Back Issues

Electoral Shambles highlight the Zimbabwean Crisis

2008-02-12

Steve Kibble

Steve Kibble argues that the upcoming elections in Zimbabwe are tilted to a ruling party victory and will be marred by serious political and technical problems.

The unilateral declaration by President Mugabe of March 29th 2008 as the date for Zimbabwean elections (presidential, house of assembly, senate and local) was followed by the president’s reported statements at the recent African Union summit that he would never accept an opposition victory. This means that the negotiation process between the ruling party Zanu PF and the opposition parties (two fractions of the MDC) undertaken by Zimbabwe’s SADC neighbours is dead. Even if SADC itself publicly applauded this mediation as successful, it privately acknowledged failure. It was widely predicted to fail especially by civil society and progressive church personnel, given the unlikelihood of the ruling ZANU-PF party relinquishing power. It did, however, for a time give some hope as it provided for the first time since 2000 an opening up in an otherwise blocked situation.

South African president Mbeki, charged with bringing a solution to the crisis, staked his reputation on solving the Zimbabwean crisis, even recently telling visiting Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern that a solution was near. But he has been unable to persuade ZANU-PF to take the supposed negotiations seriously. The ruling party, despite concessions by the divided opposition party the MDC, refused to recognise the necessity for a free and fair electoral process and a new democratic constitution to be in place before any elections.

The actual electoral process has not only been geared to a ruling party victory but marked by serious political and technical problems, as well as intimidation. The electoral commission has no independence or impartiality, and the judicial process has still to hear petitions relating to the unfree and unfair elections of 2005. The constituencies have been increased in number and altered to favour the rural population – more under the control of ZANU-PF - and the delimitation exercise was opaque. The voter registration process has been problematic with many left off the register and unable to rectify this within the seven days allowed for inspection of the new roll. Even those who are registered have little or no idea where they are supposed to vote. Independent international election observers and foreign media will not be allowed in.

These elections are taking place in a dire economic and humanitarian situation amid reports of politicisation of food aid The local independent media whilst still alive is fighting for space and due to shortages of paper and power cuts even the state media, has found it difficult to publish its own biased information about elections, for which they are noted. The opposition having said earlier that it would not contest a skewed election, has now decided to stand, although with rival candidates. It acknowledges it will not win under current circumstances but also want “a piece of the small cake”. It will however have massive problems in getting sufficient candidates in place in time and with any access to the population.

This all means that energies are now directed towards a ruling party victory (including the reported hiring of Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, to help them do so) whilst the economy contracts, infrastructure collapses and the population is surviving on a day to day process, even worse failing to, or leaving the country. Some see the presidential electoral challenge to Mugabe by former Finance Minister, Simba Makoni, as opening up a little democratic space and opening up the cracks within the ruling party. Whilst popular in urban areas and amongst the international community, it seems unlikely he can seriously challenge ZANU-PF’s rural hegemony, even if he is supported by powerful ruling party Mugabe opponents such as ex army chief Solomon Mujuru. It may be that his sole impact is to split further the opposition vote.

What other pressures for necessary transformation remain? It is useful to distinguish here between transition and transformation. The SADC process was aimed at the former – with the hope that a reformed and re-elected ZANU-PF minus Mugabe could hope to attract international support for re-engagement and reconstruction. More necessary now, though is a complete overhaul of the repressive, corrupt and ineffectual system of governance. At present neither the opposition party/ies, nor civil society, having been under constant attack, have the capacity to bring about such change and there seems little international or regional support for them to do so. Church leaders have never seemed sure of their role, preferring quiet diplomacy with the government, alleviated by the occasional critical statement, rather than attempting to provide alternative leadership and solutions to the crisis. With former Catholic archbishop Pius Ncube silenced, there are few voices except groups like the Christian Alliance coming forward to lead such a process. Of paramount importance in such a transformation process will be the need to work at and include the grassroots level. Not only in advocating for a people driven constitution – but supporting peoples organising themselves, particularly in the rural areas.

It seems likely that Zimbabweans faced with a 6% shrinking of gross domestic produce last year and 50% decline since 2000, inflation officially at 27,000% and according to the IMF at 150,000%, employment at 8% with formal incomes depreciated by 90%, constant food, crops, fuel, transport and power shortages and continued repression face a disastrous future. The elections will do nothing to halt this spiral of decline. As Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor said after his recent visit ‘The economy no longer functions, the health service and education systems have collapsed, most of the skilled workforce has left the country’. Zimbabweans are going to need all the international solidarity and support they can get.

*Steve Kibble is a human rights activist. This article wasriginally commissioned by NigrIzia the Italian faith-based development magazine.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Kenyan Human Rights Activist Pinpoints Reforms to Resolve Crisis

2008-02-12

L. Muthoni Wanyeki

L. Muthoni Wanyeki, executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, recently spoke to AllAfrica.com about a wide range of aspects of the crisis that erupted over Kenya’s disputed presidential election.

On the elections:

The position of my organization, and the coalition we've been working in, has been that the anomalies, malpractices, and illegalities witnessed with respect to the counting and tallying of the presidential vote were substantial enough to alter the outcomes... You have to understand that Kibaki may not be in office legitimately or legally.

On forms of violence:

It’s important to understand this violence not in the way it’s being presented, as though it's... people resorting to deeply-felt innate feelings of tribal hatred and resentment. Actually, the violence has taken very specific forms, the worst of which are highly organized. We've said consistently that we initially saw three, then four forms of violence, the first two of which have mutated and intensified.

The first form was disorganized, spontaneous protest at the announcement of the result – or the supposed result – across the country. That has largely died off or been suppressed. The second form was organized militia activity, beginning in the Rift Valley but then spreading out from Central [Province] in particular. In the Rift it took the form of deaths, destruction of property, displacement of people and so on, but has been responded to by the reactivation of existing militia organizations – like Mungiki – that are now moving out from Central trying to recapture territory that they believe has been lost or ceded, given the displacements that have happened.

Mungiki is an organized militia organization. It began really as a sort of genuine social movement out of internally displaced people from the politically-instigated clashes in the early 1990s. It was very quickly co-opted however by [former President Daniel arap] Moi, by different elements within the regime, to act during times of elections and political organizing. The problem is what you do with a group that's armed, that's trained, once you no longer need them for political purposes. They then took on the form of a protection racquet or mafia within low-income areas of Nairobi and other cities, basically providing protection to citizens and business people within these areas for a fee.

The third form of violence that we saw was the really extraordinary use of force... in trying to contain the protests... largely in Nyanza Province, where most of the deaths that have occurred have been through extra-judicial killings. There's been a very uneven pattern of police response [to protest]... a very heavy deployment around Nairobi in Uhuru Park, where they were trying to prevent ODM [the opposition Orange Democratic Movement] from mobilizing their rallies. Very insufficient security was provided to IDPs [internally displaced persons] and... extreme [police] presence in the stronghold of ODM.
The fourth form of violence is more recent and it has to do with a kind of communal response to the return of IDPs - people hearing their stories, then getting incensed and organizing revenge or retributive attacks on minority communities in the Central and Nairobi areas.

On economic sabotage:

Now the militia that was active in the Rift seems to really have shifted its activity to economic sabotage. They’ve blown up bridges that would connect the transit trade from the [coast] into Uganda; they've blocked the border. They’re allowing people but not goods, services, [or] oil to get through. And obviously the Rift valley is our agricultural breadbasket and the harvest has totally been lost.

Meanwhile, the militia coming out from Central to meet this group are not just carrying out revenge cleansing, they are also... as you leave ethnically homogeneous groups behind, resorting to protection activities. The Kikuyu, for instance, in Central, who have tried to harbor people from other communities, are being forced to pay protection fees for that. But [now] even if they're not harboring anyone, they are having to pay protection fees. So there's an upsurge of that kind of criminality, now outside of the low income areas where it used to be contained.

On police harassment:

With respect to the extraordinary use of force by the police, that seems to have shifted to harassment of human rights defenders, so far... intimidation more than anything else. But there's clearly cooperation between them and a higher level of organized activity or professional activity among the militia.

It’s a very complicated kind of situation, but it is for the most part organized and that's the important point to get across. Most Kenyans, left to their own devices, even though they may be upset and polarized over the election results, would not resort to hacking their neighbors to death. We’ve heard too many stories of people from across communities either providing security or trying to organizing safe passage [for those under threat] to allow us to buy into the myth that Kenyans have ended up descending into our primal ethnic selves.

There are very high levels of organized propaganda, to which people are, I think, responding out of a genuine fear and alarm, not realizing that they are playing into ideas that are being created about this myth of descent into civil war. [It] could happen, but if it did happen it wouldn't be because we descended into it of our own accord, it would be because [some forces] intended to do that.

On the international mediation of the crisis:

The mediation is extremely critical... We hold to our position about [Mwai] Kibaki being in office illegitimately and illegally, not so much at this point in time [to say] that Raila [Odinga] should come in but just... [for Kibaki] to recognize [his]... illegitimacy... and... that even were he legitimate, we have a country that is politically divided 50-50.

In terms of effective governance, in the sense of control over territory, PNU (Kibaki’s Party of National Unity] essentially controls Nairobi and Central province, ODM (Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement] controls everything from Nairobi to the coast, including our port, and everything from Nakuru West, right up to the border. ODM also controls parliament, despite the killings of two of their parliamentarians recently.

In that kind of situation it's ridiculous to try and hold on to power at all costs. Some sort of power sharing agreement has to be reached, but not power-sharing in the sense that PNU has presented it. They have presented it as if they are legitimate, they are in charge, and if they give power-sharing it will be a matter of one or two cabinet seats. That can't work. It can't work in the sense of long-term preparations for [the] 2012 [election].

