FORGIVENESS, TOLERANCE, AND HEALING FOR OUR NATION January 29, 08 One person in the commentaries said, “All Kenyans have a right to own property in any place of their Kenyan country”. That’s the most honest thing I have heard so far. However, I still maintain that the root of the problem we are facing was ignited by the wrong decision taken by some leaders to campaign with anti-Kikuyu sentiments. It is sad that many people aspiring to the position of leadership in Africa fail to realize that leadership comes with accountability- the higher the rank, the greater the demand for accountability. In fact, owning up to mistakes in some African cultures is often interpreted as sign of weakness. I BELIEVE GOOD LEADERS ARE THOSE WHO LEARN TO OWN UP TO THEIR MISTAKES. However, today I write to extend my forgiveness. Some people may argue our problem sprang from property ownership. However, the fight over property ownership came as a result of misinformation from the leaders. Why do I say misinformation? Because certainly, these leaders understood or should have understood the history of Kenya! HOWEVER, LEST I BE POINTING A FINGER AT OTHERS AND FAILING TO SEE MY FAULT, I WANT TO BEGIN BY TAKING MY PART TOWARDS SPEAKING WORDS OF HEALING FOR MY BELOVED COUNTRY, KENYA! I WANT TO BEGIN BY FORGIVING ALL THOSE WHO DRAFTED AND CAMPAIGNED WITH ANTI-KIKUYU SENTIMENTS. I ALSO WANT TO FORGIVE ALL THOSE WHO INCITED AND ORCHESTRATED THE KILLING OF INNOCENT KENYANS. IT IS MY PRAYER THAT ALL THOSE WHO LOVE AND PREACH PEACE WILL JOIN ME IN FORGIVING AND PREACHING THIS MESSAGE. IT IS MY PRAYER THAT THE MESSAGE OF FORGIVENESS AND TOLERANCE WILL PREVAIL AMONG ALL KENYANS. As one born from some inter-marriages, I have had friends and relatives from all sides. I could not deny the hurt from learning about the divisive anti-Kikuyu sentiment, deliberately planned and orchestrated by some leaders. Although I could not understand how a human can possibly hack another to death, burn down people seeking refuge in church building, or burn down families quietly sleeping in their homes, unforgiveness of people who have committed these crimes is just as bad. NOW THAT WE ARE ALL WITNESSING HOW LACK OF FORGIVENESS CAN BE SO DESTRUCTIVE, LET US LAY ASIDE ALL MILICE AND COME TOGETHER. WE CAN EITHER CHOOSE TO REMAIN AS DIVIDED, OR CHOOSE TO FORGIVE. PREVIOUSLY BEFORE THIS PERIOD, MANY KENYANS WILL ADMIT THEY HAVE ENJOYED LIVING NEXT TO EACH OTHE IN THE CITIES AND WORKING TOGETHER IN THE SAME OFFICES! WE ARE NOT UNDER THE MERCY OF ANY HUMAN. WE ARE CAPABLE OF REFUSING TO SUCUMB TO ANY WRONG INCITATION AGAINST ONE ANOTHER. It may also be necessary to clear up some fallacies, which actually should have been cleared from the beginning. One, it has been said all Kikuyu are thieves who stole land from other tribes. I would say history bears record about how the Kikuyu bought land. Remember, before Kenyan independence, all land belonged to the British. The Kikuyu bought land from the British who were willing to sell property to any buyer, not just Kikuyu. Remember too, before the British left, Kenyatta refused that any Africa should seize land from the whites; Africans had to learn to earn their living the right way. Indeed, although other groups may not be willing to admit this was great wisdom from Kenyatta, it allowed all Kenyans living at the time equal opportunity to purchase land from the British. Even though the whites had seized land from the Africans and put them in villages, Kenyatta, as a wise man knew seizing land from the British would kill Africans’ determination to build their wealth the right way. The story, as was told by my deceased father was that when the British heard Kenyans were willing to buy their land, they raised the price of the land quite high. However, Kikuyu, who had been oppressed the most, were still determined to own their own property and move from villages. They decided to put their money together and form cooperatives. I know many grandmothers who painfully carried heaps of cabbage sacks on their back to sell in the city so that they could raise money, first, for their children education, and second for shares of land. These were the ones that ended with at least 1 or 2 acres of land either in Kikuyu land or else where. Many continued to work that hard even after they had moved to complete payments of the shares they had bought. Tell me, dear Kenyans, are