By John Otieno-Onyando
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the chief mediator in the Kenyan crisis, on Saturday visited the Rift Valley province, a region affected by post-election clashes, to witness the acute humanitarian crisis there. Mr Annan visited Kitale, a major town in Rift Valley province, and saw deaths and destruction visited on the region since December 30 when President Kibaki rigged himself back to power.
On return to Nairobi the mediator asserted that the destruction was on a grand scale, suggesting the clashes were ‘systemic’. Quietly, questions were being asked why he sidestepped Nairobi’s slums where thousands have been evicted forcefully from homes and dozens gunned down by security agents or hacked to death by allied militia.
Two weeks ago, Kibaki himself visited Eldoret, a nearby city, to flaunt military might and asked those aggrieved to “go to court.” In the intervening period former presidents Joachim Chissano, Kenneth Kaunda and Benjamin Mkapa, part of the African Mission in Kenya, have visited the towns; effectively buttressing the view that Rift Valley is the ‘most affected region.’
Rift Valley province has certainly borne the brunt of evictions in this conflict, but the media has been obsessed with the region such that other atrocities that hallmark the crisis are hardly reported. For instance, Kenya’s third largest city, Kisumu, is in ruins while many Kenyans are daily sacked from employment by pro-regime managers.
These atrocities all have historical roots. In the 1960’s, as the Kikuyu under Jomo Kenyatta monopolised the state, the government settled thousands of Kikuyus in Kalenjin lands in the Rift Valley without compensation or native consent. The landless had been dispossessed of their own lands by the British in the 1930’s and 40’s as the colonialists created ranches or plantations. At independence the state was to resettle the squatters back on the former White Highlands in Central province, but Kenyatta and his tribal elite simply grabbed the lands. Differences on land policy led to the resignation of Kenya’s first Vice President Oginga Odinga (father of ODM leader Raila Odinga) from Kenyatta’s government in 1966. Last year, a commission on land reform found the Kenyatta family to possess land the size of Nyanza province; other carryovers from his administration, including Kibaki himself, are fabulously rich landowners.
The Kenyatta regime’s ethnic capitalism marginalised Kenyans from the Luo, Kalenjin and other tribes by developing areas in Central and Nairobi regions. For example while fish is harvested from Lake Victoria in western Kenya, the processing plant is located in Thika, 440km away in Central province, a policy replicated in other sectors. In 2008 the Kenyatta-created elite still dominates business, the media and government.
Mr Annan’s visit to Kitale coincided with a plaint by pro-Establishment lawyer Kibe Mungai filed at the High Court seeking to stop the mediation. According to reports the lawyer is acting on behalf of 20 families (evicted from the Rift Valley) concerned that mediation is taking place before their safety in the Rift Valley is guaranteed.
More than generally acknowledged, thousand Kenyans have been evicted from homes in Nairobi and Central Kenya; others are systematically being sacked from employment in the private and public sectors. A single company last week laid off 300 workers from the Luo community as reports indicate a similar economic massacre is underway at Telkom Kenya, the recently-privatised national fixed line company.
The latter cases have not been reported. Concerns are being raised of the violence coverage creating the impression that only one community is suffering, and that it is a natural victim of vicious mobs from other tribes. Curiously, about half of the people killed so far perished at the hands of an increasingly tribal police department, executions that caused siege reaction from vulnerable tribes.
No patriotic Kenyan can gloss over the suffering being witnessed or buttress historical prejudices at a time the country is bleeding. As Mr Annan said on returning from Kitale on Saturday, this crisis has exposed historical grievances that must be addressed if Kenya is to emerge from it a stronger nation ready to move forward. Without it Kenyans would still kill each “three or four years from now” according to Mr Annan.
Some stark lessons must be confronted head-on if this crisis is to be addressed essentially. First, rigging was possible on a grand scale principally because just one office wields such imperial authority that all national institutions work at his behest. Against a tradition set by the 1997 Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group of which he was a member, Kibaki singularly made appointments to the Electoral Commission of Kenya that bungled vote-counting.
Second, political and economic power is so centralised in Kenya that many people are marginalised at the periphery. For instance, should the flawed election result stand, the millions of Kenyans who support ODM would hardly influence public policy. The Local Government minister has power to dissolve civic authorities, most of which ODM won – including the city councils of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kitale and Kericho, the biggest towns in Kenya.
Third, Kenya’s wealth should be shared equitably among its people and communities. The idea that some groups have historically exploited the state and excluded others is so real in the wealth and income inequalities it cannot no longer be ignored. Such economic power determines ownership of corporations, including the media that shape public and international opinion.
