Whether the killing on Tuesday of Embakasi MP Melitus “Mugabe” Were was an assassination or — as the police put it — pure murder, it will certainly complicate the state of national insecurity, which threatens to turn Kenya into a failed state.
It comes as the country grapples with national unrest in which 350,000 people have been displaced, at least 800 have died and property worth billions of shillings has been destroyed.
Such is the cycle of violence that has poisoned ethnic relations that the fear of civil war is not far-fetched and the prospect of healing wounds and reconstruction is simply daunting.
Every image of a razed house, every shot of a drying patch of blood is a chilling reminder of the deep fissures which have turned Kenya’s fabled unity into a mirage. Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, Naivasha — it’s all a tale of blood-letting and destruction on a scale never envisaged in our beloved country.
We have now reached a stage where we must wonder whether the Government has been absent or has been unable to function since President Kibaki was declared elected for a second term and sworn in under a cloud of controversy.
Yet we are nowhere near resolving the dispute: Opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga claims that the election was rigged and has refused to accept President Kibaki’s victory; The President insists he was fairly elected and duly took up office. The standoff has precipitated the worst crisis Kenya has faced since Independence.
This is not about who won or who did not win the presidential election (Well, what is it about? If you imply that it is neither, then it certainly has to be about 'who stole the election?'). It is not about who is responsible for organising or fuelling the violence (Come on Nation, The State is executing innocent, armless and harmless civilians in Kisumu while it cheers on and protects armed gangs in Naivasha!). This is about the simple and indisputable fact that, whatever the circumstances of his victory, President Kibaki now occupies State House (albeit illegally and is shy to exercise the powers he usurped because he knows he is unpopular even among the people who inadvertently voted for him because they're dying right under his nose!) and owes this country a (ir)responsibility. Granted, the legitimacy of his presidency is in question, but nobody is better placed than he to deal with the daily slaughter of innocent Kenyans and the rancid climate of ethnic distrust.
For now, he controls the instruments of State terror.
If then there is a government in place, why has the situation been allowed to get out of hand? The killings and evictions in northern Rift Valley, the revenge attacks in Nakuru and Naivasha and the ethnic fighting in Nairobi slums all indicate an abysmal failure of government.
The diplomatic effort
Yes, the formal mediation by Mr Annan’s team has started, but the public’s confidence in the diplomatic effort is continually dampened by jarring remarks — bordering on the insensitive — from Cabinet Ministers and Opposition hard-liners harping on the legitimacy of their cause. How, for instance, does Mr Amos Kimunya propose to push ahead with the Safaricom flotation with internal refugee camps full and some mortuaries overflowing with strife victims? How callous can one be, Mr Otieno Kajwang’, to dismiss the fate of innocent women and children burnt to death in a church as a “wake-up call”?
Then there are the politicians and businessmen who are fuelling a frightening new conflagration (Tell us more. Who are they and which gangs are they supporting? On whose behalf are they acting? Are you holding back something here?). Impatient with what they see as President Kibaki’s inability to handle violent dissent, they are reported to be raising funds and mobilising militias (Be specific. Which militias? Mungiki killing squads? How about their 2002 MOU which was dishonoured? The chicken will definitely come home to roost.) to counter what they (Nation, Nation, Nation. Come on and name names. Who are the 'they'?) see as the targeting of their community. The attacks in Naivasha and Nakuru may (Maybe? Get serious!) be part of this strategy, which may also include leaflets by a shadowy group containing a hit list of alleged tribal “traitors.” The list includes politicians, civil society activists and journalists.
Much of what has befallen Kenyan indicates an absence of leadership (This honesty has been missing from your media for a long time. Keep it up, but what do Kenyans do when there is NO leadership?). No one can dispute the fact that in many of the worst hit areas, particularly in the Rift Valley, the government’s security and administrative organs fell flat on their faces.
In Nakuru and Naivasha, the world watched in horror as police stood by while armed mobs set up illegal roadblocks and killed innocent people (Is this bluntness an incitement of Kibaki or an awakening following the product boycott calls by the legally elected government of President Raila? So, the bottom line is the bank balance, eh? Good. Now, guide Kenyans in a civilian counter-coup to remove Kibaki. Be on the frontline as you always were during Moi's regime. Come on, pick the gauntlet!).
Whereas in Kisumu and Nairobi police were accused of using excessive force against rioters and demonstrators, in Nakuru and Naivasha the force appears to have done exactly the opposite (By the way, did you air the clip showing that 'Rambo-style killing of the main actor' in Kisumu? Because of selective honesty. If it were Moi's time, would you have failed to play it over and over again? Why this brazen hypocrisy?): It was ineffective against murderous mobs who killed and maimed in full view of television cameras. Mr Kibaki (GOOD! Mr. NOT President Kibaki!) has at his command awesome powers that can be called upon to restore sanity before things get out of control.
This should not be about using the full might of the security forces against the opposition; this is about applying lawful force to counter all troublemakers, whatever their political or ethnic affiliations. It’s about defending the Constitution and protecting life and limb; it’s about enforcing peace; it’s about statesmanship. The same constitution which he dishonoured by not accepting the peoples' mandate had ended on Dec 27? Kibaki has a dismal record when it comes to honouring the constitution, indeed any contract and you know it.
While all sides in the political divide bear responsibility (Stop this nonsense of 'we are all guilty and wronged', it will not wash. It is about a stolen election, stupid!) for what has happened to Kenya, it ultimately falls on the President to exercise his illegal authority and do what needs to be done. He has to restore law and order and drive the pursuit of a just political settlement. That is what occupying the Top Office is all about, Mr Kibaki, and there can be no evading that responsibility (Are you sure that occupying Top Office is NOT about sleeping ON TOP of everybody and everything?) .
If Kenya disintegrates, history books will record that the collapse of a once great, united and prosperous country happened on your (AGAIN ambiguous. Just come clean and say 'Mr Kibaki's') watch. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment