21 January 2008
editorial
Kampala — Those who thought the Kenyan crisis would quietly blow over and it would soon be business as usual again have been proven wrong.
The anger that erupted over what many consider a civilian coup by President Mwai Kibaki is not subsiding.
The protests are entering their fourth week. At least 650 people have been killed. Thousands more have been wounded by gunshots, machetes, sticks or fire. Over a-quarter of a million people are on the run. The tourism industry, Kenya's top foreign earner, has collapsed. And the country's rich national fabric is being pulled apart.
Most of the anger was directed against the Kikuyus from Kibaki's tribe, the country's largest. Some 97% of Kikuyus voted for Kibaki. Everywhere else he was trounced. Muslims voted against him by 70% or more.
The division is even more troubling when the parliamentary vote is taken into account. Kibaki lost half his cabinet, including his vice-president.
The opposition ODM won 95 of the 210 contested seats, more than twice as many as Kibaki's party.
Kenyans sent a clear message of disgust with corruption and cronyism, and a desire for change. But Kibaki ignored all that. He went ahead appointing 17 cabinet ministers, several regarded as some of the most venal of the old guard.
The violence has to stop. Ethnic cleansing cannot be condoned. Kikuyus should not be punished for exercising their democratic right to vote. But the Police shoot-to-kill policy is equally unjustifiable. Dozens of dead and wounded are lying in Kisumu Hospital, their only crime was being at the wrong time at the wrong place.
Above all, the root cause of the crisis needs to be tackled. Kibaki needs to agree to some form of power sharing during an interim period, until new elections can be organised.
The expectations of the Luo and other tribes, who consider themselves marginalised, need to be addressed.
And more pro-poor policies need to be adopted, such as Uganda's Bona Baggagawale (Prosperity for-All), to address the glaring inequalities of Kenya's inhuman brand of capitalism.
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