Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno on Saturday threatened to pursue and strike Chadian rebels inside neighbouring Sudan and repeated charges that Khartoum was trying to destabilise his country. Déby claimed his forces had already driven out the rebels from Chad and said: "We're going to destroy them in their nest inside Sudan. "We're going to make them eat dust inside Sudan," he added at a support rally in Ndjamena.

The crisis of violence and disorder in Kenya since the election [1] of 27 December 2007 poses hard questions to members of the country’s political class of all parties and ethnicities. It also raises the issue of what can and should be done now to meet the needs of Kenya’s citizens and the interests of truth, justice and democracy.

Former national director of public prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka is driving the investigation against him, National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi claims. This allegation is contained in Selebi's founding affidavit lodged with the Pretoria High Court.

A former officer of the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), Lieutenant-Colonel Marcel Bivugabagabo, 53, was arrested Tuesday in Toulouse, southern France, at the request of the Rwandan authorities. Bivugabagabo, who was commander of the operational sector of Ruhengeri, northern Rwanda, during the genocide from April to July 1994, is sought for his participation in the killings.

The Government has asked parents displaced by the recent post-election violence to take their children to the nearest school from where they are camping. On Thursday, the Government also directed teachers and other staff displaced by the violence to report to their work stations. Rift Valley PC, Mr Hassan Noor Hassan, told a news conference in Nakuru that only three of 38 districts in the province were not affected by the skirmishes.

This is the agreement ODM says its leader Raila Odinga and President Kibaki were to sign to end the political impasse brought about by the disputed presidential election results. It was to be witnessed by mediator John Kufuor who is the President of Ghana and also the chairman of African Union, British high commissioner Adam Wood, US ambassador Michael Ranneberger, French ambassador Elisabeth Barbier and the local head of the European Union.

Recently, I was involved in getting prosecuted a man who raped a ten-year-old girl in Imo state in Southern Nigeria. In the course of this, I visited several police stations in Southeastern Nigeria where I met, interacted and encountered various police officers. And I must say that I was deeply shocked and disappointed by what I saw-by what I noticed going on at the police stations in the name of police work.

Kenya is bleeding. Kenya is bleeding from a political crisis that has rapidly led to a social and spiritual crisis. We, the Church leaders working together with the leadership of all faiths have been alarmed at the speed and depth this crisis has taken over the last 24 hours. Unless checked, this crisis will plunge Kenya into a complete state of lawlessness, disregard for human rights and the sanctity of life.

Three actions could defuse this political crisis.

Firstly, the outcome of the recently concluded Presidential and Parliamentary elections requires a quick and comprehensive political resolution. The Church as part of KEDOF endorses KEDOF’s statement –

“ in our view, considering the entire process, the 2007 General Elections were credible in as far as the voting and counting process is concerned. The electoral process lost credibility towards the end with regard to the tallying and announcement of presidential results”

We have considered the opinion of the Members of the Electoral Commission and international observer groups. In our opinion, the Government, in close consultation with all the parties who fielded Presidential and Parliamentary candidates should immediately establish a credible process for the establishment of an Independent Commission. This Commission will seek the transparent verification of tallies for the concerned constituencies. All parties must start by committing themselves to acting on the outcome verification by the Independent Commission.

Secondly, we urge the leaders of the three major political parties to meet and dialogue. Their political leadership at this critical hour is central to saving lives. Over the last 24 hours, we have lost at least five lives every hour, with scores of other men, women and children injured, scared, displaced and vulnerable to attacks by fellow Kenyans.

We call upon leaders who contested Parliamentary seats – both those that won and those that lost to jointly and urgently address their constituencies within the next few days. We urge the mass media to continue to support the cause of peace.

Thirdly, while we appreciate the efforts of the uniformed forces to stop lawlessness and we acknowledge the challenge that they have to protect all civilians we call upon them to establish corridors of safety. Such corridors of peace are critical for restoring access to food, shelter, crisis centres and other basic needs to which we as a faith community are committed to assist in providing.

The ability to communicate during a period of national crisis cannot be gainsaid. While we deplore the use of these media for ethnic hate speech, attempting to block these avenues will be counter-productive. It will block also the flow of information that is required for identifying and reaching people at risk. We consequently call upon the state to lift the ban on live broadcasts.

While calling on the Government, political parties and other non-state actors to take these actions, we realise that the future of Kenya is in the hands of the Kenyan people. We therefore call upon all Kenyans to immediately cease the violence that is occurring in our towns, villages and communities.

We commit ourselves to monitor and quickly respond to the humanitarian needs of all Kenyans regardless of their religion, ethnicity, gender and political affiliation.

God bless Kenya.

* Kenya Election Domestic Observation Forum (KEDOF) is a partnership representing Kenyan Civil Society Networks (and faith-based organisations) in establishing a common platform for domestic election observation programme
2007.
* * Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

It is the responsibility of newspapers to report news as they see or hear it. However, I am apprehensive that this kind of equivocal and manipulated news-reporting (in the context of a slow media blockade) will simply buy the regime in Kenya time to launder its image in the midst of a crisis it has deliberately fuelled. The brewing genocide in Kenya has got a long and complicated history. The Kenyan government spin-doctor, Dr Alfred Mutua, has not even begun to scratch on the surface of what is truly going on. Kenya has a long history of internecine violence choreographed by ruling regimes that have always tried to protect their ill-gotten wealth by using ‘tribe’, and even ‘race’ as in the case of the colonial regime, as their alibi. As exiled Kenyan anti-corruption official John Githongo said not too long ago, “corruption always fights back.” Having “vomited all over our shoes” after a corruption binge and having unleashed murder on a scale we have never seen before, they now parade as our protectors. As the late JM Nazareth would have put it, we raia have become “sheep delivered to the fangs of wolves by constituting the wolves the shepherds of the sheep.”

There are many in the Kibaki cabinet and others in opposition parties who are known to have muttered what, under the South African constitution, would be termed hate speech. Many of them have worked for the state at points in history when major public figures such as Dr Robert Ouko, Bishop Alexander Kipsang Muge, Pio Gama Pinto, JM Kariuki, Tom Mboya, Dr Odhiambo Mbai and others were killed on the grounds of their political beliefs or ethnic roots. Others kept quiet when state-sponsored militias spread mayhem in Western Kenya in the early 1990s in order to stop the enactment of multi-partyism.

I know for a fact a number of public figures in the current mess who violently speared effigies of then exiled Kenyan writer, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, in the late 1980s. There are others who sat back, laughed or kept quiet when state thugs were unleashed on Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Prof Wangari Maathai and politician Paul Muite in the early 1990s. Yet others took oaths of ethnic-elite solidarity, sold to the public as a defence of ethnic rights, when massacres and inter-party repression rocked Kenya in the late-1960s. It would be naïve in the extreme to expect that they have all of a sudden developed a conscience. Beware of how many Kenyan politicians will in the coming days make a show of appealing to universal values of liberty, human rights, ad nauseum, when their conduct has been consistently illiberal and complicit in crimes against humanity. Beware especially of the diplomatic ones who will speak in pious Oxfordian tones in order that they may seem less violent than others. Beware of the suave, slick types who could never hurt a fly; they don’t need to for they have snuffed many human lives. As Hannah Arendt discovered when she did research for Eichmann in Jerusalem: The Banality of Evil, her masterful summary of the career and trial of the Nazi operative, mass murderers do not sport horns on their foreheads. They are often very ordinary ‘family men’. Investigate, investigate, investigate!

Let the world know the truth that members of almost all Kenyan ethnic communities are being killed and not just Kikuyu supporters of President Mwai Kibaki’s illegitimate government as the news-report insinuates. Government sponsored thugs and mercenaries cut the water and power supply to Kisumu (an opposition stronghold) at a time when a cholera outbreak is clearly imminent. Over 100 people have been killed in Kisumu, many of them shot in the back by paramilitary forces. There have been reports of cholera in greater South Nyanza and this will spread to major urban centres on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria. Massive starvation is also imminent in the face of a ban on fishing (a consequence of the cholera outbreak). All major urban areas and rural settlements in all parts of the country are under severe threat, from Busia to Mombasa, thanks to the purveyors of spreadsheet democracy. A government that consorts with known international criminals cannot presume to lecture Kenyans on human rights.

Kenyans at home and in the diaspora have to admit that it is our collective silence in the face of extreme repression at key moments in our history that has led to this crisis. Giving airtime to saber-rattlers, spin-doctors and latter-day Goebbels will not help, but a little investigative journalism just might. The horses of the East African apocalypse may just have been unleashed. The truth must come out. However, our immediate duty now is not to dig in with specific accusations against politicians, but to work out a solution. Only a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and clear rules for power-sharing will help us in the end. Do not fail East Africa, for the region could implode!

Sincerely,

Dr Dan Ojwang
Head, African Literature
University of the Witwatersrand

No JUSTICE, No PEACE!!
Onyango Oloo Dissects The Wrong-Headed "SAVE OUR COUNTRY" Media Blitz

During my 18 year sojourn in Ontario and Quebec, I became quite immersed in a wide array of social justice struggles-from Indigenous People’s rights, anti-globalization, working class struggles, anti-apartheid to anti-racist movements.

The Canadian anti-racist movement, while different and autonomous from its sister movement south of the 49th Parallel, has been inspired by the African-American led struggles for civil, social, economic, cultural and political rights.

Icons like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Ben Chavis, Jesse Jackson Jr., Fredrick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Angela Davis, George Jackson, Huey P. Newton are household names in the African-Canadian, Caribbean Canadian and Native Canadian communities.

As many of us know, one of the most ubiquitous rallying cries and chants during anti-racist rallies, protests and demonstrations is the slogan, “No Justice, No Peace!”

I remember the summer of 1989 being amidst angry protestors around the Queen’s Park subway in Toronto, making our way up the street to the Royal Ontario Museum chanting these and other slogans to vent our ire about a racist exhibition at that Museum which really demeaned continental Africans and people of African descent in general.

To some, the phrase, “No Justice, No Peace!” is just another tired slogan, to be grouped with “A People United, Shall Never Be Defeated!” or “An Injury To One Is An Injury to All”.

These cynics are of course obtuse, because they do not appreciate the blood, the sacrifice and the torture which infused the historical origins of those chants. The second phrase emanated from the anti-imperialist and anti-fascist struggles of Latin American women and men confronting the US backed dictatorships of Central and South America. The third slogan is from South Africa where the militant workers in that struggle-soaked nation were right at the frontlines of the South African national liberation movement.

This morning I want to talk about “No Justice, No Peace!” in the contest of the ongoing social and political turmoil in Kenya.

And I am doing it because I have been reeling with DISGUST, recoiling in horror at a new campaign for “Peace” launched primarily by Kenya’s media houses, principally the Nation Media Group, the Standard Group and the folks who run Kiss 100 FM and the Nairobi Star.

Now to be fair to people like Julie Gichuru at NTV and the KTN anchors, they appear sincere and earnest enough. It is good intentions all through.

At least at the surface level.

When you do scratch beneath that surface however, you are confronted with something else- a blatant attempt to restore social control and buttress the class domination of the comprador and petit bourgeoisie in Kenya.

Please stay with me if you are temporarily befuddled.

Most Kenyans know that the spontaneous anti-government insurrections were sparked off by the decision of the Electoral Commission of Kenya to steal the Presidential vote at the behest of Mwai Kibaki and his PNU cohorts. We also realize that criminals and tribalists have hijacked these protests to loot and plunder and attack members of specific ethnic groups.

One would expect that ANYONE interested in a peaceful solution to the crisis in Kenya would begin with where “rain began to beat us” to quote Chinua Achebe for the billionth time.

One would further expect that only a transparent restitution of justice would jump start a sustainable peace and national reconciliation process.

At a minimum, there would have to be some kind of a public acknowledgment that the flawed Presidential election results must be rectified.

That seems to be the consensus in Kenya, and judging by media reports, among the publics of Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and many other African countries.

The indictment by the EU observer mission would seem to indicate that the capitals of capital have no doubt in their minds that Kibaki stole the elections.

Given the above, one would expect that a "peace process" dubbed “Save Our Country” jumpstarted last night by the main Kenyan media houses who were in the forefront of exposing the anomalies and irregularities would pay attention to the question of justice even as strove to put out all the infernos raging across Kenya.

What has happened instead?

A mealy mouthed editorial piece on peace carried simultaneously across different Nairobi media that insults the collective intelligence of Kenyans.

Sample this:

“Political leaders on both sides must be told in no uncertain terms that they are currently in great danger of losing their credibility in the eyes of Kenyans and the international community because systemic killing of the innocents sweeping Kenya, destruction of the economy and the spread of disaffection throughout the land. No grievance and no cause is worth the innocent blood of Kenyan children. The orgies of looting, burning, rape and wanton, well-orchestrated blood-letting are undermining the moral basis of the politicians’ cause…”

-Excerpt from an editorial jointly run in the Daily Nation and Nairobi Star (Thursday, January 03, 2008)

HELLO?

Since when did “politicians on both sides” coerce ECK to steal the Presidential vote?

The culpability rests solely with President Kibaki. From the fascist diktats of Michuki, Muthaura, Murage and Co. we know that the ODM leadership has NOT had a chance to publicly address their followers and therefore cannot be accused of “orchestrating” or “instigating” anything.