But it also can't work in terms of the economy. We all know what it was like to go through the period of 1997 to 2002 where, with the threat of the Moi succession hanging over our head, nothing happened... We went into decline.

On reforms:

What we need is an interim power-sharing transitional arrangement in which several things get done. First, obviously, electoral reform, based on what we have called for - an independent audit and investigation into the counting and tallying of the presidential vote to let the whole country see what happened and regardless of the outcome, just to lay that matter to rest except in the sense that it would inform revision of our electoral process.

Second is constitutional reform, particularly around powers of the presidency.
Third would be the beginning of real processes of addressing historical grievances and inequalities and so on.

Fourth would be resettlement and re-enfranchisement of the IDPs.

We think that all of that can happen in a maximum of two years and we need a re-run [election]... The real sticking point is the PNU accepting that there was a problem with electoral fraud. We think that everything that can be done to keep PNU at the table should be done and that would include continually questioning their legitimacy and legality.

On threats to human rights defenders:

Several things have happened. First we received information from four different sources within the police and within intelligence that all of us involved in this coalition that is stressing electoral truth as well as justice around violence were targeted in one way or another and particularly Maina Kiai [chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights]... We all took precautions... Whatever is done will obviously be made to look like ordinary criminality so [we are] careful driving alone, being alone, especially at night, [and with] security in our houses, that sort of thing.

Secondly, when we were releasing our electoral findings, which was meant to be to a closed media briefing... the meeting kept getting flooded by all these young men [from the Kibaki camp], which was a bit intimidating because we did not know what would happen. We alerted hotel security, but then hotel security as it turned out had already been alerted by the police. The place was surrounded by police – it was just an intimidation effort basically. There were people supposedly from the IDP camps protesting outside, you know, calling Maina Kiai, “msaliti, msaliti,” which means “traitor, traitor” because he happens to be Kikuyu, the same ethnicity as the president. The hotel we were at is only a few meters from Uhuru Park, where people weren't allowed to demonstrate but [here] other people clearly were.

Then when we were leaving, there was this heavy [police] presence checking every car supposedly for guns. It was ridiculous, as if any of us would carry arms. Then some of us felt we had been followed. So that was alarming but again it seemed to be an overt kind of intimidation rather than anything else.
[Thirdly] a list was released of supposedly Kikuyu traitors that included many of us, saying we should be targeted in the way Mau Mau targeted traitors during the independence struggle. The implication was that we have not been concerned about the violence – about our own people bearing the brunt of the initial militia attacks – and we are targeting this man who is supposedly our president and representative of our interests. That was scary because we were named and these groups operate outside the law. So that was probably the most disturbing thing.

[Most recently] somebody, purportedly from the General Services Unit, which is a paramilitary unit used for riot control, called the office, asking for a list of names of everyone who had ever provided training for the police and the GSU – supposedly to give us back-paid benefits. Of course the deputy director refused to give the list, and said if they wanted the list they could check their own visitors’ book. They insisted, referred him to someone who was supposedly higher up, and he still refused. Ten minutes later a policeman in uniform on a motorbike was at the office to collect the list.

None of the other organizations that provide human rights training to the police force had this request made of them. Also, in Kenya, the only people who use motorbikes are the traffic police and the presidential escort, so we actually believe this wasn't from the GSU, it was from presidential security somehow.
That is very alarming because in situations like this when security services are polarized, you don't know who is commanding what and what is coming through what kind of controls. Our belief is that NCIS, the intelligence service, knows exactly what we're doing. There is nothing illegal or threatening or seditious about what we're doing. It's what we always do. But it's doubtful whether NCIS's intelligence is being used to inform decisions that are being taken around a situation that is so highly polarized.

On what concerned outsiders can do:

Raise questions with your own governments about non-recognition of the Kibaki government,  about travel bans for people, particularly on the PNU side, about asset freezes, on both sides but particularly on the PNU side, mainly to keep people at the table. People have to realize this is serious, it's not going to die away, and for us this mediation has to work.

Also make it very clear to protagonists within the state, not just in the political parties but in relevant ministries, that the protection of people is critical: from IDPs to human rights monitors on the ground, to leadership of the human rights movement and of the media. You can't have people being exterminated or intimidated just because they are doing their work in a legal fashion.

*L. Muthoni Wanyeki, is the executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission. This interview was conducted by AllAfrica.com and first appeared at: http://allafrica.com/stories/200802120531.html

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

The Long Road to Democracy II

2008-02-12

In a follow up to her pre-election piece on Kenya, Wangui Wa Goro looks at the various ways democratic institutions have been challenged and charts a way forward.

On December, I wrote a piece for Pambazuka News reflecting on the pending elections entitled THE LONG ROAD TO DEMOCRACY. As in the 2002 elections, I was wary that Kenyans would be taken for a ride again.

It is chilling how soon the almost prophetic words I wrote came into play, not for the reasons that I had anticipated, in relation to people exercising their right to vote, but in what happened in the aftermath of what was an impressive election turnout. The inconclusive electoral process, particularly the tallying of the presidential elections and the subsequent violence, loss of life, damage to property, the fleeing of many Kenyans, the near collapse of the state and the fragile thread by which the state institutions are still held have left Kenyans and the world in deep shock because many did not anticipate such contested outcome and of that scale. The fabric of what has held society together has ripped severely in several places and in some places, very badly.

Kenya has been very lucky that the call to the international community was heeded through the intervention of the institutions and governments such as the Africa Union, the United Nations, the European Union, the United States of America, Canada and Britain amongst others. This responses has included His imminence Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former African heads of States, President Kuffour of Ghana and then head of the AU, Jendayi Fraser, US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs and the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki Moon and Kofi Anan, former Secretary General of the UN, the East African Community, and many other governments, institutions, organisations and individuals who wish Kenya well, including many Kenyans. It would be very impervious leaders who would fail to notice the depth which the Kenya is in, nor should they fail to heed its urgency and the importance that Kenyans and the international community are attaching to its resolution because we all know that if it spirals out of control, it will be a intractable as the last few weeks have demonstrated.

Many critics and observers, journalists including, members of the Kenyan and international civil society and many human rights activists, academic, scholars and several individuals have come out strongly to state that the current crisis in Kenya has long roots which date back to the colonial and post colonial era and should not be simplified to “tribal warfare” which it clearly is not. They observe that the electoral crisis has unearthed these simmering ills for several reasons including political manipulation, as well as genuine pent up frustration and anger over long festering hurts as well as outrage at the electoral crisis and the ensuing turmoil which has left Kenya in an unresolved situation where there is no clarity as to where power lies. Key to this is an outmoded constitution, a catalogue of violations including economic and human rights violations which although widely debated has not been resolved. Other concerns include real and perceived inequality and marginalisation, discrimination and the breakdown of the rule of law and mechanisms of democratic accountability.


As many have pointed out some of the key urgent issues include the finalising the constitutional review, entrenching multiparty democracy, equality, fair and proportional representation, equal opportunity and access to services, goods and resources, protection of the citizen and fundamental rights, intercultural understanding and the issue of devolution of power amongst others. For instance, on the land issues, the Rift valley crisis in the 1992 – 1998 left many people homeless and many others dead. During this time, over 1500 people lost their lives and over 300,000 people displaced including internally and internationally. Many of these people have never been able to return to their homes and this issue has never been dealt with conclusively despite the production of the several reports with strong recommendations which have been left collecting dust. Similarly are issues of corruption and human rights violations. The international community too undertook considerable amounts of work on these issues so Kenya does not need to go to the drawing board on it. Others issues of concern include the past violations of human rights, gross inequalities and discrimination such as that of women who over several years have been considered as unequal citizens and worse, they continue to suffer various forms of discrimination and violence, including sexual violence which has now extended to the public sphere and is also being used as a political weapon including against boys and men. Many communities in Kenya also feel marginalised and therefore the question of devolution of power and resources is one which must be addressed as a matter of urgency as much as the cultures which allow such impressions for form. Most important, however, at present, is how we move out of the immediate crisis.


As can be seen, the question of how Kenya is to get out of the crisis is one which is occupying most Kenyans and the world and resolution needs to be found sooner rather than later as it may be too late. Some of those concerned, including the UN and its members, the AU, Kofi Anan and his team of imminent mediators Graca Marcel and Benjamin Mkapa and others such as the civil society and the business community agree that some of the issues require short term solution and others a longer term solution.

The immediate concerns include resolving the question of peace, dealing with the humanitarian crisis, the electoral crisis, which has unfolded leaving over 1000 people dead and over between 300000 and 600000 people displaced. The country has also come to a standstill and normal life such as economic engagement, medical treatment, schooling etc. have become impossible and these need to be resolved urgently.

The longer term issues include resolving the constitutional issue, the distribution of resources, including land distribution, issues of poverty, inequality and justice and the processes and mechanisms for achieving these. It has also become abundantly clear that confidence in the key institutions that uphold democracy including the presidency, the Parliament, the Judicial System, and the Executive has taken a hard knock and this will have to be rebuilt through demonstration.

The question of how to deal with past injustices which has led to the disquiet and loss of life, including human rights violations has become a significant one. Further, the role of the state institutions in safeguarding the constitution, protecting Kenyans and upholding the rule of law and justice have emerged as areas of weakness.

In terms of the political mandate, Kenyans have come a long way in winning multiparty politics as a mode of expression of political will and it is one which many will want to safe-guard. Multipartism was touted as the model for democracy but this has not proven to be helpful on its own without clear reforms of the powers of the presidency, the constitution and the supremacy and independence of the key institutions of governance and state management including the Judiciary, the Executive and the Parliament. Therefore, most people are agreed that new constitution needs to be put into place urgently. One way that has been suggested is the formation of a transitional coalition government to allow the key processes and mechanism to be put into place before fresh elections can be held. So far, this has been talked about in terms of parliament and the current political players.

Many are weary, however, owing to past failures of power sharing in the post 2002 elections and the fact that the key players are the same ones, Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki. This has cost Kenya several years and the current crisis has only exacerbated our impatience. It does seem that the idea of a coalition government of National Unity is seen as unsatisfactory in the long run as it leaves the question about the presidential election outcomes unanswered and therefore the question of trust. The hope is that this matter will be addressed squarely.

Kenyans have fought long and hard to break the deadlock of single party rule which led to dictatorships (in most of Africa and Kenya was no exception) in the belief that oppositional politics would enable accountability. It seems clear that a model or method which is acceptable to Kenyans needs to be found to place the instruments of democracy on a right footing so that we do not become appendages to any individual or party. The legacies of dictatorship still abound and Kenya has been dogged by inequality, corruption, lack of accountability, transparency and fair meting out of justice. For instance, at present, only the president has the powers to open, prorogue, recess or close parliament. This has shown that social practice is difficult to break without explicit expression, training and commitment to transform society from the bottom to the top and vice versa and without mechanisms for accountability to the people. The importance of the institutions and mechanisms which enable a healthy societal engagement in the democratic process is therefore critical including the fundamental rights of assembly, representation, association, life and freedom of expression.

The Kofi Anan led mediation is pointing to the importance of institutionalising democracy rather than leaving it as a promise of words on paper. This he is doing through placing the mediation process for endorsement and deliberations to Parliament as the appropriate arm empowered by the constitution to do so on behalf of Kenyans.

Many are calling for a transitional government of national unity to see through some of these processes by bringing together the various parties to work in what is called as a grand coalition, in a departure from the traditional model of looser takes all, given the current crisis. This power sharing may be useful if it is accepted with honesty and transparency and if it is allowed to tap into dialogue and consultation with the ordinary mwananchi either through their elected representatives through a broader coalition or through other fora. It will also need to takes advice from others who are experienced or those who may have insights into how the process can work through neutral or independent positions such as Kofi Anan and the imminent persons group and other international independent bodies such as the UN. Many hope that their involvement will continue through the transitional phase and beyond.

As well as the dialogues taking place, Kenya does have several instruments which can be used in search of justice and peace. Since the discussions of power sharing came up with the drafting of the new constitution and also the power sharing arrangements that were anticipated after the elections in 2002, many Kenyans are concerned that positions should not be created to appease individuals and that unprincipled peace which covers up crisis whether corruption, human rights violations or electoral crisis without resolution should not be sought. The critics argue that constitutional matters are for the country not for individuals or parties. However, these should not be so binding that people’s attainment of democracy is held to ransom and therefore the flexibility introduced by the mediation mechanism, underpinned by international support is important.

The use of existing instruments such as the Electoral Commission, the Courts and Parliament should not be selective and where these need strengthening, this is the opportunity to do so. These can be strengthened to function to acceptable standards for instance, the courts, the electoral commission, parliamentary representatives, the police and armed forces and the citizens themselves though tighter regulation, monitoring and evaluation . As Maina Kiai pointed out in a recent interview, for instance, in relation to the police: “The police have always been a problem in Kenya because they're colonial police. They were structured by the colonial regime not to be a police force to fight crime, but to repress the population against standing up against the colonial government”.

In another instance of selectivity, some have argued that if local elections are being run as the regime in power has proposed, then it should be possible to use the process to resolve the presidential election gridlock. Other instruments available to the citizens include the referendum, should the parties fail to agree on fundamental issues. The transition can also be buoyed by existing and new mechanisms such as a recall of BOMAS or a reconstituted BOMAS (body involved in the constitutional review ) or even a National Convention as some have suggested. Kenya is also a signatory member to many international instruments and so international support can be sought to ensure that Kenya stays within universally accepted mandates and standards.


Much hope is therefore pinned on the success of the negotiations which are taking place, although many are sceptical about the good will with which the parties have entered the negotiations and their capacity for staying power once the mediators have left. Kenya as a long history of betrayed promises and the danger is that if these talks and their outcomes fail, Kenyans will take the law into their own hands and there may be no turning back. Peace and fundamental freedoms such as the right to life, the freedom of association, the freedom of assembly etc. need to be restored and protected so they are not withdrawn at will just because they do not suit one party or the other.

Over and above these, there have been calls for a Truth and Conciliation mechanism which would allow the past ills to be addressed. This has to be worked out carefully because many fear that such a process could come with impunity, take too much time and may not in itself finally resolve the issues satisfactorily, particularly where a constitution and legal system have been violated.

Most people are however, agreed, that whatever happens at all levels of society needs to happen quickly and it is useful to see that the Kofi Anan initiative is placing a programmed agenda on the table, because as cynics fear, left to the various parties, they may continue serving their own vested interest to the detriment of processes and peace in such a volatile context.

Many are asking what the international community can do and here too, schisms have opened up because some of the failures point to the kinds of relationships that Kenya has had with the some members of the international community. It is therefore important that the international community continues reading from the same script and applying the same measures by working together on the basic issues and within acceptable international frameworks. Beyond the immediate goodwill in the humanitarian and democratisation process, here too, deep questions about the real kinds of relationships that Kenya has had with the some in the international community need to be examined and transformed. It is clear that some of the past injustices have taken place with the knowledge and sometimes connivance and complicity of the international community and this need not continue. All it will do is continue to harm Kenya’s chance for peace and jeopardize those common interests which are claimed by those players. A forward looking robust agenda which engages Kenya as a partner would greatly assist the processes on the ground because it would send the message that Kenyans are worthy global citizens like any other citizens of the world with equal right to fundamental rights. Different standards have been applied to Kenyans, Africans and many in the developing world and this has got to stop.

As ordinary Kenyans, we too have deep soul searching and facing up to do and it will not be easy or pain free. We should be brave and face our demons together and find ways of laying them to rest. We have in the past opted for denial and this has now exploded in our faces. Only when we face ourselves individually and collectively, that is assuming that most of us want to, can peace, truth and justice prevail.


* Dr. Wangui wa Goro: Kenyan human rights activist, writer, translator, academic and public intellectual. Currently Associate Fellow at the Institute of Human Rights and Social Justice; London Metropolitan University.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Kenya - 45 Years too Long

2008-02-05

Philip Kiarie

For Philip Kiarie it has been 45 years too long waiting for justice.

In the run-up to the 2007 General Elections I came across a ghastly hate email against the ODM leader, written and undersigned by the son of a (re-elected) hardline minister. The same minister is widely seen as being associated with Mungiki. This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the inferiority of leadership in Kenya is concerned.

Deep inside, many Kenyans are aware of the repulsive character of their leaders. The high turnover of ministers and MPs at the just concluded General Election is a pointer. However, devoid of much choice, Kenyans have become used to, and have all along been hoodwinked by a class of leaders – not only political figures, but also religious, cultural, and some intellectual leaders, who insist they have an inalienable right to their positions and to the shameless self-allocated perks and mheshimiwa culture that come along. Their obsessive interests are limited to positions, wealth and the preferably frantic support from ethnic constituencies.

Many of these leaders have managed to hang on since independence. Others, who joined later (and I would love to name them all), have seamlessly fitted themselves into these mafia networks and completely belied past civic engagements and relatively sober reputations. Thirty years ago, I was convinced that the country had the ingredients and potential to emulate the Asian Tiger economies. This was before I had understood the Moi regime and the dismal characters that hovered around him and managed to survive until today, now glued to the Kibaki regime and sometimes also sitting tight in ODM. These people have never walked their talk.

They had 45 years to address the burning land question in the country, but all they did was to steal and acquire huge tracts of land for themselves.

They had 45 years to find innovative and affordable housing solutions for the majority of poor Kenyans, but all they did was building preposterous and huge mansions for themselves in mashambani and in town and becoming greedy landlords for dozens if not hundreds of tenants.

They had 45 years to address safe, affordable and reliable public transport, but all they did was showing off their fleets of latest models of Mercedes and four-wheel drives. While the country burns, more than 50 new MPs had nothing better to do than converting their fat car loans into luxury cars at various outlets in Industrial Area.

They had 45 years to establish effective, efficient, independent and robust institutions, but all they did was running them down, stealing from them, and using them for job nepotism and for political expediency.

They had 45 years to devise pro-active anti-poverty programmes, but all they did was show-time strategies, sweet-talk, playing with donors, and despising the poor as if they were rats in the garbage.

They had 45 years to establish a competent, impartial and reliable Police Force, but all they did was corrupting the Force as an armed wing of the ruling party and promoting gangs-for-hire, which they turn into ethnic militias when they feel embattled.

They had 45 years to produce good infrastructure and services – roads, water, electricity, and communications -, and all they did was fraternising with cowboy contractors, and grossly mismanaging the sector to their own narrow benefits.

They had 45 years to establish a world-class education system in Kenya, but all they did was giving Kenyans sub-standard free primary school after 40 years of waiting, while their own offspring study in expensive private establishments, preferably overseas.

They had 45 years to establish inclusive primary health care and preventive measures, but all they did was relying on churches and NGOs and let people die if they could not pay, while enjoying first class services by ‘private’ doctors and hospitals for themselves.

They had 45 years to prove to Kenyans that they are all equal in their aspirations, opportunities, human rights and cultural traditions, but all they did was to protect – at any cost as we now see – a resented Kikuyu-dominated hegemony and the selected rich from other tribes they need to spread their tentacles all over the country, while regional disparities and abject poverty (including among ordinary Kikuyus) continue to pester.

They had 45 years to respect and promote freedom and democratic rights, but all they did was keeping their flocks in bondage in order to control them in the pursuit of selfish interests and to issue death threats to heroes like Githongo, Maina Kiai, Muthoni Wanyeki, David Ndii and others.