Kenya can only navigate this crisis through fundamental reforms of the constitution on the basis of the 2004 Bomas draft that was consensually agreed upon at a national conference. The Kibaki elite inherited from Kenyatta days have historically opposed democratic reforms. Courtesy of this crisis, the world should help Kenyans realise long-frustrated political and economic reforms.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the chief mediator in the Kenyan crisis, on Saturday visited the Rift Valley province, a region affected by post-election clashes, to witness the acute humanitarian crisis there. Mr Annan visited Kitale, a major town in Rift Valley province, and saw deaths and destruction visited on the region since December 30 when President Kibaki rigged himself back to power.
On return to Nairobi the mediator asserted that the destruction was on a grand scale, suggesting the clashes were ‘systemic’. Quietly, questions were being asked why he sidestepped Nairobi’s slums where thousands have been evicted forcefully from homes and dozens gunned down by security agents or hacked to death by allied militia.
Two weeks ago, Kibaki himself visited Eldoret, a nearby city, to flaunt military might and asked those aggrieved to “go to court.” In the intervening period former presidents Joachim Chissano, Kenneth Kaunda and Benjamin Mkapa, part of the African Mission in Kenya, have visited the towns; effectively buttressing the view that Rift Valley is the ‘most affected region.’
Rift Valley province has certainly borne the brunt of evictions in this conflict, but the media has been obsessed with the region such that other atrocities that hallmark the crisis are hardly reported. For instance, Kenya’s third largest city, Kisumu, is in ruins while many Kenyans are daily sacked from employment by pro-regime managers.
These atrocities all have historical roots. In the 1960’s, as the Kikuyu under Jomo Kenyatta monopolised the state, the government settled thousands of Kikuyus in Kalenjin lands in the Rift Valley without compensation or native consent. The landless had been dispossessed of their own lands by the British in the 1930’s and 40’s as the colonialists created ranches or plantations. At independence the state was to resettle the squatters back on the former White Highlands in Central province, but Kenyatta and his tribal elite simply grabbed the lands. Differences on land policy led to the resignation of Kenya’s first Vice President Oginga Odinga (father of ODM leader Raila Odinga) from Kenyatta’s government in 1966. Last year, a commission on land reform found the Kenyatta family to possess land the size of Nyanza province; other carryovers from his administration, including Kibaki himself, are fabulously rich landowners.
The Kenyatta regime’s ethnic capitalism marginalised Kenyans from the Luo, Kalenjin and other tribes by developing areas in Central and Nairobi regions. For example while fish is harvested from Lake Victoria in western Kenya, the processing plant is located in Thika, 440km away in Central province, a policy replicated in other sectors. In 2008 the Kenyatta-created elite still dominates business, the media and government.
Mr Annan’s visit to Kitale coincided with a plaint by pro-Establishment lawyer Kibe Mungai filed at the High Court seeking to stop the mediation. According to reports the lawyer is acting on behalf of 20 families (evicted from the Rift Valley) concerned that mediation is taking place before their safety in the Rift Valley is guaranteed.
More than generally acknowledged, thousand Kenyans have been evicted from homes in Nairobi and Central Kenya; others are systematically being sacked from employment in the private and public sectors. A single company last week laid off 300 workers from the Luo community as reports indicate a similar economic massacre is underway at Telkom Kenya, the recently-privatised national fixed line company.
The latter cases have not been reported. Concerns are being raised of the violence coverage creating the impression that only one community is suffering, and that it is a natural victim of vicious mobs from other tribes. Curiously, about half of the people killed so far perished at the hands of an increasingly tribal police department, executions that caused siege reaction from vulnerable tribes.
No patriotic Kenyan can gloss over the suffering being witnessed or buttress historical prejudices at a time the country is bleeding. As Mr Annan said on returning from Kitale on Saturday, this crisis has exposed historical grievances that must be addressed if Kenya is to emerge from it a stronger nation ready to move forward. Without it Kenyans would still kill each “three or four years from now” according to Mr Annan.
Some stark lessons must be confronted head-on if this crisis is to be addressed essentially. First, rigging was possible on a grand scale principally because just one office wields such imperial authority that all national institutions work at his behest. Against a tradition set by the 1997 Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group of which he was a member, Kibaki singularly made appointments to the Electoral Commission of Kenya that bungled vote-counting.
Second, political and economic power is so centralised in Kenya that many people are marginalised at the periphery. For instance, should the flawed election result stand, the millions of Kenyans who support ODM would hardly influence public policy. The Local Government minister has power to dissolve civic authorities, most of which ODM won – including the city councils of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kitale and Kericho, the biggest towns in Kenya.
Third, Kenya’s wealth should be shared equitably among its people and communities. The idea that some groups have historically exploited the state and excluded others is so real in the wealth and income inequalities it cannot no longer be ignored. Such economic power determines ownership of corporations, including the media that shape public and international opinion.
Kenya can only navigate this crisis through fundamental reforms of the constitution on the basis of the 2004 Bomas draft that was consensually agreed upon at a national conference. The Kibaki elite inherited from Kenyatta days have historically opposed democratic reforms. Courtesy of this crisis, the world should help Kenyans realise long-frustrated political and economic reforms.
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