Yes, the blood of innocents is flowing freely with mobs setting alight a church full of women and children and targeting innocent wananchi based on their ethnicity and regional origins.

But who is talking about the orgy of POLICE and PARA-MILITARY EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS?

By yesterday, there were over ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY BULLET RIDDLED BODIES in the New Nyanza Hospital including corpses of INFANTS. Who shot to death those innocent unarmed civilians? The police have been executing ghetto youth in Kibera, Kawangware and elsewhere. Who employs and commands these killers in uniform?

Reports from Kisumu insist that the Kibaki regime may be using crack NRA troops from neighbouring Uganda to slaughter Kenyan citizens. When I first raised this issue online twenty four hours ago, some were quick to dismiss the very possibility. Today the Nyanza Provincial Police Officer is on the defensive, admitting she is aware of these widespread allegations even as she strenuously denies them.

In this regard I must state that I was somewhat disappointed by the public statement released yesterday by Kenyan Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai.

While I commend her for speaking up and appealing to Kibaki to take charge, I am disappointed that what motivated her was not so much the reality that the whole of Kenya is burning but rather that “her people”, the Central Kenyan communities were being targeted. Surely one can make a very strong case that the Luo communities residing in Kisumu, Migori, Homa Bay and elsewhere are being similarly targeted, this time by THE STATE itself.

In fact, in the letters to editors page of the Standard there is this letter from a Kisumu resident of South Asian heritage which says, inter alia:

“…The recent riots are not Kisumu riots. Even the killings are State-operated to gain political mileage to discredit ODM’s Raila Odinga and his supporters.”

-Mahesh R, Kisumu, p.8. Letter, The Standard, Thursday, January 03, 2008

Raila Odinga has publicly stated that he is ready to meet with international mediator and in fact as I write these lines is meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Pentagon House. Earlier this morning Amos Kimunya was interviewed by the BBC and he was quoted as saying that the Kibaki regime does NOT see the need for international mediators because they (PNU) can deal with the matter internally- a claim which is mocked by the ongoing protests. The same Kimunya has accused the international observers as being biased towards ODM after the EU team publicly denounced the anomalies in the tallying of the presidential results. President Kufuor of Ghana, the current AU Chairman was scheduled to be in Kenya today, but the Kibaki regime BLOCKED his coming.

Are these guys SERIOUS???!

Let us go back to the editorials. This is a passage from the Standard’s:

“…Employ a reputable international arbiter, NOT to determine who won the presidential poll, but to work out a road-map that will bring Kenya back from the brink and a mutually acceptable proposition for sharing power…Notwithstanding the inflation of figures in a number of areas, both ODM and PNU garnered 4 million plus votes in the presidential ballot, meaning the country is split right down the middle. The position of President is not vacant. Kibaki was declared President whether or not the presidential ballot was flawed…”

-Standard editorial, Thursday, January 03, 2008

It is right in this excerpt that the mask slips to reveal the PNU underbelly of the much ballyhooed “Save Our Country” onslaught.

Huh?

So we should not “determine who won the presidential poll” eh? How then, dear Standard editors, will we work out a road-map that will bring back Kenya from the brink?

Even queasier is the cheesy full page ad by the Concerned Citizens for Peace addressing two men-Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga- to do something.

The very content of the ad betrays its elitist, undemocratic character.

The 2007 Kenyan civic, parliamentary and presidential polls was a national affair involving MILLIONS of Kenyan citizens. What is happening in Kenya is NOT a PRIVATE FIST FIGHT involving the Othaya and Lang’ata MPs, but rather a NATIONAL CRISIS that has the future of MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS of Kenyan women, children and men at stake.

To try and lock out the Kenyan people from an urgent democratic impasse and reduce it to a two man tussle is a grave insult to the Kenyan people.

By the way, WHERE is President Kibaki, the apparently “popularly, democratically and fairly elected leader”?

From the look of things right now one would be forgiven if they thought that Major-General Hussein Ali is the acting Head of State with chief government propagandist Dr. Alfred Mutua as his deputy.

In the few times I have seen Kibaki he is holed up at State House flanked with senior military officers giving the distinct impression that he is their hostage.

It is now approximately 12:15 as I keyboard these lines and reports on the television indicate that there are ongoing skirmishes between the police and pro-ODM youths along Thika Road, Mbagathi Way, Kibera, Eastlands and the City Centre. In other words, there is a minor uprising in Nairobi and not just the capital but also Kakamega, Bungoma, Mombasa, Kisumu and elsewhere.

On December 30th I spoke about Kibaki’s Coup.

Four days later the presence of police, para-military and military formations underscores my point about the overthrow of democratic rule.

What is actually laughable is the phenomenon of a horde of PNU election losers led by Kibaki down to his deputy Awori and FORMER cabinet ministers Tuju, Kombo, Kituyi, Shakombo etc MASQUERADING as a legitimate “government”.

Surely, if Kibaki had the mandate that PNU hawks like George Nyamweya claims he has, he should have formed a government by now. He should have by now been addressing his 4.5 million supporters at heavily attended mass rallies by now. Instead, Kibaki skulks stealthily in State House afraid to meet the very Kenyan citizens he claims to lead.

Which brings me back to the slogan:

“No Justice, No Peace!!”

Until we resolve the simple question of who Kenyans actually elected President on December 27, 2007, there WILL BE NO PEACE.

In my considered opinion, the SAVE OUR COUNTRY campaign is a slick, dishonest appeal by the pro-Kibaki comprador and petit-bourgeois business elite hoodwinking Kenyans to ACCEPT the fraudulent election results and legitimize criminal PNU’s civilian coup.

Why should Kibaki or Raila share power?

At the December 27th elections, Kenyans overwhelming voted for a new government:

That government is the Orange Democratic Movement led by its flag bearer, Raila Amolo Odinga.

Once again I say:

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!

A PEOPLE UNITED, SHALL NEVER BE DEFEATED!

AN INJURY TO ONE, IS AN INJURY TO ALL!

*Onyango Oloo, a Kenyan political activist and ex political prisoner.

*Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

On Thursday December 27th 2007, shortly after polling stations were closed, Kenya was hailed as having fulfilled an African dream – to have a free and fair closely contested democratic election. But less than 48 hours later it was clear that the dream of democracy could become a nightmare of ethnic violence. Most of the casualties so far have been the poor and the marginalized – and if things continue as they are, a bitter civil war fought along ethnic lines is certain. To say that what is at stake is the very future of Kenya is not an overstatement.

To answer the question of how the promise became a nightmare one must begin with very nature of democracy and how it has been functioning in Africa.

The first element to consider is that in the absence of strong democratic institutions (the three pillars of legislature, executive and judiciary), democracies in Africa are relying more and more on the goodwill of politicians: in this case, a nation is only as democratic as its politicians.

Added to this, African democracy is in real terms an expression of ethnic tensions. Instead of rolling back tribalism (I use the derisive term deliberately), African democracy serves it. One could say that all democracies have an element of this: in the West it generally goes under the euphemism of voter demographics. When Hilary Clinton is courting the white, black or Latino vote, she is in fact practicing what might, in other circumstances, be called tribal politics.

In the Kenyan presidential election, ethnic politics were a key factor in the close election results: the incumbent Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuyu, received very few votes in the Luo areas, while his Luo opponent, Raila Odinga, received only a very small percentage of the Kikuyu vote. In this bitterly contested election where ethnicity was the deciding factor, victory from either side was bound to spill into violence.

As a direct result of the above, questions of what true justice means and about the growing divide between haves and have-nots become lost to ethnicity. Raila is a flamboyant millionaire while Kibaki is as elite as you can get in Kenya. Lost in the fires of ethnicity is the simple fact that Kibaki and Raila have much more in common with each other than with their supporters. In this sense those engaged in the violence are, to put it bluntly, proxies in a war between two elite leaders.

Another element to consider is the extent to which the landscape of African politics has changed. We need to stop blanket condemnations of African leadership, and acknowledge that it varies and some leaders are better or worse than others. Kibaki, while not a Mandela is not a Moi or a Mobutu, or a Bokassa or an Idi Amin. By the same token the nature of opposition has changed. Since independence and the struggles against neo-colonial governments, opposition has been automatically understood as the legitimate voice of the people. But opposition no longer means the good guys. In many instances the opposition and the sitting government are practically the same as is indeed the case in Kenya. So while Raila is accusing Kibaki of vote-rigging, it could just as easily be Raila trying to rig and short-circuit the democratic process to favor himself. In other words we have no reason to take either of their claims to be true at face-value. In this impasse of two leaders intent on seizing power, respect for the democratic process couldn’t be more important.

Toward a solution, Kenyans should realize that something beautiful did happen during this election. Most of the big men of Kenyan politics were voted out of Parliament and hence out of office. Even the sons of former dictator Moi did not win seats in Parliament. There seemed to be a belief that voting was a way of talking back the Kenyan political elite, and that democracy could be made to work for the majority poor. This is the flame that we must not let die.

To nurture this flame, a recount of the votes in a transparent manner is necessary. This, no matter what one thinks of Raila or Kibaki, or whether one thinks the elections were fair or not, should be the meeting ground of all those concerned about the future, immediate and long term, of Kenya.

If the votes can be recounted in full transparency, this election will not then become the death of Kenyan democracy but rather a test along the way to a democracy with real content – the content of security, equality and justice for Kenya’s majority poor.

*Mukoma Wa Ngugi is co-editor of Pambazuka News. A version of this article first appeared at

*Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

National elections were held in Kenya on December 27, 2007; the results of the Presidential election were announced three days later. Within minutes of the announcement that Mwai Kibaki had emerged as the winner, there were spontaneous acts of opposition to the government in all parts of the country. The opposition was especially intense among the jobless youths who had voted overwhelmingly for change. A ruling clique that had stolen billions of dollars in a period of five years had stolen the elections. This was the verdict of the poor. However, this verdict was obscured by ethnic alienation and the constant refrain by local and foreign intellectuals that the crisis and killings emanated from deep ‘tribal’ hostilities. This tribal narrative was intensified after the burning and killings of innocent civilians in a church, in Eldoret, in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. But while these killings had all of the hallmarks of the genocidal violence of Rwanda and Burundi, more importantly, they heightened the need for Kenyan society to step back from the brink of all out war. Violence and killings provided a feedback loop that threatened to engulf even the political leaders of the society.

This analysis argues that the calls for peace and reconciliation by the political and religious leaders will remain hollow until there are efforts to break from the recursive processes of looting, extra judicial killings, rape and violation of women, and general low respect for African lives.

This short commentary on the elections and the aftermath seeks to introduce a unified emancipatory approach: liberating humanity from the mechanical, competitive, and individualistic constraints of western philosophy, and re-unifying Kenyans with each other, the Earth, and spirituality. This analysis draws from fractal theory and seeks to place Africans as human beings at the center of the analysis. Fractal theory is founded on aspects of the African knowledge system and breaks the old tribal narratives that refer to Africans as sub humans needing Civilization, Christianity and Commerce.
Those who condemn the post-election violence in Kenya have failed to condemn the traditions of killings and economic terrorism in Kenya. It should be stated clearly that using African women as guinea pigs for western pharmaceuticals is just as outrageous as burning innocent women and children in churches. Rape and violation of women, and exploitation of the poor and of jobless youth have been overlooked by the commentators who focus on one component of the matrix of exploitation in Kenya -- ethnicity.

In tandem with much of the current discourse on fractal theory, this commentary is addressed to progressive intellectuals from Kenya and calls for a revolutionary paradigmatic transformation- one that is intrinsic to African knowledge systems and can be witnessed in practice in the everyday activities of African life. Revolutionary transformations are necessary to break from the processes that have been unleashed in Kenya and East Africa since British colonialism and the British Gulag. This break requires revolutionary ideas in Kenya, along with revolutionary leaders and new forms of political organization. Thus far, neo-liberal capitalism and neo-liberal democratic organizations, along with the focus on party organization have created leaders who organize for political power. These leaders are not even concerned about forming lasting political parties. Far more profound transformations are required in Kenya, beyond the winning of elections. However, until new ideas and new leaders emerge, the current struggles will serve to educate the poor on the limitations of the old politics and ethnic alliances that privilege sections of the Kenyan capitalist class.

The analysis is presented as a drama of three acts. The first act was played out in the form of the election campaign. The second act involved the drama after the announcement of the results and the violent reactions from all sections of the society. The third act of this drama continues to unfold with the call for a fractal analysis that will place revolutionary transformation as the central question on the political agenda in Kenya and East Africa.

Act One – The Struggles over the election and the campaign for the Presidency.

The Scene: Kenya had been the epi- center of imperial domination in East Africa from the period of British colonialism. Caroline Elkins in the book, Britain’s Gulag, has documented for posterity the extreme violence and murders bequeathed to the Kenyan political culture by the British government. At independence in December 1963, Britain handed over power to people who, in essence, agreed to act as junior partners with British capitalism in Eastern and Central Africa. This partnership included an acceptance by the ruling class in Kenya of the western European forms of land ownership that stated that Africans had to be modernized from their “tribal” and “backward” ways. For forty years, Kenya was presented as a success story where a parasitic middle class and a thriving Nairobi Stock Exchange (composed of foreign capital) sought to prove that capitalism could take root in Africa.

