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Kenya: Hardened positions will only fuel conflict

Written by Administrator

Tuesday, 08 January 2008

The nation is bleeding. The people are weeping. We are ominously moving towards the picture of war-ravaged nations such as Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. On the international television channels, we are ranked alongside them, and the running order of the clips speaks volumes on how the outside world sees us.

From the day the Electoral Commission declared that President Kibaki had won the elections, at least 164 people have been either shot, hacked or bludgeoned to death in hotspots currently teeming with rage against his victory.

Thousands others have taken refuge, along with their young ones, in the parking lots of police stations and the sanctum of receptive churches. Violence has gripped the country.

The Orange Democratic Movement has argued that its victory was stolen. The Party of National Unity has counter-claimed that in some areas where its support was low, the vote was manipulated.

We have said that if the veracity of both claims is not addressed, and the rising ethnic passions stemmed through dialogue, we shall continue to fight with the fury and determination of the Kilkenny cats. In the end, Scottish mythology says, nothing was left of the cats but just the tails.

We have urged both parties to the dispute to find the middle ground. For peace to be realised, it is not enough for the President to call for peace and calm while at the same time extolling his victory as the fruit of ‘democratic choice’. It is not enough to be sworn-in, in a hurry and in seclusion at State House, while being witnessed by a few.

It demands far much more to cast the Presidency as a national institution, whose ascendancy should be celebrated. Probably that is why the congratulations to the President have been short.

Observers’ verdict

On Tuesday, the European Union observers gave their verdict — there were glaring cases of manipulation of the tallies. Before he announced Kibaki the winner, the Electoral Commission chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, poked holes in the veracity and credibility of what he later read to the nation.

But the biggest jolt to the process that gave President Kibaki a second and final term was the open disagreement by five ECK commissioners. They have called for a judicial review that will come up with an actionable report on the polls fiasco.

The recipe for chaos could have been completed by the cancellation of live broadcasts and the adoption of pseudo-Gestapo tactics by the Government’s security operators. Yes, we called on Government to combat the fighting in the Western belt of the country, including the Rift Valley. Yes, we called for war on crime, and the police rightly were asked to exercise restraint.

Then when we thought the message was sinking through, the Government heightened the tension by giving a resounding ‘No’ to ODM’s application to hold a rally at Nairobi’s Uhuru Park on Thursday.

The message from the rest of the world to the Kenyan leaders, who have locked horns over the results, and the open admissions that the outcome was manipulated, seemed to be getting lost in the heat of the moment. They all must be reminded of the all-time powerful statement by the late Indian premier, Mrs Indira Gadhi: You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.

It will not help the situation for the President to carry on as if there is nothing the matter, or for ODM to believe it can march its way to State House without further spillage of blood.

History will judge us in equal measure for the stands we take today.

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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 January 2008 )

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