| Story by PHILIP OCHIENG Publication Date: 1/6/2008 | ||
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Saturday, January 5, 2008
Attacking one's neighbour is misplaced anger
Friday, January 4, 2008
This is not a genocide?
I have spoken to a number of Kenyans who think this is not a genocide. They say that this is just political violence that is as a result of Kibaki stealing the election. Others say that a genocide can only be committed by a government and not the opposition. These sentiments have been echoed by some international media houses.
We heard the same sentiments expressed in the Rwanda genocide. The press found excuses to explain the slaughter. In April 1994, schools in Kenya were closed for the April. I remember reading that the Hutu extremists attacking Tutsi's because a Hutu president had been killed in a plane crash. The savage reaction by the Hutus was seen as a justified way of showing anger. The international community watched and hoped that everything would calm in a few days. They were wrong.
Months leading to the genocide, hate media had dehuminized the Tutsi refering them as cockroaches. In 1993, Kangura -a Hutu extremist newspaper- published an article titled “A cockroach cannot give birth to a butterfly.”
"We began by saying that a cockroach cannot give birth to a butterfly. It is true. A cockroach gives birth to another cockroach...The history of Rwanda shows us clearly that a Tutsi stays always exactly the same, that he has never changed. The malice, the evil are just as we knew them in the history of our country. We are not wrong in saying that a cockroach gives birth to another cockroach. Who could tell the difference between the Inyenzi who attacked in October 1990 and those of the 1960s. They are all linked...their evilness is the same. The unspeakable crimes of the Inyenzi of today...recall those of their elders: killing, pillaging, raping girls and women, etc," The newspaper said.
In Kenya were have been treated to such rhetoric by our newspapers, FM radios and blogs. In political meetings were were told of the kikuyu conspiracy to dominate Kenyans for the next 100 years. The Raila Odinga campaign for presidency built its case on creating anti-Kikuyu sentiments. It then offered Raila Odinga as teh person to end kikuyu domination.
Those who watched Hotel Rwanda may remember scenes where Hutus visit hospitals, refugee camps and even the Hotel Rwanda its self and demand the ejection of all "cockroaches". I was motivated to pen this rant after reading these chilling accounts on the BBC:
'They looted all the shops that belong to Kikuyus and Kisiis. Then they broke into the rented off-campus houses of students and then a crowd of about 1,000 people surged to the university gate and shouted that they 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 said they would stay at the gate until their demands were met. Three armed policemen arrived and spent time negotiating with the crowd. Finally the police advised us to evacuate the named ethnic groups.
We put those faculty and students, numbering about 250, into three university vehicles and they were taken to Kapsabet Police station under police escort. They are still there.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7171443.stm
In Another report filed by LA Times gave an account of one Gabriel Okelo who has become the foster child of the genocide.
"It is the first time I ever killed," said Okelo, who is about 20. "I never imagined it would come to this. It was not a planned thing at all.
"I was angry. When you are angry, it's easy."
"It's Kenya versus Kikuyus. We are slaughtering them and we will keep slaughtering them. It will go on and on and on in all parts of the country. It will be war. Religious leaders have been preaching peace. Peace, peace! But there's no justice," he said.
Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2008
If you still don't see this as a systematic elimination of some Kenyan tribes you need to check yourself into the nearest mental facility!
We heard the same sentiments expressed in the Rwanda genocide. The press found excuses to explain the slaughter. In April 1994, schools in Kenya were closed for the April. I remember reading that the Hutu extremists attacking Tutsi's because a Hutu president had been killed in a plane crash. The savage reaction by the Hutus was seen as a justified way of showing anger. The international community watched and hoped that everything would calm in a few days. They were wrong.
Months leading to the genocide, hate media had dehuminized the Tutsi refering them as cockroaches. In 1993, Kangura -a Hutu extremist newspaper- published an article titled “A cockroach cannot give birth to a butterfly.”
"We began by saying that a cockroach cannot give birth to a butterfly. It is true. A cockroach gives birth to another cockroach...The history of Rwanda shows us clearly that a Tutsi stays always exactly the same, that he has never changed. The malice, the evil are just as we knew them in the history of our country. We are not wrong in saying that a cockroach gives birth to another cockroach. Who could tell the difference between the Inyenzi who attacked in October 1990 and those of the 1960s. They are all linked...their evilness is the same. The unspeakable crimes of the Inyenzi of today...recall those of their elders: killing, pillaging, raping girls and women, etc," The newspaper said.
In Kenya were have been treated to such rhetoric by our newspapers, FM radios and blogs. In political meetings were were told of the kikuyu conspiracy to dominate Kenyans for the next 100 years. The Raila Odinga campaign for presidency built its case on creating anti-Kikuyu sentiments. It then offered Raila Odinga as teh person to end kikuyu domination.
Those who watched Hotel Rwanda may remember scenes where Hutus visit hospitals, refugee camps and even the Hotel Rwanda its self and demand the ejection of all "cockroaches". I was motivated to pen this rant after reading these chilling accounts on the BBC:
'They looted all the shops that belong to Kikuyus and Kisiis. Then they broke into the rented off-campus houses of students and then a crowd of about 1,000 people surged to the university gate and shouted that they 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 said they would stay at the gate until their demands were met. Three armed policemen arrived and spent time negotiating with the crowd. Finally the police advised us to evacuate the named ethnic groups.