Act 1 Scene Two of this drama took the form of a campaign for the tenth Parliament of Kenya. The drama of the struggle for change in Kenya was played out before the world in the form of an electoral struggle that gripped the society for many months. At the end of Scene Two one of the principal props of this drama – the local media - reported that the results were like a “blood bath.” The headline screamed “ energized voters sweep out Vice President, Cabinet Ministers and seasoned politicians as wind of change blows across the country.” But the newspapers were not yet aware of the implications of using language like “blood bath” in their headlines. Every one awaited the final results of the news of who would be President. The results were being delayed while the votes were being cooked. As news of the parliamentary routing of the incumbent President and his allies in the Party of National Unity (PNU) splashed on the streets, on the screens and on text messages while the principal actors and actresses of the drama, the people of Kenya, sought spontaneous actions to ensure that they were not silenced by the power brokers who had placed themselves at the head of the movement for change. These central actors and actresses (wananchi) had enthusiastically participated in the election campaign articulating their demand for peace, reconstruction and transformation of Kenyan society.

By the time of the third scene of this drama, those from the den of thieves around the incumbent Mwai Kibaki sought to silence the media. In order for this scene to be played out without an audience, international observers and the media (both national and international) were ejected from Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) election center at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre. The Chairperson of the ECK went to a small room and announced the results of the elections naming Mwai Kibaki as the winner of the election. Three days later, the same chairperson of the ECK said in the media that he was not sure if Kibaki won the elections.

Earlier in the drama Raila Odinga’s team of regional barons and aspiring capitalists argued that the true results of the elections showed that Raila Odinga had been chosen by the majority of the main players to be the leading man on the Kenyan stage. How was it possible for his Movement to win over one hundred seats in the Parliament (when Kibaki’s den of thieves had won less than thirty parliamentary seats) and still lose the Presidency? Local and foreign observers cried foul. The elections had been rigged. Ballot boxes had been stuffed. Results were being announced that did not correspond to the votes from the constituencies. The integrity of the process was flawed. These voices were soon drowned out by the might and power of those with strategic control over the military and media sections of the performance. Neo-liberal politics include rigging, so that the international observers used ‘measured’ language of “irregularities,” “anomalies” and “weighty issues” to conceal the reality of outright theft. Raila Odinga termed the process a “civilian coup.” But international capital became confused, because, after all the precedent of election rigging in Florida,U.S.A in 2000 had given the green light to electoral fraud internationally.

The Swearing in of President Kibaki

Act One Scene Three of this drama was performed within the guarded confines of State House where parastatal executives, mostly defeated cabinet members and a small section of the media were invited. In this scene, Mwai Kibaki was sworn in as the Third President of the Republic of Kenya. The stage and setting of this scene was markedly different from the previous swearing in at the Uhuru Park (in Nairobi) where an enthusiastic audience had cheered on the President on December 30, 2002. The 2007 swearing in scene had to be played out without the audience because the principal actors and actresses did not endorse this new act. Minutes after the announcement of the victory of Kibaki, there were spontaneous demonstrations all over the country, especially the urban areas. Popular outrage at the theft of the elections brought violence and the killings of innocent civilians in Kakamega, Kisumu, Mombassa, Nairobi, Nakuru and other centers. The police killed innocent demonstrators as the foreign media portrayed the demonstrations in ethnic terms. The gendered, class and ethnic dimensions of the opposition to Kibaki began to be played out in the poor communities that were called slums, but the media focused on one dimension, the ethnic alienation of the poor and exploited.

Hundreds of dead brought home the reality that the elections and vote counting were simply one site of struggle in the quest to break the old politics of exploitation and dehumanization in Kenya. However, because so much of the old politics of exploitation had been masked by the politicization of ethnicity, poor members of the Kikuyu nationality were targeted in some communities, with the killings in Eldoret bringing home the long traditions of ethnic cleaning that had been going on in this region during the Moi regime. The same media neglected to report that poor Kalenjin also torched the home of former President Arap Moi.

Would there be a break from this recursive process of killing of the poor?
Odinga and members of the Pentagon condemned the killings of members of a particular ethnic group but the anger was too deep for the youths to listen. Unfortunately, the ODM did not have structures to properly mobilize the youths away from looting.

Raila Odinga and the Orange Democratic Movement

In order to avert the possible war that could emanate from this new act of the drama there was the need for fresh if not revolutionary ideas to harness the pent up energies of the people for change. The radicalization of Kenyan politics had merged with the anti- globalization forces internationally to the point where in 2007 Kenya hosted the World Social Forum. The radical demands of the Bamako appeal of the Africa Social Forum (for profound social, economic and gender transformations in Africa) could not be carried forward by the old Non Governmental Organization elements allied with international NGO’s from Western Europe. What the World Social Forum had demonstrated was the reality that new revolutionary ideas with new revolutionary forms of organization were needed to realize the goals and aspirations and appeal of the Africa social forum. Raila Odinga and his group of regional ethnic barons had tapped into the radical sentiments of the youth all across the ethnic divisions. Calling his team, the Pentagon, Odinga mobilized the popular discourses about youth, women and disabled to speak about ‘poverty eradication’ and “corruption.”

Absent from the platform of the Orange Democratic Movement was a clear program for reconstruction and transformation. Raila Odinga had been a major political actor on the Kenyan stage for four decades. He had participated in every major political party and formation since his father, Odinga Odinga had emerged as the opponent of the Kenyan form of neo-colonialism. The 2007 elections exposed the reality that there were no real political parties in Kenya. Leaders on all sides were not interested in building a lasting movement for change. They were interested in parties as electoral vehicles to capture state power. There were more than 300 parties registered in Kenya and over 117 participated in the elections in December 2007.

Local and international writers who earlier had been voices for the poor enthusiastically supported the enactment of the first scene of the drama (the election and voting). Some of these writers moaned and groaned that the script had been changed when those who controlled the state machinery unleashed violence against the poor. In order to unleash state violence against the poor, the Minister of Internal Affairs banned the broadcast of live images. The state also toyed with the idea of banning SMS messaging in Kenya. But
Kenyans simply tuned in to the international media to confirm what they knew, that the recursive processes of killings and revenge were spiraling out of control.

Without enacting an official state of emergency (in the fear of further hurting the tourist industry) the majority of poor Kenyans lived under curfew-like conditions as the military, the police, and General Service Units were deployed all over the country and new forms of censorship were implemented. The political leadership that stole the elections had to be careful with the use of the police, military and the intelligence services in so far as the divisions within the security forces challenged the authority of those who stole the elections. Raila Odinga sought to tap into this division of the coercive forces by calling a demonstration of a million Kenyans to oppose the stolen election results.

The International media and international capital

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and other cultural voices of imperial power were from the outset one of the props of this drama. The British were particularly active because the interests of British capitalism were very much an important part of narrative of the drama. During Act 1 scenes two and three, this foreign prop had been condemning the “irregularities’” and “anomalies” of the drama and carried the press statements of the International Observers of the European Union and the Commonwealth. The head of the European Union observer mission issued a statement declaring that, “the Presidential poll lacks credibility and an independent audit should be instituted to rectify things.”

This clear statement led the US government to reverse its earlier recognition of Mwai Kibaki as the winner of the Presidential elections. There had been concern in Washington over the future of Kenya in so far as the US authorities sought to mobilize Kenyans in the war against terrorism. During the period of Kibaki, Kenyan citizens were shipped out of the country to be tried as terrorists under the US policy of kidnapping, called rendition. The ODM signed a memorandum of understanding with the Islamic community during the election campaign and members of the ODM condemned the rendering of Kenyan citizens by the government. It was argued that if these citizens acted contrary to Kenyan law, they should be tried under Kenyan law.

The propaganda war had been virulent and since Raila Odinga held the moral and political high ground, sections of the international media began to retreat from endorsement of the electoral coup. However, the occupation of the moral high ground was shaky. Would the government and opposition be more concerned with the lives of the poor than with political power?

In the face of the absence of resolute moral leadership to condemn these killings, the international media had a field day portraying the struggles for democracy in Kenya as primitive “tribal” violence.

Act Two – Stalemate and brinkmanship in politics

Raila Odinga and his team called the Pentagon had entered the drama seeking to play on the terms of those who had seized power from the time of colonialism. The very naming of his team as the ‘Pentagon’ had shown an insensitivity to the international revulsion against military symbols. The five leaders of the Pentagon were, (i) Vice Presidential running mate M Mudavadi, (ii) Charity Ngilu, (iii) William Ruto, (iv) Bilal Najib and (v) Joseph Nyagah. These regional ethnic barons had emerged from multiple political formations and many had family and business linkages with capitalists inside and outside of the government. During the campaign these regional leaders had campaigned on a pledge to devolve power from central government. The poor believed this would bring power closer to the village and communities so that health care facilities, water supply systems, road and pathways in the villages, education, sanitation and other services could be delivered so that the conditions of exploitation are ameliorated. These localized services were interpreted by various local communities as job creation avenues for the jobless youths. For the regional barons, the devolution debate was carried out to ensure easier access to the treasury. The word ‘majimbo’ re- emerged in the political vocabulary of Kenya to reignite the memory of the alliance between the ‘home guards’ and settlers at the dawn of independence.

Youths all across Kenya had transcended the ethnic identification and wanted real change in the quality of life in the society.

Entering the drama without a real party and without a real organ to bring the majority of the actors and actresses to the center of the drama, it was easy for the team around Mwai Kibaki to stall so that the spontaneous anger would peter out. Would the Orange Democratic Revolution learn the lessons of popular power in the streets of the Ukraine Orange Revolution and shake the old power with new bases of alternative power? This provided the setting for the central aspect of the drama, the stand off between the forces of orange and the forces of the defeated power. Kibaki came across as an imprisoned leader, surrounded by politicians and financiers who argued that Kibaki must enter any negotiation from a position of strength. Odinga countered that negotiations could only begin when Kibaki accepted that the elections had been stolen. The hardening of positions ratcheted up the tensions in the country as regionally countries such as Uganda, Rwanda and the Southern Sudan began to feel the effects of the shutdown of the transportation system in Kenya.

Mwai Kibaki and the neo-liberal regime in Kenya

Mwai Kibaki had been associated with the ruling class in Kenya for over fifty years. Starting his career as a representative of Shell Oil Company in Kampala, Uganda, Kibaki moved from an academic position at Makerere University to the top echelons of the independent government of Kenya after independence. In the book, The Reds and the Blacks, William Atwood, then-US ambassador, had identified Kibaki as one of the steady ‘reformers” who would guarantee the interests of foreign capital. Kibaki emerged as a stable force in the ruling circles serving both Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi as Minister of Finance. It was under the leadership of Kenyatta and Moi that the forms of theft by the ruling elements in Kenya were refined. Extra judicial killings and accidental deaths of prominent trade union leaders and politicians were papered over by the foreign press that labeled Kenya a ‘stable’ democracy.

Arap Moi and international capital.

After the death of Kenyatta in 1978, Daniel Arap Moi moved decisively to cement an alliance of foreign capitalists and local political careerists to loot the society and spread divisions and ethnic hatred among the poor and oppressed. British capitalism had been the dominant force in Kenya with British companies such as Unilever, Finlays, GSK, Vodafone, Barclays and Standard Bank becoming leading names on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Britain had made a deal with the independence leaders and awarded a small sum to enhance this new class of African yeoman farmers to join the British settlers in the exploitation of Kenya and indeed, East Africa. Molo, in the Rift Valley (one of the constituencies at the center of the row over the rigged elections), represented one of the places where Kikuyu settlers had been relocated after independence.

Moi during his Presidency remained at the center of the alliance between British capitalists, Asian capitalists and Kikuyu entrepreneurs from Central Province. By the time of the electoral defeat of Moi in December 2002, the Moi family and cronies in the ruling party, Kenya African National Union (KANU) had become junior capitalists in the game of exploitation. It was under the leadership of Moi that imperialism used Kenya as a base to subvert African independence. A report commissioned by the Kibaki administration, (called the Kroll Report), had named Moi and his sons as billionaires with assets in banks in Britain, Switzerland, South Africa, Namibia, the Cayman Islands and Brunei. The 110-page report by the international risk consultancy Kroll alleged that relatives and associates of former President Moi siphoned off more than £1bn of government money. This documentation placed the Mois on a par with Africa's other great politicians-cum-looters such as Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and Nigeria's Sani Abacha. The Kroll report of the levels of theft when presented to the Kibaki government was never acted on. The alliance between Moi and Kibaki forces became clearer during the election campaign when Moi and his sons fiercely campaigned for the re –election of President Kibaki. The sons of Moi were decisively defeated in the elections.

The documentation of the level of theft by Moi was exposed before the public in what to became known as the Goldenberg scandal. This scandal brought to the fore the alliance between Moi, KANU and Asian capitalists in Kenya. These capitalists had looted the country with such impunity that Kamlesh Mdami Pattni (an Asian capitalist named in the Goldenberg scandal) took over one party Kenda to contest the 2007 elections.

Prior to the 1992 multi-party struggles, Kibaki had sought to distance himself from this group of capitalists. These were the capitalists involved in settler agriculture, manufacturing, transport, services, old forms of banking, insurance, real estate, construction and engineering and the health and education sectors. These capitalists from inside and outside the political arena provided cover for looters all across Eastern Africa. In the Kenyan economy money from oil in the Sudan (especially Southern Sudan), commercial interests in Somalia, gold and diamond dealers from Rwanda, Burundi and the Eastern Congo circulated with the resources from the exploited Kenyan working poor so that in the past ten years there has been a growth of the Kenyan economy. Felicia Kabunga, wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda (ICRT) for crimes of genocide in Rwanda was the kind of looter and money spinner who found safe haven among the money launderers in Kenya.

