Kenyan Pundit

First, a couple of people responded to my rant on the coverage by Kenyan journalists by making a point that I should have acknowledged - beyond the government clamp down, the journalists are also inhibited by the positions taken by whoever owns the media houses, there are reports of journalists already being fired for taking a different editorial stance than what is dictated “from above.” [An aside: Is an independent radio station carrying mostly news and NPR type interest stories feasible in Kenya?]

I spent the day away from the news and the computer so I’m just now catching up on the terrible events in Nakuru. Johnny Brooks, a missionary who is living and working in Nakuru has some good accounts from the ground. It seem that efforts to end the impasse have not amounted to much. The worry now is that if what is going on in Nakuru is not contained, other urban areas will flare up again. At least the military has been brought in to restore security (one month too late!). The whole country is still waiting for either Raila or Kibaki (or preferably both of them) to be the bigger person and see that this is about way more than a won or lost election. The country is literally being torn apart. Raila, you can’t call for peace on one hand, while implying that it is OK to kill Kikuyus. Kibaki, you can’t let the violence go on in the hopes of gaining mileage against ODM. But I’m just repeating what many have said. I don’t know what else to say.

I had a conversation last night with someone who was traveling to Western Kenya on Dec 29th. It was a harrowing tale and there were tears in his eyes as he was narrating it. I’m only blogging about it because it was so disturbing, yet this is just ONE example of what is happening. And I think I’m just tired of having the conversation running through my mind and I need to off-load…how did we come to this? The guy is a Luhya, and was driving to Western Kenya with his brother and his sister-in-law who is a Kikuyu and their two kids. They encountered at least 13 roadblocks in Eldoret. This was before the presidential results were announced. In his opinion the violence in Rift Valley was definitely pre-planned, echoing an initial report published by Human Rights Watch. At each roadblock they were stopped by armed gangs threatening to kill his sister-in-law and the kids. The kids were crying the whole way. The only way they survived was by bribing at each roadblock. He said that if they didn’t have cash with them they would have been dead. At one point his brother just got out of the car and asked the gang to kill them all…he was tired of bargaining for lives. There was no police presence at all on the day (meanwhile in Kisumu???). They finally made it to Kisa in Western Kenya in one piece. The results were announced the next day. The brother and a cousin who’s also married to a Kikuyu happened to be in town, a mob caught up with them, beat them to a pulp and burnt their car - their crime - being married to outsiders. The mob, their neighbours and friends. They made it through the roadblocks only to almost die in their “home.” This is just a summary of what happened. The guy giving me the story was a die-hard ODM supporter before the election, but in his words - “no presidency is worth what has happened.”

I’m beginning to think that the only way out of this is for the moderates to begin to get a stronger voice and more prominence. One can only hope right? For more info. on initiatives to bring a “third force” to the fore, check out Peace in Kenya.

On a lighter note (in a bizarre kind of way), check out this great picture by Rob.

EDIT: Links have been fixed. The Raila quote I refer to is as follows: Raila asked the Luo to live peacefully with their Kisii neighbours, saying the Abagusii community had overwhelmingly voted for him, but their votes “had been stolen by President Kibaki”. “We should have seven of the 10 parliamentary seats in Kisii, but Kibaki men stole the votes and we only got four. The Kisii are our people. We must not touch them,” he said. Does that mean that it is OK to go after everyone else who didn’t vote for him?

Popularity: 7% [?]

DIARY WRITTEN BY A MUDACHI

Part of the Kenya I want is a Kenya where politicians will
not run rough shod over the law & the will of the people to serve
their own ends. Part of the Kenya I want is a Kenya where my
consititutional RIGHT to elect my representatives in the Government is
not stolen away from me. Part of the Kenya I want is a Kenya where
there are consequences for one’s action and people are held
accountable for what they do.

It was my first time to vote too. In 1997 I was a bit too young, in
2002 I was out of the country so in 2007 I was all bright eyed and
bushy tailed and rearing to go. Without making a political statement,
I’ll say I did not vote for Kibaki. Part of my reason for not doing so
is that I do not feel he has delivered as much as he could have. And
back to the previous paragraph I believe that our leaders NEED TO BE
HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHEN THEY DO NOT DELIVER!!!

My intention as I cast the ballot was that if the next guy didn’t
deliver than he too would have to go. You see it at your place of work
- you’re given your targets. If you do not meet them, with great
aplomb, then it’s not very likely that the company will keep you on
for much longer. We accept this simple truth in our corporate lives,
why are we prepared to settle for less in our country???

I agree with you when you say we should not forget who we are. We are
KENYANS and God has blessed us with much. It is said that to whom much
is given, much shall be expected. Why then do we settle for
mediocrity? I feel that there is one group of people that is to blame
for the current state of things - they are called Politicians. We know
that our politicians (from both sides of the political divide) are
bunch of lying, cheating, back-stabbing, greedy
I’ll-selll-your-mother-for-a-vote b@stards. Here’s the thing though -
And there’s no escaping this one - WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for them!!!!

They lie to us, embezzle our hard earned and hard paid taxes and we
shrug our shoulders and move on. When are we going to wake up and
realize that THEY WORK FOR US!!!! NOT the other way round? Why don’t
we DEMAND more from them? If you had an employee working for you who
operates in the same way that they do, would sit back and let him
continue or would you fire his @ss?

