By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
"War is young men dying and old men talking" – Odysseus, the King of Ithaca
Two days ago (Monday, February 4, 2008), The Standard, a Nairobi-based national newspaper published on its front page the heart-rending picture of the Kenyan Minister of Special Programmes, Dr. (Mrs.) Naomi Shabaan, carrying a two-day old baby, John Nduati, who was born at one of the very “inhospitable and squalid camps” where hapless Kenyans, brutally displaced by the insane political crises that have engulfed their country for more than a month now, have sought refuge.
Kenya Burns
This tender child never asked to be born at this time. He neither knows
President Mwai Kibaki nor Mr. Raila Odinga, whose bitter quarrel over the
disputed December 27 polls have continued to exact enormous toll on their once
beautiful and peaceful country. Hopefully, someone would preserve a copy of
last Monday’s The
Standard and show it to this
hapless boy when he grows up. I doubt if he will forgive all those who had
plunged his nation into such horrible crises and caused him to be born in such
an inhuman condition that brings tears to the eyes of even the most
hard-hearted.
At least, more than 800 persons (some reports put the figure at 1000)
have so far lost their lives in the Kenyan crises, while 350,000 others have
become refugees in their own country. Although living in very poor sanitary
conditions in over-crowded camps, it is understandable that most of the
displaced families have refused to heed the call of the MPs to return to their
homes. By Sunday morning, two days after the call by the over-fed and duly
protected MPs, many of the people camping at police stations in Nyeri and the
Central Police Station were yet to move an inch. Indeed, they have every reason
to doubt every assurance that adequate security arrangements have been put in
place to ensure their safety, or that peace was returning to Kenya
Indeed, while the MPs were issuing their assurances, some Kenyans were
still being massacred. “At the Borabu-Sotik-Bureti border, 10 people were
reportedly killed, bringing to 17 the number of those who have lost their lives
in the past three days. Also burnt alongside several dozen houses were three
schools — Koiyet Primary and St Ann Academy on the Sotik side of the border and Ribaita Primary School
President
Mwai Kibaki
It should be clear that President Kibaki is far from being battle-weary
and appears bent on continuing to stoke the fire presently devastating in his
country. In fact, there are fears now that the Kenyan President may snub the
resolutions of the high-powered Negotiation Team led by former United Nations
Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Anan, whose mediation talks have this week entered
key areas that are central to the restoration of peace in Kenya
Following Kibaki’s remarks at the recent African Union (AU) Summit in Addis
Ababa
“He should come forward and renounce the statement. He should not utter
things that could worsen the current problems,” last Saturday’s Daily
Nation (Nairobi
The
Kenyan crises had erupted when Kibaki, on noticing that his party’s dismal
performance in the parliamentary elections could only lead to his loss of the
Presidency allegedly manipulated the figures, mainly in his Kikuyi mainland, to
ensure that he emerged “winner” of the presidential contest. Mr. Odinga is
insisting that since his party, the ODM, had won 99 parliamentary and 998 civic
seats as opposed to 43 and 322 won by Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU),
there was no doubt that the ODM won the elections. In fact, twenty-three
serving Cabinet ministers were floored in the legislative election by
candidates of the ODM.
It is reassuring that Mr. Odinga is asking his supporters to refrain from acts of violence and pledging not to withdraw from the Anan-led talks. He is also ready for fresh elections, an option Kibaki is not very comfortable with. Pressure must, therefore, be mounted on Kibaki by the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN) and his Western friends, to respect the wishes of the people and allow peace to reign and the carnage presently ruining his country to stop.
