29 January 2008
editorial
Nairobi — Only a day after the horrendous killings in Naivasha, fresh cases of deaths were reported in various parts of the country yesterday, signalling no end in sight for the senseless blood-letting that has pushed Kenya to the ranks of failed states.
What is scaring is that we are now witnessing revenge killings; malevolent acts of deep anger and bitterness, which, if unchecked, may turn this country into one huge boiling cauldron.
Electoral dispute that triggered the current turmoil is fast receding to the back burner as ethnic hatred-cum-chivalry take the centre stage, exposing base instincts and driving the country back to the pre-colonial times.
It is inconceivable how people who have all along lived in harmony, shared resources and common utilities, can turn around and start butchering each other senselessly. Matters are worse when we see youths, some hardly aged 20 years, taking machetes, bows and arrows and other instruments of terror to attack people of different ethnic backgrounds.
None of these acts serve the cause of democracy, which any of the combatants would purport to be fighting for. On the contrary, these are primitive and retrogressive acts that balkanise and annihilate a once united country that is Kenya.
Mount a roadblock
But we are shocked, like everybody else, at the inertia and ineptitude by the Government to control the situation. We noted yesterday, and we repeat today, that there is no way a gang of 50 or more people can spring from some corner, mount a roadblock on the busy Nairobi-Nakuru highway, stop and search vehicles and kill individuals from perceived rival ethnic backgrounds - and get away scot-free. That illustrates that either the security network has collapsed or, there is complicity in the act.
Neither, can armed gangs run amok and attack an estate, set residences on fire and kill about 20 people without security forces getting wind of it and nipping it in the bud.
When police commissioner Hussein Ali chose to speak yesterday, he treated Kenyans to long tales of the tens of case files being investigated and of the 28 to be prosecuted for murder. The message Kenyans wanted to hear was why the police have been unable to contain the violence. Better still, what it was doing to forestall any potential death.
When Security minister George Saitoti visited Naivasha yesterday, he gave directives about beefing up the security in the area, but did not spell out the broad and long-term measures to contain the situation.
Path of peace
The military may have been brought to deal with the turmoil in Nakuru and Naivasha, but what about other areas? In short, what is the Government's plan in putting the country on the path of peace?
Political leaders across the divide have been issuing statements urging their followers to eschew violence, but, except for a few cases, they have not made practical steps to visit their communities and preach the same message.
Most surprising, President Kibaki, at whom the buck stops, and his rival Raila Odinga, other than that photo-ops session last week, have not taken the message of peace to the doorstep of their followers.
We want to exhort President Kibaki to come out of State House and tackle the unfolding crisis. He cannot keep quiet when the country is burning. We also demand the same of Mr Odinga.
It is unfortunate, in fact depressing, that violence is worsening when mediation team, under former UN boss Kofi Annan, is at work. Nothing poisons the environment for mediation as violence does.
For the citizens, the living words of American rock music icon Elvis Presley are apt: "Animals don't hate, and we're supposed to be better than them."
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Kibaki and Raila, come out, come out, wherever you are and put an end to the violence you have unleashed on our country. We voted for you believing you had the interest of the country at heart. You have proved to be egotistical, self-serving and greedy. Despite entrities from the world and the Kenyan people, not only have you failed to stop the violence but have yourselves hidden in your heavily guarded homes. The situation is obviously beyond your control and it is therefore time you erased yourselves from the political scene and let somebody else clean up the mess you have brought upon us.
Like many Kenyans I have wasted my vote, and could I turn the clock back I would vote differently.
