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Marsgroup Kenya should be showing live clips every 15 minutes. Site is a bit slow so be patient.
Man, I wish I could be liveblogging this.
Live broadcasting of Parliament should be a permanent thing. Trying to get MPs to vote that in is another matter altogether. A
From a skype chat with someone who is watching and who is describing the scene as Disneyland…
– they are currently debating what a secret ballot is – one side wants voting to be done in the open (guess who?) and the other side is insisting on a secret ballot (ODM wants to track down the guys who were bought…hehehe…and we wonder who the problem with Kenya is when ODM can’t even count on its own MPs….washindwe wote!).
EDIT: ODM didn’t take up the govt seats as they had threatened to do, Raila is sitting where Uhuru used to sit – a sign perhaps that ODM is catching on to the fact that they need to engage in some realpolitik and stop relying solely on the mass action card (but then again I’m a perennial optimist about Kenya).
EDIT 2: Round 1 voting – Marende (ODM 104); Kaparo (PNU 99), Ndile (2), Njoki Ndungu (0) Spoilt (2) [uum, how they hell are there spoilt votes, are these “bought guys” who are wavering?…in any event even if they swing to PNU, looks like ODM has won the Speaker seat if their discipline holds up]
EDIT 3: Round 2 of voting – Marende (ODM 104); Kaparo (PNU 102), Ndile (0), Kihoro (1) – ODM seems to be holding. For those who are asking, not sure whether a new Speaker will conduct things any differently from Kaparo as far as professionalism, but expect ODM to shut down government business or make it difficult (at least for as long as they can prevent individuals from jumping ship). First order of business I gather is for the new speaker to refuse to swear in MPs.
EDIT 4: Marende (ODM) wins it – 105 to Kaparo (PNU) 101. ODM also win deputy speaker – Farah Maalim. Let the games begin. Now that’s done, can I ask how Marende became the ODM guy, he was very unpopular on Mzalendo, though he made it back on the ODM wave?
By MARIPOSA NEGRA
I left Kenya when i was 24 years, 10 month and some days old. With me were two suitcases stuffed with books and unsuitable clothing for the upcoming winter and in the midst of the hot, tuesday afternoon, my heart was burdened by the choice I feel I had to take.
I was tired of living unnoticed.
I was afraid of my safety.
And most of I was tired of pretending I was anything that who I really was.
I am a lesbian.
A queer.
A shoga.
A dyke.
An ‘ abboration’ of nature.
Watching Kenya unravel causes me untold anguish. I am fatigued by the worry and anxiety I have shed tears for my friends, my family and the nation as a whole.
Yet, in the stillness of my heart, I am not surprised. I am not at all surprised that underneath the veil of calmness lies intolerance. We are as a nation and as individuals are not sentries of peace, we would like to believe that we have no strong affiliations to the groups that we belong to.However, I ask, take a moment to ask, who do you consider your friends, your crew, are they born from the same background, do they look like you, what are their professional and personal affiliations, are they in synch with yours?
I knew from an earlier age that I was different. Even though I ‘ belonged’ to a majority, I was still reeling from the overt forms of sexism, patriachy and homophobia. What I saw around me was a need for group consensus and I knew that for me to thrive fully, I would either deny being an authentic human being, or negate the truths of my experience. And so I did the former and I left and now I am left with images of the Kenya of my youth, nursing an untold nostalgia while basking in the sea of otherness.
For status quo to remain in place, there needs to be a level of group chaos. Kenya and indeed the world has tithered on this premise. Now that the pandora box has been opened and the shadow of our collective experiences has been unvieled, what choices do we have?
It is not the time to sweep this experience and return to ‘ normal.’ What is normal? Is it to pretend that this didnt happen? Is normal to congregate amongst ourselves, our ‘ tribes’ our safe havens and drink into the well of our tribes and in stupour like mentality point fingers at others.
We have an opportunity as individuals in our enclaves of influence to become more mindful and compassionate to ourselves and others. This is an opportunity to pour balms of forgivness onto the wounds of intolerance. We have a unique experience to thrive from this experence and be better human beings or engage in viscious cycles of hate.
We are after all, each other.
By BILLY OWINO
This will be long so brace yourself! As I write this, I have tears welling in my eyes once more. I thought I was through with that until I reported back to the office today after a 3 weeks break. I live and work in Khartoum, Sudan and every single person I have met so far in the office today is asking me РWhat Happened??. The Sudanese who have had civil war for over 2 decades have always looked up fondly to Kenya as a haven of peace in Africa. How could a country that helped them end their civil war degenerate into a near ̤ivil war in just a few days?
What broke my heart was when one of my clients who is a respected figure in the society walked into my office, embraced me and broke into a long emotional prayer for Kenya to regain it’s “rightful place in Africa” and end the babaric killings! How could things go so wrong for Kenya? Did you know that Sudanese have even named their children and one city “Naivasha”after the peace accord that was signed there?
I used to hold my head high here due to the respect they gave Kenyans. Within weeks now we have to hold our heads down in shame trying to explain why we are killing each other viciously??? All that because we have greedy leaders willing to cling on to or gain power at all costs while sacrificing Kenya at the altar of Greed and Deceit? Why dear Lord I ask? Why? What did we do to deserve this?
I’m a Luo who was born and brought up in Kericho (Kalenjin land), schooled in Kikuyuland, lived and worked in many regions of Kenya and married a wife who has Kamba, Meru and Somali blood. WHY SHOULD I SUDDENLY BE MADE SO AWARE OF MY TRIBE? I shudder when I try to think of how long it will take to heal the wounds of this past week’s events. What will I tell my children when they grow up? That once upon a time we all used to live peacefully as one nation until one day the goverment tried to steal the elections and we started killing each other based on what tribe we are from! Would they understand that?
On the political front our leaders should get their act together. Kenyans should demand that! It was such a shameful act and gross notoriety for the current government to steal the elections blatantly in broad daylight. The ECK and especially Kivuitu should bear the brunt for helping this government to abet such a henious crime against Kenyans. The blood of all killed in the aftermath will haunt him day and night! The reality however is this: The moment Kibaki and his cabal of friends decided to rig the elections, that was the time we should have realised that he has become totally numb and his conscience was long DEAD! (it was in a coma before that). Therefore Raila and the ODM team as well as all those calling for demos, mass rallies, protests etc to put pressure on him are just wasting their time! That won’t move them as they are in a comatose stage conscientiously and in a state of hypnosis to greed and power.
A negotiated end to the current stalemate should be given high priority and Raila and Kibaki brought face-to-face. However I believe the purpose should be to put together an interim government that would prepare for fresh presidential elections in 3-6 months. A GNU just wont work and Kenyans and the international stake holders should just stop dreaming. The only reason Kibaki announced that he is ready to form a GNU is this – and I must say it was a very clever ploy: Announce that he wants to form a GNU and catch the ears of the greedy and selfish elements in ODM who do not appreciate the fundamentals of the cause…play on their desire to want to be ministers….eventually creating division and cracks in ODM!
What should be next if option if an interim government doesn’t see the light of day? I feel that instead of ODM resorting to protest and other antagonistic measures they should instead take up their place in the opposition in parliament. Now before ODMers skin me alive let me explain myself:
1. If ODM believes they have the interest of Kenyans at heart then they can help constitutionally to seal all loopholes that were used by the Kibaki regime to rig the elections.
2. They will be best placed to do the above because an existing regime will not bother to seal loopholes that they can use to this to their benefit whenever needed e.g. in 2012.
This will be a long-term plan with long-term benefits for the country as it will be a fallacy to even try after 3 months to run the elections again under the same constitutional and institutional status. Some of the areas that ODM can use their might (albeit slim) in the parliament to help make things right are:
1. Pass the IPPG “rules” and entrench them in the constitution to strengthen the institutions that have a direct bearing on the running of elections i.e. ECK, Judiciary etc to make them TRULY independent and well respresentative. This will include passing bills that abolish the powers of the president to directly nominate Comissioners and pass this on to an independent body subject to ratification by the parliament (Chapter III Sec 41 of the constitution)
2. Make laws under the Electoral Commision act that will ensure the electoral votes are declared at polling stations and the final votes for each constituency declared publicly and copies given to the party agents PLUS accredited observers and the media. Failure to do so by any Returning Officer would be punishable by law.