Kibaki and the rise of new capitalists.

Although Mwai Kbaki had campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket in 2002, his tenure as President of Kenya was marked by an explosion of new schemes for accumulation. The rise of the telecommunications, information technology and banking sectors boomed with new enterprises such as Equity Bank and a number of communications companies (Safaricom, Flashcom, Telecom etc) rivaling the old capitalists. The floating of new shares n the form on an Initial Public Offer (IPO) for the Company, Safarcom, became a central question in the election campaign in so far as those who got access to the shares at the time of the issuing of the IPO became instant millionaires.

The Kibaki government was in the main dominated by elements who formed a company called MEGA (a regrouping of the old Gema Gikuyu, Embu, Meru Association), and through Transcentury Corporation had elevated themselves to be the among the leading capitalists in Kenya. This group presented a program called Vision 2030 where Kenya would become the leading capitalist country in Africa, becoming the Singapore of Africa. Control of the governmental apparatus was crucial for Vision 2030.

Space does not allow for an elaboration of the individuals of this capitalist clique and their place in the interpenetrating directorates of the Nairobi Stock Exchange. What is significant is that the names of the capitalists and politicians of Trancentury figured in the scandal of corruption that rocked the government of Mai Kibaki. This was termed the Anglo-leasing scandal which involved awarding huge government contracts to bogus companies. One insider, John Githongo, exposed the scandal and repaired to Britain.

No money from the Anglo leasing scandal had been recovered before the elections and although European and US governments made noises about corruption there were no moves to repatriate the stolen wealth back to Kenya. These scandals were very much a part of the election campaign. Three of the four ministers who resigned after the Anglo Leasing scandal was exposed had been reinstated by Kibaki. These ministers along with twenty other ministers lost their parliamentary seats in the December 2007 elections.
The poor of Kenya had used the ballot to send a message to the capitalists in Kenya but those who stole billions of dollars from the Kenyan Treasury were not above stealing an election.

The real test in Kenyan politics was whether the team called the Pentagon was serious about changing the political culture of theft, looting and storing billions of dollars in foreign banks. The people of Kenya had voted for change. Was the Orange Democratic Movement a movement for change or a movement for political power? This was the outstanding question as the cast and the writers got ready for Act three of the drama of the struggle for democracy.

Act 3. A Revolutionary situation without revolutionary ideas and real revolutionaries.

Because the drama is being played out it is not possible to make a presentation of the last act of this drama. This is the act where the peoples of Kenya are torn between two traditions. These are the traditions of the freedom fighters for independence and the traditions of violence, looting and the low respect for African life. The youths of Kenya have been brought up in the period of the aftermath of the end of apartheid and the defeat of Mobutism. These youths have risen above the politicization of ethnicity and along with progressive women want to end the rape and violation of women. These youths have been heard to say that Kenya is in the midst of a liberation war.

While the consciousness of the youth may be high with the thought of a long term struggle, there are very few revolutionary leaders and a poverty of revolutionary ideas in Kenya. If anything, the poorer youths are being mobilized into counter-revolutionary violence where poor and oppressed people burn and kill each other. This was the lesson of the killings, burning and massacre in the Rift Valley. Counter-revolutionary violence of the Rwanda genocidal form lay just below the surface and the same politicians who gave refuge to genocidaires from Rwanda are not above fomenting genocidal violence among the poor. The media images of marauding youths with pangas provide the necessary imagery to represent to the world another version of African savagery. This same media will not prominently carry the news that poor peasants from the home area of Danieal Arap Moi burnt his house to the ground. The prospect of real class warfare in Kenya frightens both the government and the opposition so there is a delicate effort to manage the crisis so that the forms of capital accumulation can return to the business pages rather than the front pages.

Raila Odinga and the Orange Democratic movement are now caught between the aspirations of the regional capitalists of the ‘Pentagon’ and the demand for real change across Kenya. The post election mayhem is a clear demonstration that the ODM did not sufficiently engage their followers on new ideas transcending ethnicity and patriarchy. This demand for democratic change in Kenya will require new forms of organization beyond electoral politics and new ideas about the value of African lives. This requires a break with the European ideation systems that promote capitalism as democracy and genocide as progress.

* Horace Campbell is Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Disputed results from last week’s elections have left Kenya in deep political crisis. The opposition has refused to accept the results which have been questioned by local and international observers. Three days of violent protests have left more than 120 people dead. The battles are concentrated in opposition strongholds and shanty neighborhoods in the major cities from the coastal city of Mombasa to Nairobi the capital to Kisumu the western port city on the banks of Lake Victoria where a curfew has been imposed. Live television and radio broadcasts have been banned. While there is relief and even celebration among some supporters of the ‘victorious’ President Kibaki, the frustration and fear gripping the country is almost unprecedented in forty four years of independence. A proud country that likes to see itself as an oasis of stability in a volatile region is being held hostage by a bankrupt political class. Many Kenyans are filled with a sense of shame and anguish, as well as fortitude to salvage their country’s fortunes and future.

Lost in the electoral shenanigans and post-election turmoil has been a historic opportunity to consolidate the country’s newly minted democracy, to confirm its democratic credentials in the region and on the continent. Instead Kenya now faces a prolonged period of political uncertainty that will play itself out in unpredictable ways from the streets to parliament, severely testing the fragile fabric of public order, social cohesion, and inter-group relations, especially those structured around the complex inscriptions of ethnicity, class, gender, and generation. Some worry that Kenya might turn into East Africa’s Cote d’Ivoire, a once stable and relatively prosperous postcolony in West Africa that descended into chaos and civil war because of its failure to manage the combustible politics of democratic transition.

The opinion polls pointed to a close election. They were proved right. But only one out of 50 polls conducted in the lead up to the elections, showed President Kibaki in the lead; the rest pointed to a possible narrow win by the opposition candidate, Mr. Raila Odinga. The latter maintained his lead during the early counts of the presidential vote, but when the final results were announced by the Electoral Commission of Kenya, he trailed by 231,728 votes. President Kibaki was declared duly elected with 4,584,721 votes against Mr. Odinga’s 4,352,993 votes. Election observers expressed surprise, the opposition cried foul, riots erupted, and the country teetered on the brink of an unprecedented crisis.

What a difference five years makes. In 2002 President Kibaki was inaugurated in broad daylight before an ecstatic crowd of a million people in Jamhuri Park in Nairobi; this time he was hurriedly inaugurated in the evening less than an hour after being declared winner before a small and dour crowd of officials. The intoxicating euphoria of 2002 has given way to widespread anger and anxiety. In 2002 the masses brutalized by decades of one-party rule rediscovered their voices and will; the nation was united in its hopes for the future, believed fervently in the possibilities of productive change. Now, many feel betrayed and disempowered, robbed of their votes and voices.

Whatever the future holds for Kenya and its tortured journey from dictatorship to democracy, underdevelopment to development, the present crisis has a complicated history rooted in the political economies of colonialism, neocolonialism, and neoliberalism that have characterized Kenya over the last century. This is to suggest that the present moment, the current political crisis, is rooted in complex historical forces that go beyond the ubiquitous ‘tribalism’ beloved by the western media in discussing African politics or explaining its proverbial crises, or the excessive obsession with personalities often found in the African media itself. This is of course not to dismiss the role of ethnicity or particular leaders, it is merely to point out the need to put both in the context of broader historical forces that have propelled Kenya to this moment and might impel it out of it.

The recent Kenyan elections promised to achieve an extraordinary development: unseating an incumbent president through the ballot box after only five years in power. This would have been unprecedented in Kenyan history, and is rare in Africa where incumbents typically serve the constitutional two terms and some even try to rig their way into illicit third terms. Nicéphore Soglo of Benin is one of the rare presidents to suffer such a fate; elected in 1996 he lost the 2001 elections to the former dictator, Mathieu Kérékou. This is a tribute to the power of incumbency to win or rig elections, the inordinate advantages enjoyed by ruling parties to use the sanctions and seductions of state power.

The manipulation of electoral processes and results by ruling parties is of course not confined to Africa: remember the U.S. elections of 2000, and President Putin’s recent attempts to prolong his rule? It is not uncommon for ruling parties in many so-called mature democracies to call elections opportunistically, redraw electoral districts in their favor, or ‘bribe’ the electorate with contrived economic goodies. However, it can be argued the national costs of electoral malpractices are much higher for African (and other countries in the global South) that are struggling against the challenges of internal underdevelopment and political and cultural subordination than for the more globally hegemonic western countries.

Save for the disputed victory for the president himself, the government suffered a political tsunami as a score of cabinet ministers and the Vice-President lost their parliamentary seats. Altogether, the Party of National Unity (PNU), cobbled together only last September, under which President Kibaki run, won only 37 seats, the victorious opposition party, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), led by Mr. Raila Odinga took 100 seats, and the rest (parliament has 210 directly elected members) went to the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K), the party of the third major presidential candidate, Mr. Kalonzo Musyoka, and other smaller parties.

Swept away also were power brokers of the former dictator, President Daniel arap Moi including the once feared Mr. Nicholas Biwott and the tycoon Mr. Kamlesh Pattini an infamous architect of one of Kenya’s largest corruption scandals, as well as Mr. Moi’s own ambitious three sons. In a sense, the election signified a rejection of leading politicians associated with Presidents Moi and Kibaki. While the two represent different presidential administrations, one dictatorial and the other democratic, they are associated in the popular imagination, and were painted by the opposition, as old men leading corrupt regimes. Remarkably, Mr. Moi campaigned indefatigably for his successor, to the obvious glee of the opposition.

Thus the contest between the octogerian Mr. Kibaki and the flamboyant Mr. Odinga pitted a generational struggle for power. It is one of the ironies of contemporary Africa that countries that have enjoyed political stability since independence such as Kenya, Malawi, and Senegal, are still ruled by the nationalist generation that brought independence, while the countries with more turbulent histories have long made the generational transition. In this sense, the Kenyan election was a referendum between the older and the younger generations, between the Kibaki generation in power since independence and the Odinga generation that came off age after independence.

The first Kibaki government was elected in 2002 on a strong anti-corruption platform. Impoverished and exhausted from 24 years of authoritarian and corrupt rule by the Moi administration, the country was hungry for a clean government that would bring to justice corrupt former officials and lead a transparent and accountable government capable of reviving the economy and pursuing development. The drive against Moi-era corruption scandals not only stalled, but new corruption scandals sprang up, and the new administration’s anti-corruption credentials were irreparably damaged when the government’s own anti-corruption czar, Mr. John Githongo fled to exile in the United Kingdom in 2005.

But the Kibaki administration delivered on the economy. The country’s economic growth rate jumped from 0.6% in 2002 to 6.1% in 2006. Buoyed by this robust growth, the government unveiled its ambitious Kenya Vision 2030, a development blueprint to turn Kenya into a newly industrializing “middle income country providing high quality of life for all its citizens by the year 2030." President Kibaki and his PNU run on this economic record, while the opposition claimed it could achieve even faster growth unadulterated by corruption. One sought continuity, the other promised change. In reality, there was little difference in the programs of the PNU and ODM and their contending presidential candidates.

As is often the case in such contexts, the absence of policy differences was more than made up by the personality and symbolic differences of populism in which Mr. Odinga bested the president. Mr. Odinga a millionaire businessman, who had once been a political prisoner, and most importantly, was the son of the nationalist icon and former vice-president, Mr. Oginga Odinga, campaigned vigorously in his red hammer to achieve what had eluded his father. He appealed to the youth and people from disaffected regions, while assiduously assuring domestic and foreign business interests who preferred the wealthy, elderly and gentlemanly President Kibaki that he had long shed the socialist inclinations and firebrand reputation of his younger days.

The contestation between continuity and change in the electoral contest partly reflected the glaring mismatch between growth and development, both socially and spatially, and tapped into deep yearnings for a new socioeconomic dispensation, a restless hunger for broad-based development frustrated by neo-liberal growth. Kenya’s economic recovery and growth from 2002 largely benefited the middle classes rather than the workers and peasants, the bulk of the population. Even among the middle classes, the benefits flowed unequally between those in the rapidly expanding private service sectors rather than in the retrenched and decapitalized public sectors, which has been under assault since the days of structural adjustment in the 1980s.

For many Kenyans, therefore, the economy may be doing well, but they are not. As dependency theory used to postulate in the radical 1960s and 1970s, growth is not synonymous with development; neo-liberal growth is even less likely to lead to broad-based development because people are secondary to profits, public to private good. In Kenya, as in much of Africa and indeed the wider world since the onset of neo-liberalism the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, the sense of economic insecurity has increased among large numbers of people even as their countries’ economies grow. This partly helps explain the tightness of the vote and the prospect of a government losing elections in times of rapid economic growth.

If the economic growth of recent years in Kenya stoked expectations of development, the unequal distribution of wealth thwarted those expectations and engendered popular frustration, while democracy gave a new vent to express the frustrations. Anti-corruption discourse, the widespread popular distaste against corruption was both real and rhetorical in so far it reflected disgust at actual corruption scandals and invoked deep disaffection among many Kenyans who felt left out of the rapidly growing economy, a critique of rising economic class inequalities. In the authoritarian past there was no political alternative to the one-party state, now the discontented electorate could transfer its hopes for development to the opposition, even if the investment in the opposition did not promise to yield different dividends.

