Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Raila rejects talks with Kibaki
According to a news report from Reuters today at 14.08 GMT, Raila Odinga has rejected an offer of bilateral talks with Kibaki. Kibaki is said to have invited Odinga, but not Kufuor, to talks on Friday to discuss the crisis. “We will not attend the talks on Friday. They are a sideshow,” Odinga told a news conference.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08040046.htm
LSK strike Kivuitu off roll of honour
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has struck the name of ECK chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, from the Roll of Honour of Advocates for mismanaging the just-concluded presidential polls.
http://www.eastandard.net/
My country is in turmoil - Binyavanga
My country is in turmoil. We voted on December 27 and the voting process was the most peaceful in our history. The voter turnout was higher than ever. For the past few years, the most disenfranchised—the poor, those far from the metropoles, the youth—have registered to vote.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=328918&area=/columnist_wainaina/
SA Based Kenyans to Hold Demo at Pretoria Embassy
Pretoria - A network of South African based Kenyans plans to hold a protest demo at the local Kenyan embassy on Tuesday at 9.30am.Solidarity messages are also expected from other African nationalities that are based in South Africa from such countries as Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nigeria.For more details, please contact +27 76 859 5565, according to Grace Kwinjeh’s excellent blog.
http://gracekwinjeh.blogspot.com/2008/01/global-zimbabwe-forum-at-kenya-protest.html
Kibaki appoints Uhuru Kenyatta as his envoy
President Kibaki has appointed Kanu chairman Uhuru Kenyatta as special envoy to brief world leaders on the political crisis in the country caused by his election as president in a disputed win over ODM’s Mr Raila Odinga, according to the Korir, API/APN source.nation.ke
Kenyans find bodies a week after church massacre
KIAMBAA, Kenya, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A week after a mob torched a church and killed 30 people in the worst single attack of Kenya’s post-election violence, families are still finding mutilated bodies of loved ones in nearby fields. Faith Wairimu broke down into sobs as she stumbled across her husband’s dismembered body in a field late on Monday after days searching for him. His head and torso were missing.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08470348.htm
ReliefWeb map of election violence
source: http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/satelliteimages/119978638957.htm
Kenyan media better at reporting the crisis than Western media?
I personally find what the Kenyan media is publishing about the crisis more credible and enlightening. I have no reason to doubt the credibility and objectiveness of commentaries, like that included here below in this email, which has educated me greatly about how the electoral rigging actually happened in the Kenyan elections. [ref: to the article titled - “Why Kivuitu must be held accountable for poll chaos” - by DONALD B. KIPKORIR, Advocate of the Kenyan High Court. Published today, Saturday: 1/5/2008.]
MoreOpen letter to Salim Lone, ODM
Dear Salim
First of all congratulations once again on the role you are playing in the ODM. We heard you on BBC last night. We are sure that the ODM has probably thought this through but think that we should chip in with our thoughts for whatever its worth so here goes. While we hope for a positive outcome it is very likely that nothing will come out of the meeting on Friday. Kibaki is simply window dressing the occasion to show the world that he is for dialogue.
Letter from Njoki Njehu
“The tribalists, the criminals, the rapists, the vengeful, the power-hungry, and other destructive forces have hijacked this moment which had the possibility of seeing Kenya and Kenyans birth a new future. Many people have tried to explain and/or give rationale to what unfolded in Kenya in the last week. Is it a class struggle or tribal warfare/ethnic cleansing? Is it disenfranchised voters demanding their rights? Or is it opportunists who have taken over for their own gain? They always seem to win and to be better prepared – there were reports before the elections of machetes being purchased in large volumes, and in one case someone was arrested with a trunkload/boot of new machetes! The previous three general elections (1992, 1997, and 2002) were preceded by so-called tribal violence, this time it has come post the elections. And this time, for the first time, the violence was unleashed in the full glare of the media because they were already covering the elections.”
MoreYoung Kenyans for the Restoration of Democracy in Kenya issue demands
Stating the Facts Right – this is not a tribal war, it’s about injustice which must be addressed
NAIROBI, Wednesday January 9, 2007 – On the dawn of December 27th 2008, Millions of Young Kenyans woke up early and braced the long queue and cast their ballot in a renewed spirit believing that time had come for Kenya to once again brave to the democratic reality. Over 65% of the registered voters spoke with a loud voice through the ballot. On 31st of December the same democratic right that we the young people had for once engraved through the ballot was rapped shattered and manipulated. We the youth of Kenya are concerned that the current political, social and security situation affect us the most and will live with us past the chaotic period.
MoreYoung Kenyans Humanitarian Appeal
Young Kenyans For The Restoration of Democracy In Kenya
HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS: The Young Kenyans for the Restoration of Democracy is appalled by the current political impasse and has mobilized young leaders from the following organizations to address issues that are geared towards quelling the current situation facing Kenya.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Latest news roundup
How Kenya lost its way
Michela Wrong
For decades Kenya was the African success story, yet the election has exposed bitter divisions. Now the country is on the verge of meltdown
http://www.newstatesman.com/200801030024
US avoids taking a position on dispute
The United States government’s laissez-faire response to the outcome of Kenya’s presidential election contrasts sharply with the assessment of an American monitoring team that accuses the Electoral Commission of having “failed in its responsibility to the people of Kenya.”
http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News%5Cnews070120085.htm
Up to 1 000 dead, says Kenya opposition
Up to 1 000 people may have died in more than a week of riots and post-election violence in Kenya, opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Monday.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=329087&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
The African National Congress (ANC) needs to assure South Africans it will not follow the path that has led to chaos in Kenya, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Monday. “Events in Kenya have shown us how quickly a combination of cronyism, populism and ethnic mobilisation can destroy a country’s democratic prospects,” she said.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleid=329060
Kenya: Disputed Elections
The anger, violence and consequent killings which have characterised the disputed Kenyan elections constitute an anticlimax. This is because, commentaries during the run-up to the elections indicated that Kenya, and by extension Africa, was on the verge of a new governance dawn. It was a new dawn in which Kenya was being touted as the latest icon of governance in a continent that is essentially littered with authoritarianism and various forms of pseudo- democracies. The sad turn-around has been ensured, essentially by a situation in which there are clear indications that the incumbent 76-year-old President, Mwai Kibaki, has played a fast one on Kenya and Kenyans. He has done this by thwarting the legitimate aspirations of the Kenyan populace.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801071641.html
US Interests in Kenya: counterterrorism
“Kenya is an important counterterrorism partner,” said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, adding that Washington is working hard to help what is arguably its closest African ally “get back on the non-violent, democratic path they had been on.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-kenya_sat_salopekjan05,1,3540568.story
Transparency International statement on elections
Transparency International Kenya and the global Transparency International (TI) movement are gravely concerned by serious allegations of election irregularities in recent Kenyan elections and the violent unrest they precipitated.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801071576.html
[What took you guys so long?]