Eyes on Kenya

According to Standard : There could be (could have been) a real possibility, that the two rival groups are edging closer to a power sharing deal, understood to be the creation of the office of a Prime Minister and two deputies, even as the Presidency and the Vice Presidency are retained.

However, this seemingly positive development was overshadowed by statements by President Kibaki and Party of National Unity MPs and ministers, who appeared to pour cold water on real power sharing.
“It can’t be an illusion, power sharing must be real,” US Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice on Monday told PNU and ODM — the two protagonists in the disputed and discredited presidential election.

PNU opposed to PM Post
But on Tuesday, Government negotiators and MPs attending a PNU Parliamentary Group meeting fought the proposed power sharing and pushed for “accommodating or co-opting” ODM into Government. The MPs and President Kibaki appeared to speak in one voice as they argued against a quick power-sharing deal as pressed for by Rice in Nairobi.
The Government insisted that any deal must be worked out within the current Constitution, and any other arrangement would have to follow later through constitutional reforms.

It was understood that the Government side is set with its position to accommodate ODM into Government as opposed to an ODM proposal that wants a split of Cabinet positions and the creation of the post of an executive prime minister.
Lead negotiator, Kofi Annan, left the Serena Hotel in the heat of the stand-off and went to Harambee House mid afternoon for a scheduled meeting with President Kibaki. After President Kibaki’s meeting with Annan, State House issued a statement which avoided the mention of ‘power-sharing’ but which only said the President had assured Annan that he was ready to “share responsibilities” with ODM.

The President, however, cautioned that any political solution that will be proposed must be in tandem with the current Kenyan Constitution,” part of the PPS statement read.

Conclusion
It seems Kibaki is up in arms with manipulation as he did post-2002 elections when he refused to honour NARC’s memorandum of understanding. Whenever I listen to him speak about “ any deal must be worked out within the current Constitution, and any other arrangement would have to follow later through constitutional reforms” my hackles rise because there will never be constitutional reforms under Kibaki. To swallow this again from him would be like getting kicked in the face once an turning the other side for another kick while still lying on the ground.

I echo Rice’s statement that power-sharing cannot be an illusion, it must be real.

Amnesty International urges Kenya’s leaders to ensure the human rights of Kenyan people are protected.

An international day of public and online action this month will demonstrate solidarity with the people of Kenya and call on the Kenyan government to protect people from politically-motivated and ethnic violence.

On 27 February, people can show their outrage at the continuing human rights abuses in Kenya in a series of events organised by Amnesty International; including an online Facebook action and a series of street demonstrations.

The disputed election of 27 December 2007 sparked an outbreak of fighting and a series of grave human rights violations. At least 1,000 people have been killed so far, while more than 300,000 have been displaced.

Amnesty International’s recent visit to Kenya found evidence of unlawful killings, the ethnically targeted forced relocation and burning of homes by armed militias, excessive use of force by security officials, sexual violence against women and girls, and violations of freedom of expression and assembly. Amnesty International has also documented death threats against human rights defenders and activists.

The death toll includes hundreds shot dead by police, who were deployed to quell the post-election violence and break up mass protests against the election called by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) opposition party.

Subsequent violence has seen increasingly organised attacks by ethnic militia and youth gangs against people of Kikuyu ethnicity, which has led to retaliatory attacks by Kikuyu militias and youth gangs.

There is particular concern at the ethnic dimension to the political violence and its possible long-term implications for Kenyan society.

Amnesty International calls on the Kenyan government to protect the people of Kenya, many of whom have endured unrelenting suffering in the last two months. Kenyan leaders must end the cycle of impunity that perpetuates the politically motivated violence in Kenya.

In Berlin, Germany there will be two discussion and information events about the current political crisis in Kenya.

The first one is organized by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, a political foundation associated with the party “die Grünen”. Guests are the journalist Marc Engelhardt (taz, Berliner Zeitung) and Dr. Gero Erdmann from GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Institute of African Affairs, Hamburg.

It will take place at the Heinich Böll foundation, Rosenthaler Str. 40/41, Hackesche Höfe on Februrary 20th 2008. It will be held in German.

The second event will be hosted by the Society for International Development -Berlin Chapter and it will take place at the “Afrika-Haus”. It is supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a political foundation associated with the ruling party CDU. Invited are Ralph-Michael Peters, political expert of the Core team of the EU election observing mission in Kenya 2007 and former member of the GIGA research group “Democratisation and Civil society in Kenya”, Gideon Ochanda Ogolla, Program Officer of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in Kenya and National Coordinator of the Institute for Civic Affairs and Development – ICAD, Nairobi and Kerstin Müller, MP and State-Secretary of the German foreign ministry. It will be held in English on the 28^th of Februrary 2008.

(more…)

According to Reuters, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) member of parliament David Kimutai Too, was killed, along with an unidentified woman, in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret by a traffic Police officer.
“He has been shot dead, by a traffic policeman in Eldoret, we think. The circumstances are very unclear. This crisis is just getting deeper every day,” said ODM spokesman Tony Gachoka.

“He was killed by a traffic police officer,” in a suburb of Eldoret in western Kenya, a police commander told AFP in Nairobi, adding that the killing appeared to be connected to a romantic dispute.
“He was with a girl who is a police officer. He was shot by another policeman believed to be her boyfriend,” he said.

A senior police officer checks the car in which Ainamoi MP David Kimutai Too and a policewoman were driving in when they were ambushed and shot dead. Photo/ JARED NYATAYA

The policewoman is currently in ICU in at the hospital of Eldoret. Reports from Eldoret indicate that members of public have jammed the Moi Teaching and Referral mortuary following the incident. Nation reports that Police Commissioner Major General Hussein Ali assured the public that “the constable will stand charges of murder tomorrow”. He also warned the public against using the incident to incite others.

The death of Ainamoi MP, David Kimutai Too, happened only 2 days after the assassination of ODM MP Melitus Mugabe Were.

For what ever reason David Kimutai Too was killed, it demonstrates that the government is not providing protection and security for opposition politicians.Only a few days after Nobel Peace Price winner Wangari Maathai criticized the government for failing to provide security for its citizens, the Minister of Internal Security Prof George Saitoti withdrew her bodyguards on Monday.

Before I start on the topic of analysis, I would like to draw attention to some very disturbing news. This news is best left to readers’ interpretation as I am at loss at what to say to it.

1. An earlier report by Reuters stated Kenya’s embattled government has activated a murderous criminal gang to protect its supporters during a bloody confrontation over disputed elections, a leading human rights activist said on Wednesday. Maina Kiai, head of the government-funded National Commission on Human Rights, said the Mungiki, an ethnic Kikuyu gang notorious for beheading its victims, had returned. “They are coming out again and being used by the state. We have firm evidence of that, some of their people came to us,” he said.

2. A BBC report from a Kenyan (who wishes to remain anonymous) in the Rift Valley town of Naivasha describes how members of an outlawed sect – the Mungiki – are forcibly recruiting members of their Kikuyu ethnic group to kill non-Kikuyus – allied to the opposition. Gangs of Kikuyus are outside the prison and burning houses nearby but the police – there are many of them there – but it is like they are relaxed. They are not doing anything, just shooting, shooting, shooting [up in the air] but not stopping these people from getting closer to the prison.

3. AFP reports the following: NAIVASHA, Kenya– Lying on a blood-stained stretcher, Caleb’s face is convulsed in pain. “The Kikuyus circumcised me by force,” he says, moments before losing consciousness in the hospital’s sweltering heat. On Sunday night, “a group of eight men with pangas (machetes) entered. They asked for my ID,” he says, explaining that his attackers wanted to see his name and determine which tribe he belonged to. “They slashed me and they circumcised me by force. I screamed a lot and cried for help: ‘Mum, I don’t want to die far away from home’,” he says. Caleb complains that the police arrived on the scene but eventually left him in a poll of blood and made away with the machetes and other weapons left behind by the Kikuyu gang.

