Parliament Burns

An eruption of violence at the grounds of Kenya's Parliament triggered by a disputed motion has left at least one person dead and has forced many Cabinet Ministers to seek refuge away from the August House.

Amos Kimunya was cornered and hacked to death on the floor of the House by a gang of machete-wielding back-benchers as horrified cabinet colleagues looked on helplessly. The youths were carrying plackards reading "No Grand Opposition Coalition, No Peace."

In an effort to contain the bloodletting, the government yesterday threatened to ban all live broadcasts of House proceedings.

And with more reports emerging of youths roaming the corridors of Parliament, Government spokesman Alfred Mutua downplayed the violence saying it had only affected 3% of Government Ministries. "Parliament is not burning nor at the throes of any division," he said.

As he spoke, a group of the youths were said to have cornered Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.

Leaflets threatening Motions of Censure against certain Ministers have been circulating in the House and to date many Ministries remained closed for fear of looting of their Budget allocations.

And speaking from the relative safety of the KICC, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka appeared to throw more fuel onto the fire when he announced that all MPs were ready and willing to pay tax on their bloated allowances. Mr. Musyoka was still nursing the wounds he suffered during his valiant but ultimately ineffectual attempt to save Mr. Kimunya.

The move to tax the allowances is said to be the real reason why Mr. Kimunya was killed. He was the first to propose the measure and ever since it was rumored that gangs of politicians-for-hire were looking to finish him off. They finally caught up with him at the Grand Regency Hotel, where he was consorting with Libyan bellydancers, frogmarched him to Parliament where they held a show trial in the full glare of TV cameras. Mr. Kimunya was pronounced guilty and sentenced to death after which the youths descended on him.