The Kenyan election crisis is into its third week, and maintaining its momentum.

It's a story that on any other day would not have enjoyed the space that's been devoted to it. After all, what else is Africa known for but violence, war, hunger and disease. Anything you can think of goes awry in Africa, right?

Elections are rigged. Just next door in neighbouring Uganda two years ago, supporters of the opposition party were attacked, some were arrested, and others lost their lives. The main opposition leader and leading challenger -- once a close ally and personal physician of the president -- was harassed and arrested on charges of treason and rape -- both of which he denied. (He's since been acquitted of the rape charge.) A Supreme Courtby a 5-2 vote, did determine the election had been rigged.

It was covered with a lead story here and a couple of briefs there, and that did it.

So what's new? Why the "unnecessary" attention and concern over Kenya?

The veil has come off on what many, especially the West, by far regarded as the most stable democracy on the continent; the exception to Africa's madness. It is -- in the words of Canadian novelist M.G. Vassanji -- a fairy tale gone awry.

All of a sudden there's some explaining to do, and what makes it even more difficult is the total disappointment in what had hitherto been perceived as a new breed of African leaders: Yoweri Museveni in Uganda changed the constitution and is now in his 22nd year in power, Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia is coming up to 20, and then there is Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, who had talked big on stumping the stinking corruption out of Kenya.

A chorus hailed this "stability," ignoring how it was achieved.

But surely, having only two leaders in a space of 40 years can only be possible with a good dose of repression, torture and detentions on one hand, and nepotism on the other. Otherwise the likes of Oginga Odinga, the father of current opposition leader Raila Odinga, and the famous Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'O would not have gone in detention, and later exile for Ngugi. Otherwise the likes of Tom Mboya or J.M. Kariuki would not have died mysterious deaths.

By comparison, Canada has seen 10 prime ministers in those 40 years.

But does that matter, as long as the economy boomed to the benefit of a few, and horticultural products left the country to feed mostly Western markets? Tourists came, enjoyed safaris, and left without incident, and the remaining settler community remained free from attacks. Everyone but the nation's alienated citizens was content. In Kenya's situation, it's not wise to ask how we got here.

Kenya's first president Jomo Kenyatta favoured his tribesmen, the Kikuyu. His vice-president and successor Daniel Arap Moi followed in his footsteps, extending the favours to his own tribesmen, the Kalenjin. It's little wonder his moniker was nyayo, a Swahili word for footsteps. Combined, the two were in power some 40 years.

In a country with more than 40 ethnic groups, when political power goes to benefit one tribe or section of people, those who are made to feel they don't belong -- and justly so -- also feel alienated and underprivileged. Their anger, rage and anxiety grows, and soon come to a point when they can't take it anymore. A clearly rigged election like this, by an "oppressing tribe" at that, is just the right spark.

There's something else to consider: the machete. A burdensome guilt hangs over the world's, and especially Western shoulders after utterly failing Rwanda in the 1994 genocide. And the Darfur crisis hasn't helped matters either. In that tiny African country, a simple farming tool, assumed a deadly image 13 years ago, which explains the attendant dread when it suddenly appeared as the weapon of choice for frustrated Kenyans venting their anger after feeling they'd been cheated out of a clear win in the Dec. 27 presidential elections.

The need for both politicians and the media to nip this crisis in the bud was all greater, all the other reasons notwithstanding.

It's been three weeks now, and more than 600 are dead and 250,000 displaced -- and the chairperson of Kenya's electoral commission revealed he's not sure whether the president won decisively. Kenya's auditor general is calling for an independent audit of the results.

Mediation attempts by African Union leader John Kuffuor, the president of Ghana, have failed. And the Kenyan government is blocking mediation attempts by former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan.

With both Kibaki and Odinga sticking to their guns, the key question to ask is how does this matter proceed? It's a challenge that three parties will have to weigh in equal proportions -- Kenyans, their neighbours, and the international community.

The Kenyan situation is very instructive as another example that the politics of elections and the casting of ballots has come home, with ordinary people becoming increasingly involved in the affairs of their countries. They know to knock out a bad leader when he proves so. The masses that Kibaki is setting a lethal police machine on are the same that backed him five years ago when he promised to stamp out corruption and extend the country's benefits to everyone.

A few weeks before Kenya's elections, South Africa showed us a sitting president is beatable when Jacob Zuma defeated president Thabo Mbeki to assume the African National Congress party's chair and become its presidential candidate. Mbeki returned the favour, showing us a sitting president can concede defeat, and move on. Kenya was the next in line to consolidate this new dispensation but Kibaki passed up the opportunity.

But all's not lost. For the good of country, he still has the chance to do the right thing -- by either standing down or accepting an independent audit of the results with a promise that he'll accept what the audit reports. If he can't, then it falls to Odinga to keep the pressure up. To back down or settle for anything else is to legitimize a bad practice.

An election crisis in the most vibrant economy in the new East African Community bloc is not what the EAC anticipated as one of its first grinding challenges. But here it is and the community's secretariat has moved swiftly to condemn the violence and release a report that disapproves some of the practices during the election and questions the outcome.

Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, who had earlier sent congratulatory messages to Kibaki -- the only leader to do so in the region -- has changed his position. Others remain silent, which is not good. It's important that everyone gets their voice heard on this issue.

ImageU.S. President George W. Bush was the only leader in the West to send congratulatory messages to Kibaki. But things have since changed. The U.S. envoy to Africa, Jendayi Frazier, has been to Kenya and agreed there were many irregularities in the elections. Reports also show several European diplomats have been meeting all parties involved in the crisis to try and solve the deadlock.

That's good.

As exporters of democracy, the West bears the responsibility to ensure it works. It can't turn its back on Kenya, or any such country facing a similar or impending crisis.

Gaaki Kigambo is a Ugandan journalist currently working for The Record.