Election violence in Kenya
Anyone who cares about what happens in Africa will be concerned at the unrest that has swept Kenya since the announcement of the hotly disputed results of the presidential election last weekend. Kenya should by rights be one of the most stable and prosperous nations in sub-Saharan Africa – that it isn’t is testament to decades of inadequate government.
Corruption under former president Daniel arap Moi ran rampant, and under President Kibaki little effective seems to have been done to deal with it. And the capital, Nairobi, has had a reputation for years now as one of the most violent and crime-ridden on the continent.
But amid all the expressions of concern over allegations of widespread vote-rigging by supporters of President Mwai Kibaki, there are a couple of points worth recalling.
First, Kenya has in the past been hailed as one of the still relatively few nations in Africa where an opposition has won power peacefully in an election. President Kibaki himself was the beneficiary, when in 2002 he won a convincing 62 per cent of the vote to defeat the candidate of the governing party, Uhuru Kenyatta. And there have been other African nations where opposition parties have won similar successes – Ghana, Mali, Senegal and Zambia, among others.
But as elsewhere (the Bhuttos in Pakistan, the Nehru-Gandhis in India, for example), dynastic and clan or tribal politics continue to play an important role. The Mr Kenyatta whom President Kibaki beat five years ago was the son of the revered independence leader Jomo Kenyatta. Mr Kibaki’s main opponent this time round was Raila Odinga, son of another famed independence fighter, and the country’s first vice-president, Oginga Odinga.
And here’s the key to what remains a serious issue in African democratic politics. The Kenyattas and Mr Kibaki are members of Kenya’s long dominant Kikuyu tribe. The Odingas are Luo (as, incidentally, was Barack Obama’s father), and have long felt discriminated against at the hands of the Kikuyu.
The problem with democracy is that, at least at election time, it emphasises and formalises divisions and differences. In a non-ideological age, those differences are more likely to be ethnic than policy-based – which is why in neighbouring Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni was reluctant for so long to allow multi-party politics.
So Kenya is now entering stormy waters. There is no doubt that voters are in the mood for change – the results of the parliamentary elections, which saw many government candidates, and several ministers, roundly defeated, showed that beyond doubt – and there is enough evidence from international election monitors to cause real concern about the accuracy of the official result of the presidential poll.
The violence that has claimed more than 100 lives looks dangerously sectarian as well as political. It won’t be easy to calm tempers with President Kibaki already sworn in for a second term as President.
UPDATE: Lots of angry Kenyan blogs from the Global Voices website .
Kenyans are mourning
Complain about this postMourning to the death
Of our freedom and democracy
My blood is churning in fury to
The publicity Kenyans are getting
Fame for all the wrong reasons
I ask the world to spare a thought for all Kenyans
Or perhaps a moment Of silence
As Kenyans are mourning
Mourning to the death of freedom and democracy
Elections turning violent and the results table spinning is not a new thing..! but.. the life of 100 people.. that is a point of concern.
Mourning over the death of the beloved people there in another country.
:(
Complain about this postIt is almost acepted that Mwai Kibaki massively rigged elections. He shamelessly refuses to stand down. He is intent on staying in power at all costs. He is now very keen to get Oginga to take the matter to court to legitimise his robbery. This is akin to asking a person like Nelson Mandela to seek justice in an apertheid court during the apertheid era. Kenyan justice system is riddled with Kibaki cronies. I cannot see any justice coming out of it. Let the international community bear pressure and tell Kibaki to resign without delay. Unfortunately, his resolve to stay in power is strengthened because he is afraid he will be prosecuted. Let the International community negotiate some form of immunity or face saving device for him to enable hin to leave power now.
Complain about this postSave this special country now and stop the violence. Keep the people safe and rid this country of a corrupt ruler. The people deserve a fair voting process. Stop this voter fraud and do a count of the votes by an independent source and do it now..............
Complain about this post