They had 45 years to make Kenya a prosperous, proud and peaceful nation, but all they did was giving Kenyans the breadcrumbs from their tables – a classroom here, a dispensary there, a water-point, a piece of road, a sack of maize…and piga makofi.

They had 45 years to live the way they pretend in Sunday church, but all they did was to throw ethics, humility, compassion, and justice over board. With the second MP having been killed within a week, we can now take it as confirmed that since 1963 the Kenya leadership has never excluded outright liars and killers.

The assassinations of Pio Gama Pinto, Tom Mboya, G.M. Kariuki, Alexander Muge, Robert Ouko and many others were all based on the same script: To defend an entrenched Mafia hegemony. They are those, who right now do not want the Kofi Annan mediation to succeed and sit tight in and around State House, those, who don’t mind burning more of their flock, those who cling to their extremist stands and allow hate messages to circulate and protect their vernacular ‘Mille Collines’ radios, those who allow parochialism to erase better judgement, those who have completely lost semblance of human beings.

It is time for the still sober but shocked Kenyan citizens to stop their helpless praying or gently laying flowers at freedom corner. They should in their millions march to State House and stay there peacefully until the mayhem ends and the culprits are brought to The Hague. The tragedy is that this won’t happen.

*Philip Kiarie initially wrote this as a letter to the editor.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Beyond the Politics of Polarization in Kenya

2008-02-12

Tim Murithi

Through an unexpected confluence of events Kenyans currently find themselves faced with a political conundrum. The spectacular abdication of responsibility by the Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), Mr. Samuel Kiviutu, has perpetuated a general sense of confusion, anxiety, anger, hatred and ultimately violence. The fact that Mr. Kivuitu has cast doubt on the final tally of the Kenyan presidential vote, held on 27 December 2007, means that the country is no longer faced with a situation that can be resolved through adjudication and arbitration by national judicial institutions, since they tend to favor the status quo. The situation now demands a process of political dialogue that should be conducted through negotiations, including at the very minimum, the Party of National Unity (PNU), the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), and the Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya (ODM-Kenya). These negotiations should be assisted by Pan-African and international mediation in the form of African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN). The recent intervention by Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a welcome step in the right direction. On 4 January 2008, Tutu indicated that the incumbent and self-declared President Mwai Kibaki of the PNU would be prepared to explore the establishment of a coalition government...

* For the essay, please visit:
Through an unexpected confluence of events Kenyans currently find themselves faced with a political conundrum. The spectacular abdication of responsibility by the Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), Mr. Samuel Kiviutu, has perpetuated a general sense of confusion, anxiety, anger, hatred and ultimately violence. The fact that Mr. Kivuitu has cast doubt on the final tally of the Kenyan presidential vote, held on 27 December 2007, means that the country is no longer faced with a situation that can be resolved through adjudication and arbitration by national judicial institutions, since they tend to favor the status quo. The situation now demands a process of political dialogue that should be conducted through negotiations, including at the very minimum, the Party of National Unity (PNU), the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), and the Orange Democratic Movement – Kenya (ODM-Kenya). These negotiations should be assisted by Pan-African and international mediation in the form of African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN). The recent intervention by Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a welcome step in the right direction. On 4 January 2008, Tutu indicated that the incumbent and self-declared President Mwai Kibaki of the PNU would be prepared to explore the establishment of a coalition government.

One element that manifests the desire of the majority of Kenyans to transcend the current impasse is the widespread call for peace by Kenyan citizens in civil society, private enterprise, ecumenical groups, and professional associations. Ultimately, the responsibility for the current situation in the country falls squarely on the shoulders of Kenyans, who are after all engaged in violent confrontation with their compatriots. The responsibility for resolving the current situation also rests squarely on the shoulders of Kenyans.
The tragedy of Kenya’s situation is that the seeds of dissension that are manifesting today as the sprouting of violence were sown in the very fabric of the post-colonial nation-state, when the country inherited its current constitution, system of government and its electoral system from the former British colonial administration. Successive Kenyan leaders did not appreciate the necessity or did not see the long-term political expediency of changing and transforming the way in which political power is centralized in what is in effect an imperial and exceptionally powerful presidency. As a consequence the stakes in terms of controlling the presidency are inappropriately high. Since independence in 1963, three of Kenya’s post-colonial presidents have come from only two ethnic groups, the Kikuyu and Kalenjin. It therefore goes without saying that the remaining 40 ethnic groups, out of Kenya’s total of 42 ethnic groups, have a just basis upon which to feel indignant and impatient to take over the mantel of presidential power.

The fundamental problem with the system of government and elections in Kenya is that even though a minority of ethnic groups succeed in capturing state power it will not alter the essential sense of exclusion that other groups will undoubtedly feel. In his book The Wretched of the Earth published in 1961 the Pan-Africanist thinker Frantz Fanon warned the post-colonial African states that were created held within their design all the seeds of a divisive and ultimately violent future for African people and societies. Fanon was observing the process of decolonization as it unfolded in the early 1960’s and noted that the political parties which had taken over control from the colonial powers were in fact strongholds for ethnic group power. Fanon observed that the typical political party ‘which of its own will proclaim that it is a national party, and which claims to speak in the name of the totality of the people, secretly, sometimes even openly organizes an authentic ethnical dictatorship’. He argued that after such political parties captured state power they would seek to maintain and extend their power and dominion over other groups within states, or enter into alliances with a few select ethnic groups to consolidate their position. Fanon goes on to note that ‘this tribalizing of the central authority, it is certain, encourages regionalist ideas and separatism. All the decentralizing tendencies spring up again and triumph, and the nation falls to pieces, broken in bits’.

Fanon was prophetic in his analysis written in 1961. What he describes, and more, has come to pass in Africa notably in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Côte d’ivoire, the Sudan and is today threatening Kenya. The fact that Fanon wrote this 46 years ago even before Kenya was independent is a testimony to his prophetic understanding of the challenge of governing the post-colonial African nation-state without altering how power is configured. Historically the process of decolonization left behind an arbitrary logic of statehood which has sown the seeds of the current instability and ‘ungovernability’ of several African states. Most of the existing boundaries were drawn by colonial administrations without regard for, or knowledge of, pre-existing indigenous or cultural social political groupings. This arbitrary division of community created, and continues to sustain, the potential for tension and it also contributes toward the cycles of violence which plague a number of African countries.

Today, Kenyans are experiencing a country that Fanon predicted and described 46 years ago. The degree of ethnic animosity has been fuelled by years of misrule, economic mismanagement, and corruption. Effectively, the politics of polarization in Kenya today have become manifest through the tragic confluence of this legacy, the deep seated sense of being aggrieved politically among some ethnic groups, a restless and anxious populace, and the failure by the ECK to fulfill its effectively mandate. In terms of the way forward it is self-evident that political negotiations between Kenyan political parties is a vital first step. These parties need to commit themselves to preventing the further escalation of violent conflict and outlining a roadmap for restoring stability to the country. This process would be more effective through international mediation because domestic actors will not be seen as impartial. Some have suggested that an independent audit of the presidential votes may resolve the situation however this will only partially address the core issue of how to govern the country in a way that does not perpetuate the dominance of one ethnic group or groups. In the immediate short-term a governing framework that promotes power-sharing would begin to address this core issue. Even if elections were held again in the next few months the fundamental problem of how the country is governed will not be addressed. In the medium- to long-term a fundamental restructuring of the configuration and distribution of state power in Kenya is absolutely vital for its continued survival. The imperial presidency has to be gradually dismantled and replaced with a system of devolved power to the regions to eliminate the vicious cycle of competitive ‘winner-takes-all’ politics which is threatening to tear Kenya apart.

*Dr. Tim Murithi, is a Senior Analyst with the Institute for Security Studies and author of The African Union: Pan-Africanism, Peacebuilding and Development published by Ashgate.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

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A 'third' force for peace in Kenya

2008-02-12

Binyavanga Wainaina

Things are calmer in much of Kenya after a week of national hell. In Kibera, Kangemi, Dandora and all the burning slums, people are trying to get back to work and to find food. The roads in and out of Eldoret are open now -- although it is there, and in other parts of the Rift Valley, where things remain volatile.

A “third force” for peace is gathering around honest brokers like ambassador Bethwell Kiplagat, a gentle man of great empathy and intellect, trusted by all in Kenya; retired general Opande -- known in military circles around the world as a formidable UN peacekeeper; and retired general Sumbeiwo, a man of honour, trusted as a mediator by both sides in the Sudan conflict. At times like this these three men are the most valuable real estate in Kenya.

For the full article, please visit:
Things are calmer in much of Kenya after a week of national hell. In Kibera, Kangemi, Dandora and all the burning slums, people are trying to get back to work and to find food. The roads in and out of Eldoret are open now -- although it is there, and in other parts of the Rift Valley, where things remain volatile.

A “third force” for peace is gathering around honest brokers like ambassador Bethwell Kiplagat, a gentle man of great empathy and intellect, trusted by all in Kenya; retired general Opande -- known in military circles around the world as a formidable UN peacekeeper; and retired general Sumbeiwo, a man of honour, trusted as a mediator by both sides in the Sudan conflict. At times like this these three men are the most valuable real estate in Kenya.

While world attention is focused now on the role of such mediators and high-level political talks -- or the lack thereof -- I want to focus this column on Kenyan society. Specifically, how ethnicity manifests itself in our country, drawing from my own experiences.

I attended Mangu High School. It was a school for nerds -- maths geniuses, all of us shabby; dirty, actually. The school gate never closed and there were snakes and fist-sized spiders everywhere. In the 1970s the Jesuits moved the school to a larger patch of land but, when the government took over, the building stopped and for 20 years we occupied a half-built school.