3. Pass bills allocating funds from the treasury to develop the ICT infrastructure of the ECK (instead of paying shady contractors!) This will avoid cases of lame excuses like “The Returning Officers have switched off their phones’!! OMG Kivuitu! In this day and age when CNN, BBC et al can report ‘LIVE’ from Burnt Forest to Atlanta???
4. Pass laws barring the ECK Chairman from announcing Presidential poll results as long as one contesting party has raised in writing to the commission (not courts!) credible issues that will put doubt to the announcement of results that will be seen to be free and fair.
5. Pass appropriate laws giving a reasonable timeline to conclusion of election petitions (6 months?)
6. Pass laws preventing legislators jumping from one party to another and keeping their seats as long as they have not written to the Speaker to declare this. The party leader should be given the powers in law to declare in writing to the Speaker that a legislator in his party has defected as long as he can prove this e.g. by associations, pronouncements, joining the cabinet without the Party Leaders approval etc. He will then be required to seek re-election afresh!
This will prevent the president poaching on ODM legislators to build a majority in parliament or frustrate passing of bills that are of constitutional nature.
All these may take long but for the sake of the country’s peace and survival it might be a sacrifice worth taking for the benefit of our beloved Kenya. It’s time for all the elected leaders that Kenyans are looking up to to stand up and be counted. I’m tired of seeing the heart-rending scenes coming out of Kenya! Who will explain to those poor kids why they are refugees sleeping in the cold in their own country? How will we teach the young orphans to trust humanity and love one another when they saw their parents brutally murdered or even burnt alive. You just need to watch the movie Hannibal Rising and the thought of what we have done to these children will send a cold chill up your spine!
While we are imploring our fellow citizens to stop the killings, the government should also immediately stop the shoot-to-kill order to the police! Does Michuki still think that he is hunting down Mau Maus so as to be rewarded by colonialists? How archaic! And to think the country is in their hands! These leaders (you know them) belong to the Museums of Infamity as fossils!!!
I cry for my country….don’t take us down this treacherous path. I’m a Kenyan and will forever be. Don’t judge me by my tribe, no, never!
As for now I’ll just keep on having to repeat myself trying to answer the question on everyone’s lips…….What Happened to our role model Kenya?
PS: On a lighter note – One of the Sales Managers (a Sudanese) in my company was talking to a team member who had reported his sales achievement figures wrongly. He told him “not to do a Kibaki on him”and get his fugures right! Kibaki has made us the laughing stock of the world because he is soo incompetent he cannot even rig an election “quietly”!
By Allan Kirui
I have been reading your blog and other and I must admit, like many others, it is a much better source of information than the actual news pages! Thank you!!
Personally, I was too young (or perhaps also too naïve) in the Moi era to know whether he rigged himself in, or won unfairly. People tell me about it and I have no doubt it happened, however, all I remember is that things were still relatively peaceful after elections and life still continued. The one time I remember elections mattering was after the first multi-party elections. When that happened, the effect at a school level, from that point on (sadly), a child’s ethnicity was something that was noticed more. Not necessarily in a negative way, but just that it was now more talked about. Before that we were all Kenyan pupils.
Today, this seems to be a repeat of that time and suddenly the elections have brought up a person’s ethnic heritage to the surface again. I wonder when we will get to the stage where we vote in a leader and not fall back to ethnic divisions when we feel an injustice is committed. I thought we were there up until the last point. I was so hopeful and whichever candidate won, I was happy that at last we had gotten to a position that people’s voices had been heard and taken into account. I was happy for that man/woman in the village who had gotten out early in the morning to try to make a difference in the country.