We put those faculty and students, numbering about 250, into three university vehicles and they were taken to Kapsabet Police station under police escort. They are still there.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7171443.stm
In Another report filed by LA Times gave an account of one Gabriel Okelo who has become the foster child of the genocide.
"It is the first time I ever killed," said Okelo, who is about 20. "I never imagined it would come to this. It was not a planned thing at all.
"I was angry. When you are angry, it's easy."
"It's Kenya versus Kikuyus. We are slaughtering them and we will keep slaughtering them. It will go on and on and on in all parts of the country. It will be war. Religious leaders have been preaching peace. Peace, peace! But there's no justice," he said.
Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2008
If you still don't see this as a systematic elimination of some Kenyan tribes you need to check yourself into the nearest mental facility!
Maina Kiai where are you????
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights chair Maina Kiai is missing in action. The vocal human rights activist has always been handy in advocating for the interests of politicians as if only political interests qualify as human rights.
The Eldoret Massacre was the single most deadly event in the ongoing genocide. Women and children who had taken shelter in a church were burnt to ashes in broad daylight. The killers blocked all exits before setting the church on fire.
After a long silence about the genocide that is going on, Maina Kiai came out to defend rights of Raila Odinga's supporters to hold a protest. Newspaper reports covering the Raila protests quoted some Raila supporters confessing of slaughtering Kikuyus. The protestors promised to continue the killings until Raila Odinga is installed as president.
“Whereas we understand that the police commissioner may be concerned about the state of security in the country to issue such orders, such decrees not only contravene the law, but only serve to aggravate the situation further,” said the commission’s chairman Maina Kiai in a statement sent to newsrooms last evening.
Daily Nation, Jan 02, 2008 22:41 PM (EAT)
http://politics.nationmedia.com/inner.asp?pcat=NEWS&cat=TOP&sid=1194
Maina Kiai's selective interpretation of human rights is like spitting and the face of the victims. Didn't Maina Kiai and his organization find the lives of innocent Kenyans worth a two sentence statement?
Maina Kiai is paid by the Kenyan citizens to advocate for the rights of the down trodden. He has opted to protect the interests of politicians instead because it pays handsomely. It boosts your ego when you mingle with the high and the mighty.
Silence from the KNCHR is an endorsement of the genocide.
UPDATE 1:
After a long slilence, Maina Kiai has found his voice again. His voice coincided with the ODM SMS that has been circulating saying that Mungiki has been activated by the Government.
I am still looking for Maina Kiai's statements on the Eldoret Massacre, The burning of Burnt Forest, The Kaptein Massacre, The Mass Exodus in Rift Valley, The Siege of Baraton University, ....................................
The facts are there for the world to see. The perpetuators of the Genocide can hire the best publicists in the world; they can buy all the Human Rights organisations but they cannot burry the facts in water. The corpses of the children, women and men massacred in Rift Valley are rotting. No amount of perfume can mask stench. Even the killers are pleading that their victims corpses be removed. They can't the stench of their own mess!
This is not about a rigged election. It is about killing certain ethnic groups in RV to deny them their right to own property in the province.
UPDATE 2:
At last Maina Kiai visits Eldoret to shed crocodile tears. A man who has given the 'rigged' election as justification to the killings in RV expected a warm welcome but he received boos.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozjdDSejbbw
Maina Kiai and his KNCHR were missing when the rights of the common citizen were being violated. He was missing when Kalenjin Militia drowned 30 Kenyan refugees in River Kapkaren. Now he shows up to fake empathy?
Let Maina Kiai enjoy his 30 pieces of silver in peace without trying to mock the victims of the criminals that he is representing.
The Eldoret Massacre was the single most deadly event in the ongoing genocide. Women and children who had taken shelter in a church were burnt to ashes in broad daylight. The killers blocked all exits before setting the church on fire.
After a long silence about the genocide that is going on, Maina Kiai came out to defend rights of Raila Odinga's supporters to hold a protest. Newspaper reports covering the Raila protests quoted some Raila supporters confessing of slaughtering Kikuyus. The protestors promised to continue the killings until Raila Odinga is installed as president.
“Whereas we understand that the police commissioner may be concerned about the state of security in the country to issue such orders, such decrees not only contravene the law, but only serve to aggravate the situation further,” said the commission’s chairman Maina Kiai in a statement sent to newsrooms last evening.
Daily Nation, Jan 02, 2008 22:41 PM (EAT)
http://politics.nationmedia.com/inner.asp?pcat=NEWS&cat=TOP&sid=1194
Maina Kiai's selective interpretation of human rights is like spitting and the face of the victims. Didn't Maina Kiai and his organization find the lives of innocent Kenyans worth a two sentence statement?
Maina Kiai is paid by the Kenyan citizens to advocate for the rights of the down trodden. He has opted to protect the interests of politicians instead because it pays handsomely. It boosts your ego when you mingle with the high and the mighty.
Silence from the KNCHR is an endorsement of the genocide.
---------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE 1:
After a long slilence, Maina Kiai has found his voice again. His voice coincided with the ODM SMS that has been circulating saying that Mungiki has been activated by the Government.
Maina Kiai, head of the government-funded National Commission on Human Rights, said the Mungiki, an ethnic Kikuyu gang notorious for beheading its victims, had returned.
"They are coming out again and being used by the state. We have firm evidence of that, some of their people came to us," he said.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL09697986.html
I am still looking for Maina Kiai's statements on the Eldoret Massacre, The burning of Burnt Forest, The Kaptein Massacre, The Mass Exodus in Rift Valley, The Siege of Baraton University, ....................................
