Kenya in Trouble
Here’s an excerpt of what is going on first hand from a friend in Kenya:
The situation is not great but I think portrayed badly in the press. The issues for the unrest are complicated and probably linked to:
a) History - i.e. Ralia Odinga’s father was almost given the driving seat at independence and robbed of it
b) Political stands - Raila and ODM are deemed to be more socialist; Kibaki and the old boys are more conservative
c) Corruption in the past - many of those involved in scandulous events I think are being protected by Kibaki i.e. from those involved in the Goldenberg case etc
d) A very close run election - which was probably rigged hence youth violence
What next - hopefully discussion between Ralia and Kibaki; an interim goverment led by Kibaki and a re-run presidential election in 3 months time, which would be managed by an independent team.
There is too much to lose for ALL of us Kenyans - even Ralia and Kibaki - so something has to be sorted! The economy and Kenyan’s have suffered and up to 300 unfairly lost their lives. There have been fuel and food
shortages but it is not that bad yet. I believe in Kenyans and the ability to become stronger in all of this - but I hope action will happen sooner rather than later.
The eruptions in Kenya, can be more correctly attributed to land issues, rampant corruption and as stated in the intro blog, politics, specifically the politics of elections.
All the turmoil in the Rift Valley being is a land based issue. Historically the people of the Rift Valley felt that they had been given a raw deal when the British took part of their lands. Independence did not bring about a return of the land to them, but a transfer of it to new tenants who happened to belong to the Kikuyu tribe.
The people in the Rift Valley never really accepted the new tenants, and the older generation always believed it would return to them. In the 1992 and 1997 elections trouble erupted in this area and the Kikuyu were attacked both times, however not to the extent it occurred this time.
Regardless of who won the elections between Raila and Kibaki, trouble was going to come to the Rift Valley. If Raila had won, then the Rift Valley tribes would see it as their right to reclaim their land.
In terms of politics, the main difference between the two candidates was not being socialist or conservative, but rather in how they wanted to govern the country. With Kibakis government, ( also Kenyattas and Mois) power and government were centrally based, Everything was run from the center.
ODM and Raila wanted to change it so that the provinces had more say in how the resources were spent to develop their areas.
Lastly, corruption was another big issue. Kibaki as a person and as president, I do not believe was or is a corrupt person. However, people in his “kitchen cabinet” and inner circle were corrupt and some had even had their ill gotten financial gains tracked by Kroll associates through forensic accounting, to countries in the west These are the people who stood the most to lose if Raila came to power on an anti- corruption platform, therefore they are the ones who had the most to gain by rigging the elections. Of course not to say Railas people did not do some rigging of their own. As a result it is difficult to say who won the presidency.
At the moment, talks between Raila and Kibaki seem to be leading to a coalition government, but for how long; and will this really work; we saw how the last coalition government between Raila and Kibaki ended up.
Railas people were kicked out of the government after the referendum vote on the constitution where the government lost badly.
Probably the first place to start should be with a new constitution, and then hold elections based on the new constution,but these should be elections only for the presidency. This is a simple solution to a very complicated problem.
We hope that the talks that Raila and Kibaki are having now, come up with a solution that will be good for the whole country in the long run, which would allow Kenya heal itself and have a government which truly represents and works for all the people.
Comment by Papa — February 14, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
Poverty is also a major factor in the problems that are taking place in Kenya.
Every election the voters have listened to the politicians promises, only to be let down once they are elected, and seem more concerned with enriching themselves rather than serving the people who voted them in.
Even though the economy of Kenya was growing at 6% which is commendable; the money still has not trickled down to make a difference for the common person who does not own stocks or shares .
When the results of the election were announced, it was the poor people in Kibera and other places who showed their frustration by burning and destroying property, as this was the only way they knew how to vent their anger after years having to put up with politics as usual.
Comment by Papa — February 21, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
Will an agreement for power sharing be realized in Kenya ???
At the start of last week, according to comments by Dr. Kofi Annan, an agreement for power sharing would be reached within a week or so.
Negotiations seemed to be going well. Both the government and ODM seemed to have agreed on the creation of a Prime Minister. What had not been ironed out, was what powers would the PM have. ODM wants to have a PM who is head of government while the President is Head of State. At this level, this would really be power sharing. However, the “government” wants a PM who is appointed by the President and can be fired by his also. Now is this power sharing?
Yesterday, Kofi Annan declared that there were some issues that neither side was close to agreeing on the solution. In effect it sounds as if Kofi Annan has thrown up his hands in frustration and declared that it was now up to Kibaki and Raila to reach an understanding, because the government has backed tracked on some of the issues they had agreed on with ODM, and ODM keeps threatening on mass action.
Power sharing might seem to be the best solution to the current crises, however if ODM becomes part of the government, then who will the opposition be. But again is this not the country where the opposition leader jumped ship to support the President whom he had opposed for 5 years.
If both leaders, Kibaki and Raila have the countrys’ well being at heart, they would realize that the only solution to the current crisis be fresh elections only for the Presidency, which would be closely monitored by the AU, EU and other international observers at every step of the voting and counting process. The person who would win, would form the government and get going on healing the economic health of the country, because as long as poverty is an issue, the country will be unstable.
Comment by Papa — February 25, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
Finally the leaders came to their senses and made an agreement to form a grand coalition government. We salute their thoughtful decision which we hope was taken for the sake of the county and its citizens.
We also salute Dr. Kofi Annan for his fortitude in hanging in there until the end. Although for a while we thought that he had also given up on the negotiations, when he said it was now up to Raila and Kibaki to make an agreement that would save Kenya. But again that might have been a strategic move on his part as a seasoned negotiator.
The questions that some of us have, is what influence did President Kikwete of Tanzania have on Kibaki and Raila to encourage them to come to an understanding ?
Maybe he might have pointed out, that in East Africa, although Kenya has been the country that is always negotiating peace between warring factions as seen in Sudan and Somalia; it is only Tanzania that has had an active role in intervening with an army to bring peace to a country as was done in Uganda to kick out Idi Amin. Anyway whatever Kikwete said to the two leaders it worked.
Now that a coalition government has been formed, we hope that the politicians take their role of bringing progress to their areas, by repairing the infrastructure, creating jobs, and repairing the trust between the different ethnic groups, very seriously.
It will be interesting to see how large the cabinet will become in order to accommodate all the cabinet hopefuls from both ODM and PNU. Some restructuring of the cabinet will have to be done, since Kibaki made sure that he had appointed PNU people and their affiliates the plum ministries; now its time to share on a more equitable basis.
We salute the leaders, we salute the citizens, and we hope that this is truly the beginning of a New Era of unprecedented development in throughout Kenya to make it ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE.
Comment by Papa — March 6, 2008 @ 6:52 pm