Kenya is now totally absorbed in a row that would easily pass the test for a new best selling Robert Ludlum novel. It’s about two alledged mercenaries from Armenia who are on Kenyan soil. It’s the brothers Artur Sargysian and Artur Margaryan, who claim to be both Dubai based business man investing in Kenya. It started two weeks ago with the raids on the studio and the printing press of the Standard Group in Nairobi [reported on this blog]. Newspapers that day were burned, and the television station KTN was switched off for eleven hours. ‘If you rattle a snake, you prepare to be bitten,’ reacted a furious minister Michuki from Internal Security. He said that the Standard Group was engaging in acts that would bring the nation in danger. The raid was done by the notorious Kanga Squad from the Kenyan police, a special unit used for arrests of extremely dangerous suspects. The officers were hooded with black masks, and some people at the raid said they saw white faces underneath. ‘We don’t have white police men in Kenya,’ stressed opposition leader Raila Odinga from the Orange Democratic Movement, and there the seeds for the story of white mercenaries in Kenya were sown.
Odinga even gave copies of two alledged mercenaries to the press, and then suddenly last Monday on Jomo Kenyatta International Airport the two guys from Armenia show up in the highly exclusive VIP room, and give a press conference, telling they are not mercenaries but business man from Dubai. They also added they borrowed 108 million Kenya Shilling to mister Odinga, and were asked to donate 3 billion Shillings to support a vote of no-confidence against president Kibaki. Still with me? The brothers Artur are owners of the company Brotherlink Inc., registered in Dubai and Kenya. Artur & Artur seem to be modelled after the wildest imaginations of Mario di Puzo, the writer of the Godfather trilogy. The brothers are dressed in oversized Versaces, wearing golden bracelets everywhere you can think of, topped with a crucifix, watches on both wrists. Margaryan and Sargysian said they came on a Kenya Airways flight from Dubai, but the newspapers found out they were not on the manifest of that particular flight. Others said they came on a private flight, but after all it seems they were just in Kenya, and driven in from a posh villa in the upper class Runda estate in Nairobi in a government vehicle.
The story goes on. Margaryan is still in Kenya, and was almost lynched yesterday by an angry mob. It shows up that the daughter of a pro-government activist is shareholder in the company of Artur & Artur. How, by the way, can two brothers have the same name? The only person who seems to be silent among the 31 million Kenyans is president Kibaki. To be continued…
Pictures: The Standard, Kenya