Response to Daily Nation web and its culprits Lucas Barasa, Mohamud Mohamed and Hassan Aden Osman AKA Hassan Cereal

We are disappointed and shocked to find out the report made by the Daily Nation website written by Lucas Barasa. Mr. Barasa and two MPs who took it upon themselves to create a fantastically scary scenario of a nonexistent Liberation Army that is ready to take over parts of Isiolo, Wajir and Mandera and Marsabit Counties in North Eastern Province of Kenya. He invented a country called Garre Land Republic. He concocted this story out of the misery of clan fighting in Moyale that does not even involve the Garre or the Degodia clan. Somehow the news report is distorted to mesmerize the security apparatus into investigating this mythical Garre liberation front. So, Mr. Lucas Barasa invited two Parliamentarians, Mr. Mohamed who is the Mandera West MP and nominated Nakuru MP Mr. Hassan Aden Osman, also known as Hassan Cereal who is the UDF chairperson as witnesses that can substantiate the existence of “Gaare Land Republic”.  He questioned them and they claimed to have knowledge of a secessionist group called the Gaare Land Republic. Mr. Mohamed not only testified to the existence of said group, but also labeled garreonline.com, an internet news website based in America, as what has been provoking disputes in Northern Kenya. 

Also Mr. Hassan Aden Osman, AKA Hassan Cereal, who is not representing Mandera County, and sympathizer of Alshabab went further and accused Garre Online of being a hate mongering website and bragged about already submitting a written request to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission to investigate. However, this is nothing more than baseless accusations while pretending to represent the most marginalized people of Mandera County and the Garre clan. The writer of Garre Online is an ardent supporter of Jubilee government and has never espoused ideas that undermine the government’s sovereignty.  Both of the above Mentioned two MPs are spineless cowards who are afraid of their shadows. Protecting and defending the rights of their people will not make them enemy of the government and it is their duty to defend the Garre people’s interests.  They should be ashamed of themselves.

The writer of Garre Online has every right to write things about the welfare of Garre people, without impinging on the Kenya Sovereignty.  The Map so eloquently referred to by the corrupt Barasa is Garre ancestral and pastoral land. It does not represent the Gaare Land republic, a fictitious “boogie man” by the Degodia paid agent Mr. Barasa.

Degodia have been paying reporters such as Barasa of Daily Nation and Ombati of Standard to distort issues related to peace in Northern Kenya.  These reporters are not serving the interests of Kenya and peace by distorting truth.  The distortions of truth at the hands of paid reporters have already caused death and disharmony in Mandera County. Now they are running amok reporting deaths in Moyale. Their evil job has brought about the demolition of our homes, confiscations of Garre land in Mandera by Degodia, the rape of our women, and complete strangulation of our economy.

We are asking both Standard and Daily Nation to enforce an honest self-examination.  The parasitic reporters who distort the truth should be contained since their brands have become associated with propaganda and the conflict caused by it.  Even those of us who like to read these newspapers are not attracted to the irresponsible distortion of news that brings calamity and death. False reports like that make us see the papers as suppliers of bad news, false allegations, innuendo, and the distortion of facts. I hope that the Degodia leaders did not pay Barasa and Ombati much money for these laughable findings of the illusionary Gaare Republic. It is mind boggling why a respectable newspaper such as Daily Nation does not check the reports received from the field for at least some semblance of factuality. The allegation that Garre Online is a mouth piece of Gaare Land Republic by Mr. Lucas Barasa, Hassan Aden Osman, and Mohamud Mohamed  could not be further from the truth. This fantasy land does not exist and it has no flag. His intention was to mislead by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission, or otherwise outright lying. 

Mr. Barasa made himself open for criticism by reporting and creating a phony nation that is meant to turn the attention away from the warring clan and place the ire of the government on the Garre. His distortion of the truth and his enmity of the Garre will not change a thing in Garre relations with the Kenya Government. The Garre people are one hundred percent members of the Jubilee ruling party. Mr. Barasa needs to know the Garre already have a flag and it is the same Kenya flag.

Garre Online has been overwhelmed by curious people and thanks to Mr. Barasa’s creative lie, everyone wanted to see the sourced of Northern Peoples death.  They were surprise to find that this website is no different from any news oriented website. It provides news articles and cultural videos relating to the Garre people anywhere, whether it is Kenya, Ethiopia or Somalia. So, the Daily Nation has damaged its reputation and it has become an untrustworthy reporting institution thanks to Mr. Barasa’s fiction.  Shame on you Mr. Barasa.

By the members of the Garre community of North America

August 31, 2013