Southbann
if we look at the history of kenya,this ethnicity has been there long enough.look at tom mboya's funeral at holy family basilica(you tube)!!!clashes started.I believe kikuyus are peace loving and hustlers.having the the higher population, they have earned the survival skills to take care of its people,that is why they keep doing businesses,coning(if its true)and working hard but they only fought the white man'mzungu'. when multiparties started.the kikuyu won if we will be looking at the leaders and make them represent the tribe.Matiba won elections in 1992 but kikuyus didn't fight instead they went on working and kenya was peaceful.when kibaki vied in 1997,he won but again no one fought knowing very well that Moi had rigged.come 2002,he won and everyone was happy. Kibaki was referred to as 'General kiguoya' which means "general coward" as he never spoke even having been demoted from vice presidency to being a minister. since Kibaki got in power he did his job,the economy was greatly improved and it would have been better. Kibaki is not a big mouth,who shows his emotions with tears and great laughters.he is a wise man not an actor or dancer. that is where he failed.on the other hand look at Raila,great musician,footballer,who cries with emotion and people get moved.goes to muslims and get the kanzu or turban,goes to church and gets baptised. He drives a hummer and everyone gets to know(but do i say?)the campaigns must have cost a lot of money.!!!!the Odm are very rich???I wish Githongo would tell us about it.so did they borrow any money and were they planning to give it back if they won the elections??Is it that they need to pay back and thats why they insisted on that seat.since he got into politics what has he done for kibera???a tourist hold for photos of pity and to maintain the name of being the largest in Africa??oh he was not president that is why he didn't do much(if he did any)i mean talking of insuring cows for the maasai'(yeah thats what i heard from some)yeah if a cow dies then Raila will pay.odm promises. Luo's went to vibandas and asked for food and later they said "Raila atalipa!!!surely,,digging roads in kisumu and looting in their own town and burning cars and buildings!!!!who is to suffer,kikuyus,Kibaki,Raila???? It is sad that the innocent are suffering but no one cares at least to the big shots.Only Kalonzo seemed to be the better choice but again he is a politician.so dear readers the problem is not Kibaki he said Kazi iendelee!!5years of development is what he had wanted butthe opposition wanted power and money.if they really cared they would have accepted and fought in parliament using the law and an advantage of being majority in parliament.Kibaki is not a saint but he aint a devil either. check the cards well and read every word!!God bless kenya and Kenyans. The Naivasha sagga has come exactly after one month.The kikuyus kept quiet for one month.
Kibaki cannot come out and preach peace because peace requires that he must vacate the presidential palace and slip into political oblivion and disgrace. Kibaki is an unscrupulous and selfish politician like Daniel Arap Moy, not a father-like national leader like Jomo Kenyata. Kenya needs politicians with a national interest in their heart, not egomaniacs or megalomaniacs with egos larger than Kenya itself.
Where does Kenya go from the current fratricidal anarchy? To new elections under a newly appointed government under a mandate supported by the African Union and a New Electoral Commission. And I feel that it is about time that the Kenyan Army must rise to the responsibility it has to the country and do what the Thai Army did in Thailand when government corruption became endemic.
Do I mean a military coup? Sure! What then will happen to the Kenyan democracy? Thailand is back to democracy, and doing it the Thai way is better than allow Kenya to become a new Ruanda. After all, a country in which the people chop the heads of each other with jubilation is not a democracy; it is a slaughterhouse.
Kenya needs a Paul Kagani now, not after the Kenyan fields and rivers are filled with bodies, the houses go all up in flames, and its landscape becomes similar to Darfur. Nikos Retsos, retired academic.
Its not Raila or Kibaki who should come out to preach PEACE, its me and you. We expect the leaders to stop the violence while we ourselves are hourbouring hatred and mistrust among ourselves. You see this country has very weired people as Micheal Joseph of safaricom said one time... they start fires and wait for someone to put it out.
Well the bad news is this... this country is burning and if anyone cares to follow the Rwanda story, the citizens themselves took responsibility for healing and reconcilliation. Kabuga and others who fuelled the genocide there are nowhere. So stop this business of blaming Kibaki and Raila. Elections are rigged and stolen everywhere in the world but not all countries burn like Kenya is burning. its time each Kenyan forgot where they came from and reached out to their neighbours for peace. This will not be done by the slum dwellers who have little or no education. It will be done by the middle class, who are able to aaccess basic things, TV, food, computer etc. WE ALLOWED HOOLOGANS AND HOPELESS YOUTHS TO PUSH FOR DEMOCRACY IN THIS COUNTRY ON OUR BEHALF BY BURNING AND LOOTING. And we were happy at the beginning when we watched youths with placards saying NO SO AND SO, NO PEACE. So what has changed ? i will tell you what has changed. The middle class is feeling the heat now. roads are blocked so you cant drive your Car around.People are removed from Matatus and killed. Now we want Kibaki and Raila to come with a magic stick and end the violence. its not gonna end. Thats a wish list. We must take leadership, we the people who are employed or in businesses, We the opinion leaders in our small communities. and I can write on and on
Wow its amazing how you write a very strong article but yet you show that you have very little understanding of what is transpiring in Kenya. How can you call on Kibaki to come out and speak on the violence and bloodshed that is going on in kenya, when he is root cause of the problems at hand. Understand that his Kikuyu folk are being butchered not only by luos but by 4 to 6 other tribes. If you contend that Kibaki should come out and speak against the violence, then let us see him do it in Kisumu, or Eldoret and its should not be a photo shoot stance he should call for a national rally. Probably he and his cronies are the only ones who will attend. For the killing and massacare to stop, Koffi Annan should act more swiftly to get the two sides to power share before new elections in three months which should be mandated and monitored by international teams. Other than that, I think Kibaki should keep his pie hole shut coz every word he utters get Kenyans infuriated. Refrain from thinking that this man is the duly elected president of Kenya as he so puts it.