But class is not a reliable predictor of political loyalties and voting behavior even in the so-called developed countries. Often far more powerful are the constructed identities of ethnicity or race. In Kenya, as elsewhere in Africa, ethnic identities have greater political salience than racial identities. This is not simply because politicians mobilize ethnicity for electoral purposes, which they do and Kenyan politicians are notoriously adept at playing the ethnic card. Rather, elections for members of parliament are local or regional political events, latched on to the national presidential election; they are spatialized performances in which both the candidates and voters are located in particular constituencies and tend to share some common identity, ethnic or otherwise.

As we await a fuller breakdown of the elections results, it is clear that many members of parliament lost elections in their constituencies to competitors from their own ethnic groups. In such cases, party allegiance, record of the incumbent, and personalities all played a role. It is mostly in the large cities with their ethnically diverse populations where ethnic consciousness could be mobilized and the ethnic card played. In such contexts party allegiance loomed exceptionally large as a proxy for ethnicity. Only the president is subject to both local and national constituencies, and hence the enhanced ethnicization of the presidential election.

The complex interplay of local, regional, and national elections is of course not confined to Kenya or Africa for that matter. Look at voting patterns across Europe and North America and the different regional strategies political parties tend to employ to appeal to voters in various regions, not to mention the use of race. Nor is the ethnicization of electoral politics a peculiar African predilection. In no major western country has a black person ever been elected president or prime minister. In the United States, few blacks win state wide offices. Currently, there is only one black governor out of 50, and one black senator out of 100—the charismatic Barack Obama, the half-Kenyan and half-Luo 2008 U.S. presidential candidate. Yet, nobody labels electoral contests and results in western Europe and North America as ‘racial’, let alone ‘tribal’; they are given more dignified names.

Media reports on the Kenyan elections and especially reports of the protests following the inauguration of President Kibaki almost invariably include the word ‘tribal’; the reference is to ‘tribes’ and ‘tribalism’ as primordial identities untouched by history, as ancient hatreds immune to modernity, as pathological conditions peculiar to Africa. Forgotten is the simple fact that both Mr. Kibaki and Mr. Odinga could not win the elections based on voting from their so-called ‘tribes’; two ethnic groups out of the country’s many ethnicities. While the presidential candidates received overwhelming electoral support in their home provinces, to win the presidency ethnic coalition building is essential, for the president has to win at least 25 of the vote in at least five of Kenya’s eight provinces.

The enthnicization of politics in Kenya is not a reflection of some atavistic reflex, or simply the result of elite political manipulations or primordial cultural affectations among the masses, even if the elites do indeed use ethnicity and the masses are mobilized by it. It is salutary to remember that some of Kenya’s ethnic groups only emerged or developed their current identities under British colonial rule. Few can trace themselves to the remote past notwithstanding the work of some historians to distinguish their ethnic communities with long and pristine pedigrees. Imagined ethnic and national histories are of course not about the past, but the present; they are part of the discursive and political arsenal for claim making in the present and for the future.

As we have learned from African studies, we need to distinguish between ‘moral ethnicity’, that is, ethnicity as a complex web of social obligations and belonging, and ‘political ethnicity’, that is, the competitive confrontation of ‘ethnic contenders’ for state power and national resources. Both are socially constructed, but one as an identity, the other as an ideology. Ethnicity may serve as a cultural public for the masses estranged from the civic public of the elites, a sanctuary that extends its comforts and protective tentacles to the victims of political disenfranchisement, economic impoverishment, state terror and group rivalry. In other words, it is not the existence of ethnic groups (or racial groups) that is a problem in itself, a predictor of social conviviality or conflict, but their political mobilization.

Ethnicity in Kenya is tied in complex and contradictory ways to the enduring legacies of uneven regional development. During colonial rule Central Kenya, the homeland of the Kikuyu, became the heartland of the settler economy, while Nyanza, the Luo homeland, languished as a labor reserve that furnished both unskilled and educated labor to the centers of colonial capitalism. Not surprisingly, the Kikuyu bore the brunt of colonial capitalist dispossession and socialization, and were in the vanguard of the nationalist struggles that led to decolonization and they came to dominate the postcolonial state and economy. Capitalist development and centralization of power reinforced domination of the Kenyan economy by the Central Province and the Kikuyu, a process that withstood the twenty-four year reign of President Moi, a Kalenjin from the Rift Valley, and was reinvigorated under President Kibaki’s administration.

Central Province and Kikuyu dominance of Kenya’s political economy bred resentment from other regions and ethnic groups. It fed into constitutional debates about presidential and political centralization of power, and the regional redistribution of resources that dominated Kenyan politics until 2005 when the draft constitution supported by the President and Parliament was rejected in a referendum. The ODM was born in the highly politicized maelstrom of the run up to the referendum.

This narrative tends to ignore an important qualifying fact, that not all Kikuyus are dominant and not all Luos are disempowered. Colonial, neo-colonial and neo-liberal capitalisms have bred class differentiations within communities as much as they have led to uneven development among regions. In other words, Kikuyu and Luo elites have much more in common with each other than they do with their co-ethnics among peasants and workers who also have more in common with each other across ethnic boundaries than with their respective elites. This is a reality that both the elites and the masses strategically ignore during competitive national elections, because the former need to mobilize and manipulate their ethnic constituencies in intra-elite struggles for power, and the latter because elections offer one of the few moments to shake the elites for the crumbs of development for themselves and their areas.

Kenyan politics exhibits familiar African trends. The country started its independence with a hurriedly negotiated multi-party system between the nationalists and the departing imperial power that could not withstand the homogenizing imperatives of nationalism and the intoxicating and intolerant demands of uhuru: nation-building, development, and democratization. Before long, Kenya joined the African bandwagon towards the one-party state. It became a de facto one-party state as the pre-independence opposition party KADU folded voluntarily into the ruling KANU in 1964, while the post-independence radical Kenya People’s Union formed in 1966 by former vice-president Oginga Odinga, the father of the ODM leader, was violently suppressed.

Kenya became a de jure one-party state under President Moi, who took power in 1978 following the death of the founding President Jomo Kenyatta, and was confronted by on the one hand the political tensions engendered by the attempted coup of 1982, and on the other a slowing economy that stagnated under the onerous weight of structural adjustment programs imposed with market fundamentalist zeal by the international financial institutions—the World Bank and International Monetary Fund—and western governments. By the end of the 1980s, it was clear that while the country remained relatively stable in a tumultuous region its early promise had been squandered under a reign of authoritarianism, corruption, and structural maladjustment.

As in much of Africa, from the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, the unproductive power of one-party rule faced growing popular opposition. The struggles for the “second independence” by the restive masses and organized civil society scored limited victories in the 1992 and 1997 elections, and finally seized the prize in the elections of December 2002 when the ruling party, KANU, lost to the opposition National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). It was a new day: democracy expanded as political and civil freedoms spread, so did the economy as the stagnation of the Moi years receded, but the social and structural deformities of the postcolony remained as entrenched as ever. It is in this context that the current crisis can best be understood.

The last five years have seen the growth of both democracy and the economy, but the marriage between democracy and development remains unfilled. The economic growth rates under President Kibaki resemble those in the early post-independence years under President Kenyatta. The difference is not only that neo-colonial capitalism of the Kenyatta era, which had a nationalist face, has given way to contemporary neo-liberal capitalism, which has a neo-colonial soul, democracy has reconfigured old challenges and brought new ones that the society and state have yet to manage satisfactorily as the results of these elections amply demonstrate.

Examples abound that as the suffocating lid of state tyranny is lifted during moments of democratic transition the suppressed voices and expectations of civil society surge, but the stresses and strains arising from the competitive grind of democracy often find articulation in the entrenched identities, idioms, and institutions of ethnic solidarity. The challenge in Kenya, as in other divided multicultural societies, is the need to balance group and national interests through further democratization, devolution of power, and power sharing. In so far as ethnic interests and cleavages are only one set among many other possible bases of political contestation—class, religion, region, and gender that often mediate and reinforce ethnic identities and antagonisms—there is need to think about group interests beyond ethnicity.

The current trials and tribulations facing Kenya will not be resolved without the emergence of a leadership that is truly up to the challenge, a leadership that pursue a national project of profound social transformation, that eschews narrow and shortsighted exclusionary politics and neo-liberal economic growth. Kenya, and Africa as a whole, have no historic alternative from building truly democratic developmental states if they are to chart the twentieth century more prepared and empowered than they did the disastrous twentieth century marked by colonialism and neo-colonialism and their depredations that were simultaneously economic and existential, cultural and cognitive, political and paradigmatic.

The current leadership, both the ‘victors’ and ‘losers’, seem keen to retain or gain power at all costs. The power struggle is as sinister as the differences among the leaders are small. But often it is the very narcissism of minor differences that breeds gratuitous violence and viciousness as histories of genocide demonstrate. The leading politicians engaged in combat whose followers are tearing their lovely country apart are members of the same recycled political class committed to neo-liberal growth that offer no real solutions to Kenya’s enduring challenges of growth and development, choiceless democracy and transformative democracy.

Most of the major figures in the three leading parties, PNU, ODM, ODM-K, served in the Moi and Kibaki administrations at one time or another. Their politics do not differ in any significant ways. Indeed, it is a mark of the promiscuity of the political class that the three parties were formed quite recently, and politicians shop for parties with the consumer ease of well-heeled customers. In a sense, then, their collective interests of the politicians and national interests of the population are not coterminous, although converges do exist and are invoked at certain moments. The political animus between the Kibaki and Odinga camps is rooted in the now infamous secretive Memorundum of Understanding on the distribution of cabinet positions and power drawn up among the opposition parties that hurriedly formed NARC to fight the ruling party KANU in the 2002 elections. NARC was a marriage of convenience for a splintered opposition determined to win that failed to survive squabbles over the spoils of victory. Before long, Mr. Odinga and his followers began complaining that Mr. Kibaki had reneged on the MOU and thus began the slide to the current political impasse and crisis.

President Kibaki’s contested ‘victory’ has deprived the country of the opportunity to see that the opposition offers little more than a recycling of the same policies and politicians as has been witnessed in other African countries that are now into their third or fourth cycle of competitive multiparty elections. As this has become evident the lure of elections as engines of fundamental socioeconomic transformation has dimmed in many countries and the search for new forms of politics is underway. In Kenya the disputed results of this election may have done the same. Only time will tell, perhaps long after the violence has subsided. What can be predicted is that the Kibaki government will be paralyzed in the new parliament, where it controls less than a fifth of the seats, and might even be brought down by a vote of no confidence, although the power of the government to secure or ‘buy’ support from self-serving parliamentarians cannot be ruled out, as has happened in Malawi and other countries where the President’s party is in the minority. And a popular uprising, or even an 'orange revolution', can never be ruled out.

Kenya’s current political tragedy is part of a much larger story. The absence of articulated and organized institutional and ideological alternatives under neoliberalism is at the heart of the political crisis facing contemporary Africa and much of the world. It has led, thus far, to the ossification of politics, and in some countries, the premature abortion or aging of elections as instruments of transformative change. The specter of choiceless democracies is not confined to countries in the global South, for in many parts of the global North including the United States the ideological divide between the major parties is often indecipherable, the result of which is political apathy as nearly half the population has exited the electoral process. For more fragile societies, the danger is not apathy, but anarchy. As a keen observer of Kenya, a country where I spent many fruitful years studying and teaching in the late 1970s and 1980s, I hope the country can avoid such a fate. Perhaps the ferocity of the reaction to the botched elections will serve as a wakeup call to the political class and the troubled citizenry to chart a more productive future for their beloved country. A good beginning would be for the contending parties to agree to a binding independent and internationally monitored investigation of the election results.

* Paul T Zeleza is editor of The Zeleza Post. This article was first published at First Written December 31, 2007

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

The Kenya presidential elections of December 2007 are potentially the most damaging episode to national unity since the assassination of Tom Mboya in July 1969. Both the murder of Tom Mboya and the management of the recent presidential elections are widely interpreted as an attempt to ethnically monopolise the presidency of the country. Both Mboya’s assassination and the latest elections are seen as historic blows to national stability and major setbacks to the process of democratization. Both Mboya’s murder and the 2007 elections unleashed widespread rioting and looting and made national institutions significantly more fragile than they were before.

It is therefore imperative that Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga enter into urgent negotiations to find a solution to this painful impasse, and to help the process of national healing.

The ideal solution would be to agree to a recounting of votes in the most controversial of the provincial results for the presidency, and for both Kibaki and Odinga to commit themselves to respect the outcome of the recounting.

Another possible solution would be for the African Union to appoint an independent commission of enquiry into the management of the presidential election, and make recommendations. One possible recommendation would conceivably be to accept the parliamentary results, which had, by most estimates, been transparent and credible. But there might be new internationally supervised presidential elections with the three main candidates on the new ballot.

The third option is probably the easiest to accomplish. The new parliament should be sworn in, and called into session. Its first task should be to consider a constitutional amendment creating the post of Prime Minister answerable to Parliament and not to the Chief Executive (the President). If the constitutional amendment is passed, parliament would then vote for the first Prime Minister. Considering the balance of political parties voted into the new parliament, the new Prime Minister is almost bound to be the Honorable Raila Odinga.