these types of grandparents’ (with similar stories) worthy to be labeled as thieves? Did they really steal land from others or did they earn their property by buying it from those who were said to be the owners? Indeed, these are the stories of many Kenyans, Kikuyu, Luo, Kisii, and all others. The sad thing is that they are the displaced groups in the nation. Assuming that there are people who grabbed land using government posts, then not only would that group be very small compared to the population of Kenya, but they can also be expected to be from every tribe, the Kalenjin, the Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Kamba, and all those holding such posts. Unfortunately, these are not the people getting displaced or dying. In fact, when revenge came from those who began the fighting, it went straight to those with grandmothers’ kind of stories. However, following up with those fallacies, many people have been told all Kikuyu hate Luo and that they enjoy seeing those who were out to kill them dead. False, many Kikuyu love Luo, Luhya, Kalenjins or any tribe and they don’t want to see any Kenyan being killed. Similarly, many of those other tribes do not hate Kikuyu, they were simply pitched against one another. So how do we solve this problem? We should let Kenyans learn to live together and celebrate their diverse ethnic backgrounds. The Kikuyu cannot deny they have learned from the Luo, neither can the Luo deny they have learned from the Kikuyu. Besides, all those who buy properties in new places bring with them new ideas, new development that are not common to the area. Further, all tribes have bought land or property in a place that was not originally theirs. So should we form our own little sovereign tribal nations? NOT ONLY SHOULD ALL KENYANS ENJOY THE FREEDON OF LIVING AND VISITING ANY PLACE THEY CHOOSE TO, THEY SHOULD HAVE FREEDOM TO OWN BUSINESSES OR STAND FOR ELECTION WHERE THEY CHOOSE TO LIVE. KENYANS SHOULD SEE THEMSELVES AS KENYANS FIRST, TRIBES SECOND. THOSE FIGHTING CULTURAL DIVERSITY, OUR CO-EXISTANCE WITH ONE ANOTHER ARE NOT ONLY TRYING TO KILL THAT WHICH MAKES US STRONG, THEY ARE ALSO FIGHTING IN VAIN. No offense to Mr. Ruto, but the idea of killing or displacing people with such grandmother stories will only bring curse to your people or whosoever will seize their land for ownership. Trust me, there is a God who will bring such acts into justice. However, I also want to echo my forgiveness to such people as you who are involved with such acts. It is my prayer that all those who love peace in Kenya would forgive people like you for causing the killing or displacing of many people in the Rift Valley. No offense to you Mungiki or those who join you to revenge by killing innocent Luo families. You do not represent the interest of majority of Kikuyu when you do this. It makes no difference whether you are killing revenging for the wrongs done personally to you or other Kikuyu. You only represent a .5% of the Kikuyu, and they do not share your viewpoint. Many Kikuyu understand clearly that they have been harmed. But they would rather settle the dispute the right way, the government way. Nothing gives you the right to kill any Kenyan, be it a Luo, a Luhya, a Nandi, or even those from your group who do not adhere to your expected Kikuyu customs. You bring a curse upon yourself when you kill innocent Kenyans. KENYA BELONGS TO EVERY KENYAN, AND EVERY KENYAN SHOULD HAVE EQUAL RIGHT TO ENJOY THEIR COUNTRY. The question should not be what part of the country a person is living the question should be whether all Kenyans are contributing to building the nation, to building schools and the general infrastructure. When everybody is doing their part, we would begin having more jobs, better schools, and we would begin replacing slums with apartments with better living conditions. We would begin supporting the government in growing our own economy, instead of depending on the west for support us. These should be the goals for people aspiring to democracy. We look for the west to help us while we have abundant resources and brainpower?. When shall we wake up from the dream? LET US BEGIN BY FORGIVING ONE ONOTHER AND BY REACHING OUT TO BRING HEALING TO ONE ANOTHER. I’LL BEGIN BY PLAYING MY PART; I FORGIVE ALL THOSE THAT HAVE HURT OTHERS OR ME BY WORD OR DEED DURING THIS DREADFUL PERIOD OF OUR NATION. Very concerned Kenyan

