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Kenya after 2007, Election,
By joyce Jael Kafu

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FFrom left President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki shaking hands with the Opposition Leader Mr Odinga, other photos show scenes of unrests in some parts of Nairobi

The sun was high and hot for most of those who could not make it early; yet to some, there might have been a few blessings of raindrops. Poverty screamed in most of the pockets that had placed all hope on the one voice that they had; their vote. Kenyans of all walks queued up to make one silent decision; a decision that was to change the destiny of the country. On the 27nth of December 2007 Kenyans voted and thought they had their voice.

One by one the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) started to deliver constitutional results and within 12 hours, most of the constituencies had known who their new Member of Parliament as well as councilor is. Excitement filled the air for those who realized that their anticipated candidates had gone through. Little did they know that their happiness was short-lived and maybe the last one on this planet.

We waited. We really waited for the presidential results for a period that seemed like forever. Oh yes! The presidential results lasted close to three days before the nation was told who their new president is. Wait a minute; a few hours before the results were announced officially, the BBC indicated that HE Mwai Kibaki of the PNU was winning yet most Kenyans believed that Raila A.

Odinga of ODM was leading so far with a reasonable margin between him and Kibaki. This created a lot of anxiety and the media houses were congested with calls demanding to know what is going on. The electoral commission kept calming Kenyans with urging them to calm down, indicating that the situation was under control and that soon they would get the much-awaited results.

Kenyans, like all other people, were entailed to know their president within the constituted period of time. Therefore in this case, the circumstances at hand were not ‘normal’. Patience has its limits; trust me. In a nutshell, by the time the dramatic presidential results were officially announced by the chairman of the ECK, Mr. Samuel Kivuitu, most of the country was in chaos and some lives were already lost.

What really ‘irritates’ about the whole situation is that it stopped almost immediately to be a clearly a matter of political parties and greatly became a tribal, or rather an ethnic issue. For so long, I believed that Kenyans were so united, but I guess I was wrong.

Kenyans engaged in tribal wars and in most parts of the country minority groups of some tribes that lived among certain ethnic groups were either killed in their own homes by the people who they had considered to be good neighbors all their lives. Difficult as it may sound, some people had to practically separate with their wives and husbands because they are from ethnic groups that are at ‘war’ since it is not safe to live with someone that the community around you believe to be an enemy and traitor.
For those who managed to escape, the police stations were the safest home with almost no food or blankets to cover themselves during the night.
Men in Nakuru, Kenya, braced for further attacks. Nakuru is the latest trouble spot since a disputed election in December.Even if one had an ATM card, it was impossible to get to an ATM machine to withdraw the money because there was no safety. The sun was high and hot for most of those who could not make it early; yet to some, there might have been a few blessings of raindrops. Poverty screamed in most of the pockets that had placed all hope on the one voice that they had; their vote. Kenyans of all walks queued up to make one silent decision; a decision that was to change the destiny of the country. On the 27nth of December 2007 Kenyans voted and thought they had their voice.

One by one the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) started to deliver constitutional results and within 12 hours, most of the constituencies had known who their new Member of Parliament as well as councilor is. Excitement filled the air for those who realized that their anticipated candidates had gone through. Little did they know that their happiness was short-lived and maybe the last one on this planet.

We waited. We really waited for the presidential results for a period that seemed like forever. Oh yes! The presidential results lasted close to three days before the nation was told who their new president is. Wait a minute; a few hours before the results were announced officially, the BBC indicated that HE Mwai Kibaki of the PNU was winning yet most Kenyans believed that Raila A. Odinga of ODM was leading so far with a reasonable margin between him and Kibaki. This created a lot of anxiety and the media houses were congested with calls demanding to know what is going on. The electoral commission kept calming Kenyans with urging them to calm down, indicating that the situation was under control and that soon they would get the much-awaited results.

Kenyans, like all other people, were entailed to know their president within the constituted period of time. Therefore in this case, the circumstances at hand were not ‘normal’. Patience has its limits; trust me. In a nutshell, by the time the dramatic presidential results were officially announced by the chairman of the ECK, Mr. Samuel Kivuitu, most of the country was in chaos and some lives were already lost. What really ‘irritates’ about the whole situation is that it stopped almost immediately to be a clearly a matter of political parties and greatly became a tribal, or rather an ethnic issue. For so long, I believed that Kenyans were so united, but I guess I was wrong.

Kenyans engaged in tribal wars and in most parts of the country minority groups of some tribes that lived among certain ethnic groups were either killed in their own homes by the people who they had considered to be good neighbors all their lives. Difficult as it may sound, some people had to practically separate with their wives and husbands because they are from ethnic groups that are at ‘war’ since it is not safe to live with someone that the community around you believe to be an enemy and traitor. For those who managed to escape, the police stations were the safest home with almost no food or blankets to cover themselves during the night.
Men in Nakuru, Kenya, braced for further attacks. Nakuru is the latest trouble spot since a disputed election in December.

Even if one had an ATM card, it was impossible to get to an ATM machine to withdraw the money because there was no safety out there. Incase you are lucky to get money; it is impossible to get to a shop to purchase food or anything for your family because even the shops were not open because the owners were scared of possible looting. If one managed to buy maize, the police had to go milling for them so that they can get flour to make Ugali (the staple and affordable meal in Kenya) and also purchase the vegetables to eat with.

As the Kenyan post-election violence escalated, things got from bad to worse. The banks were closed for some period of time and even the banks eventually ran short of money and there was no safety to transport money to the banks. Traveling became impossible because of the lack of means of public transport as well as violence along the roads that claimed several lives. For the ones with private vehicles, there was no security to move around because one could not be sure of when and where exactly the next violence will erupt.