4. Nation reports that In Kisumu, a watchman was shot dead by police as demonstrators took to the streets protesting against the Naivasha and Nakuru killings. They burnt vehicles and forced schools to close. At Kapsoit trading centre on the Kisumu-Kericho highway, a man who was among a group barricading the road was killed by police, while five vehicles were burnt…In Nakuru, the death toll from three days of violence stood at 84…

5. The Timesonline reports that Naivasha residents say that the attackers were Mungiki bussed in from Limuru, a Kikuyu stronghold close to Nairobi. Police are taking the accusations seriously. An officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “It certainly looks like they were … and that they were brought here from outside.”

I really thought there had been a previous attempt to destroy the Mungiki. Was it just a gimmick?

 Media

When one talks about how powerful media can be, we can sum it up in one sentence: The mass media play a crucial role in forming and reflecting public opinion: the media communicate the world to individuals and reproduce the self-image of society. Media information are influential mediums as they have been largely responsible in structuring the daily lives and routines of many, as found out by various sociologists.

Kenya opened a forum for many radio stations to broadcast information when the government banned live broadcasts. Live broadcasts were seen as essential in a time when everyone was biting their nails in anticipation of what would come next in the post-election crisis. How wise that was is what I want to examine. I posit that that was a most un-wise move as the proliferation of information broadcasts on the smaller radio stations grew concurrent with the need for the information people lacked in the live broadcasts. The vilifying of the media-houses, whose information are highly scrutinized by the rest of the world was also increased leading to a mistrust by the general public. What would hey have then done? Turn to their radios. Here comes the shocker:

According to humanitarian news and analysis by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Inflammatory statements and songs broadcast on vernacular radio stations and at party rallies, text messages, emails, posters and leaflets have all contributed to post-electoral violence in Kenya. While the mainstream media, both English and Swahili, have been praised for their even-handedness, vernacular radio broadcasts have been of particular concern, given the role of Kigali’s Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines in inciting people to slaughter their neighbours in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. “There’s been a lot of hate speech, sometimes thinly veiled. The vernacular radio stations have perfected the art,” Caesar Handa, chief executive of Strategic Research, told IRIN. Among the FM stations that Handa singled out for criticism were the Kalenjin-language station Kass, the Kikuyu stations Inooro and Kameme and the Luo station, Lake Victoria.

“The call-in shows are the most notorious,” said Handa. “The announcers don’t really have the ability to check what the callers are going to say.” Handa heard Kalenjin callers on Kass FM making negative comments about other ethnic groups, who they call “settlers”, in their traditional homeland, Rift Valley Province.

“You hear cases of ‘Let’s reclaim our land. Let’s reclaim our birthright’. Let’s claim our land means you want to evict people [other ethnic communities] from the place,” said Handa. Vernacular music has also been used to raise ethnic tensions. The two Kikuyu stations, Kameme and Inooro, played songs “talking very badly about beasts from the west”, a veiled reference to opposition leader Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) colleagues, who come from western Kenya, said Handa. Radio Lake Victoria played a Luo-language song by DO Misiani, which referred to “the leadership of baboons”.

KNCHR singled out a Kikuyu song by Miuga Njoroge, broadcast on Inooro FM, as worrying. “I hear it was sponsored by the [governing] Party of National Unity,” said Mucheke. “The gist of it is Raila [Odinga] is a murderer. He is power hungry. He doesn’t care about other tribes. He only cares about his tribe, the Luo community. It says that Luos are lazy. They don’t work. They are hooligans. That when they rent houses, they don’t pay rent.”

IRIN then says that by allowing such sentiments to be voiced on air, observers say, they earn a degree of legitimacy that can be used to justify attacks on other ethnic groups. I totally agree with them. The media sanctions in place by the government now are at the wrong door. These stations should be closed with immediate effect, being that they sure have played a role in the escalation of the violence. Or they should be used as an effective means of stopping the violence. How to do this is a question I am still turning in my mind and will post an answer if and when I get it. However, the Eastandard has a put a foot forward towards this. Their editors had this to say:

“For the umpteenth time, we are compelled to address our leaders and the nation over the political madness that has been going on for a month now — since the December 27 election — and which shows no signs of abating.