The facts are there for the world to see. The perpetuators of the Genocide can hire the best publicists in the world; they can buy all the Human Rights organisations but they cannot burry the facts in water. The corpses of the children, women and men massacred in Rift Valley are rotting. No amount of perfume can mask stench. Even the killers are pleading that their victims corpses be removed. They can't the stench of their own mess!
This is not about a rigged election. It is about killing certain ethnic groups in RV to deny them their right to own property in the province.
----------------------------------------------
UPDATE 2:
At last Maina Kiai visits Eldoret to shed crocodile tears. A man who has given the 'rigged' election as justification to the killings in RV expected a warm welcome but he received boos.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozjdDSejbbw
Maina Kiai and his KNCHR were missing when the rights of the common citizen were being violated. He was missing when Kalenjin Militia drowned 30 Kenyan refugees in River Kapkaren. Now he shows up to fake empathy?
Let Maina Kiai enjoy his 30 pieces of silver in peace without trying to mock the victims of the criminals that he is representing.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Kenyan Genocide in the news
The Standard, January 22, 2008
Raila asked the Luo to live peacefully with their Kisii neighbours, saying the Abagusii community had overwhelmingly voted for him, but their votes "had been stolen by President Kibaki".
"We should have seven of the 10 parliamentary seats in Kisii, but Kibaki men stole the votes and we only got four. The Kisii are our people. We must not touch them," he said.
The Guardian, Tuesday January 22, 2008
I don't think the Kikuyus can ever come back to this place,'' said Collins Odhiambo, a Luo man in Kisumu. ``They know it won't be easy and most are selling their houses. There is still so much resentment, tensions are just simmering.''
Another Luo in Kisumu, Andrew Oteno, said: ``The Kikuyus have to suffer for the injustice being done here.''
``Let them not buy time, hiding in churches and show grounds,'' said Zacharia Barno, who runs a transport business in Eldoret. ``They have an opportunity now to leave.''
The Monitor, Kampala, January 7, 2008
AT least 30 Kenyans fleeing post-election violence have drowned in River Kipkaren in the Rift Valley province of western Kenya. The victims, sources allege, were pushed into the water by pursuers from a rival tribe.
The dead, who were reportedly being pursued by armed men, were moving to Uganda to seek refuge. "I have got information that 30 people were dumped in River Kipkaren, 87 Kilometres from here (Malaba)," Tororo Resident District Commissioner Mpimbaza Hashaka said at the weekend. Mr Hashaka, who doubles as the chairman of the District Emergency Committee, confirmed the reports to journalists in eastern Uganda on Saturday, adding that the gunmen are believed to be members of a minority tribe targeting Kikuyus.
13 Jan 2008 12:29:41 GMT
Source: Reuters
We arrested two men thought to be Kalenjin militias mixing poison in refugees' food at a primary school that is acting as the refugees' reception centre," said Bimpabaza Hashaka, the top government official in Uganda's eastern Tororo District.
Kalenjin tribesmen in Kenya have been responsible for many recent attacks on members of Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group.
Hashaka told Reuters that Friday's incident in the border town of Malaba followed a similar one earlier last week when another man was found mixing poison into beans being prepared for Kikuyu refugees sheltering at a nearby church.
That man was also arrested, but later escaped from jail.
By Adrian Blomfield
Last Updated: 10:16am GMT 07/01/2008
Last Updated: 10:16am GMT 07/01/2008
The fighters moved in gangs, padding silently through the tea estates as they searched for their human quarry.
They had already set fire to some of their victims' homes. Now they were hunting for survivors hiding between the rows of green bushes that stretch for miles around Kericho, Kenya's tea capital.
Josek Omdecki [Ondieki], a 24-year-old tea picker from the Kisii tribe, had almost put enough distance between himself and the men pursuing him so that he could get to the Chemosit estate, owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, when he tripped and fell.In an instant, the fighters were upon him.
Josek Omdecki [Ondieki], a 24-year-old tea picker from the Kisii tribe, had almost put enough distance between himself and the men pursuing him so that he could get to the Chemosit estate, owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, when he tripped and fell.In an instant, the fighters were upon him.
"I begged them to spare me but they showed no mercy," he said. "They slashed me with machetes and they hit my back and head until I lost consciousness."
Believing he was dead, the men moved on and Mr Omdecki was able to crawl to safety. Others were not so fortunate. Before he was caught, Mr Omdecki says he saw the fighters place branches over the body of a man after hacking him to death.
Until yesterday, Kericho was entirely cut off from the outside world. Armed Kalenjin tribesmen had cut down trees to block roads leading into the area and erected road blocks to sever all escape routes after ethnic fighting erupted across Kenya last week.
By Beatrice Debut, AFP
Published:Jan 07, 2008
Published:Jan 07, 2008
KOILUGET, Kenya - In the remote west Kenyan village of Koiluget, a deadly attack by a rival ethnic group just over a week ago left behind more than just twisted sheet metal and charred walls - rotting corpses still litter the corn fields.
Dozens of inhabitants, all of them ethnic Kikuyu, disappeared in the attack - they are either dead or they fled, according to witnesses.
"We followed the Kikuyu to make sure they were going to Brunt Forest," a small village an hour away down a track, recalls Job, a 30-year old Luyha - before correcting himself: "They followed them." "If they got hold of a Kikuyu, they lashed him a panga machete," he added, as he scavenged from the cornfields.