So what am I saying? In my long winded, apologetically verbose way?
It’s simply this.

Yes, the violence needs to stop - we’re only hurting ourselves while
they are protected in their ivory towers (which we are paying for by
the way).

Yes, we need to pool together our resources (money, time, ideas) to
pick our beloved country up from the whole they have dug for us

Yes, we need to continue with our jobs so that the country doesn’t
grind to a halt (and so that we actually have those resources to help
our brethren in need)

BUT

As we do all this,

We need to make a stand for the Kenya that we love.

We need to ‘fight’ for our rights - and by fight I DO NOT mean physically.

We need to bring our politicians in line so that they can learn that
we, the people, are the ones who hold the power and they should work
to serve our interests rather than their own.

We need to understand that this country is a great nation with great
potential AND it will only achieve that potential WHEN we take the
steps to make it do so.

The responsibility is ours!!

Popularity: 3% [?]

DIARY WRITTEN BY RAY N.

I refuse to fight for so-called leaders who clearly care nothing about me, the common mwananchi. As we speak, they’ve already been sworn into parliament, which guarantees that they are on their way to becoming Kenyan millionaires (at our expense). In effect, we the voters, put them in that position, hence giving them the power to walk all over us now and for the next five years. My question is; what are we gonna do about it? What can we do for ourselves?

Many Kenyans have lost their lives or those of their loved ones, their homes and/or properties, their livelihoods, …., and they continue to suffer as they fight battles for leaders who seem indifferent to their plight. Why should innocent Kenyans, who did their civic (and only) duty by voting peacefully now have to suffer in the name of politics? Politics aside, who will pay for the loss of lives and the damage to private property? Is it all going to be labelled ‘collateral damage’ in the quest for justice and democracy? It seems very unfair to me and I see no justice in it whatsoever.

We keep hearing about justice, but justice for whom? Everyone is entitled to this justice, regardless of their political (or other) affiliations. I say that we, the wananchi, must stand up and demand justice for ourselves. For those who have incurred losses (physical or material), who will compensate them? If I lost my livelihood or my home as a result of the post-election violence, should I just take it lying down? Why should I have to become a refugee or a beggar in my own country through no fault of my own? If my property or my business was destroyed by hooligans who took advantage of the so-called ‘peace rallies’, should I just accept that we have to make some sacrifices for democracy? NO! NO! NO! Even football clubs are fined and made to pay for any damage caused by the hooliganism of their fans and this compels the clubs to reign in the destructive actions of their fans. Political parties and their leaders must be held accountable for all the damage and losses caused by their supporters. The government must also be held accountable for the damage and losses caused by the state machinery.

My ideas of peaceful protests against injustice do not include getting killed or maimed by bullets or batons. They would, among other things, involve filing lawsuits against the ‘giants’ who have put us in the situation we are right now. Many thought that giants like ‘Big Tobacco’ companies could never be successfully taken on by ‘common wananchi’. But it happened. Even colonial powers have been successfully taken on by small communities that were oppressed by them. We Kenyans have to stand up for themselves if we’re ever going to break the pattern of impunity by our so-called leaders. A lot has been said about the inefficiency of our judiciary system but they are not the only courts in the world. Serious crimes against humanity have been committed against Kenyans in the recent past and we would not be short of courts that would be willing to justly hear and try such cases. I’m sure there’s a lot that we can do for ourselves but we’ve got to stop being victims and pawns in a game that we’ll always lose in. We’ve got to start thinking of ways to help ourselves because it’s nonsensical to continue dying and suffering for so-called leaders who don’t even know (or care) that we exist.

Popularity: 3% [?]

One thing that has really been bothering me is lately is how the Kenyan media has just rolled over and played dead during this whole crisis. No contextual reporting, no investigative journalism, not even daring to reprint the chronicle of events that has been compiled by Kenyan election observers…or is my perspective very skewed from out here?? Readers in Kenya, please tell me that the coverage is better than what I’m experiencing. I honestly could go for days without reading the Kenyan newspapers online and still be informed about what is going on in Kenya - how is that possible?

[EDIT] I hear the Nairobi Star published the election report by Kenyans for Peace and Justice in full, despite objections from the senior editor (hat tip A).

And the government is wanting the camps for the internally displaced people to be disbanded by Monday…and these people should go back where (I guess they need to ‘move on’)? If they want to really ride on the moral high ground can they stop wasting money on bizarre full page ads and focus on helping their citizens?

I tell you, most days I’m left wondering how this was the best we could do in Kenya as far as politicians.

On to other things…just wanted to post a summary done by Billy Kahora of an interesting TV interview featuring PLO and Wachira Maina. Among the things spelled out:

- Annual projections of tourism over 2008 already predict that about a billion dollars might have already have been lost this year.

- The two argue that the clashes have been essentially classist everywhere except the Rift Valley where identity and access to resources are identical and hence ethnicity predominates.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Ushahidi now has a local number where you can SMS incidents of violence or report on peace efforts. The number is 6007 (normal SMS costs apply).

Please help us publicize this number locally - it’s part of our effort to make sure that we are reaching as many people as possible on the ground.

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Popularity: 2% [?]