It is important, from the outset, to make it clear that the crippling political crisis threatening to shut down the country is not the making of the Kenyan people — they rendered their verdict by casting their votes to choose their leaders in the parliamentary and presidential election…Leaders have lost control of their supporters and few can call for calm and be listened to. This is how low the country has sunk…The magnitude of this challenge suggests that unless our leaders deliberately make hard choices for the sake of preserving the security of our people and the Kenyan nation, we could see a vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence”.

They said to the leaders, “They must also ponder the following: Who gains when our people continue to be killed and suffer? Will it matter much — in a situation where the country is destabilised — to hold or ascend to the presidency?… If they truly care, they should hold joint rallies to salvage the country from going down the precipice. They should demonstrate humility and climb down from the pedestals they are perched on…We also wish to appeal to the people — however inflamed their passions may be — to calm down”.

While there may be no reports of the ODM leaders using radio stations to escalate violence, I believe that a wise move would have been at an earlier stage to use them to calm people down. Human Rights Watch report that many Kalenjin community leaders told them that if the area’s ODM leadership or the local Kalenjin radio station KASS FM told people unequivocally to stop attacks on Kikuyu homes, then they believe the violence would stop. “If the leaders say stop, it will stop immediately,” said one Kalenjin elder”.

I uphold the Eastandard’s effort. Who is next? Will they reach down into the flaming souls of the populace? I am still thinking…

According to BBC news, Mugabe Were, a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was attacked outside his home, police said.
An ODM spokesman called for calm and restraint following the MP’s death. Mr Were is the first leading politician to have died amid violence that has gripped Kenya since December’s poll.
Two gunmen shot Mr Were as he drove up to the gate of his house in the capital just after midnight, Kenya police spokesman Eric Kiraithe was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying. “We are treating it as a murder but we are not ruling out anything, including political motives. We are urging everyone to remain calm,” he said.
Mr Were, who represented Nairobi’s Embakasai district, won a seat in the 27 December legislative election, which was held at the same time as the presidential vote.

ODM spokesman Tony Gachoka said: “The current situation makes one suspicious. All fingers will point at the government, and the government will have to show it is not involved.”
Another ODM spokesman, Salim Lome, called on people “to be peaceful and to only respond to this kind of violence by shunning violence”.

The appeal came amid reports of opposition supporters pouring onto the streets in several cities. In the Kibera slum in Nairobi, eyewitnesses spoke of clashes between rival ethnic groups.

Meanwhile the parties will begin formal talks on Tuesday to resolve the crisis, mediated by former UN chief Kofi Annan.

A UN spokesman said the dialogue process would start at 1600 local time (1300 GMT) at a neutral location.

We will try to provide updates on this page.

ODM denies involvement in the violence

ODM officials object the Human Rights Watch report about the involvement of local ODM leaders in the Rift valley violence.

“ODM leadership Friday trashed the report and said that nothing could be further from the truth.

ODM leader Raila Odinga said all communities in the area were equally affected. “That evidence is only from one person. What happened was not premeditated but spontaneous as people reacted to the injustices they suffered after the elections. In addition, the violence could not have been planned because all the communities in the Rift Valley have suffered,” said Mr Odinga.

Separately, the party’s secretary-general, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, told a Press conference that it would be surprising if any human rights violations would be linked to the party. He also challenged the authors of the report to investigate violence in other areas such as the Nairobi slums and western Kenya and give their verdict.” (Nation)

We agree that there should be independent investigations about the violence in other parts of the country, but what ever will be found out there, it will not change nor justify what happened in the Rift Valley Region.

Kenyan Army is operating in Nakuru

According to the Eastern Standard, “thirty-Two people were killed in fresh flare-up in Nakuru and Molo. And Rift Valley’s capital was put on 7pm-6am curfew. Military officers in fatigues, and armed to the teeth, were brought out of the barracks to enforce law and order. Another 5,000 people were displaced in Nakuru and adjoining areas. In Nakuru town alone, 12 people were hacked to death or shot with bows and arrows in the Thursday night terror. This followed a serious fighting in Githima and Kwa Rhonda estates next to the sprawling Kaptembwo slums. Of the 20 killed in Molo, 18 were shot with poisoned arrows.

Nakuru DC Mr Andrew Wanyagah led a security team backed by military personnel from Lanet barracks, as he toured Kaptembwa slums calling for peace.