Kenya would thereby become something approximating the fifth republic of France with both an executive President accountable to the people, directly, and an executive Prime Minister accountable to the people’s legislative representatives, Parliament. As in the case of the French Republic, the President (Mwai Kibaki) and the Prime Minister (Raila Odinga) would have to find ways of working together in the interest of the people of Kenya.

Who would appoint the members of the cabinet- the President or the Prime Minister? The Foreign Minister and the Minister of Defense could be the prereagative of the Head of State (Kibaki) to appoint. But the Minister of Internal Security and almost all other ministries would be appointed by the Prime Minister (Raila Odinga).

The precise division of labor and division of powers between the new Prime Minister would have to be negotiated prior to the constitutional amendment by new Parliament.

Later in the session of the new parliament there may be need to re-examine the whole constitution of Kenya in the light of problems which Kenya has had to face since the last constitutional referendum. Should we re-examine once again the Maboma Draft constructed by the Ghai Commission? Only the new parliament, in consultation with the new President, can decide whether to have a new constitutional referendum.

* Ali Mazrui is Director, Institute of Global Cultural Studies, Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities, Binghamton University, State University of New York at Binghamton, New York, USA and Chancellor, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Thika and Nairobi Kenya

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

KENYA: Fears rise over plight of displaced

Thousands of Kenyans displaced by post-election violence in the west of the country were taking refuge in police stations and church grounds with little or no access to humanitarian assistance four days into the worst unrest seen in the country since a 1982 failed coup.

Many have no homes to return to, because they were set on fire in the wave of violence that greeted the Election Commission of Kenya's announcement on 30 December that incumbent Mwai Kibaki had won the presidential poll three days earlier. Much of the violence was committed by civilians and generally targetted members of Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group and others that support him politically.
Full report

KENYA: Whispering in Swahili - good neighbours in the Rift Valley

Two families found themselves caught up in post election violence in Moi's Bridge, an area between Eldoret and Kitale in western Kenya's strife-hit Rift Valley Province. They told IRIN their stories.

The area is predominantly Kalenjin (an ethnic grouping including the Nandi, Marakwet, Pokot and others). But a significant Kikuyu population also lives there. According to the Kenya Red Cross Society and other sources, the violence in Rift Valley Province mainly pits members of the Kalenjin community against the Kikuyu, the tribe of controversially re-elected President Mwai Kibaki.

On the night of 29 December - the day before the election results were announced and promptly rejected by the opposition, the first attacks on Kikuyu houses and homesteads around Moi's Bridge began, according to residents of both ethnicities contacted by phone from Nairobi.
Full report

"The trouble broke out immediately after the results of the presidential polls were announced; everything changed within 20 minutes," he said.

"Within minutes, my two shops had been burnt down and they took everything - even the doors and windows. I lost property worth 600,000 shillings [about US$9,000] - including the clothes I was wearing."
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"The country has been riddled with insecurity over the last few days and there are many areas we cannot access," Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet told reporters in Nairobi on 1 January after conducting an assessment by helicopter to western parts of the country.

Video footage shot during this mission showed smoke billowing from homes and farms, crowds of displaced civilians seeking sanctuary in churches and police stations, and usually busy main arteries empty of traffic and dotted with roadblocks manned by gangs.
Full report Full report

We, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) wish to question the constitutional legitimacy and legal basis of the Police Commissioner, Major General Hussein's decree barring anyone from holding political rallies after the just concluded general elections.

We have learned from media reports that the Police Commissioner issued this decree before the just-concluded elections. The Government spokesperson has subsequently reinforced these orders by repeatedly making this announcement in the media.

We wish to state here that these orders are illegal, and violate the fundamental freedoms of association, freedom of movement and freedom of expression, guaranteed in both the Constitution of Kenya and international instruments which Kenya is signatory to. In any case, if all public gatherings have been bannned, how will the elected members of Parliament appeal to their constituents to stop the violence?

We understand the Police Commissioner may be concerned about the state of security in the country. However, to issue such orders and decrees not only contravene the law, but only serve to aggravate the situation further.

Rather than arbitrarily ban the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Rally scheduled for Thursday 3rd January 2008, we appeal to the Police Commissioner to seek assurance and commitment from the convenors of the rally that their supporters will maintain peace and order during the rally. We also appeal to the Police and security agents to provide adequate security during the rally.

The National Commission has learnd that in the interest of security, the Government has ordered curfews in Kibera, Migori, Mathare, Kisumu and Eldoret. Whereas this is provided by law in tense security situations, the Police Commissioner should publicly make an announcement to this effect in order to bring this to the notice of all persons affected.

Further, the curfews should be conducted in a humane manner that allows the persons affected to access food and other social amenities.

We also appeal to the police and security agents to handle the situation with utmost caution, while ensuring the security of all without taking sides.

* Maina Kiai is Chair of the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

I wish to share with you the terror and nightmare we are going through of Ethnic War. I am emailing from Baraton and the situation is bad! It all began soon after lection results were announced! Then several groups of community around broke into war songs. They broke into the shopping center next to the university and looted all the shops that belong to Kikuyus and Kisiis. Then they broke into rented offcampus houses of students.

A crowd of about 1,000 people surged to the university gate and wanted to storm the university. They demanded that all Kikuyus, Kambas, Meru, and Kisii people leave the university within two hours. That was the only way to save the university from being stormed. They remained at the gate until it would be seen done. About three armed policemen arrived and spent time negotiating with the crowd. Finally the police advised us to evacuate the named ethnic groups. We put the faculty and students numbering about 250 into three university vehicles and were taken to Kapsabet Police station under police escort. They are still there as at now. A few of us are on campus!

The Division tried to evacuate those from Kapsabet Police Station to Eldoret international Airport but the next road block was a no-go-zone. Inspite of the police escort, the university buses had to return to Kapsabet. The is no way anyone can get out. One baraton group is holed up at Kapsabet police station while faculty members from Luo and Luhyia community, international workers and students are holed up within the campus. Those at Kapsabet have no food or water The worst fear is not so much of food but possibility of police station being stormed. The police are few and overstretched.

We have been having threats a almost daily at campus. On one occassion, we had to give out a bull for them to slaughter and guarantee us peace. Then they came and demanded milk which we also gave. Then we succeced in pleading with the malitia to allow us transport food to those at police station. They allowed us first day and we transported it on varsity tractor. It took three hours to go through road blocks to reach Kapsabet wich is only 15 kilometers away.

I attended a meeting yeasterday with commaders and malitia leaders who came to meet university adminstration. We confirmed that Malitia had had their own meeting and resolved that on humanitarion ground, faculty with kids and pregnant mothers be allowed to return to campus. They also told us students of other communities should come back. It sounded good news. We shock hands. We asked them to transport food to Kapsabet. They agreed and used their own vehicles. But the food never arrived. The malitia who were escorting the food we beaten and vehicles destroyed. The fact that you negotiate with one malitia group, remember the next and several others groups have their own policy. It is like you need visa to cross several of them. We have about 130 Kisii students and workers stranded at police station but cant leave for home. I know of Mr Obuchi whose wife is pregnant! I know of Pr Elijah Njagi and wife, Nyarangi anf wife, etcThey are sleeping in the grass and some in university bus parked at the police station. There is no food and I have never witnessed this.

As I write this email, have just been informed that a crowd came to university gate 15 min ago and demanded that we go out and join them in mass demonstration in the street. That means we shall be put on front line to meet the armed police. University PRO has negotiated with them and the crowd has now chained the university main gate, locked it and gone with the key. No vehicle an come in or go out. We pray that they dont come to force us out.

It is a nightmare to meet them. All of them are armed with matchets, rungus, arrows and bows. Some are drunk and others baying for blood. I have never seen this! We are fear frozen and prayer takes a new meaning! My home is 100 km from here but how do you pass those road blocks? We have Luo workers who want to get out but we hear the Kisii are grouping to fight Luos on Kisii/Luo border. We are boxed in. The road blocks are manned by not less than 500 people. The road block at Cheptrit has a thousand youth manning it. Police told us that Mosoriot has ten thousand worriers camping there. It is a no-go-zone.

We have no where to buy food, no calling cards available, no fuel! But we are finding a new meaning in prayer. I hope I can keep updating you of what is happening at Baraton. You can get from internet what could be happening in other parts like Eldoret, Kakamega and Kisumu.

I have to leave for a crisis meeting to try and avert any attack on the campus. I hope internet access will remain open so that I can keep updating you. I can see helicopter flying over us but seems to be passing again! American Embassy called yesterday for the sake of their citizens. This is a no-go-zone! We need to be evacuated from here! Promises of safety from some malitia groups cannot be trusted.You need to be here to feel it. Whatever the political arguement, it is a nightmare! The ground issue is not how you voted but ethnic affliation. Some are using it to settle personal scores! There were some leaflets from one group saying that all non-Nandis get ready to leave. Other Militia groups say no. But God still keeps us safe!

* Caesar Wamalika, University of Eastern Africa, Baraton/ELDORET, Kenya

I read your comments on the Kenyan elections with great interest. While acknowledging that the Kenyan electorate has indeed lost the elections (see I would like to point out that we should have seen the post-election violence coming. After all, ODM never lost an opportunity to state that the elections would be rigged - it was a psychological game that heightened people's fears and anxieties so much so that even if Kibaki had won with a landslide, they would still have cried foul. I do not agree with your sentiments that since majority of the PNU ministers were floored, it is an indication that Kibaki was unpopular. I think for the first time, voters opted to stay away from the 3-piece style; the message some of us were sending was: You may be in PNU but you have not delivered as an MP but we believe Kibaki could do better with a new crop of MPs.

As I look at the line-up of MPs Kenyans have voted into parliament my heart weeps for the citizens. What nation turns a blind eye and votes in remnants of a dictatorial corrupt regime? I cannot believe that the ODM euphoria has brought in men and women who have corruption scandals firmly tied around their necks? So will we ever get justice for the crimes committed against us? And to see some of them give rhetoric speeches on justice is a mockery of our intelligence!

On the other hand, I think it is time we put lots of pressure on Kibaki to deliver on issues that are crucial for the Kenyan citizen. I think it's high time civil society (I wonder if we are still relevant at this rate considering that most of us have been compromised) began to speak with a loud voice on socio-political and economic issues affecting the Kenyan populace. As a young girl growing up, I knew that there were courageous men and women who never lost an opportunity to stand for the rights of the people. Slowly, the voice of justice has died over the years, and what we have as civil society in Kenya are men and women eyeing the political seats too and waiting to oil their pockets with hefty salary perks. The role of religious instituions cannot be under-estimated in the cause for justice. Religious institutions in my opinion, should be impartial, keeping a keen eye on the going-ons in society and providing a critical analysis of the happenings. They should be able to challenge injustice at all levels and ensure that the citizens' rights are prioritized at all costs. I have been disheartened to see religious leaders routing for particular candidates or political parties - how then can one provide impartial criticism when the individual or party disregards the rule of law or disrespects the rights of the common man? The media in Kenya has in some ways been irresponsible, airing politicians' irresponsible utterances and I don't think they were aware of the potential harm of their "freedom" to give every politician the space to abuse and call one another names. The chickens have indeed come home to roost. I honestly believe the media in this country needs to re-define themselves into a professional unit and for once, let news be devoid of name-calling and tribal alignments and assessments.

We need a paradigm shift in this country. As Kenyans descend on one another and kill one another, the politicians to whom they owe allegiance retreat in the safety of their homes and the comfort of their families. Is there any politician who really cares? In my opinion, none. Let us not lay blame totally on the state forces; it is clear in some regions that people had been incited to ensure that those belonging to a particular ethnic tribe should be annihilated or vacated. Could somebody please explain why Kikuyu businesses in Western Kenya were targetted? The youth in Kenya should also be motivated to think independently and it is high time each young man/woman realized that no politician will put a plate of food or salary on their tables. A successful society is made up of people who are able to exploit the existing socio-political and economic space in order to better not only their lives, but also the lives of the communities around them.

As we all wait for peace to be restored in this nation, it is my sincere prayer that we will learn from our errors. Aside from politicians, the civil society, religious insititutions and the media have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the unity we have enjoyed as a nation is restored and sustained.

Media Focus on Africa Foundation (MFAF) teamed up with Wajibu to publish the current Wajibu Journal election issue. Wajibu is a well established Kenyan journal that deals with issues that are of Social and Ethical Concern. Established in 1985, it is published quaternary by Dr. Gerald J. Wanjohi and the Wajibu Task force. This particular issue focuses on the upcoming Kenya elections and is edited by Dipesh Pabari with contributions from a variety of seasoned writers.

This issue focuses on the different aspects and hot topics that are at the fore front for Kenyans with the ballot approaching. In the current issue, the meaning of peace is explored by Mukoma wa Ngugi, discussing the ethnic divisions, majimboism and historical legacies and their implication on democracy and ultimately peace.

Zarina Patel an author and managing editor of Awaaz magazine examines the role of women in the ever changing political climate, especially electoral violence and violence targeting women, as witnessed by the Flora Tera story.

Maina Kiai graces the pages of this issue discussing human rights and the ever changing face of corruption. Other issues of good government, poverty, unemployment and the youth agenda are deliberated by Charles Otieno-Hongo, Nducu Wa Ngugi, Achoka Awori and more.

