Odhiambo Orlale
16 January 2008
Nairobi — ODM leader Raila Odinga has today said that they will continue peaceful demonstrations across the country until they get "justice" over the disputed presidential election.
The protests took off in several towns with most exploding into riots after police broke the demonstrations. There have been reports of a man shot dead in Kisumu, while in Nairobi's Kibera slums three people were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds.
Nairobi's city centre was peaceful until shortly after 2pm when riot police lobbed tear gas and shot in the air to eject some ODM leaders.
Mr Odinga said they would not be cowed by the heavy presence of armed security personnel at Nairobi's historic Uhuru Park, where they had planned to hold a rally, and the other 40 venues in major towns.
The controversial rallies that has been banned by the Government citing security concerns.
The venue has been cordoned for the past two weeks since President Kibaki was declared the winner of the contested presidential elections by the chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya, Mr Samuel Kivuitu.
The Park been guarded round the clock by a combined team of armed riot squad, Administration Policemen and the para-military General Service Unit officers, using horses and guard dogs.
The ODM leader told journalists that he had received information from party officials and supporters across the country that mass action had taken off in all venues.
In Bungoma, a former university student leader, Mr Wafula Buke, was among scores of ODM supporters who had been arrested for leading demonstrators, Mr Odinga said.
Said Mr Odinga: "Yesterday's victory by ODM in Parliament in the election of Speaker Kenneth Marende and his deputy, Mr Farah Maalim, shows that it will not be business as usual in Parliament."
The ODM leader addressed a Press conference together with the party's leading lights William Ruto, Najib Balala, Charity Ngilu and Joseph Nyaga shortly before they joined over 30 MPs in yet another attempt to gain entry into Uhuru Park.
Mr Odinga blamed the current political crisis in the country to the disputed presidential elections and accused President Kibaki, who had stood on a Party of National Unity ticket, of being in office illegally.
"This government has no international credibility, that is why it has deployed a big number of armed policemen throughout the country to stop our peaceful rallies," the ODM leader said.
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The African State – a central cause of instability
Civil war was perceived as an African phenomenon until the end of cold war and most often viewed as liberation struggles. In the aftermath of September 11, civil wars have been labelled according to interests in the global arena.
The above not withstanding, the African state remains a central problem to achieving sustainable peace in Africa. The model of the state in Africa is not a product of African initiative, it is a borrowed one. From the constitution apparatus to the political system, the colonial powers shaped the African state. In doing so they felt they were civilizing Africa and off course with a view of creating an always dependent community but with a flag.
It is without doubt that the state created at independence was a foreign state coloured with African so-called nationalism which in actual sense was imperialism in the new form.
From its on set, the African state was weak and vied that way by the colonial masters. Weak because it was artificial and engaged on nation-building on fleeting sands of renamed roads, national flag, national dress and national anthem. This activity ignored the fact that nations are not built on such weak links. One can see that the African leaders who immerged in the struggle for independence, stepped in the same shoes of the colonialists by maintaining a colonial state by the same means the colonial maintained them- force.
It did not take long after the flag independence to get into civil war, and this time it was a war to conquer the Africans by Africans. Had African people been allowed to have states evolve naturally, they would have definitely arranged themselves on ethnic basis which would have been alright. A glimpse in African history we see emperies arranged on ethnic base and small groups absorbed by larger ones. This did not happen for nations that immerged from colonialism. Nations before and after independence were dubbed tribes and maintained thus by force.
The African experience from 1950s to the present shows that the people’s aspirations were never realised and thus the continuous conflicts that are not likely to end any where in the foreseeable future. Yet, we continue to misdirect false efforts in the wrong direction for securing of a misunderstood future. Our countries continue to be cauterised by foreign domination, foreign ownership of viable businesses, external financial control, institutionalised corruption, external military dependence to intimidate citizens, less indigenous involvement in political decision-making, etc, thus failed state systems. The African state no matter what form of government it adopts, it remains the hindrance to peace. Coupled with the geo-political interests of the new colonial masters, it does not matter whether civil war or human rights abuses are curried out with impunity. In fact, these days genuine civil uprising can easily be labelled terrorism. The days for liberation seem to be fading away.
In the light of our current situations, it is imperative that peace building efforts should start from the grassroots level and should be honest in handling serious structural conditions that nourishes intractable conflicts. It is important politicians engage in building sustainable institutions that can settle once and for all marginalised issues of nations such as the Luoof Kenya , Baganda of Uganda , the Masai etc. You cannot build a nation by marginalising groups of people; rather you do so by involving every one on equal terms. Tribalising and personalising the state will keep Africa in wars forever. Whoever does this is an enemy of peace.
Kayumba David
Student of peace
Brussels