"It is the responsibility of the government to clear the bodies," says Elijah, a Kalenjin, who rents a small patch of land on which have been abandoned a bible, a voter registration card belonging to a Kikuyu and a few clothes.
Kenya tea estate looted, workers flee
Kenya tea estate looted, workers flee
Source: Reuters
KERICHO, Kenya, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Looters in one of Kenya's major tea-growing areas in the Rift Valley struck Unilever's Chebown tea estate in a bout of post-election violence, causing workers at it and all the surrounding farms to flee.
A Reuters photographer at Unilever's Chebown tea estate said looters torched the farm's tractors and trucks, looted and burned its storage facility and tried to burn the tea plants, but were foiled by cold, moist weather. All of the labourers, who come from the Kisii tribe, had fled that farm and others nearby after attacks by members of the local Kalenjin tribe targeting them, the Reuters photographer said.
Kisiis are seen as supporting President Mwai Kibaki, whom the opposition accuses of rigging a hotly contested election, which plunged the country into a week of violence. Some Kalenjins support the opposition, and mobs of young Kalenjin men have gone on a rampage across the Rift Valley, targeting tribes seen as pro-government.
The government has called some of the killing genocide plotted by the opposition. The opposition rejects that. Previous elections in the Rift Valley have seen ethnic clashes ignited by politicians keen to shore up their support.
(Reporting by Thomas Mukoya; Editing by Charles Dick)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06542016.htm
A Reuters photographer at Unilever's Chebown tea estate said looters torched the farm's tractors and trucks, looted and burned its storage facility and tried to burn the tea plants, but were foiled by cold, moist weather. All of the labourers, who come from the Kisii tribe, had fled that farm and others nearby after attacks by members of the local Kalenjin tribe targeting them, the Reuters photographer said.
Kisiis are seen as supporting President Mwai Kibaki, whom the opposition accuses of rigging a hotly contested election, which plunged the country into a week of violence. Some Kalenjins support the opposition, and mobs of young Kalenjin men have gone on a rampage across the Rift Valley, targeting tribes seen as pro-government.
The government has called some of the killing genocide plotted by the opposition. The opposition rejects that. Previous elections in the Rift Valley have seen ethnic clashes ignited by politicians keen to shore up their support.
(Reporting by Thomas Mukoya; Editing by Charles Dick)
Kenyan City Is Quivering With Anger
New York Times, January 6, 2008
KISUMU, Kenya — Oginga Odinga Street, the main thoroughfare in town, is a testament to rage.
The town exploded and a furious mob stormed up Oginga Odinga street in a spree of violence. The rampage left Kisumu a blackened shell, with the biggest businesses in ashes. Fuel, food and cellphone credit are in short supply, and around 2,000 people of Mr. Kibaki’s tribe, the Kikuyu, camped out at the police station, desperate to leave because of a wave of revenge killings.Trucks evacuating Kikuyus and Kisii, another tribe that supported Mr. Kibaki, are jeered at as they pull out of town. The people doing the jeering are mostly Luos, from Mr. Odinga’s tribe, who live here in great numbers.
“Traitors!” some Luos shouted on Saturday as a truck passed.
Survivors recall horror of Eldoret church torching
Written by Robyn Dixon
January 04, 2007: First, the attackers pelted the church with rocks to pin down the women, children and elderly people seeking shelter inside.The armed men then slammed shut the church doors. They piled bicycles and mattresses outside the main entrance and blocked a smaller door at the back. They went about their business efficiently.
The attackers poured fuel on the mattresses and piled on dried maize leaves from a nearby field. Then they set the barricades alight and waited until the flames burned high.
After the church burned, he and others managed to get inside. There was not one recognisable face left. In death, mothers hugged children to their bodies.Mr Mwangi struggled for words to explain why something so unthinkable happened. “I think it’s a grudge. It’s because of politics.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-church3jan03,0,4040595.story?coll=la-home-world
Kenyan opposition postpones march
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 7:19 AM PST, January 3, 2008
Some of the protesters insisted their actions today were peaceful, but most were angry, frustrated and full of venom for Kikuyus. Some, like one young protester named Gabriel Okelo, threatened to keep on killing Kikuyus until Kibaki steps down.
"We are slaughtering them and we will keep on slaughtering them," said Okelo, who got up at 6 a.m. and walked nine miles from the outskirts of the city to march in support of Odinga.
Okelo said he killed two people with a machete for the first time Wednesday because, "when you are angry, it's easy. If they refuse our president, Raila Odinga to address the rally, it will happen again. We shall slaughter the Kikuyus. It will go on and on and on, in all parts of the country."
One opposition protester, Edward Okoo, 32, said the protesters would not support a power-sharing deal, sentiments echoed by many others yesterday."There will be no peace until Raila [Odinga] is president. We voted for our party to lead."
Kenyan president rules out talks until calm prevails, LA Times, Jan 04, 2008
Kenya: Spriral of killings, LA Times Jan 04, 2008
Kenya's victims fear for their lives
rge outside the district commissioner's office in Kenya's third city of Kisumu yesterday.Hundreds of fellow Kisiis milled about anxiously beside two empty buses. They are especially vulnerable in Kisumu for this area is a stronghold of Raila Odinga, the opposition leader defeated in last Thursday's disputed presidential election, and his Luo tribe. The Kisii are suspected of backing President Mwai Kibaki and allying with his Kikuyu people.