This Wajibu issue is also filled with images from the thought provoking media campaign by Media Focus on Africa. The images and this campaign aim to promote informed debates on issues pertinent to a free and fair election. It is important to raise awareness about the issues surrounding democratization, development and ultimately encourage the Kenyan people to vote on political platforms not the personalities this December.

there are too many battles
and too many wounds
and I
I can't take it
I don't - want - to know

that Flora Tera
was force-fed feces
mixed with hair
torn from her head
only metres away
from her own home
in Meru
to stop her
running for office

I want to cover my ears and scream
to block out the voices that chant

that Piah Njoki had her eyes
gouged out by her husband
because she did not bear him
Your browser may not support display of this image.a son

I want to be free of the murder
that pounds in my brain

because Ann Njogu was beaten
kicked, dragged
down a flight of stairs
by the police
for daring to exercise
her constitutional right
to free speech

I want to pretend it won't happen to me

did you know that a woman is raped
every thirty minutes
every
thirty
minutes
in Kenya?

I am not a part of this bleeding
this scream
I don't want to challenge argue fight
construct confront negotiate
beg for change

do you hear me??

I want to retreat
to a room filled with
humans
shut out the night
the fear and the pain
hear myself stop
screaming inside

unravel my breathing ask
in a very
low
voice

dare I
claim the right Your browser may not support display of this image.
to a voice
that does not
scream?

Copyright Shailja Patel 2007.
*This poem was initially published in the WAJIBU JOURNAL Volume 22. No 4 (November - December 2007)

Front Line; The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, is seeking to recruit three experienced human rights researchers. The successful candidates will have excellent written and oral communication skills and the ability to deliver accurate work in a high pressure environment dictated by the need to respond urgently to threats against human rights defenders. The closing date for applications is 8th January.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has announced that the seventh session of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent will take place at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Palais des Nations – Room XIX, from 14 to 18 January, 2008.

I propose we form a Pambazuka Support Group in as many countries as possible to raise funds and also to support the Pambuzuka initiative. I am happy to lead on this in the UK and will try to contact as many academics, intellectuals, political activists and others as possible. Many of us value what you produce enormously.

Prof David Seddon
Former member of the Editorial Board, The Review of African Political Economy

More African students are coming or planning to come to China for higher education because of the country's fast-growing economy and warmer ties with Africa. "China is becoming one of the strongest economies in the world. It will be important to know the country and its language, so I am planning to come as soon as possible," said Maurice Okande Alcula,a journalist from Kenya's National Development Radio, who is among a 100-member delegation to China.

The Women's Leadership Scholarship (WLS) program creates educational
opportunities for women who are grassroots leaders, organizers and activists
from the Global South and/or from indigenous groups. WLS invests in women's
leadership by supporting non-doctoral graduate education in human rights,
sustainable development, and public health. Pre-applications for the 2008-09 academic year will be available on the WLS website beginning January 1, 2008.

The Regional Network for Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa (EQUINET) together with the Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) and the Law of Faculty, Makerere University are carrying out a commissioned review of the Public Health Laws in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in relation to policy areas relevant to equity in health.

This study will introduce an analytic framework used across the three countries and the major global, international, regional and public health principles being reviewed. It will provide for each country and under each of the headings above, an accessible, easily understood outline of the coverage of and gaps in national law within that area, citing the relevant law or source.

This study will also provide for each country a summary of coverage, inconsistencies, contradictions, redundancies and gaps to be addressed in law and where relevant, in the enforcement mechanisms. It will give an overall summary for the three countries of coverage, inconsistencies, contradictions, redundancies and gaps to be addressed in law and where relevant, in the enforcement mechanisms; and identify areas for follow up stakeholder consultation, listing key stakeholders, for advocacy and for follow up research.

The study will be a detailed review and analysis of the public health laws of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It will thus involve collating information on Public Health Laws of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania which will be used to prepare the final paper.

The researchers are therefore requesting any organisation or individual with information that will help them in this study to contact Mulumba Moses. The contact email address is [email][email protected]

Mulumba, Moses,
Faculty of Law,
Makerere University,
Kampala - Uganda

Concerns about Climate Change were at the centre of the world's media glare last week, during the UN climate conference in Bali, Indonesia. After two weeks of negotiations, side events, and protests, things came to a dramatic stand off between the US and the rest of the world. While the EU led the demands for the next agreement (the Kyoto Protocol comes to an end in 2012), to include cuts in Carbon Dioxide emissions to 25-40% of 1990 levels, the US flatly refused to join any agreement that set specific targets or dates.

Mine Awareness International is a Non-Profit, Non-Government Organization which provides Landmine, Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and Improvised Explosive Device awareness training to Aid Agencies, Non-Government Organizations and Companies and Contractors who will be operating in countries or regions which have been ravaged by conflict and are contaminated by landmines and other Explosive Remnants of War. We are aware that many Organizations, Contractors and Consultants need to operate in such hostile environments, and we believe there is a demand for the kind of training we offer.

Over the past few months a lot of ink has flowed in mainstream publications about the situation in the Congo. In almost all of the articles, the underlying reason for the crisis in the Congo - the scramble for Congo’s spectacular natural wealth- has been consistently omitted or underplayed, write Maurice Carney and Carrie Crawford, of Friends of the Congo (FOTC).

Wangui Wa Goro analyses the role of the Kenyan voter in averting a betrayal of a genuinely democratic platform and those who suffered and died to make the platform possible.

When we struggled in exile against the Moi-Kanu regime, our mantra which reflected the name of our organisation was UMOJA – UNITED MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY IN KENYA which spelt out an agenda for change, long before multiparty democracy in Kenya was possible. Much has changed since then, particularly the removal of the dreaded Clause 2A of the Constitution which barred Kenyans from forming opposition political parties. Elections have since been held on two consecutive occasions but whether this represents the much vaunted “multipartism” is yet to be tested.

The fact that there are briefcase parties and several of them does not necessarily mean that the country has turned to a multiparty democracy although we can rejoice at even the ability to register these. In our vision then and in my vision now, we were determined as were many Kenyans to see an end to dictatorship and the restoration of democracy in Kenya which would end violence against fundamental freedoms such as the right to life, the right to associate, the right to conscience, the freedom from want and the freedom of expression amongst others. We hoped that the rule of law and the respect of the rights of all Kenyans would be the baseline from which a new dispensation could be built.

Key to our campaigns was the restitution of democratic rule and governance and the rule of law which protected the lives of every Kenyan no matter what their class, gender, creed or ethnicity, whether they were inside the country or out. It has been my enduring hope that Kenya can quickly get back to track because many Kenyans know what is right, they are decent and hard working people and we are blessed with a nation which is truly gifted in its natural and human resources and well located to harness these gifts for all of us and offer hope to others. I was lucky enough to grow up in a free, post independence Kenya to know from an early age that this was possible.

At the end of the second post Clause 2A election period, five years ago, however, I wrote an article entitled KENYA AT 40 which asked whether we were going to see new wine in old bottles or old wine in new bottles. Despite my misgivings, given the volatile nature of elections and the pre-election Kenyan history which had kept Kenyans repressed through the Moi-Kanu regime, I allowed myself that momentary jubilation with millions of other Kenyans that a milestone had been reached and Kenya had taken a bold and symbolic step of removing the one party-one person dictatorship which meant that the country was finally on the road to democratisation. Despite this, I remained sceptical at both the processes leading to multiparty elections which nearly returned Moi to his “two terms!” and the hurried way in which NARC was formed without much democratic process in the country and in the party. Worrying too, was the fact that the key players of the various “coalition parties” had at one time or another served in the Moi-Kanu dictatorship.

What excited me however, in the last election in 2002, was the will to change and the way in which the Kenyans embraced the ballot box to see off the dictatorship, thus heralding a new approach to the democratic processes. The key promises that were made for this to happen were firstly, the delivery of the new constitution which had been initiated during the Moi-Kanu era and for which the consultative processes had involved all Kenyans and secondly, the end to nyayoism which was synonymous with dictatorship. The referendum also gave us another peak at this will and eagerness to use the ballot box to make decisions.

Yet deep inside, despite these and other cosmetic changes, however, unlike many of my fellow Kenyans, I remain sceptical because I believe that old habits die hard and many of the new players in the new regime and others in the opposition, with the exception of a few had really not been involved in the pro-democracy struggles which led to the toppling of the single party single person dictatorship. They were unlikely to change not for want of trying but they would not know how and in some instances, preferred not to know how in their arrogance and belief in their God given right. I believed that many still do not know or care about what the desires of the Kenyans really are, nor the full extent of the price that has been paid through detentions, killings, exiling, jailing and other state led repressions nor the struggles for democracy which finally led to the momentum which saw Moi and his cronies off. I was soon proven right as old faces began reappearing around the president including, now in the final stretch, Moi himself: Old wine in an old bottle, a scenario I had not contemplated.

We had campaigned for multiparty elections as a tool to democratisation, not just for the changing of guards at the top of brief case, overnight formed parties. A vision was for a Kenya where equality, justice and freedom from fundamental needs could be shared both through the rule of law, particularly for those in the greatest need, but also engaging people in democratic decision making processes at all levels of society including their parties, and not just at election time. What lessons can be learned from the last elections?

I hoped, perhaps cynically, that explicit mechanisms, institutions and personnel would be put in place early enough after the departure of the nyayo regime which had violated the social, economic, political and human rights of the large majority of Kenyans and which all the players, now united through NARC would endeavour to reverse. At the state level, the government was buoyed by the post election feel-good factor and the overwhelming euphoria and expectation that nyayoism and all its tendencies had been shown the door. The Rainbow Coalition also bore promises in that it had activist/reformers who were elected into parliament and even to ministerial and cabinet positions. New bold blood was also engaged in some critical positions. There seemed to be real hope for the foundations for democracy. The hope was that NARC and the other parties would begin to strengthen their parties in preparation for the next elections.

In the early months of the Narc government there was promise that democratic accountability and mechanisms for democracy would come into being and would begin to deliver restorative justice, processes and outcomes which would begin to address some of the gross human, social, economic and political violations and begin to reverse the fortunes of every Kenyan. Key to this was the Constitution which would not only safeguard Kenya from dictatorship by diminishing the power of the presidency and empowering institutions and other mechanisms, but also modernise Kenya for the 21st Century.

Sadly, this was not to be and remains a major stumbling block for democratisation as a mechanism. Other mechanisms would include independent institutions of the Judiciary, Parliament and Executive and the setting up of specific offices and institutions to redress the ills of the KANU years as well as reforming the Public Services. Institutions such as the Anti-corruption Commission were formed, the office for Governance and Ethics in the office of the President and the Kenya National Commission for Rights amongst others. There were promises and attempts to reform the Judiciary, corruption at all levels would be rooted out, people would be held to account for violations of human rights, those who had embezzled public funds or employed their relatives and cronies would be dealt with etc.

In other examples, what has happened to the Permanent Secretary for Ethics and Governance in the person of John Githongo who was forced to flee the country and his job is well known world-wide. His post has not been refilled, nor his work followed up. In other instances, institutions such as the Anti-corruption Commission and the National Human Rights Commission which began with great promise do not have enough authority to carry out their duties. In their weakness, they appear to have been calculated token gestures as corruption, violence and poverty have continued unabated. In another example, the late appointments and processes for the Election Commission of Kenya do not inspire confidence. Equally, the last minute formation of political parties, the wrangling and the violence has also not helped and may predetermine the outcome for democracy even before Kenyans have a chance to get to the ballot box. The unravelling of the official opposition and the joining of the Kibaki party by the leader of the opposition Uhuru Kenya has undermined that democratic space and left the other opposition parties (which are not recognised within this parliament) without a voice.

But after a while, the whole systems began to unravel both at the state and party level, firstly with the breaking up of the Rainbow Party that was not founded on democratic, transparent unifying principals beyond the desire to rid Kenya of the Moi-Kanu regime. The breakdown of the rainbow party (which was based on a coalition of parties) was so bad that at one point, the Kenyan state was governed by an individual, the President whose party nobody knew and there were no mechanisms or checks and balances either at party or state level. President Kibaki did not belong to NARC as it had disbanded and he did not belong to any of the constituent or new parties. This had never happened even in the worst of the Nyayo-era period as Moi conducted the dictatorship under the aegis of KANU.

At the social level, racism, religious intolerance and sexism are at a rampant high including the rape and violence against women and children, attacks on specific ethnic communities and day to day vigilante activities which include violent killings and violation of the law including the killing of police officers. Further, attacks on the media, (and other gestures such as slapping of public civil servants and journalists without censure by those associated to high public office) continue to erode the right to fundamental freedoms and send out the message that there are those who are above the law.

The fact is that through such gestures which happen on a daily basis, many communities and individuals feel under siege through continued political, social, religious and ethnic pressure including vigilante activities like extrajudicial killings and corruption some of which are perpetuated by people perceived to be in position of power and authority, a far cry from what Kenyans had hoped for after what looked like the crushing of nyayoism. The law is not applied equally, thus the poorest and most vulnerable are hit the hardest and the system does not protect them from exploitation by those who purport to be in power, including small localised power linked to big power.

The civil society has also been weakened by the promises of reform from their former colleagues now in government or in parliament, but Kenyans should know by now that reform is the avoidance of change and that is why it has always been preferred by the ruling classes and their intelligentsia who have gone unusually silent or have failed to pick out the nuances that will undermine true multiparty democracy in Kenya. How much longer are Kenyans going to be expected to wait?