But it was and is a special school. The motto was not in Latin like the more pretentious former missionary schools. Our motto was Jishinde ushinde -- your battle is with yourself. It was a libertarian school: teachers left you alone, but the student ethic was, “you came alone with your box”.

Our exam results were often spectacular, especially in the sciences. One year we had 13 out of 14 As in advanced biology. Every year we took a third of the places in the medical school at the University of Nairobi. In 1988 we broke a national record and sent all our candidates to university.

Mangu got students from all over Kenya. Schools like this throughout the country produce a pan-Kenyan elite. Old and enduring friendships are made.

The two dominant communities at Mangu were Luo and Gikuyu. The school itself was in Gikuyuland. As it has always been in Kenya, there was no animosity in the personal relationships between people from different communities.

But there were larger political differences. The Romogi Students’ Union, a Luo organisation, was a fierce and emotional human-rights style students’ organisation. It would lobby for the rights of Luo students and had no problem organising and striking to effect these rights. The leadership was composed always of the most brilliant Luo students.

Whenever they “rioted”, as we put it rather dramatically, there was a clarity of high purpose that would whip them all into one body -- and behind these songs you could hear the national wounds: the death of Tom Mboya; the terrible Kenyatta years where Luo Nyanza was ignored by the government; the detention of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga -- Raila’s father.

There were a few Gikuyu district student organisations, but none with any real organising power. The Gikuyu students, libertarian in sensibility and a majority in numbers, had informal leaders -- mostly people who showed pragmatism.

Kanyenje Gakombe was one: he was a scout, had a great friendship with the headmaster and made piles of cash selling quarter loaves of bread in the dining hall. He had no title, headed no organisation that represented Gikuyu interests, but it was known that he was a man to talk to. He made things work and adjusted his politics accordingly.

Kanyenje shared a study with Nonkwe Nyaima Manyanki. They were best friends. Manyanki was a performance poet, a brilliant thinker and the bravest man in school. He had no tolerance for dishonesty and could face down the entire administration -- and our administration was quite dodgy.

As a junior I served them both. Made tea and kept them happy.

Manyanki is the most influential person in my own political ethic and in the idea of truth I was to seek as a writer. I admired his refusal to allow the low standards and petty brutality of our schooling system to be his status quo.

At some point, for fear that the Ramogi Students’ Union would start to infect the rest of us, all “cultural organisations” were banned. We are all Kenyans, we were told.

Behind this was also the fear of a force that could overwhelm with its passion. It could carry you far ahead of yourself, make you towering and triumphant. Maybe, we would speculate, it would take on a slightly negative ethnic flavour, whipped up by passion, and soon we would see the school brawling in the parade, in front of the flag, and our hidden ugliness would be exposed.

This being Kenya, it never grew strong enough for us to find out.

*Binyavanga Wainaina is a member of Concerned Writers for Kenya, a coalition of Kenyan writers for peace and sanity. This article first appeared in the Mail and Guardian.

*Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

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Class and Kinship in Kenya's Killing Fields

2008-02-12

Oduor Ong’wen

It is easy – indeed tempting – to dismiss the violence that has engulfed Kenya in the last one month as an unfortunate, though not totally unexpected, resurgence of African atavist ontological disposition. Many analysts, particularly in the West, have argued that even though the breach of peace and mutual existence was triggered off by the stealing of the presidential election by the incumbent, what followed had nothing to do with electoral fraud in particular and politics in general, but an excuse by neighbours who have lived in an artificial harmony while harbouring pathological disdain for each other based on petty nationalism to settle scores with each other. This could be true. But only partially. The stark reality is that the crisis in Kenya has exposed the class tensions that have been peppered over for over more than one hundred years.

For full essay, please visit:
It is easy – indeed tempting – to dismiss the violence that has engulfed Kenya in the last one month as an unfortunate, though not totally unexpected, resurgence of African atavist ontological disposition. Many analysts, particularly in the West, have argued that even though the breach of peace and mutual existence was triggered off by the stealing of the presidential election by the incumbent, what followed had nothing to do with electoral fraud in particular and politics in general, but an excuse by neighbours who have lived in an artificial harmony while harbouring pathological disdain for each other based on petty nationalism to settle scores with each other. This could be true. But only partially. The stark reality is that the crisis in Kenya has exposed the class tensions that have been peppered over for over more than one hundred years.

In May 2000, The Economist newsmagazine treated the world to an edition with a picture of a young man uneasily holding a rocket propelled grenade launcher, commonly known to guerrillas only as RPG, on his shoulder. His picture filled the whole map of Africa accompanied by the issue’s title: ‘The Hopeless Continent’. With this one stark phrase, all of us Africans, from diligent farmers along the Nile Delta to cattle breeders in Botswana, from dutiful fisher folks around Lake Victoria’s Kano Plains to merchants at Nigeria’s Kano Market, were summarised and relegated from the ranks of civilised humanity to one single, dishonourable reality: self-destruction.

The same publication admitted in one of its January 2008 editions that Kenya represented hope for Africa. What hope? Sadly, this hope was equated with a vibrant Stock Exchange, fast food outlets in every corner of central Nairobi, thriving casinos, manicured golf courses and booming tourist industry. Ignored were the facts that two-thirds of Nairobi residents occupied only eight percent of the city’s land, living in informal settlements; that more than 63 per cent of Kenya’s urban population had no access to clean water; that two out of every three Kenyans survived on less than a dollar a day; and that a few own huge tracts of idle land while the number of squatters and landless labourers continue to swell.

Virtually bypassed by the benefits of prosperity and modernity that is enjoyed by the North, Africa survives and exists on the fringes of global economy and global politics. It is no wonder that while election observers from the European Union, the Commonwealth, the East African Community and the local observer team were in agreement that Kenya’s presidential elections were stolen, the West has insisted that this being Africa, the subversion of people’s will be ignored for ‘the sake of the country’s unity and stability.’ This is a euphemism for ‘our strategic interests, our investments, our holidays and safaris are more important than your democratic rights; so shut up, trust and obey.’

Once undisputedly regarded as the repository of culture, the cultures of African people are also fast being relegated to the margins as the MacDonald culture, fiercely promoted by the cinema and television, takes over. This erosion of Africa’s culture is being seen as a good thing – integrating Africa into the global society – that must be encouraged. However, this integration is not being accompanied by the material conditions that sustain such avarice and ostentation. No wonder in Kenya, like would happen elsewhere in Africa, when the protests erupted it was the fast food stores, video libraries, electronic shops and supermarkets that were first targeted in the urban centres. Among the rural communities, it was eviction of ‘foreigners’ from the land they occupied.

While most of the people in industrialised countries are affluent, most of the African people are impoverished, under-nourished, illiterate and without decent shelter and clothing. While the economies of industrialised countries of the North are strong and resilient – and therefore offering hope and security to the populations of these countries – those of Africa are mainly weak and vulnerable – and therefore offer nothing but despair and defencelessness to the African people. While the countries of the North are in control of their resources and destinies, those of the South, more so Africa, are vulnerable to external factors and lack in functional independence and sovereignty. This is the context in which we should understand the attachment to land in many African countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe. Ownership of land, however tiny, gives a sense of security and independence.

We can not contextualise the mayhem in Kenya without appreciating the Kenyan National Question. Kenyans are not polarised because they belong to different sub-nationalities. They are because they relate differently to the country’s resources and productive forces. At the centre of the National Question is land. It is instructive to observe that the epicentre of the clashes was the agriculturally-rich Rift Valley region. This was no accident. Rift Valley is the most settled region of Kenya. It is also in the Rift Valley where communities like the Maasai, the Pokot and the Nandi have unresolved grievances over land ownership centred on historical injustices traceable to colonial occupation.

It was in the Rift Valley where British settlers alienated huge tracts of land from indigenous Kenyans (paying a mere 10 cents per acre to the crown, not to the owners). It was in the Rift Valley where the Maasai community were duped into signing a 100-year agreement with the British in 1904 and denied a hearing by Kibaki’s government (a successor to the colonial administration) in 2004 when the agreement had elapsed. It is in the Rift Valley where the Pokot were forcefully pushed out of their communal land.

As the struggle for independence ensued and the colonial rule looked destined to a sad chapter of history, a new ruling class with interest in landed property was quickly recruited from amongst African collaborators. With the help of the colonial state, the new gentry quickly occupied land belonging to entire communities – that had been herded into detention camps and concentration villages – and were awarded titles by the colonial authorities. Upon the attainment of independence, the new rulers could not relinquish their claim to these lands but came up with a scheme of settling the new landless in former settler areas (which had been alienated through force or treachery). This led to non-acceptance of the large Kikuyu populations from Central Kenya settled among the Nandi, Maasai, Pokot and other communities in the Rift Valley. The area has since been a powder keg and this is not the first time it has erupted. Instances where the land issue in Rift Valley has threatened Kenya’s unity include early 1960s when a former legislator, Jean Marie Seroney, shook the country with what he called the Nandi Declaration calling for the region’s autonomy and expulsion of ‘foreigners’. Other major clashes over land occurred in 1991/92 in response to clamour for the re-introduction of pluralist politics, in 1997 and 1998. There have been similar land-related skirmishes along the Kenyan Coast, even though the history is slightly different from the Rift Valley.

Going back to the issue that triggered off the chain of ugly events – fraudulent presidential elections – is in order. The incumbent Mwai Kibaki was trailing Raila Odinga by more than one million votes according to the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) print out at 4:07 a.m. on December 29, 2008. The latter had 3, 734,972 votes against the incumbent’s 2, 269,612. It was at this stage that the ECK and Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) did a quick calculation and arrived at the number of votes to add to Kibaki’s credit and how much to debit from Odinga to enable the former catch up with and overtake his rival. That day, results that had apparently been received the previous day but their release held waiting the ‘opportune’ time were altered (sometimes more than once) and released to close the gap. Later in the day, the ECK announced results from 176 out the 210 constituencies placing Odinga at 4,046,010 votes ahead of Kibaki’s 3,760,233. Barely two hours later the Chair of ECK shocked the Kenyan nation when he announced results from 189 constituencies with Odinga leading with 3,880,053 votes against 3,842,051 for Kibaki. The art of counting backwards had been introduced!

Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party as well as various observer teams have detailed how the vote was stolen. What has not been talked about is why Odinga had to be stopped at all costs from assuming the presidency of the Republic of Kenya. It is safe to assume that if was any of his other five opponents that had won the elections, Kibaki would have no problem handing over to them – but not one Raila Amolo Odinga. The reasons for this may be found in the platform of his campaign and his personal history.

Odinga’s campaign was anchored on five planks: addressing economic and social inequalities; devolution of power and resources from the centre to the regions in the context of subsidiarity; eradication of corruption and administrative injustice; state provision of basic social services; and pursuit of a progressive Pan- Africanist and Foreign Policy. In a country where neo-liberal policies have found a very fertile ground, it was quite brave for Odinga to declare from the rooftops that he was social democrat and would faithfully pursue a social democratic agenda.

The first line of attack was that Odinga was trying to introduce communism through the back door. Scaring mongering that provision of free basic social services would mean increased taxation also did not wash. Kibaki’s supporters finally latched onto the pain factor – land. They demonised devolution of power as a recipe for dispossessing the Kikuyu people who had settled in the Rift Valley and elsewhere. This worked for members of the Kikuyu community but not other Kenyans. It is therefore not surprising that members of Kikuyu community from rural areas, regardless of whether they lived in their ancestral regions or not, voted for Kibaki to a person. Only young urbanised ones were able to see through this diversion.

But the biggest worry for the ruling elite was Odinga’s anti-corruption stance. On September 22, 2007, he declared that there would be no blanket amnesty for former heads of state and that both former President Daniel Arap Moi and Kibaki would be called to account personally for their improprieties. This announcement came barely two weeks after it had been exposed that Moi and his family had stolen public money to the tune of Kenya Shillings 130 billion (US$ 2 billion) and stashed offshore.

Wielding of or proximity to state power has been the main avenue of primitive accumulation in Kenya. All those who lay claim to being indigenous bourgeoisie in Kenya trace their wealth and status from state connections. On this score, concentration of power at the centre has been particularly beneficial. Odinga’s devolution, anti-inequality anti-corruption package was therefore seen by the captains of politics and industry as going against the natural order of things.

Odinga’s personality and history did not help him either. From the onset of the campaign, Odinga did not refer to himself as a candidate. He simply declared himself “The People’s President.” Odinga cannot claim membership among the proletariat. He is not a peasant either. Nor was his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. In fact, although born to a simple school teacher, Odinga grew in relative privilege as his father abandoned teaching when he was still in his early teens, built a business empire and quickly plunged into nationalist struggle for independence. Odinga Senior was so passionately anti-colonialism, anti-exploitation and charismatic that it was almost automatic for him to be named Kenya’s Vice President at independence.

The senior Odinga was anti-imperialist. During the struggle for independence, he opposed the exploitative economic system the colonialists had erected. The colonial government accused him of being a communist to which he retorted:’ “communism is like food to me.” He was quick to establish Kenya nationalist movement’s fraternal links with the then socialist bloc and as a result, many Kenyans benefited from educational scholarships. Among the beneficiaries was Raila Odinga, who studied mechanical engineering in the then German Democratic Republic.

But Raila Odinga began charting a path for himself much early in life. As a student in the then East Germany, he took the initiative to establish an international office of the opposition Kenya Peoples Union (KPU), a left-leaning opposition founded by progressive nationalists and headed by his father. He was later to be independently involved in a number of underground political initiatives, including the still-born Kenya African Socialist Alliance – the effort made Moi rush a law to parliament to make Kenya a de jure one-party state. But many Kenyans only came to know Raila when he was arrested after a 1982 abortive military coup against Moi’s government and charged with treason. The charges were withdrawn after six months due to lack of evidence but Moi went ahead to detain Odinga without trial. He was to stay behind bars for close to six years before he was released and detained again only five months later. In total, Odinga has served a total of nine years behind bars without trial and spent a stint in political exile.

Having failed to tame Odinga, Moi tried to work with him in a courtship that culminated in Odinga becoming the Secretary General of the then Moi-headed Kenya African National Union (KANU) party. Six months later, Odinga was out of the party and had taken with him the majority of the party’s stalwarts. KANU was left a shell that it still is. Odinga then teamed up with the then opposition chief Kibaki on a platform of change to hand KANU a humiliating electoral defeat. The change never arrived and less than three years down the road, Odinga had mobilised Kenyans to humiliate Kibaki in a referendum vote over a new constitution.

Odinga was the only serious presidential candidate that was seeking a parliamentary seat from a metropolitan constituency (the rest only felt safe in their rural bases among people from their ethnic groups). He represents a parliamentary constituency whose bulk of voters are slum dwellers from one of Africa’s biggest slum settlements. Odinga is one of the few politicians who feel at ease in a slum beer hall as he does an exclusive members’ club. He would meet a foreign dignitary in the morning, be at the soccer stadium terraces in the afternoon and attend a burial fundraising gathering in the evening. The fellow is at home in designer Western suits as he is comfortable in a Swahili kanzu or Nigerian agbada.

To look at what is happening in Kenya purely with an ethnic lens is blur one’s vision. That is not to say that ethnicity is a non-factor. However, ethnicity is drug that the ruling keep administering to their victims to cloud their vision. It is escapist. I did not see Kikuyu residents in Nairobi’s exclusive Karen suburb hack their Luo or Kalenjin neighbours with machetes or worse still shoot at each other, even though the majority of them own guns. However, in the informal settlements, neighbours turned against each other. Why, because they believe – wrongly of course – that their neighbours are beneficiaries of the skewed resource distribution and since they cannot reach the culprits, they can settle accounts with their “representatives.

At independence, Kenya, like the rest of Africa, inherited an edifice that promoted heavy dependence and corruption, both on the economic and political fronts. On the economic front, the country inherited an inordinately backward economy based on subsistence farming dominated by the peasantry and cash crop production and export, revolving around three crops (coffee, tea and pyrethrum) and almost solely in the hands of alien commercial farmers. Small-scale commodity production dominated by a backward-looking, highly superstitious peasantry that was emerging from the nightmare of decades of oppression and dehumanisation; this was the predominant character of Kenya’s rural setting. The vast majority of the population was helplessly underdeveloped economically; their agriculture fragmented into tiny plots, each hardly sufficient to support a single household.

For any meaningful development to occur, it was necessary and urgent that this problem be tackled as a matter of priority. Instead, however, the newly installed leadership relied on Western “experts”, whose experiences were wholly metropolitan and whose background was entrepreneurial. In other words, Kenya’s leaders sought the solution to these urgent problems from business manuals and Harvard-trained economists seconded by the World Bank, IMF or bilateral “development partners”, rather than from the reality of the situation. The end result is that the new leadership succeeded in perpetuating the colonial division of labour where Africa extracted and exported (unprocessed) primary commodities and imported and consumed manufactured and processed goods.

The decision making processes that govern the international flows of goods, services, knowledge, finances, capital and technology are controlled by the major industrialised countries of the North and by the international institutions under their tight control. Kenya – and the entire African continent – is placed in unfavourable and therefore hopeless position in the global economic system. The country is linked economically mainly to capitalist economies of the industrialised Europe – both a legacy of slave trading and colonial pasts sustained by the relative economic strength of Europe and a consequence of development strategies adopted by post-colonial leadership. The West, and particularly Europe and the United States of America, are therefore as much interested parties as are our leaders. Is it any wonder that the EU, U.S and other major Western nations have been more concerned than our “African brothers?”

On the political front, the new post-independence leadership inherited a state that was monstrously oppressive and that was designed to serve the interests of colonial oppressors; a state that was not geared towards the improvement of the people’s social welfare and the country’s economic progress, but the one which coerced them into accepting and submitting to colonial subjugation so as to produce, through forced labour and other coercive mechanisms, for the metropolitan economies. It was a state that was designed to instil fear, subservience and diffidence in the people by destroying their self-esteem through dehumanising and degrading treatment. This has become painfully manifested when state security apparatus are shown in television footages shooting dead unarmed demonstrators in one corner of the country while virtually escorting weapon wielding gangs in another corner of the country according to what they perceive be the preferred side of the leadership.

Since Ghana’s independence in 1957 unto the time of South Africa’s liberation from apartheid in 1994, many painful and largely unsuccessful attempts have been made at trying to put the economies of the fifty-plus African countries on the path of independent development and politics on the road to democracy and realisation of human dignity. In virtually all cases, these attempts at socially and economically altering the state of existence have met immense internal resistance and external obstacles. As has already been observed, the economies of newly-independent African states were weak and fragmented, mirroring centuries of colonial subjugation and exploitation. Industries and physical infrastructure – road, energy and communication – were virtually non-existent. The infrastructure for developing human resources through education and training was also grossly inadequate. Education, literacy and skills development levels were pitifully low.

Add to these economic and social deficiencies the spectre of an exponentially rising population and rapid urbanisation and the picture becomes clearer. As people flocked into cities, municipalities and other urban centres in the hope of securing a better life, pressure on public utilities and welfare services began to overwhelm the authorities, which had neither the administrative capacity nor the wherewithal to respond to these public needs.