Forced to abandon the bodies of dead relatives as they joined perhaps 100,000 people in fleeing their homes, the city's Kisii and Kikuyu have taken refuge in police stations and churches.
At the East African University of Baraton, a seventh-day Adventist college near the Rift Valley town of Kapsabet, terrified Kikuyus were trapped on the campus with close to 200 foreign students and staff.
Outside the gates, warriors from the Kalenjin tribe, which largely supported Mr Odinga, laid siege.
"We have no food but if I try to go outside I know they will kill me," said Julia, a 21-year-old Kikuyu student.
"They have lists with the names of the people they want dead. They have already killed many. If we are not evacuated, God knows what will happen tomorrow."
Kenya's victims fear for their lives, The Telegraph, 04/01/2008
Kenya lovers split as restaurant goes up in flames
Charles Mochache, a 45-year-old man from the Kisii tribe, is also heartbroken. He fled his home fearing attack by opposition supporters, leaving behind his Luo wife and their four children.
"We were married for 10 years. We love each other but we cannot stay together," he said. "I don't see myself going back."
Back at the Kisumu police station, Ndungu has lost his restaurant and his girlfriend, and fears for his safety.
He is bitter, but says he is not looking for revenge.
"I don't blame anyone. We need each other," he said.
"My family is in Eldoret, the worst affected area. I don't even know if they're alive. This is serious psychological and physical torture."
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN431881.html
Death toll in Kenya tops 300
By SHASHANK BENGALI
A day after a grisly tribal attack in Eldoret in central Kenya in which 59 members of the Kikuyu tribe were burned alive in a church, witnesses said that about 40 bodies, many displaying machete wounds, lay on the grounds of the Kaptein Tea Estate, owned by the Unilever Corp.
The victims belonged mostly to the Kisii tribe, which is allied with the Kikuyu in that area, residents interviewed by telephone said.
“They were probably killed (Tuesday), but the bodies are still lying there,” said Vincent Korir, a 30-year-old farmer. “No one is attending to them.”
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/NEWS07/801030434/1009
The truth about the Kenyan Genocide
The international press and the international community are pre-occupied with the results of the recently concluded elections in Kenya while genocide goes on unabated. Innocent children are hacked to death yet everybody is talking about the election results! It is sad to note that we are quick to give justification of the killings while ignoring the historical events that have put us in this predicament.
The opposition is accusing President Mwai Kibaki's party of rigging the election by inflating the results. On the other hand the president's party is accusing the opposition of locking out its (the ruling party's) agents from its strongholds then allowing multiple voting by compromising election officials. A close look at the election results shows that there was an unrealistically high turnout of voters in Eastern Province and Central Province where the president is rated favorably. There was also a very high turnout of voters in opposition strongholds in Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces. This makes it difficult to tell who the real winner is in that poll that was said to be too close to call in pre-election surveys.
So how did the results lead to violence?
Even before the elections were held, there was propaganda circulating in Kenya pitting the Kikuyu tribe against the rest of Kenyans. Lists of Kikuyu government employees were circulated to create the notion that only Kikuyus were occupying top jobs. Those lists contained names of people from the Embu and Meru communities that live in the area around Mt. Kenya.
Kikuyu, Meru (composed of Meru, Mbeere, Tharaka) and Embu make up 24%, 6% and 3% of the Kenyan population respectively. People from these tribes are lumped together as GEMA and make up over 30% of the Kenyan population. One would expect a people who make up 30% of the population to have a noticeable presence in the job market and in the economy.
As a response to the propaganda, Government spokesman Dr. Mutua issued a 2000-name list of government appointees, that showed a balanced job distribution among tribes and districts. If anything, Kikuyus had a lower proportion than their ratio of the population. By then, the damage had been done , and the perception of Gema domination in government jobs stuck.
Then we propaganda saying that Central Province contributed the least in taxes yet it was allocated the most amount of money for development. This was first revealed in an op-ed by Barrack Muluka (The Standard, Saturday July 29, 2006 and Saturday July 22, 2006)http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143956003http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143955681&date=22/7/2006
Kenya is a unitary state that is mainly funded by income tax and sales tax. From what I understand the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) doesn't keep tally on what each province contributes. Such a figure will be hard to come by because businesses are registered in Nairobi and remit their income tax to KRA in Nairobi no matter what part of the country the companies are doing business. Also a significant number of people working in Nairobi City live in Central
province. This means that if we were to look at income tax collected from Nairobi, it will also include residents of Central Province.
Those talking about distribution of wealth present the case as though the distribution should be between tribes. The reality on the ground is that Kenya has a few rich people (made of elites from all tribes) and a majority of poor people. The elites pushing the tribal agenda deflect the issue of equitable distribution of wealth from being a class issue and make it a tribal issue.
A majority of Kenyans living in the slums is made up of people form the Kikuyu tribe. The area around Mt. Kenya where the so-called Gema tribes come from is densely populated forcing it inhabitants to seek land and jobs outside their ancestral lands. Today, the Kikuyu and the Kisii ( another bantu tribe from a densely populated region in Nyanza Province) can be found in all part of Kenya. A majority of Kenyan immigrants in the USA and the UK can trace their lineage to the Kikuyu and Kisii tribes.
In Kenya where tribes are supposed to own regions, migration creates a lot of tension. A Kikuyu doing business in Kisumu is not viewed as just another Kenyan who is working hard to earn his bread but as an alien coming in to dominate the local people
. This tension mixed with politics has in the past resulted in tribal cleansing.