Most Kenyans have lost not only their homes and valuable property, but also family members. Some people were brutally murdered in front of their family members, others got lost through the process of running away from the attackers. At the peak of all this confusion, it was reported that almost 1000 women were raped. My question is why? Why are women always treated as second-hand human beings? I mean, why should everyone be subjected to suffered and again give an extra package to women? I strongly feel that in this era if HIV/AIDS, anyone who rapes a stranger is definitely sure that he or she is HIV positive because how can one be ‘clean’ and rape someone whose statues you are unsure of? The hospitals could not manage to handle all the rape cases that keep coming in daily because there are not enough facilities to cater for such massive numbers of victims.

During the peak of the crisis, most Kenyans realized the importance of most of the basic commodities that they had always taken for granted. Communication became expensive. The most ‘precious’ commodity became the cell-phone recharge vouchers. They became so precious and scarce close to being diamonds. If one managed to get then for sale, the person sold them at whatever price that best suited him or her. Trust me, even if one sold them for a price ten times the normal price, the damn thing would still be bought because people were desperate for it.

The shops were all closed and one could not get into towns to purchase new stock. Kenyans badly needed to communicate to find out if their loved one were still alive or not; they wanted to know where to run to next; they needed someone to comfort them because a neighbor was being attacked. Kenyans simply needed communication to keep them ‘breathing’.

Besides the communication crisis, fuel became scarce. People could not get kerosene (paraffin) to light for their lanterns at night and for cooking stoves. The vehicles could also not have fuel because all the filling stations were ‘dry’. The fuel in Kenya and its neighbors like Uganda, and DRC is all from Mombassa; a coastal town at one end of the country. this therefore means that Kenya’s neighbors also felt the heat until things cooled down a bit then the government provided police escort for the fuel transporting lories as well as money for banks.
As the condition persisted, government offices and property such as telephone posts were destroyed. Definitely people lost jobs because they have nowhere to go to. In these offices there are valuable documents that were destroyed and therefore it means that even if the workers resume to work, they have a long way to go before they get to where they were. Most of the flights to Kenya were suspended. This not only gives Kenya a negative image and destroys its diplomatic ties, but it also has a great impact on the tourism industry, which is the country’s greatest provider of foreign money. In this uncertain period, most of the tourists who were already in the country left cancelled their hotel bookings and left as soon as they could. In fact, the United States made arrangements for its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Education had to postpone the opening date for schools from the 7nth of January 2008 to the 14nth of January 2008 hoping that the situation would have ‘cooled’ down then. The turn-up for that 14nth was very low because the situation did not promise to be calm and most parents could not let their children to go to school yet they are not sure of their safety. Even as February slowly sneaks in, most students in primary and high schools in Kenya have not reported to school. Most The tertiary institutions have not announced their opening dates which is a good idea because this group of students are very vulnerable to manipulation and are capable of engaging in the violence hence the loss of many students. However, this situation is bound to greatly affect the academic calendar of most of the institutions of higher learning because the institutions have to cope with lost time.

Talking of education, the ‘re-elected’ president, Mwai Kibaki for the second period has come with its package for high school students. In his campaign manifesto, the Kibaki promised to provide free education for all high school student This means that the government paid approximately ksh10600 (N$1060) for every student in high school. This is supposed to be a welcome package but the question many Kenyans are asking themselves is, “where is this kind money coming from considering the current situation?” Violence between ethnic groups has continued in areas of Kenya

Most of the donors have threatened to suspend their aid to Kenya incase the situation does not calm down. Most Kenyans are therefore anticipating that if at all the government insists on providing ‘free’ education to high school students and the promised salary increment for some civil servants; then it is the taxpayers who will pay for this. The chances are that the taxes will have to increase because even if the president was to be very rich, can he afford to pay all this money from his own pocket for five years?” asked one lady.

It is anticipated that the fear of the uncertainty of the situation will have a great impact on the agricultural industry; which is the backbone of Kenya’s economy. This will not only affect agriculture that is done for economic purposes, but also the people who grow crops and keep animals for family consumption. In a crisis, One can not be sure if planting is essential because anything can happen when crops are in the fields and therefore it is safe not to risk. This means that most people will therefore not grow crops this year and therefore there would be a food shortage in the country by the middle of the year.

Armed with machetes and rocks, Kenyan men from the Luo tribe enforce a makeshift roadblock, searching passing vehicles for rival Kikuyus trying to flee Kisumu.
(Ben Curtis/Associated Press)

It cannot go without mentioning that an overworked military is bound to get tired and fall prey to malpractices. It is also a fact that the Kenyan military have not had so much experience of war incidences in it own country as compared to other militaries in the region. These post-election conflicts are maybe the worst and widest spread ever experienced in Kenyan history and has lasted so long. The military are yet to get used to these conditions and therefore will feel overworked. In this case, they become very vulnerable to manipulation and organized malpractices that they may already have started to engage in.parties come to, Kenyan’s have felt their pinch. The country has experienced the worst period in its history and the leaders of both sides owe a great apology to Kenyans.

Never in Kenyan history has the ethnic gap been widened this wide. Other countries in the region might be tempted to borrow a leaf from Kenya but how fresh and valuable is this leaf? The country is wet with human blood and no one wants to accept responsibility.

To Kenyan’s “you voted, you wanted a good life, and make the good life yourselves.” I do not think running away from your country is a solution. Kenya is for Kenyans and its Kenyans who can bring change more than anyone else.

After all, the greener pastures that you intend to run to may natives; so paint Kenya ‘green’ and not ‘red’ may have created any green pastures that you may run to Kikuyu men shout at Luo tribe members, as they are being evacuated in Kikuyu Town, Kenya