Raila Odinga promised Kenyans that he would address the foregoing. He articulated it in the people’s language and they understood him. Even though he might have been playing a populist game, Kenyans took him seriously. They decided to give him a chance. Kibaki stole the chance. Kenyans revolted. All the grievances were recalled. Now Kenya is a country openly at pains with itself. Only fundamental re-engineering of Kenya’s politics and economy will heal the wounds – not peppering over our inequalities, our ethnic differences, our exclusionist politics and our self-deception.

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A letter to the Black Consciousness Collective

2008-01-31

Andile Mngxitama

Andile Mngxitama reexamines the revolutionary potential of Black consciousness via a critical look at the politics and philosophy of the Black Consciousness Collective (BCC).


The idea of writing this letter struck me whilst at my home village eNgcobo in the former Transkei. Our village, which is know as eNyanga is part of a place with a strange name- “All Saints”. eNyanga is situated in the belly of mountains. To the North is Kalinyanga, the south is Gilindonda and east the Qhuthubeni mountain. These are enchanting plains. Here I was generally engaged in the rituals and other festivities of our people, when my mind drifted to the Black Consciousness Collective (BCC).

Walking the land of Ngqika, it occurred to me that the BCC is far too important to be ignored. I also realized that I harbor some sense of impatience if not utter contempt at some of the habits (what I consider intellectual snobbery in particular), and gestures of arrogance from its members. I also acknowledge that my interaction with the collective, its members and sympathizers is rather perfunctory to say the least- but still the BCC is such an important and promising initiative that I would be remise to give it a miss. So I thought I should attempt a structured engagement which could afford us a basis for engagement.

Let me say it at the outset, my intention is to seek clarity for myself on the role, politics and philosophy of the BCC amongst others. I regard this as the first installment in what must naturally be a mutually educational discourse for all of us. Yes, old dogs can ans should learn new tricks too!

I gather from the name of the collective that it is committed to or rather it is about Black Consciousness. That’s well and good but which of the various contrasting and contending BC streams does the BCC align itself? Like in Marxism, we can no longer take for granted that when we say “bc” we are all referring to the same thing.

THE FOUR FORMS OF BLACK CONSCIOUNSESS IN CONTENTION

I can immediately think of at least four contending versions of bc for instance: Firstly there is the BC of sterile cultural expressionism which is about promoting mindless consumption in aid of the capitalism madness of our age. It’s the BC of Stone Cherry and Eric Miyenis of this world, its in agreement with the thesis proffered by the author of that despicable pamphlet of death, masquerading as serious work of on the black question- The Capitalist Nigger (which is our national best seller by the way).

Secondly, and this is the off shoot of the first type of BC, its the noisy status bound hip-hop and urban spoken words projects with their “African” regalia to boot. Practitioners of this bc simulate rebellion whilst they work their ways towards acceptance in the existing anti-black mainstream of the commercial cultural beast. The Rosebank Underground. These are by and large poets for hire. Their dead poetry repeats itself into a deadening crescendo utterly devoid of the beauty of authentic black rage.

Then there is the BC of monuments and icons. This is primarily promoted by institutional custodians of BC like Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO). This kind of BC is mute and deaf on the prevailing black condition; it finds refuge in past glories and burdens the dead with the projects of now. It thrives on “ifs”, and exists in an inconsolable sorrow devoid of the impatience and appetite for “Bolekaja.” Bolekaja as you may recall means “Come down let’s fight!” A term used in western Nigeria by passenger lorry touts and made famous by Nigerian literary critic Chinweizu. This BC cannot inspire blacks to rebellion and fire.

Then there is the BC of BEE, the least said about this the better (of course this version has strong affinities with the first two alluded to above). BEE is about a new class of plunderers who use their black skin and our black collective experience of sorrow to insert themselves in the economic mainstream built and sustaining itself on stolen black land, labour and the African “being”. These new agents of accumulation by theft and dispossession provide legitimacy to white monopoly capitalism, which must be vanquished if blacks are to have a chance to liberation. Capital in our country needs to be brought to justice and answer for its sins and atone for the near death agony it inflicted/afflicts on the black body.

The last version is what I’d like to think of as the real living BC, which resides within the excluded multitudes. It’s a bc of the black margins. This BC finds concrete expression in the young girl of Khutsong hurling a rock at an oncoming Caspire in an act of courageous defiance and rage against the arrogance of post apartheid democratic power which looks and acts like the apartheid monster. Its stones against bullets again, produced by the arrogance of state power instead of the uncompromising commitment to the art of persuasion/engagement/listening/dialogue/response/respect. These are the birth marks of true freedom. This living BC resonates with the thousands that partake in what the media calls “service delivery protests”. For me BC and Biko live in those cracks of the great unwashed every time they cry ya basta! From Khutsong to Chiapas. It may be opportune to remind ourselves of how Biko’s philosophy of black liberation. Biko said

“Blacks are out to completely transform the system and to make of it what they wish. Such a major undertaking can only be realized in an atmosphere where people are conscious of the truth inherent in their stand. Liberation, therefore, is of paramount importance in the concept of black Consciousness, for we cannot be conscious of ourselves and yet remain in bondage. We want to attain the envisioned self, which is a free self

PHILOSOPHY OF CHANGE AND THE BCC

I realize that I have been presumptuous on a number of points, but I have now gone too far to halt myself, so I am going to ask this: Is the BCC at the beginning again? In other words at the point of re-imagining BC? My question really is this, what does the BCC mean by BC? Implicit in this question is both a philosophical and practical consideration, what does BCC wants to achieve with its BC? A related but side and inconsequential issue is this, what is BCC’s BC attitude to the ANC’s politics of non-racialism and integration -as a theory and now as practice of party in government? I am sure you also may have to allude to the existing political formations such as Azapo, SOPA and BPC which proclaim bc as their guiding philosophy or ideology (a rather oppressive term really, this ideology business).

I think it a little passé to raise the old question of the unity of thought and action. But I think I need to be explicit in case its not taken care of in the broad set of “identity” questions I ask above. In my engagement with members of your collective it seem to me that one can read a few contradictory attitudes toward this question of the unity of action and thought or lack thereof. I heard, I hope correctly, for instance that action is already implicated in thought. This means there is no action, which is not preceded by thought. I agree that this is generally a truthful assertion. But is it automatic that thought ends in action, or thought here is also action? A dialectical unity? But then how do we judge effectiveness? Or is there no physical materiality in this process? Then of course I think there are certain forms of “thought” which are anti-thought and action, such as formulistic Eurocentric “logical” philosophy.

I also recognize that Nazis, colonialists and imperialists have their own intellectuals and philosophers. So from this point of view there is nothing progressive about philosophy a priori. I would not now want to raise my ‘pet hate’ subject - the anti-black origins of most of western philosophy (how do you deal with this?). I think a bit of Foucault quickly shows how everything is implicated in power, self- interest and subjectivity. But of course I am not interested in abstracted philosophical assertions. I am interested in the specificity of your collective’s “thought” process and its relation to “action” aimed at the structures of oppression and denigration of back people.. Surely, the sum total of your “action” cannot be reduced to creating spaces for “critical dialogue”, although I would under duress accept such engagement as action too.

If I were to walk ahead of your response on this one, I would say, I’m inspired by the likes of the originators of the negritude movement (Suzanne Ceseair, Aime Cessaire, but less so the likes of Sengor). These pioneers “culled” a lot of fire from the Surrealists and gave that philosophical movement some flames of rebellion in exchange – and in the process created the possibility of action against all sorts of colonialisms. I also remember well, old Karl Marx admonishing his German fellow philosophers for being obsessed with interpreting the world when the point was to change it.

Allow me to go religious a little. You see, I grew up in a religious family even if later I bacame agnostic- I have done my time in the trenches in the service of god, so there must be some residual matter of this past in me. I agree with Terry Eagleton, we can’t but be what we are. So I beg your indulgence, just to draw a parallel if not a lesson from the holy book. In the book of James, James postulates on matters of “Faith and Actions” (I hope to substitute “faith” for theory if not philosophy), he teachers us that; “ suppose there are brothers and sisters who need clothes and not have enough to eat. What good is there in you saying to them, “God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!”- if you don’t give them the necessities of life? So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions then it is dead…. So then as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without actions is dead”.

I think it was Lenin who said he has yet to see a successful revolution without a revolutionary theory, but he also laughed at the idea of theory without action. Cabral said something alone those lines when he theorized on the issue “theory and practice”. I find Paulo Ferere much useful on this score, personally. His dialogical method, of cause is not perfect, shows that there is no possibility of learning or clarification, or even building critical consciousness without doing. Action allows reflection on the concrete, leading to improvement and critical awareness. This is the revolution!

Of course those students who started SASO in the late 60’s were deep into philosophy but they understood oppression as a concrete truth, deeply implicated power. Racial capitalism or apartheid is as concrete as the N1. SASO students understood very well that oppression couldn’t be dislodged by philosophic disputations alone. It’s my contention that no one has yet contributed to changing the world for the better by simply holding a “correct philosophy”. In fact under certain circumstances, to “philosophize” is a great sign of betrayal and cowardice. My view in fact is that its of little use to philosophize outside action aimed at dislodging the white supremacist edifice deeply ingrained in the structures of politics, economics and even the whole cultural plain (here I understand culture in its broadest sociological sense). To try play philosophers without action is actually a self-serving and a safe option which also provides an alibi for doing nothing, it’s not unlike the “superfluous men” of 19 century Russia. This reminds me of the warnings from the pen of the mad one- Dambudzo Marechera, in his majestic “The Black Insider.” Somewhere Dambudzo writes;

“An excessive indulgence of the senses and thoughts… leads to the kind of decadence which can paralyze all action. To tick all the orifices of pleasure and stimulate all the possible orgasms of intellectual heights would be to sort of contrast demanded by this sordid war”.