Just before the elections were held, members of the Kikuyu and Kisii communities were evicted from Ziwa Market in Eldoret by the Kalenjins who are the major ethinic group in Eldoret. These peoples were accused of dominating the business sector.
Politicians who seek to control their tribes have used ethic identity (an equivalent of ultra-nationalism as in Germany and Russia). These politicians promise their tribesmen that they will establish Majimbo (Federalism) as a way to ensure that the Kikuyu and other "aliens" don't "dominate" over them. To a significant population of Kenyans (mainly in Coast Province and Rift Valley) Majimbo means that Kenyans will go back to their ancestral land and leave behind their property.
The right to own property in any part of Kenya by any Kenyan citizen is a farce. A significant number of Kenyans believe that tribes own regions and those seeking to invest in those regions are temporary visitors who can be ejected at any time. Ejection and murder of "aliens" has happened in the recent past and is always seen as a justified way of dealing with competition.
The following quote points this out:
"They said although ODM pentagon member William Ruto urged residents to observe peace when he visited the area, a politician from the area met youths and held a meeting at Maemba running into midnight, where he supplied them with torches and gumboots.
The politician is reported to have said that those who had bought land in the area had rendered the indigenous people landless and consequently homeless."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710292039.html
Just before the election, Hilary Ngw'eno -a Samia ( Luhya sub-tribe) veteran journalist- wrote a series of "historical" articles in the Daily Nation on the role of the Gema (Kikuyu) mafia in the late President Kenyatta administration. It is now apparent that Ngw'eno was pushing the Kikuyu vs. non-Kikuyu Kenyans agenda even further. His articles were supposed to remind Kenyans of the "evil" Kikuyus and their conspiracy to control Kenya. President Kenyatta and Raila Odinga's father parted ways politically because Oginga Odinga was pro-communism while Kenyatta was pro-capitalism. People who want to rouse ethnic animosity often leave this fact out and argue that Kikuyus pushed Luos out of the Kenyatta government.
Another fact being falsely peddled by the media is that Kikuyus have been in power since independence. The truth is that these last five years of Kibak's presidency are the first time a Kikuyu has been in power in the last thirty years. Before then President Moi, a Kalenjin, was in power for 24 years, where he ruled with a dictatorial iron fist before the worldwide push for multi-party democracy helped push him out of power. Indeed, there was only one previous Kikuyu president, Jomo Kenyatta, who reigned for only 14 years after independence.
Yet another lie that was peddled to the other non-Kikuyu tribes by Raila,and subsequently picked up by the press, is that Kikuyus hate Luos and will never let Luo into power. This is not true. The articles by Ng'weno clearly recalled that in the pre and post independence days,Raila's father , Jaramogi Odinga, had a countrywide following that included Kikuyus.
ODM and Raila Odinga's role in the current ethnic cleansing
The background above is what has brought us up to this situation. Raila Odinga exploited the above sentiments to gain support of xenophobic opinion leaders from Rift Valley and Coast provinces. Raila Odinga has never been for Majimbo but he changed his stand a few weeks to election to get the support of William Ruto (hails from the Kalenjin group of tribes), Najib Balala (Coast Province), and William Ole Ntimama (led the 1992 and 1997 ethnic cleansing).
The election results are just an excuse used to execute a preconceived genocide. It is a shame then when Raila Odinga justifies acts of genocide by claiming that those engaging in the crimes are "peacefully" protesting against a rigged election. He has asked the president to step down if he wants the killings stop.
Today I read a chilling report on the Los Angeles Times on the systematic genocide going on in Kenya. Even more chilling was the video of a man being slashed to death. It reminded me of Rwanda and not Kenya -a country where we once lived in peace, love and unity. The newspater quotes a Raila supporter saying:
"We are slaughtering them and we will keep on slaughtering them," said one young protester, Gabriel Okelo, who got up at six and walked nine miles from the outskirts of the city to march in support of Odinga.
As the political violence worsens, tribal fighting and tit-for-tat killings have been going on in Nairobi's slums and in other towns.
Okelo said he killed two people with a machete for the first time Wednesday because "When you are angry, it's easy. If they refuse our president, Raila Odinga to address the rally, it will happen again. We shall slaughter the Kikuyus. It will go on and on and on, in all parts of the country."
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 7:19 AM PST, January 3, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya4jan04,0,4416543.story?coll=la-home-world
When the violence started the media made an initial mistake of not correctly identifying the perpetrators. The people who were shot in Kisumu (Odinga's home and stronghold) were shot by security forces because they were engaging in looting.The media missed the fact that before the looting, these ODM/Luo activists had first killed Kikuyu businessmen resident in the city. The more affluent Asians had already left before the elections or by air as soon as tensions started.
It is only with the church massacre in Eldoret that the media has realised that it is defenseless Kikuyus who are being killed by Luos and Kalenjins supporting Raila Odinga. It is also worth noting that the violence in the big towns is restricted to the slum areas. These are the people who had been promised heaven by Raila,who had also demonised Kibaki as the reason these poor people were stuck in poverty. Political analysts had easily pointed that he was promising more than he could deliver, but he did so selfishly to get their votes.
The following quote from Reuters doesn't show a people who are protesting the election results but a people who are out to commit genocide.
"As black smoke billowed overhead, one crowd waved machetes and yelled "Death to Kikuyus". Young boys swigged looted beer.
"We have just started. We will loot all Kikuyu shops and kill them on sight," said Richard Ondigi, 23, a driver.
