religion for political gain.

13. Parliament must help us establish whether the deaths at Shakahola were acts of rogue pastors, human sacrifices or body organ trade and who the beneficiaries were.

14. The DCI may have swung into action late, but since they did, they have been doing a great job in Shakahola. They should be allowed to do their job without interference.

15. The current blanket restrictions placed on independent observers, including the media and civil society must be lifted.

16. The State must give the media full access to the scene of crime and various aspects of the investigation.

17. Going forward, Ruto must commit to draw a clear line between religion and state in this country. He has deliberately merged the two to enable his political survival and as cover up for his corruption.

18. On Shakahola, Ruto is as guilty as those he is seeking to investigate. The blood of those children who starved to death crying for a spoon of water is in Ruto's hands.

RAILA ODINGA