Incidentally, I happen to think that black people the world over live in a state of a one sided sordid war which has not given us respite since the disastrous encounter with the white world starting with slavery, moving to colonialism, and imperialism to day. I’m permanently flabbergasted by the patience and laxity from the black world living through this living hell. Only we blacks can afford this type of absent-mindedness in the middle of war of decimation. We are wont at keeping us busy with inane, irrelevancies; this is the curse of our black skin. Somewhere else in the same text Dambudzo raises a matter which I think is relevant to this letter and to people like us;

“…we used to joke about being fucked out by everything but never to the extent of seeing the uttermost truth at the center of the jest. There was the gulf –as we saw it- between student thinking and activities and the workers-themselves whom I did not feel we had any qualifications to lead in anything. I had seen how “education” had given us too early a veneer of experience which our own elders mistook for mature and solid knowledge of a world that has rapidly ceased to be ours and had become a whiteman’s play ground for investment, good living, and casual tormenting of Caliban”.

My point is that we (western educated black middle classes) are already deeply implicated in whiteness, our souls and minds are held captive by whiteness. Our philosophies are by and large alien. We have nothing to say to the great multitudes of our people except to give them disdain and scorn- we call them “the masses” with no sense of irony. I have heard some of you say, “the masses think….”, and generally this would be to create a caricature- a mass of undifferentiated beings gravitating in colossal confusion and ignorance, and then we self congratulatingly arrogate clever philosophic positions to “ourselves” – we are the philosophers! The end result of his snobbish and vulgar valorization of our philosophic prowess leaves the “masses” all looking like Zuma. This in my mind is the perfect colonial representation of the black world.

Marechera on the other hand displays a liberating self-awareness of the place and general uselessness of the “educated” classes. Cabral, was crude but in my mind hugely correct to call for a “class suicide” of the “educated” anti-colonial African classes. No one listened and we have reproduced what Chinuweizu correctly calls: “the black colonialists”- with no discernable exceptions all our African political, academic, intellectual and business leaders are black colonialist!


BCC AND AVENUES FOR CHANGE

This brings me inevitably to politics. And here I understand politics narrowly as the exercise of power at state/government level. I wish to raise a few questions, here. Firstly, does the BCC have any shared conceptual clarity on the “nature” or “character” of the post apartheid state? I argue that there has been no rapture in this post apartheid state from the white supremacist one which was designed for serving white interest, the only substantial difference is that now this colonial, racist state is managed by black former liberation movement cadres. This reduces these managers of the racist state to indunas of whiteness.

Secondly, and I think we reflected a little on this, does the BCC have a general attitude to the state qua state? If so what? This is really a ‘question of power’, to borrow from Bessie Head. I was reminded of the sterile exchange we had with a member or sympathizer of BCC sometime back- it went on like this (I’m paraphrasing)-

“The state has failed everywhere?”. person 1
“No the state can and must be subordinated to serve the interest of the people”, person 2.
“no there is no record of the state ever serving the people” person 1
“what about Venezuela and Bolivia…” person 2
“oh! Venezuela is going to save us all now. Hahahaha”- person 1
“ok, the Ven experiment is flawed buts it’s the real and existing example of what can be done”, person 2
“oh! No! my lord! Examples are poor substitute for argument, all which one needs to do is just to provide a counter example”- person 1 (reclining on his chair with the smile that talks victory).

The poverty of the above encounter, resides not in the bad formulation of argument and counter argument, in my book, but on the politics/philosophic perspectives informing the interlocutors (of course the arguments can be improved a lot and shed some more light). For instance is person 1, making a universal statement which they purport to be true in all situations? Then of course this becomes abstract disputation, which would not yield to evidence. Then we have abandoned philosophy and have entered the world of ideology.

Is the second person on the other hand postulating that the state is necessarily a good thing in all situations over time and space? I think not. But I think the above drunken exchange points to sterility of a kind of argumentation devoid of “people centered” perspectives. The issue of the state or non state can no longer be debated outside the history of the state and the different perspectives/ideologies informing the theorization of the state. To argue against the state without distancing one from the likes of Milton Friedman and his latter day apostles in the form of the World Bank, IMF, the WTO and other agents neo-colonialism is to be on the side of death by default. There have always been various anti state positions, and one must be aware of this to avoid confusion. For instance I find the example of Zapatistas and theory of “changing the world without taking power” ala John Holloway quite seductive, but I realize that one must deal with the impressive current now sweeping Latin American, signified by the state driven left transformations ala Bolivia. Ecuador, Venezuela etc. Then there is the Chiapas example and multiple peasants and other movements of the excluded.

These are some of my initial thoughts, questions and postulations. And I realize this intervention is more “pragmatic” than “analytical”. This morning, in this new year, the sun is shining bright outside. 2007 was indeed a year of the Zunami. Let 2008 be better for black people the world over.

Mao Tse Tung was on to something when he penned this poem:

So many deeds cry out to be done
and always urgently
the world rolls on
time presses
ten thousands years are too long
seized the day
seize the hour

* Andile Mngxitama is a Johannesburg based land rights activist and member of the Wewrite editorial collective.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

US Election - Not another Bush Petition

2008-02-10

Avaaz.org

Yesterday, the final candidates for the next President of the United States became clear. They are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. The winner will decide whether the nightmare of the Bush foreign policy is reversed or continued for another 4 years.

All around the world, including in the US, people want to see the next President change course. Although only US citizens can vote in the election, we can still have a voice. Global public opinion matters to US citizens -- they know that US respect in the world has plummeted under Bush. That’s why the Avaaz global community has sprung into action. In the next few days, we can influence the candidates as they develop their campaign strategy. Click below to read and endorse the letter to the candidates. And, if we get more than 100,000 signatures, Avaaz will publish it in US newspapers and deliver it personally to the Clinton, Obama and McCain campaigns--sign and forward this email to friends right away:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/us_change_course/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1

I Divorce You because of the President

2008-02-12

Simiyu Barasa

Nairobi, 4 February 2008; On the last day of the year 2008, we sat previewing a wedding video I had made for my fiancée’s brother, Martin, who was leaving with his bride Sally for South Africa a few days later. Like bad movie editors, we constantly switched from footage of elegant Maasai dancers from the bride’s family and Gikuyu dancers from the grooms family, to television news of paramilitary police in their jungle fatigues keeping rowdy crowds from the Electoral Commissioners of Kenya announcing the election results.

The opposition’s huge lead narrowed and flipped in favour of the incumbent. Suddenly, commotion: brutal force as the Electoral Commission Chairperson was shielded out of the hall. Then he popped up at the Kenya Broadcasting Company, and announced Mwai Kibaki the winner of the presidential elections. Even faster, the president was sworn in.

Cell phones went crazy, everyone calling each other and asking if what we were seeing was true. Then a call: a Luo neighbour had sent his Gikuyu wife packing, ostensibly because the Gikuyus had stolen the presidency from Raila Odinga, a Luo. Then we began to hear the news of mass killings and burning of properties against rival tribes.

The next day I rushed to the supermarket to stock up on food and airtime for my phone. Gunshots and smoke from the neighbouring Kibera slums numbed my stomach. In this forced eviction and ethnic cleansing, where would I go? Hadn’t people like me, mothered by a Taita from Coastal Kenya and fathered by a Luhya from Western Kenya, been Kenya’s pride?

I needed to call mom and ask if she is safe in Western Kenya. It took me two hours of queuing, only to get to the till to find out I could not call my mum. There was no credit. My heart sunk.

In Kisumu, spouses were kicking their Gikuyu loves out. In retaliation, Gikuyus in Central province started hitting back at wives and husbands of the “enemy” tribe. Marriages and relationships are breaking, and with them, the myth of national unity.

In June last year, I accompanied my friend Machogu in his wedding negotiations. His wife is from a different community. “We hear you guys love beating your wives, please treat our daughter well in our community we aren’t known to beat women” “Ha ha! We hear your people steal money please never send her to steal from our son!”

We had laughed it off saying it is only the old people and that they were just joking. Now, our age mates are the ones unleashing their youthful energies in disemboweling and chopping of heads of the rival tribes. Were we naïve to the reality of the hatred in the rest of our country?

The Happy New Year calls from friends are strange this year. “I don’t even know what I saw in Mercy. It is over from today. She can go marry Kibaki.” “John is horrible. If his tribe performs the way he does in bed, no wonder they lost!” Oh? Were we just engaging in intellectual necking when in college we dated across tribes, while in reality when the tribal war drums throb, we dance to the rhythms?

Munene calls. We try to laugh as we muse over the sad situation in our country. “My friend, imagine if you had gotten married to that Kale chic you used to date in college. Now you’d be dodging arrows in Eldoret as your in-laws chase you down the valleys!” The laughter screeches to an uneasy silence. Such jokes are now walking straight out of people’s lips and hacking people to death.

As we talk, my cousin’s wife calls from her rural home where she had gone to spend Christmas with her family. “Is it safe to come back to Nairobi?” She asks. “Yes it is,” I tell her. “Well, here things have gotten tense; people are kicking out all foreigners to revenge what has been done to our tribesmen!”

I sigh. In Taita, some excited youths hounded a particular tribe to the football stadium and told them to “go back to their ancestral land.” My cousin’s wife, if she had been up country, would have been among those - especially now that the husband is far away in Darfur, a soldier keeping peace there!

I go back to bid Sally and Martin goodbye. In South Africa, there are no Gikuyus and Maasai to harass their marriage. Maybe there, they shall build a generation of children like me who can proudly say they are truly Kenyan.

Here it is now a matter of walking in groups where you find solace in speaking the same mother tongue, knowing you can fight off attacks from gangs of the other tribes. However, for some of us, true Kenyans, where do we run?

* Simiyu Barasa is a Kenyan filmmaker and writer. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service that provides fresh views on everyday news.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Fahamu