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN934960.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/01/wkenya301.xml
There are many reports like these.
In an action reminiscent of the Rwanda, Kalenjin Raiders who are supporting Raila Odinga and the local MP William Ruto (promised to be Prime Minister- a post that currently does not exist in the constitution) torched a church killing more than 50 Kenyans mainly from the Kikuyu tribe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/world/africa/02kenya.html?hp
Raila is yet to talk about the Eldoret massacre. He has denied a instigating a genocide saying, "The security forces are shooting people on sight. It is Kibaki that should be blamed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,,2233890,00.html
The opposition is accusing President Mwai Kibaki's party of rigging the election by inflating the results. On the other hand the president's party is accusing the opposition of locking out its (the ruling party's) agents from its strongholds then allowing multiple voting by compromising election officials. A close look at the election results shows that there was an unrealistically high turnout of voters in Eastern Province and Central Province where the president is rated favorably. There was also a very high turnout of voters in opposition strongholds in Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces. This makes it difficult to tell who the real winner is in that poll that was said to be too close to call in pre-election surveys.
So how did the results lead to violence?
Even before the elections were held, there was propaganda circulating in Kenya pitting the Kikuyu tribe against the rest of Kenyans. Lists of Kikuyu government employees were circulated to create the notion that only Kikuyus were occupying top jobs. Those lists contained names of people from the Embu and Meru communities that live in the area around Mt. Kenya.
Kikuyu, Meru (composed of Meru, Mbeere, Tharaka) and Embu make up 24%, 6% and 3% of the Kenyan population respectively. People from these tribes are lumped together as GEMA and make up over 30% of the Kenyan population. One would expect a people who make up 30% of the population to have a noticeable presence in the job market and in the economy.
As a response to the propaganda, Government spokesman Dr. Mutua issued a 2000-name list of government appointees, that showed a balanced job distribution among tribes and districts. If anything, Kikuyus had a lower proportion than their ratio of the population. By then, the damage had been done , and the perception of Gema domination in government jobs stuck.
Then we propaganda saying that Central Province contributed the least in taxes yet it was allocated the most amount of money for development. This was first revealed in an op-ed by Barrack Muluka (The Standard, Saturday July 29, 2006 and Saturday July 22, 2006)http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143956003http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143955681&date=22/7/2006
Kenya is a unitary state that is mainly funded by income tax and sales tax. From what I understand the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) doesn't keep tally on what each province contributes. Such a figure will be hard to come by because businesses are registered in Nairobi and remit their income tax to KRA in Nairobi no matter what part of the country the companies are doing business. Also a significant number of people working in Nairobi City live in Central
province. This means that if we were to look at income tax collected from Nairobi, it will also include residents of Central Province.Those talking about distribution of wealth present the case as though the distribution should be between tribes. The reality on the ground is that Kenya has a few rich people (made of elites from all tribes) and a majority of poor people. The elites pushing the tribal agenda deflect the issue of equitable distribution of wealth from being a class issue and make it a tribal issue.
A majority of Kenyans living in the slums is made up of people form the Kikuyu tribe. The area around Mt. Kenya where the so-called Gema tribes come from is densely populated forcing it inhabitants to seek land and jobs outside their ancestral lands. Today, the Kikuyu and the Kisii ( another bantu tribe from a densely populated region in Nyanza Province) can be found in all part of Kenya. A majority of Kenyan immigrants in the USA and the UK can trace their lineage to the Kikuyu and Kisii tribes.In Kenya where tribes are supposed to own regions, migration creates a lot of tension. A Kikuyu doing business in Kisumu is not viewed as just another Kenyan who is working hard to earn his bread but as an alien coming in to dominate the local people
. This tension mixed with politics has in the past resulted in tribal cleansing.Just before the elections were held, members of the Kikuyu and Kisii communities were evicted from Ziwa Market in Eldoret by the Kalenjins who are the major ethinic group in Eldoret. These peoples were accused of dominating the business sector.
Politicians who seek to control their tribes have used ethic identity (an equivalent of ultra-nationalism as in Germany and Russia). These politicians promise their tribesmen that they will establish Majimbo (Federalism) as a way to ensure that the Kikuyu and other "aliens" don't "dominate" over them. To a significant population of Kenyans (mainly in Coast Province and Rift Valley) Majimbo means that Kenyans will go back to their ancestral land and leave behind their property.
The right to own property in any part of Kenya by any Kenyan citizen is a farce. A significant number of Kenyans believe that tribes own regions and those seeking to invest in those regions are temporary visitors who can be ejected at any time. Ejection and murder of "aliens" has happened in the recent past and is always seen as a justified way of dealing with competition.
The following quote points this out:
"They said although ODM pentagon member William Ruto urged residents to observe peace when he visited the area, a politician from the area met youths and held a meeting at Maemba running into midnight, where he supplied them with torches and gumboots.
The politician is reported to have said that those who had bought land in the area had rendered the indigenous people landless and consequently homeless."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710292039.html
Just before the election, Hilary Ngw'eno -a Samia ( Luhya sub-tribe) veteran journalist- wrote a series of "historical" articles in the Daily Nation on the role of the Gema (Kikuyu) mafia in the late President Kenyatta administration. It is now apparent that Ngw'eno was pushing the Kikuyu vs. non-Kikuyu Kenyans agenda even further. His articles were supposed to remind Kenyans of the "evil" Kikuyus and their conspiracy to control Kenya. President Kenyatta and Raila Odinga's father parted ways politically because Oginga Odinga was pro-communism while Kenyatta was pro-capitalism. People who want to rouse ethnic animosity often leave this fact out and argue that Kikuyus pushed Luos out of the Kenyatta government.