The seeming helplessness of the AU in the face of Kibaki’s crude
determination to destroy Kenya
with himself only reconfirms the hollowness of the so-called Peer Review
Mechanism, once parroted by such unrepentant renegades like Nigeria ’s Olusegun Obasanjo and Uganda Uganda
The letter drew Museveni’s attention to overwhelming media reports
about Uganda Uganda from the unfortunate events taking place
in Kenya Kenya
and indeed of Uganda
The High Cost Of
A Fatal Ambition: Kenya
Earlier at the AU Summit in Addis
Ababa, Museveni had told the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, that what was
required in Kenya was a Commission of Enquiry (to be set up by Kibaki?) to
probe the elections and proffer solutions. That was his way of rejecting the
Anan-led talks currently holding in Nairobi
Given these flagrant signs of Uganda’s meddling in the Kenyan
crises, the Ugandan opposition is asking Museveni to retrace his evil steps and
support efforts by decent and progressive minds to find lasting peace in
Kenya.“Let us align ourselves with Kenyans and not with either of the
protagonists. Let us join them in finding a solution, which … should be
advocating for fresh elections supervised by AU and UN. Let us prevail on Mr
Kibaki to resign and leave room for a government of national unity which
neither he nor Mr Raila Odinga should head, and whose main task shall be to
prepare for fresh elections within a period not exceeding one year,” they told
him in their open letter.With Museveni solidly behind him, Kibaki is also
reaching out to the West. On Sunday night, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, left
Nairobi on a four-day tour of the United Kingdom and United States London ,
he would brief the House of Commons and “friends of Kenya
Against the backdrop of threats by both the US and UK to review
developmental support to Kenya if nothing concrete was done to urgently halt
the crises, the vice-president would deploy all his persuasive powers to
dissuade them from withdrawing their assistance despite Kibaki’s intransigence
and determination to supervise the ruination of Kenya. It is unfortunate that
instead committing himself to the on-going peace talks at home, Kibaki would
rather waste scarce resources on shuttle diplomacy, to win support for his
illegitimate regime, with the blood of nearly 1000 Kenyans dripping from his
cruel palms.
Opposition Leader, Raila Odinga: Insists His Party,
ODM, Won The Elections
He needs to urgently
recall the wise counsel offered him by the London Times in its editorial
of January 3, 2008, and face the raw truth that there is just no way the
manipulated elections in Kenya Kenya
Indeed, Kenya Kenya is being challenged in court by the KTN,
one of the leading networks in Kenya
But, unfortunately, the case has been effectively paralysed with a very
ridiculous adjournment, obviously inspired by Kibaki. Dr. Mutua’s explanation
that “by requesting media houses not to air live press conferences and call-ins
into radio shows” Government is intending to “empower editors to be in control
of the information relayed by their media houses,” has failed to impress
anyone. No doubt, Kibaki is simply rattled by the force of public opinion,
which he is not prepared to respect.
One African leader deeply pained and embarrassed by all this mess is
Mr. Paul Kageme, the Rwandan President. During the 14th Heroes Day Celebrations
in his country’s Southern Province on February 1, he could not hide his disgust
and disappointment.
“People do not want to relinquish power peacefully until they are
forced out after a spell of destructions and this has affected the development
of the continent…They have also ended up in flames. Today one country is in
total chaos, then tomorrow another follows suit and the next day violence is
reported in another African country … and all these conflicts are fuelled by
bad leadership,” last
Sunday’s Monitor (Kampala
On Monday, in Kigali , during his monthly
press conference, Kageme called for a re-run of the disputed elections in Kenya Kenya
The Bloody
Face Of Violence
Well, Kagame has spoken, but who will listen to him? How many other
African leaders and so-called statesmen would be bold and sincere enough to
speak forthrightly and sincerely on the Kenyan crises? Is Kibaki not still
hanging on there because he is yet to feel any pinch of condemnation and
isolation from other African leaders? Who really cares if Kenya
Well,
it is reassuring that Mr. Ki-Moon who was in Nairobi
Also, troublemakers like Museveni and others giving more covert support
to creatures like Kibaki must not be allowed to escape justice once they leave
office. They must be made to tread the inglorious path the likes of Charles
Taylor have since trod, to face a duly empowered UN Human Rights Court for
their clear and unambiguous crimes against humanity.
Kibaki, His
Wife, Lucy and George And Laura Bush
At The White House In Washington