The main thing I hear now from people is that they are genuinely hurting at the election fiasco (separate from the aftermath). I think the main difference with past elections (correct me if I am wrong) is that this was a lot more transparent. I followed it on the nation web, with the province by province results, the news was also following it closely… so people had HOPE. When the irregularities happened, it was so obvious and open to people that something was going on.
On top of that, for the people (those who still felt that perhaps it was plausible) to be denied the chance/privilege to take part in the swearing in of our president; either by actually turning up at the stadium, or watching on TV, singing our national anthem etc. To be denied this just further demonstrated the lack of respect that those in power have for the people. It just shows that they don’t have the country’s best interest in their hearts and minds. If they did, they would have realised that a swearing in ceremony is more powerful in unifying people than a blanket media ban and statements from a gov’t spokesman asking for calm.
I don’t know if I speak for my generation, but for me, Kibaki (and his advisors) will remain in my mind as the first president to openly and blatantly rig an election; and also the first to deny me the chance to witness his swearing in.
That said, I still have a lot of hope for our country and our people. We will survive.
PS. As I am writing this, I wonder if anyone involved in the rigging will read it at some point. If they do, will it matter to them? I guess that is the main outcome of this whole saga… I no longer think that the gov’t listens to me. That is the unsaid feeling that remains, even when life returns back to normal and tempers cool.
Written by Ben Kiilu (aka BigBen)
Kibaki, the man who many believe is illegally in office as the president of Kenya has offered to form a government of national unity. Not a surprising turn of events. Many will urgue; yes, there goes a true leader, trying to find a solution to save our motherland. While others will say there goes another tactic from the Moi school of though, a ploy to cling on to power.
However, from whatever angle you look at this whole election fiasco, one thing is clear. Mr. Kibaki is out of touch with reality. The offer to form a government of national unity is just one more proof.
Recent history has shown that Kenyan political parties and their leaders have a very poor record of coalition. The NARC farce (The National Rainbow Coalition) is just but one prime example.
Government of National Unity: The Ruling Team
A government of national unity is in effect a team, comprising members of different parties, formed to provide leadership to a country. In this case, it will be a team comprising of ODM, PNU and other parties.
Substantiated research in human behavior and team dynamics has shown that, for a team to function effectively or even to function, it members must:
1. have shared values
2. be linked together by a common purpose or agreed core objective
3. have absolute confidence in each other
4. have absolute trust in each other
5. have mutual respect for each other and loyalty to the team
6. have willingness to address differences and resolve problems rather than burying them
7. Have fun
A Raila Kibaki Team?
I must wake up from this dream, I keep on thinking. A government of national unity? Aka Kibaki – Raila team?
I am very much struggling to grasp this concept. These two have tried to work together in the past. Have they succeeded?
Dissent from within
Didn’t Kibaki not lie to Raila when he failed to appoint him as the Prime Minister on assuming office as agreed in the memorandum of understanding signed prior to 2002 elections?
Didn’t the perceived betrayal lead to an open rebellion and a split within the cabinet, which culminated in disagreements in 2005 over a proposed new constitution for the country with Kibaki and Raila falling out spectacularly?
How are we expected to believe that Kibaki and Raila can form an effective team?
Let us look at the foundations that underpin team performance in the context of Kibaki-Raila marriage:
1. Do you see Raila and Kibaki having shared values? Kibaki seems to have been molded from the Moi school of Values i.e. stick to power by all means possible even if it means shafting your team mates. On the contrary, Raila is of the ‘democracy by all means possible, every price to be paid for the sake of democracy, no democracy no surrender’ school. How far apart does it get? Do you see these two ever having shared values?
2. Common Purpose – ODM and PNU do have purposes, but not common purpose. They instead have competing purposes. TO BE IN CONTROL. Yes, to be the government of the day. For this situation to be turned around from a competing purpose to common purpose, bargains and sacrifices must be made. Can you see Kibaki stepping down for the sake of having a government of national unity? Can you see Raila sacrificing the opportunity to be the president?