I have returned from Kenya only two weeks ago and I can hardly believe what is going on here. This does not seem to have anything to do with elections anymore and one could wonder if it ever really had. It seems that many people are very dissatisfied with their lives and the lack of creating possibilities to develop themselves, because mostly youngsters are involved without any sense of responsibility and without enough life experience to even oversee what they are doing. They should realize that all this leads to nothing but more violence and killings, revenge and hate. History has tought us that violence is never a solution and is certainly not the way to seek a better life. I do think that some very important issues have to be solved in Kenya, such as education, housing and work for the poor. International help from the UN would be very welcome to accomplish that in the long run.

DEAR SIR/MADAM, HAVING BEEN TO KENYA TWICE IN THE PAST TWO YEARS, WITH IT'S PEACEFULNESS AND WONDERFUL SCENERY, I AM APPALLED AT WHAT IS NOW TRANSPIRING. THIS IS A SIMPLE CASE OF ELECTION FRAUD, AND UNTIL KIBAKI DECIDES THAT STEPPING DOWN WILL SAVE KENYA FROM ANOTHER PERHAPS RAWANDA, THIS VIOLENCE I AM AFRAID WILL CONTINUE. IT IS AMAZING HOW BOTH POWER AND MONEY CAN INDEED CORRUPT. ONE JUST HAS TO LOOK AT WHERE ZIMBABWE IS AT WITH ROBERT MUGABE IN POWER. GOD HELP KENYA.

I have been telling kenyans this and i will repeat again. We all watched as Kukuyus were being killed in the Rift Valley and some even rejoiced including some of you who are writing in these blogs. What we all forgot was that violence is not like a bomb which you control where to hit and where to damage. Now that it is getting out hand we are all quick to say its Kibaki, its Raila and all our nonsense partisan arguments. Now let me give you the bad news those who are living in kenya "the war is coming to your doorstep and you can all keep calling for truth and justice under your beds if you will not have been ejected and killed". We needed to condemn this as soon as it started. But you know what all political leaders especially ODM justified it as a reaction of the poeple towards election outcome. So whats the issue here ? why are we afraid of the consequences when we knew where it would end ? why are we worried about our businesses ? We brought ourselves here and its only us Kenyans, Not RAILA, NOT KIBAKI, NOT ANNAN can get us out. For now we should all spare our blame games and focus on getting peace.

naivasha ni ya watu wote, kisumu ni ya wote nyeri ni ya wote nairobi ni ya wote. kiramutu anahaki ya kuishi pahari popote bira kujari au kuongopa kichijwo ni mogiki au mutuyeyote serikari ni ya wote hapana ya wagekoyo pekeyetu, kura nakuripa rakini hapa iba kura narete balla kwa bichara yetu yote , hii mutu ya nyere narete taabu nyige mno

Mr. Lucas Onchiri, please do not blame the bloodshed and chaos on His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki. ECK is the only body in Kenya mandated to announce election results...not ODM, not KTN, not PNU, not Citizen TV. Our laws, passed by our very own parliament provide avenues of how electoral disputes / differences should be resolved. Calling youths to the streets to loot and destroy property and sending militia to evict kikuyus from Rift Valley is NOT among the avenues provided by the law. This is the avenue ODM have chosen. If they refuse to abide by the law now, what assurance do Kenyans have that if they ever get to power they will respect the rule of law?

i want the world to understand that raila and his henchmen do not have monopoly on violence!when kikuyus were being killed and burned in eldoret,the papetrators like mr ruto were silent.its said that ruto was paying 2000 for a house burned.when the tide changed they all can shout genocide.if today raila and ruto wanted this to stop,it would take just one word from them.But no,they have to take full millage and political gain from this,so kenyans lets go on killing each other!

I'm also an african (Namibian) but never been to Kenya, hoping one day. I am upset and amazed by most of correspondence who many are Kenians. Were are your responsibility, your accountability as a citizen. Why do you as a Kenians have to wait for politicians to take action, what about you knowing between right and wrong or atleast what is right for your country or your people. Don't take me wrong my feelings goes to all Africans including my country Namibia. Do you have to kill your neighbour because Raila or Ruto is a self enrichment power hungry animal. Common AFRICANS!!!