Kibaki may after all, not be interested in reconciliation

E-MAIL THIS

PRINT THIS

MOST POPULAR

PDF VERSION

TXT version

In his Madaraka day speech, while Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the youth who are still in police custody after they were arrested for protesting on the elections would soon be accorded amnesty in order hasten the reconciliation process that will see the more than half a million internally displaced people return back to their homes, president Kibaki sealed their fate by denying any amnesty. Instead, the president was upbeat in denouncing the Prime Minister’s appeal. They were obviously reading from a different book.

Kibaki’s lost moral ground
President Kibaki, who obviously lost last year’s December elections but maneuvered himself back to power through vote count manipulation was quickly sworn in for a second term. The Election Commission Chairman Samuel Kivuitu admitted that he was arm twisted by Kibaki and Kalonzo operatives. He was also forced to bring the certificate to State House where in he reportedly said that the swearing ceremony was already underway. Kivuitu pulled the carpet under the president’s feet by admitting that in fact, he did not know who won the elections.

Mau-Mau betrayed
Kenya’s independence movement who’s dream was to break the chains of colonial rule and transfer land and governance instruments to the hands of Kenya’s population were betrayed from the day Kenyatta became president. He embraced capitalism which in itself was not a bad idea but also disbanded the movement and brought it to the illegal periphery. Home Guards were instead rewarded and most Mau-Mau fighters died poor and 50 years on, Mau-Mau has yet to be put in the right side of our nation’s history. Kenyatta took colonial lands for his subjects and today, his immediate family own Kenya’s arable land, the size of Belgium.

The cheated generation
Kenya has a vibrant population of 36 million, most of them under 30 years, so to speak, most Kenyans were born after independence and Kibaki being part of the architect bureau of Kenya’s poor land and economic policies, served the country right from independence. He served both Kenyatta and Moi regimes. Unemployment among the youth is more than 70%

After Kenyatta’s 15 year reign that saw the founding father of modern Kenya confiscate enormous state land and property for himself, family and ethnic cronies, Arap Moi’s 24 year rule brought down the economy to its knees and in 2002, Kibaki was voted in to restore hope and give the youth a new direction.

This was never to be. Instead, Kibaki quickly renegaded on election promises and moved fast to plant ethnicity in almost every government and private sector. Corruption that he was going to eradicate was made to prevail in mainstream institutions. Kibaki turned a blind eye on his former graft Tsar John Githongo who was later forced into exile. “This thing is ours” said Kibaki’s minister Kiraitu Muirungi in a taped conversation with Githongo. He was referring to the Anglo Leasing scam that saw the government award hundreds of millions of dollars to fictitious companies without delivery of equipment or services. At one point, Kenya’s embassy building at The Hague was being put under auction.

Kenya, a safe haven for drug barons
Under the directives of president Kibaki and then minister for security and former colonial Home Guard John Michuki, two international criminals were given a safe haven to operate at will. They were given Kenya passports, a beautiful home, several cars, some of them with government registration number plates and 24hr police security accorded to the Artur brothers. Further, they were awarded Kenya police uniforms, free access to all sensitive security installations and to crown it all, one of them got the president’s daughter.

When things got too hot for them after they led the raid to the Standard newspapers facilities and the cowboy gun brandishing incident at the country’s international airport, the two Armenian criminals were quickly ushered away out of the country without facing trial. The president did not mention a thing.

Election violence was set up by Kibaki’s people
The first election violence recorded on tv footage was ordered by then minister of Roads Simeon Nyachae. Ministers William Ruto and Omingo Magara of ODM were beaten and wounded by Nyachae youth dressed in traditional war gear, carrying poisonous bows and arrows and many of them had clubs (rungus) and machetes (panga’s). while Nyachae was cheering his private army at an election campaign rally in Kisii. Nyachae was never taken to court.

Then Kibaki’s other minister’s SUV was intercepted by police after the press hatched a plot to massacre ODM activists. The minister’s car was full of arsenal including machetes. The Minister was never charged.

Ethnic arrogance
Kibaki, with state machinery and ethnic cohorts at his disposal already had declared that whether Kenyans like it or not, he was going to rule another 5 years. “Wapende wasipende” tutatawala”. Like it or not, we shall rule, was a common slogan used among the Kibaki’s ethnic inner circle.

They also claimed that uncircumcised men could not be allowed to rule the Kenya, a clear indication that their brains had shifted from the skull down to their lower part of the abdomen. Later on, they would claim that Raila Odinga was going to make Kenya an Islamic State, as if Raila is Muslim, to start with. Government military and police utility vehicles were used to spread folders demonizing Raila and his ODM party in the vast Rift Valley Province.

On election day, Raila Odinga’s name was missing from the ballot papers, for hours, he could not cast his vote. We have not been told of why Special armed unit in plain clothes were dispatched from Nairobi in privately owned busses and brought to Nyanza province. Again, it was the press that taped these busses all the way.

Culture of impunity
Its absurd to think that in the 21st century, Africans can still be ruled with the culture of impunity forever. Kibaki did not win the 27th December elections at all. And even in Central Province which they claim to have given Kibaki an overwhelming victory did not want Kibaki. He was rejected by the youth but again, their votes were stolen with impunity.

Most reporters and politicians tend to be afraid to name Kibaki as the one responsible for the chaos that saw human devastation of untold magnitude but the truth shall set us free – The buck stops at the president. He brought Kenyans this far.

Reconciliation or destruction
The English word reconciliation as in the English dictionary is explained as settlement, understanding, resolution; compromise, ceasefire, bringing together… So can President Kibaki tell Kenyans and the international community that brought him and Prime Minister Raila Odinga how he is going to achieve reconciliation without adopting any of the synonyms of the word reconciliation? Or is the president just not interested in bringing a lasting peace to Kenya?

One thing is sure, the future of Kenya is either reconciliation or destruction and we all hope there is still time for the president to understand the meaning of the word and indeed accept responsibility for his role in the destruction of inter ethnic relationship.