The impunity that the poor face in relation to access to justice, fundamental services and the inability to have a say in their day to day lives has been so normalised that paying bribes before accessing any service is a way of life still and expecting that one might be attacked or killed for not conforming makes the lives of many Kenyans miserable. Many communities also feel alienated through exclusion. The rich can pay for protection but the poor remain exposed in desperate conditions and in many instances below what can be called minimal human conditions. Failure to account and be held accountable has to be a measure by which Kenyans can articulate their desires. The delivery of these in the past and in the future are a serious indictment and barometer of democracy, equality, freedom, justice and the rule of law. As Kenyans go to the ballot, they must ask themselves whether the different parties/individuals will address these fundamental needs.

It is in fact these tenets for the road to democracy they must use to measure their promised leaders and to underpin their election decisions. At least that is what I would do if I had that promised right to vote which at present I do not have although I am a Kenyan citizen. At minimum, democracy should guard the most fundamental of needs which alleviate fear and want. This requires a vision for democratic change and rule and engagement at all levels. The institutions, mechanisms and processes which treat all Kenyans as equal before the law must be strengthened and the rights of every Kenyan protected no matter what their race, gender, class, ability or creed. Our right to multipartism must be underpinned by real parties not paper parties. Elections are only the first step and that was secured even before 2002.

The score sheet will read disappointingly if Kenyans fail yet again for a third time to seize this golden opportunity by selling their hard won rights to the class interests of the rich and therefore, they can be told again to their own faces that they are willing accomplices in their own violation.

While one can only rejoice at elections as the first step forward towards democracy and the fervour in which the Kenyans have seized this, they are only means to an end and this is what the Kenyans should bear in mind as they exercise their right on December 27, 2007. They are the best guarantee of democracy and not the leaders, whatever their party. Most Kenyans are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea in the current elections as true multipartism has not really arrived in Kenya, but token paper parties with little track record and nearly all of them tarnished by their associations with Nyayosim one way or the other. Kenya needs a clean break through a new republic and a national debate for this needs to happen urgently. Choosing leaders who will genuinely facilitate this may be the way forward.

Kenyans therefore have to fix the wider vision of a better place for themselves now and for their children tomorrow. There is much to be won beside short term, last minute token gestures, empty promises, and those who can vote must keep their eye on the ball for true development, justice, democracy, peace, unity and equality. Kenya has the promise and the potential and if those with the right to vote fail to seize it now judiciously, this may well be the last chance.

*Dr. Wangui wa Goro is a public intellectual, writer, translator and academic who has been living in the UK and campaigning for democratic rights for Kenya for the last 25 years. She is currently an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Human Rights and Social Justice at London Metropolitan University.

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org

Dr. Penninah Ogada discusses the social, political and economic factors that impeding the full participation of Kenyan women in this year's general election.

Introduction

In the East African region Kenya is noted for having the smallest number of women holding elective positions. Statistics however, show that women’s limited participation in politics and governance is neither due to a lack of qualified women, nor their level of exposure and intellectual skills for participation. There are three issues in the public domain that may offer some explanation for women’s limited participation in politics and public life in Kenya. First is the socio-political environment in which the electioneering processes take place. Secondly, the role of political parties and their internal structures and operations in facilitating women’s participation; and, thirdly, the socio-economic environment in which the 2007 electoral processes are taking place in Kenya.

Socio-Political environment

The 2007 Kenyan General Election has the highest number of women political aspirants ever witnessed in the country's history. There are over 120 women cleared through the different political parties to run for parliamentary seats, and, many more are running for civic seats. This scenario is the result of a concerted effort by the non-governmental organizations and civil society activities that started in earnest in early 2006 in the run up to the 2007 electioneering period. Most of the sensitization and mobilization activities have been undertaken by the Gender and Governance Program partners who are funded by development agencies through the UNIFEM kitty for women, and, in furtherance of Article 3 of the Millennium Development Goals for Kenya.

Many sensitization workshops and seminars for women aspirants focused on individual skills for capacity and confidence building, including: identification of electioneering issues, development of relations with the media houses, and the packaging the ‘self’ for public space and elective position. The emphasis has been on “transformative” political leadership, undergirded by the principle that no society can hope to progress when women are locked out of political participation. In Kenya women comprise 52% of the voting population - this is too significant a proportion to be ignored in the decision making processes and public policies that affect the lives of women and those of their families. Yet a cursory observation of what happened during the party nominations in November 2007 reveal two disquieting trends:firstly, that political parties are not ready to accommodate women candidates, and secondly that the public mindset is generally so patriarchal that the female gender roles are first and foremost considered before individual woman’s leadership qualities can be acknowledged and embraced.

Presently Kenyan political parties revolve around individual founders with whom the parties are identified, and who are, to some extent, responsible for funding the party activities. This fact defines the extent of women’s involvement in the hierarchical structure of the party relative to women’s low economic capability in a patriarchal society. The lower the women’s economic capability, the further away from the center of power and decision making they are within these parties, and, the less likely it is that aspiring women would be able to negotiate and influence their chances of winning party nomination. Secondly, until the political parties’ bill comes into operation, it is virtually impossible for a woman candidate to fund her own election campaign from her own resources even if she won her party nomination. But more importantly, the cut-throat competition from the male counter parts which includes huge spending on voter bribery, character assassination, mudslinging, false promises, propaganda, and so on, make the cost of involvement in the current socio-political environment too costly in terms of social capital, especially for many career women with leadership qualities. Many career women find the social environment hostile and are not willing to play hard-ball in the political game which is played according to male-stream rules, and at the expense of family and career dignity and social running – even as role models to the girl child.

During the recent nomination exercises in November, women aspirants were subjected to physical beatings and rape, abductions, and even deliberate delay and hijacking of the nomination exercises in order to cause conflict with women’s other gender role performances. In September, Flora Igoki Tera, an ODM Kenya Parliamentary Candidate for the North Imenti constituency in Meru district of Kenya, was attacked and tortured by a gang of 5 men, near her Meru home. Ms Alice Onduto, a parliamentary aspirant for Lugari Constituency who lost in the nominations was shot dead while on her way home in Nairobi’s South C estate on 1/12/07. Her assailants have not been apprehended. All this has a two-pronged impact: the female voters are intimidated and denied opportunity to support the candidate of their choice, and secondly, the aspirants are traumatized psychologically and physically intimidated into giving up on the quest for elective positions.

Role of political parties

There is no provision for independent political candidates for elective positions in the current Kenyan constitution. This means that any aspiring candidate must be nominated by a political party in order to run for elective political office. The increased awareness of the historical social injustices to women perpetuated by patriarchal structures across the African region, has led the civil society to consistently advocate for ways to seek to redress this anomaly.

One suggestion that has been promoted is that the government should adopt affirmative action as a national policy towards the realization of greater participation by women in public affairs. This is not the first time the civil society and women groups are agitating for affirmative action in Kenya, in fact this policy was first verbalized in the 1970s by Mrs. P. Asiyo - then the only elected woman member of Parliament. In spite of the demonstrated success of this policy in bringing about the desired changes in neighboring countries, the “male-stream” Ninth Parliament did not support the Bill for enactment. Hence the political parties are not bound by any regulation to facilitate greater participation by women in both political party and national affairs. Indeed those who have vested interests in the maintenance of status quo have argued that Kenyan women are so amply qualified that attempts to implement affirmative action would slight their competitiveness and suggest that they are of such feeble mind and weak leadership ability as to require a leg up in the public sphere.

The three major political parties have been crisscrossing the country in the hunt for votes. All the parties are aware of the significance of women’s votes and consequently have been verbalizing their commitment to social justice and, for women’s concerns. We all waited with bated breath in November to see if political parties would grant, at least some women aspirants direct party nominations. This has not happened in the three main parties. Such a let-down to women party supporters given that the manifestos of the major parties contain specific clauses about party commitments to women’s concerns.

One may be forgiven for being cynical and believing that this may just be one more occasion for politicking and paying lip service for the sake of getting the women’s votes without commitment. It is also noted that no party has taken any disciplinary measures against perpetrators of violence against women - even in cases where evidence has been provided and individuals have been named. In the Kenyan electioneering process violence against women are equated with acts of “normal thuggery”. Women remain situated far from the center of power within the political parties. They do not hold positions of influence that can impact the party nominations neither do they have the financial clout to fund their own election campaigns. Therefore following the male-dominated party nominations fiasco that was witnessed in November, many women aspirants had no choice but to migrate to smaller and peripheral political parties in order to receive nomination certificates to for elections. Kenyan political parties are nothing more than vehicles to parliament, and have no ideological distinctions, for practical purposes, and in this regard women incur no ideological losses in changing parties. Women, on the on the hand, lose voter hype and attention when they move to small parties that have no impact and are not popular in their constituencies.

The socio-economic environment of the 2007 electoral processes

Becoming a Member of Parliament is the most lucrative job one can land in Kenya today. It is the kind of job that has no strict rules governing the quality of performance, it is a job where the employee becomes the unquestionable lord over the masses. The crushing levels of poverty in rural communities, and the gap between the haves and have-nots continue to disenfranchise the masses (mostly rural women) who have family responsibilities, forcing them to sell their voter's cards in exchange for small amounts of money to put food on the table. The voter's card buyers are agents of unpopular but wealthy candidates who presume to have a monopoly of parliamentary seats and the accruing privileges. Very few of women political aspirants have this kind of financial resources to disburse to the poor demanding masses among whom the culture of dependency, and financial handouts have been politically engineered and entrenched over the years. This fact makes the sizable block of women’s vote very fluid and transient, and therefore cannot be relied upon by women aspirants who do not have the required handouts to give.

Furthermore, women political aspirants suffer a lack of goodwill and family support. Whenever men aspirants are campaigning for elections, their wives and other relatives support them and are their most trusted campaign agents. This privileged support is not true for women aspirants. Even in cases where husbands and male relatives give moral support, it does not translate into active physical and financial engagement, that is, the relatives allow the women to campaign, but do not actively join in to lend their support. Women are physically more vulnerable to electoral violence; they literally require constant security against hired goons. Women are economically compromised because very few have the accumulated funds of their own for campaign expenses.

Therefore when women political aspirants have no financial support, political good will from political parties, or access to family resources, for logistical facilitation, then their chances of waging successful political campaign is seriously compromised, and their leadership potential and contribution to the nation will not be realized. These are some of the underpinnings to the low visibility and audibility of women’s participation in the highly patriarchal Kenyan political process.

In conclusion one may say that today the attainment of critical mass is occurring faster than the Kenyan political elite would care to acknowledge. Women as voters are both listening and watching the political campaign promises and trends. Many women leaders and voters are hoping to see many more women get into parliament more than before. They are hoping to hear their issues articulated and acted upon by way of public policies by the government of the day, in a manner that would impact their quality of life. The rural women are more likely to demand accountability from members of the tenth parliament than has ever been witnessed before. Most political aspirants during their campaigns are invoking issues such as: provision of clean and accessible water supply, accessible quality medical services, quality education, roads and marketing infrastructure that would enable rural women to sell their surplus agricultural produce to earn a living, and, physical security to enable them to enjoy the little that is theirs by their sweat. The rural women will be watching the performance of the Tenth parliament, and at the end will act accordingly. These are the key concerns of Kenya's women - politics, class and ethnic divisions aside.

* Dr. Penninah Ogada is a gender and human rights consultant, and a lecturer in political science at the University of Nairobi.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. It provides solutions and resources needed to help everyone become a changemaker and presents compelling stories that explore the fundamental principles of successful social innovation around the world. The Changemakers Collaborative Competitions open new avenues for funders in their decision-making, while providing exposure for changemakers around the world.

The Cape Town Open Education Declaration:Unlocking the promise of open educational resources is a new effort to galvanize the Open Education movement to focus attention worldwide on the potential for Open Educational Resources for all learners and educators

Pambazuka is saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Norman Reynolds, erstwhile contributing author to the newsletter. He passed away on Saturday, December 15, 2007 following a hiking accident in the Drakensburg mountains. There will be a memorial service on Saturday December 22 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family at this difficult time.

The Coalition to Stop the Demolitions would like to thank all of our allies and supporters throughout the United States and the world who came and stood with us in New Orleans or took action on the streets your city, or who called, emailed, or faxed the New Orleans City Council, Mayor Ray Nagin, Senator Vitter, the Senate Banking Committee members, etc. Your support played a pivotal role in helping us attain the victories we accomplished last week in halting the demolition of three of the four major public housing locations in New Orleans.

From ‘Eco-Friendly Business Education’ to ‘Turning Waste into Gold’, full details of the winners of the 1st Pan African Prize for Entrepreneurial Teachers have now been officially announced. In addition to a top prize of $10,000, three winners were flown to an international conference on Financially Sustainable Education in South America to receive their awards and share their experiences.

Somaliland Human Rights Organisations' Network (SHURO-Net)has learned, with delight that the government of Somaliland released from Mandhera Prison the three political prisoners Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gaboose, Eng. Mohamed Hashi Elmi and Jamal Aydid Ibrahim, the leaders of the newly formed but unregistered Political Party called Qaran, who were imprisoned on 27 August 2007 at 8 a.m. in Hargeisa after the Somaliland government accused them the engaging in an illegitimate political activities because they have established an unlawful political party.