CC image courtesy of DEMOSH, on Flickr.
Jackal News, a Kenyan blog created by former Associated Press correspondent Bogonko Bosire, is at the centre of a police investigation that has placed former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s aide, Eliud Owalo, as a suspect in a plot to destabilise the Kenyan government.
According to theblog, Owalo was allegedly involved in “subversive activities” in the recruiment of idle youth and university students to hold demonstrations and destabilise President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government.
The Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) has referred to the blog as a security and intelligence apparatus and a cheap blow against the former prime minister’s top aide.
According to the criminal investigations department the aide is accused of being behind the March Four Movement that was planning to destabilise the government.
In an article by CORD secretary general Anyang’ Nyong’o, the former health minister says “Owalo is just but first victim, more will follow if we don’t say no to repression”.
“That is not surprising to those of us who have studied the genesis and evolution of totalitarian regimes that derive their legitimacy from regimented support and loyalty where to criticise such a regime is equivalent to treason,” he said.
The blog behind the accusations cites a report from the National Security Intelligence Service NSIS and accuses Owalo alongside Elmi Mohamed and Willian Chelashaw who it says want to start an Arab Spring-type revolution in Kenya.
It is still however, not clear as to whether the police will be basing their investigations on the blog, the purported NSIS leaked report or their own investigations.