3. Trust, trust, trust. The irregularities with the 2007 election tallying process, subsequent announcement of a presidential ‘winner’ and swearing one hour thereafter, revilations by one Kivuitu that he is not sure that Kibaki won has made ODMers feel that they have been cheated, robbed and raped of what is due to them, the presidency. Deep wounds have been created and trust has been lost. Don’t the wise men (read men and women) say trust is like virginity, it is lost once and for all? Bearing in mind the dissent from within caused by happenings of the post 2002 election and this fiasco, do you see Kibaki and Raila having confidence and trust in each other, let alone absolute trust and confidence?
We need to wake up and smell the coffee. Thinking that government of national unity will work in Kenya is at best kidding ourselves.
What Kenya needs now is:
1. Urgent independent verification of votes – yes dealing with problems and issues not burying them
2. If Kibaki is found to be in power as a result of unfair means, then we would expect immediate resignation.
3. If he is found to be in power as a result of peoples decision, then Raila and ODM must accept, respect and work with the PNU government
4. Immediate resignation and possibly prosecution of the Electoral Commission of Kenya Chairman, Mr. Kivuitu for negligence of duty.
5. High-powered drive to recapture the reputation lost, yes the country’s reputation.
6. Respect of peoples decisions
Number 1, Ushahidi is already getting good traffic since it’s launch and already gone through a number of updates. Hash, has put up a great post highlighting the changes. Keep spreading the word and encouraging people to submit stories.
Number 2, a number of people responded to my rant about Kibaki’s appointment of a new Cabinet prior to mediation talks by saying it appropriate because it was time to move on. Move on? Really? This is the kind of thinking that has contributed to where we are today. “Moving on” from those who fought for independence but were neglected post 1963, “moving on” from the evils committed in the Moi years, “moving on” from ’92 and ’97 clashes, “moving on” from the massive gap between the rich and the poor, “moving on” from our fellow young Kenyans who are living lives that lack hope…I have a cousin holed up at a police station in Kericho, he’s Kalenjin but spent most of his life growing up in different towns in Nairobi, he ended up in Kericho because it was the only place he could make a living, when the violence broke out his life was threatened because was living with his Kikuyu girlfriend and he can’t speak the local language so how do guys know he is Kalenjin anyway. Moving on? What are people smoking? Thinker puts it much more eloquently that I ever could.
Number 3, you MUST read this post by Gukira. As we begin to think of how the country will heal, it is important to think not just about tribal divisions but about class divisions. How easy has it been for us to condemn “them”? I
AOB: Mama Mikes has set up a donations page where you can assist the Kenyan Red Cross with their efforts and buy vouchers for Kenyans in distress.
By Kui
I have never found it so hard to wrap my mind around the phrase ‘Happy New Year’ before. The sun is shining outside my window. I am on my way back to the rest of my life overseas. I am glad to be alive. But somehow, in another locality, the locality where my heart lives, I am distraught, I am alarmed, I am looking out into unrelenting darkness. I feel naked in all this, stripped of many things that made me Kenyan. I am a stranger to what is becoming familiar on the news. I keep wondering what country that is where flames are rising on the streets, where the government is making every day is a public holiday, as a way to keep us cocooned in an endless haze that pretends that tomorrow everything will be normal again. The word holiday has never seemed so strange–our holiday has ended, and now a new work has began–the work of trying to understand what is happening.
In the councils of power, what was stolen was not an election–it was our right to live lives as people whose existence was greater than the sum of my parts; who walked in friendship with people who were not ‘like’ me; who knew myself as a person who was connected to many things in many ways. And this is repeated in countless varieties of human experience in Kenya right now. We all were Kenyans, and now we are something else–flotsam and jetsam, hurtling along in a current of displacement, unable to hold on to something that seems bigger than ourselves. My government has reduced me to a crude representation of power politics, a blank ballot whose ethnicity makes me complicit in the actions of a man who was powerful and is now weak. Give me back the freedom to be a Kenyan again. Give me something to believe in that is not the death of a dream. Give me the courage not to turn away. Give us people who can hold the line, no matter the cost, and keep us from being swept away. It might be too little–but let it not be too late.
I cannot say Happy New Year. Not yet. So I will say–Don’t let this new thing grow old–let it remain strange, let it remain abhorrent, let it remain something that has no place in the place we call home. Evil prevails when good men (and women) do nothing. So Do. Do something. Live a life that imagines that we will mourn together, we will bury our dead together, and we will plant a tree of life and water it with our hope.
By Nits
he call for immediate new elections as a way forward out of the current crisis is not a feasible solution. Elections in order to be credible to all sides must be free, fair, and transparent. This is not possible given the current state of Kenya. The last estimate of displaced people is now nearly 250,000. Most from Rift Valley province and Nyanza. There are also thousands displaced from Nairobi. The likelihood of any of these people being able to cast a ballot is nill. This cleansing of supposed Kibaki supporters from opposition strongholds would automatically lend an air of voter intimidation and fraud to any new election. Even if anyone is left in oppostion areas that would be considered “supportive” of Kibaki the likelihood of them coming out to vote is very small. What person would dare venture out to cast a ballot with the very real threat of violence hangs over their head?
So this would lead to opposition areas having a nearly 100% turnout for Raila. On the flip side Central province and parts of eastern province would have nearly 100% turnout for Kibaki. As what supposed opposition supporter is going to venture to the polls in these areas as well?
The end result would most likely be a Raila victory, but it would be a victory that the Kibaki camp could credibly claim was gained by the cleansing of their supporters and subsequent disenfranchisement from large sections of the country. This lack of credibility would put Kenya exactly back in the same spot as it is now. With a president who gained power through a very flawed electoral process and who is believed by a large portion of the country to have unsurped power through manipulation and deceit.
Neither will a government of national unity work. Kenya had a government of national unity in 2002. Lest we forget Kibaki Tosha! The promises made in 2002 that led to Raila stepping aside for Kibaki were never fulfilled. Kibaki promised to run for only one term and also to make Raila prime minister after the constituion was reworked. Thus setting Raila up for the presidency in 2007. There is the old adage of “fool me once, sham on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” Raila has no confidence that Kibaki would keep any promises made to him now. Further what position could Kibaki offer Raila that would satisfy him? Raila feels he has been cheated out of the presidency. Kibaki is not going to give it to him, so where does that leave Raila- out in the cold, anything less than the presidential throne is nothing but leftovers. Also accepting a position in the government would be at least a tacit acknowledgement that Kibaki is the legitimate ruler of Kenya. This I don’t see Raila doing.
So where does that leave the country now? For the near future it means Kenya is basically locked in a stalemate. Both sides are evenly matched in terms of power and influence. Kibaki will never admit to rigging nor will he resign. Raila will never acknowledge Kibaki as a legitimate president and join his government nor call off the demonstrations.
This means the country will probably continue to see episodes of violence instigated by both sides as they seek to gain the upper hand in the battle. The economy will suffer as tourists stay away, agriculture is unable to be exported and foreign investors bail out of the country due to insecurity.
So what way forward? The only real way forward would be for both Kibaki and Raila to put Kenya first and their egos and pride second. Both would have to jointly agree to step aside from power. An agreed upon interim government would have to be appointed. This government would have neither Kibaki nor Raila at its head but a jointly agreed upon neutral person. Cabinet positions would be allocated by the proportion of MP’s all parties have in parliment.
Fresh elections would be called after a period 6 months to 1 year. Giving enough time for the interim government to ensure all those displaced could either go home or find a new place to live.
Neither Raila nor Kibaki could run again for president. The interim leader would also not be able to run. The elections would be overseen by a neutral third party, most likely the UN. This is the only way for the elections to be considered credible by Kenyans and accepted as legitimate.
What is the likelihood of this happening, almost zero. The egos of these two leaders is bigger than their love of the country. The desire for power, like a drug, is leading both of them to destroy the very country they profess to love and want to lead. There is an old saying of “When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers” Never has this been more true.
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