“This problem has been fuelled by rumours circulating among local communities. We have received reports that members of the Mungiki gang and armed militiamen have been transported to the town to cause mayhem,” he said.

Following the violence, angry youths barricaded all roads leading in and out of Nakuru town for the better part of the day as police made frantic efforts to clear the highway.”

Nakuru residents made up most of the new arrivals at the town’s showground camp set up for people fleeing post-election violence in neighbouring districts, according to a local aid official. The camp holds 5,900 people, according to coordinator Jesse Njoroge who said most of the 696 new arrivals were from Nakuru itself. (Kenvironnews)

The use of military forces is a new development. It might be influenced by the presence of the international mediators. With the international Community watching, the government has to show that it can provide security

Koffi Annan termed the violence “gross and systematic human rights abuses” on a visit to western Kenya, where scores more people were killed in the flashpoint Rift Valley province.

No consequences for Colin Bruce from the World Bank

Following up on one of our previous articles, it seems that the World Bank still trust in Colin Bruce as their local representative. He still is in power and can influence the World Bank’s policy towards the Kenyan government. Colin Bruce, a tenant of Kibaki, sent a memo to the World Bank, suggesting that his Landlord had won a “fair” election.

Considering how much Paul Wolfowitz had to do to get kicked out, it is no surprise.

Sport
With the African Cup of Nations football fever, we cannot fail to have our eyes on the Kenyan football scene. East African Standard reports that suspended Kenya Football Referees Association (KFRA) chairman Wycliff Ogutu says he will appeal against the action.

Ogutu was among three officials suspended by Fifa’s ethics committee for five years after being found guilty of engaging in corrupt activities.

One small hand shake for two guys, one moving moment for a nation.

It was a big gesture, but by now nothing more is achieved. Raila Odinga has ruled out taking a new post of prime minister in President Kibaki’s Government. Odinga said the only three acceptable options would be Kibaki’s resignation, a vote re-run, or power-sharing leading to constitutional reform then a new election. The ODM leader said he was offended by Kibaki’s comments afterwards that he was Kenya’s “duly-elected” president. “Those remarks were unfortunate, calling himself duly-elected and sworn-in president. That is the bone of contention. We want negotiations with integrity,” he said. (Nation)

Every step towards peace is a right step, but the question is not Kibaki or Odinga or Kibaki and Odinga. The question is whether they agree on a constituion reform to limit the missuse of power.

Power sharing

Not even willing to share their umbrellas: Museveni and Gaddafi

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Libya counterpart Muammar Gaddafi have proposed that President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga should share power. Two experts of power sharing have spoken: Gaddafi is in his 39^th year of non-power sharing, while Museveni only achieved 21 years. Both are known for their love for democratic elections. Opposition politicians from Lybia are sharing their place on the Amnesty International report, while Uganda’s oppostion leader Dr Besigye shares the court bench for treason (more on this in the last Part of our article Eyes on the International Community concerning elections in Africa)

Violence in Nakuru

The killing continues and spread towards Nakuru, where houses have been torched. Kenya Army soldiers have been called out to beef up security in Nakuru town after rival militia blocked key roads and destroyed property in fresh escalation of violence.

Screaming and wailing rent the air at Kisima and Kaptembwa Estates in the western part of Nakuru Town all night on Thursday as armed gangs torched houses.

 There are reports about the use of army forces and  Mungiki involvment.

Kenneth Marende, social injustice and a fair salary

R. from the African woman blog quoted freshly elected parliamentary speaker Kenneth Marende, decried the income inequality that saw one man taking home a paltry 5000 Ksh every month (71.5 US dollars), while another took home 1,000,000 Ksh (over 14,000 US dollars) saying this inequality must be corrected if stability is to be achieved. In the same interview just a little later he defended the exorbitant pay that our legislators receive, a minimum of 800,000 Ksh (approximately 11,500 US dollars) on the basis that the house was constituted of a good number of professionals who earned hefty salaries in their previous jobs and that their hefty salaries freed them to concentrate on house business.

We just published our second last part of the article Eyes on the International Community concerning elections in Africa, about Congo. The last part about Uganda will be posted soon.