Another fact being falsely peddled by the media is that Kikuyus have been in power since independence. The truth is that these last five years of Kibak's presidency are the first time a Kikuyu has been in power in the last thirty years. Before then President Moi, a Kalenjin, was in power for 24 years, where he ruled with a dictatorial iron fist before the worldwide push for multi-party democracy helped push him out of power. Indeed, there was only one previous Kikuyu president, Jomo Kenyatta, who reigned for only 14 years after independence.
Yet another lie that was peddled to the other non-Kikuyu tribes by Raila,and subsequently picked up by the press, is that Kikuyus hate Luos and will never let Luo into power. This is not true. The articles by Ng'weno clearly recalled that in the pre and post independence days,Raila's father , Jaramogi Odinga, had a countrywide following that included Kikuyus.
ODM and Raila Odinga's role in the current ethnic cleansing
The background above is what has brought us up to this situation. Raila Odinga exploited the above sentiments to gain support of xenophobic opinion leaders from Rift Valley and Coast provinces. Raila Odinga has never been for Majimbo but he changed his stand a few weeks to election to get the support of William Ruto (hails from the Kalenjin group of tribes), Najib Balala (Coast Province), and William Ole Ntimama (led the 1992 and 1997 ethnic cleansing).
The election results are just an excuse used to execute a preconceived genocide. It is a shame then when Raila Odinga justifies acts of genocide by claiming that those engaging in the crimes are "peacefully" protesting against a rigged election. He has asked the president to step down if he wants the killings stop.
Today I read a chilling report on the Los Angeles Times on the systematic genocide going on in Kenya. Even more chilling was the video of a man being slashed to death. It reminded me of Rwanda and not Kenya -a country where we once lived in peace, love and unity. The newspater quotes a Raila supporter saying:
"We are slaughtering them and we will keep on slaughtering them," said one young protester, Gabriel Okelo, who got up at six and walked nine miles from the outskirts of the city to march in support of Odinga.
As the political violence worsens, tribal fighting and tit-for-tat killings have been going on in Nairobi's slums and in other towns.
Okelo said he killed two people with a machete for the first time Wednesday because "When you are angry, it's easy. If they refuse our president, Raila Odinga to address the rally, it will happen again. We shall slaughter the Kikuyus. It will go on and on and on, in all parts of the country."
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 7:19 AM PST, January 3, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya4jan04,0,4416543.story?coll=la-home-world
When the violence started the media made an initial mistake of not correctly identifying the perpetrators. The people who were shot in Kisumu (Odinga's home and stronghold) were shot by security forces because they were engaging in looting.The media missed the fact that before the looting, these ODM/Luo activists had first killed Kikuyu businessmen resident in the city. The more affluent Asians had already left before the elections or by air as soon as tensions started.
It is only with the church massacre in Eldoret that the media has realised that it is defenseless Kikuyus who are being killed by Luos and Kalenjins supporting Raila Odinga. It is also worth noting that the violence in the big towns is restricted to the slum areas. These are the people who had been promised heaven by Raila,who had also demonised Kibaki as the reason these poor people were stuck in poverty. Political analysts had easily pointed that he was promising more than he could deliver, but he did so selfishly to get their votes.
The following quote from Reuters doesn't show a people who are protesting the election results but a people who are out to commit genocide.
"As black smoke billowed overhead, one crowd waved machetes and yelled "Death to Kikuyus". Young boys swigged looted beer.
"We have just started. We will loot all Kikuyu shops and kill them on sight," said Richard Ondigi, 23, a driver.
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN934960.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/01/wkenya301.xml
There are many reports like these.
In an action reminiscent of the Rwanda, Kalenjin Raiders who are supporting Raila Odinga and the local MP William Ruto (promised to be Prime Minister- a post that currently does not exist in the constitution) torched a church killing more than 50 Kenyans mainly from the Kikuyu tribe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/world/africa/02kenya.html?hp
Raila is yet to talk about the Eldoret massacre. He has denied a instigating a genocide saying, "The security forces are shooting people on sight. It is Kibaki that should be blamed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,,2233890,00.html
The propaganda on Raila Odinga's website seeking to create chaos within the army. Similar rumors were circulated within the armed forces. (click to enlarge)
Until yesterday, the Raila campaign website carried rumors that the Army and Police chiefs had quit. This information has been on the site for more than 3 days. The site had also carried rumors that the Electoral Commission chief had been killed. All this was meant to rally Raila Odinga's supporters and create anarchy. (I can provide saved HTML web pages).
In light of the military precision that the raids in Rift Valley were carried out, one can't help but wonder why the government had taken no action when Raila Odinga's photo inspecting a guard of honor , albeit un-armed, in Nakuru a few months ago. Inspection of guards of honor has traditionaly been the preserve of the disciplined forces not civilians.These are possibly the dogs of war that were let lose in Rift Valley.(Photo was carried by the Daily Nation)
Raila Odinga, William Ruto and Najib Balala have the power to order their supporters to stop the genocide but they are not ready to. They think that the killings will earn them political capital but that is not going to be the case.
The international community needs to look carefully at the historical data that led us to this.
We should not excuse those committing the genocide by simply pointing out at the election results. In Kenya we have a saying that loosely translates: "the raging river that you see was once made up of streams."
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