KENYANS MUST EMPLOY NONVIOLENT PROTEST IN DEMANDING A NEW ELECTION

From:   Jaluo Press

  Like most Kenyans and concerned friends of Kenya, the editors of Jaluo.com were shocked when Mwai Kibaki formally announced his dictatorship on Tuesday. Kibaki's obstruction of mediation efforts can only be viewed as a desperate move to retain his grip on an illegitimate presidency.
 
  To understand why this is so, let's briefly recap the events of the past forty-eight hours.
 
  KIBAKI ATTEMPTS TO SOLIDIFY GRIP ON ILLEGITIMATE SEAT
 
  Just as African Union mediator, Ghanaian President John Kufuor, was flying into Nairobi, Kibaki announced half of his cabinet on national TV. This list of individuals were well qualified for a Kibaki-style--that is anti-democracy -- government. The illegitimate president's illegitimate cabinet included the notoriously corrupt George Saitoti of Goldenberg fame in the position of Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security and Kiraitu Murungi of Anglo Leasing Scandal fame as Minister of Energy. The second-in-command post (Lucy Kibaki aside) was handed to the distant third place finisher in the presidential election, Kalonzo Musyoka. Kibaki gave key posts--including Minister for Transport, Minister for Finance, and Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, and Minister of Roads -- to Kikuyus, seven in all. There were ZERO ODM members even though that party beat PNU soundly in the race for MP seats. There were also ZERO Luos. It was obvious that, emboldened by the absence of any real challenge in the international media to his own illegal swearing in ceremony, Kibaki had decided to illegally swear his own cronies into seats of government that they neither earned nor deserved.
 
  Even more retrogressive than this display of arrogance, greed, and, when you come down to it, inhumanity, was the "President's" announcement that there would be no new election.
 
  ODINGA PRESSES ON WITH NEGOTIATIONS
 
  Although he is not without flaw, Raila Odinga has shown a great deal of diplomacy and goodwill in the ongoing saga. Despite all of the obstacles to peace listed above and implanted by Kibaki, Odinga has agreed to negotiate with him. This is in spite of the latter's obvious intransigence--it is now glaringly obvious that Kibaki had no real plans to negotiate a power-sharing agreement that was either practical or remotely resembled fairness.  It is also in spite of threats from those within ODM that Odinga risked losing their support if he so much as sat down with Kibaki, let alone talked.  Odinga has, therefore, in our opinion, put the Kenyan people before his own aspirations even when many of the Kenyan people had this equation backwards.
 
  WESTERN MEDIA BIAS FOR KIBAKI
 
  In almost total disregard for Raila Odinga's overtures to peace, we have noticed within the western media an attempt to portray the ODM leader as being more of an obstacle to peace than Kibaki. Several news reports by supposedly reputable journalists have labeled Odinga "ruthless" and "rabble-rousing."  These supposedly factual pieces read more like editorials in this regard. (By the way, for the sake of clarification, what you are reading now is an editorial that represents the collective assessments of this site's owners and editors. That said, it is an editorial backed by fact.)
 
  Lately, since it became crystal clear that it is Kibaki who is the obstacle to both peace and democracy in Kenya, the western media has been curiously silent and, when it has spoken, exceedingly muted in its observations of fact.
 
  The fact, as we have always said, is that a power-sharing agreement is out of the question.
 
  Kibaki reneged on such an agreement with Odinga in 2002. This was how Kibaki showed Odinga gratitude for helping him win the presidency--a haunting echo of Kenya's history on the twilight of independence from Britain. In 2005, after Odinga and his allies defeated Kibaki's constitutional referendum (a referendum that would have given the formerly legitimate President much more power), Kibaki reacted by purging his opponents from the cabinet. So much for good sportsmanship, let alone democracy.

 
  Old habits die hard. It was not so surprising, therefore, when Kibaki reneged on his more recent agreement to negotiate with Odinga on a new power-sharing agreement, that is a government of national unity (GNU). Just as secretively as he'd had himself sworn into the presidency, Kibaki killed negotiations even before they began--naming half of the cabinet and filling all of the important positions with his cronies.
 
  Yet, for all its CSI TV-show technology, it seems that the western media is still incapable of identifying a criminal even when he is parading his depravity in plain sight, for the whole world to see.
 
  We are well aware that some of our readers will be put off by the statement that Kibaki is a criminal. We say this, nonetheless, because all of the facts--Kibaki's undeniably rigged election, Kibaki's secretive swearing in ceremony, Kibaki's ban on the media, Kibaki's order that police "shoot to kill" protesters and even, it would seem, children belonging to rival tribes, Kibaki's appointment of politicians involved in corruption scandals, Kibaki's appointment of other persons not elected by the majority of Kenyans, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, Kibaki's refusal to hold a new election--support this assessment.
 
  Those who behave as though they have something to hide have something to hide. Those who behave like thieves are thieves. Those who behave like dictators are dictators.
 
  THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM SOLUTION: A NEW ELECTION
 
  Kibaki has killed democracy in Kenya because, like many an African dictator before him, he sees the presidency as a source of personal profit rather than societal gain. In the years since he was elected, Kenya's economy has grown, but the overwhelming majority of Kenyans, Kikuyus included, have not realized these gains in their daily lives.
 
  Why then, we must ask our readers, are poor people who cannot attribute any positive change in their lives to Kibaki fighting to keep Kibaki in power? And why are poor people from other ethnic groups killing other poor people who stand to gain nothing from Kibaki's presidency?
 
  Kenyans, if you believe in democracy, you must exercise it properly.
 
  This is the time to shed our soiled robes of corruption and violence for robes of justice and peace. Justice means democracy. Peace means an end to ethnic violence. And only a new election can ensure both peace and democracy. ALL KENYANS MUST THEREFORE DEMAND A NEW ELECTION.
 
  LESSONS FROM HISTORY: WHY NONVIOLENCE IS THE WAY
 
  Black people in the United States won freedom through NONVIOLENT mass actions. There were instances of rioting and looting, but brother did not so often turn against brother. Black people identified the enemy--the Jim Crow era US government--and identified their leader--Martin Luther King, Jr. They then rallied with a unified voice for JUSTICE. We Kenyans must do the same at home and abroad.
 
  It is true that African Americans did not have to contend with the issue of tribalism. However, African Americans did contend with class divisions and with the conquer and divide machinery of western hegemony via COINTELPRO -- the US government's program to discredit and destroy progressive movements and their leaders.
 
  More significant to our cause, it is equally, if not more, true that Kenya's tribes share more similarities than differences. Most Kenyans eat ugali, chapati, sukuma wiki, pilau, "chips," yams, "salad," and, of course, nyama choma. And all must pity the Kenyan who does not savor a good cup of chai!
 
  On a more serious note, the vast majority of Kenyans want peace, but we also want democracy. We have at least this much in common.  A new election is, therefore, a solution that we can all rally around. 
 
  Like African Americans, we Kenyans also have a shared history of oppression and struggle at the hands of a western power. Our history has shown that we are also, like African Americans, a forgiving people. In the interests of peace and with the promise of change, Kenyans have lived side by side with those who colonized them or who robbed them of political power. The irony, as Binyavanga Wainaina notes, is that the crisis today presents our country with the prospect of attaining that elusive promised land of trickle-down economics.
 
  In plain terms, we are at a turning point.
 
  It is up to every Kenyan to decide which side of history he wants to stand on.  We ask you now: Do you want to be viewed through the lens of the oppressor--that is through the western stereotype of Africans as savage and inept beings--or do you want to be viewed on par with those who transcended stereotypes and achieved, or at least tried to achieve, great humanitarian feats--that is, Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Frederick Douglass, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to name a few? Will you be a henchman in this mini-apocalypse or will you be a harbinger of what is both moral and just?
 
  REMEMBER: If you choose the path of righteousness, many will stand behind and with you. If you choose the path of destruction, many will fall with you.
 
  Now, let us assume that you choose the first option. How then do we move forward?
 
  We begin by looking at other successful movements for democracy. When we do this, we  see that most of the great movements of our time--those that brought about enduring positive change--were accomplished through nonviolent protest.
 
  In the more recent past, and having achieved many of the gains of democracy through a strategy of nonviolent protest, black people in the US have spoken out against injustice meted out on their brethren in Africa by foreign or elitist powers. Enlightened African Americans have joined forces with enlightened Africans to debunk revisionist history and facilitate cross-cultural exchange.  And the United State's Congressional Black Caucus played a key role in promoting the divestment of American companies from apartheid South Africa. 
 
  We must build the same kind of nonviolent movement in Kenya. We have reports (unconfirmed) that Finland has stopped economic aid to Kenya. We must demand that all democratic nations do the same and that they exert real pressure on the illegitimate Kibaki government to relinquish power and prepare for a new election.
 
  Raila Odinga, if he rises to the occasion, could lead such a movement. If he does not, however, then the position is open to individuals and organizations who will promote the interests of Kenya's most disadvantaged and lead us out of the tribalist mentality in which we currently find ourselves entrenched.
 
  Regardless of who is at the helm of such a movement, we must ally ourselves with progressive people of all races and ethnicities who share our vision for democracy in Kenya.  Our movement must stand on a nonviolent platform to ensure that public opinion is on the side of democracy in Kenya.
 
  THE US AGENDA IN KENYA IS AT ODDS WITH THE AGENDA OF KENYANS
 
  There will be resistance from a number of elements, some of them foreign.
 
  With the notable exception of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), the US government has let its agenda, which places more of a premium on that country's "war on terrorism" than it does on democracy and on the lives of Kenyans, get in the way of prescribing the most obvious solution to the crisis in Kenya.
 
  The US government has attempted to push through a power-sharing agreement even though the majority of Kenyans, who are well-versed in the history of power-sharing agreements between Kibaki et al and those agitating for democracy, do not want a government of national unity. This is insulting to the intelligence of Kenyans. If the United States truly believes in global democracy, then it must support Kenyans in our demand for a new election.
 
  We have said it before and we will say it again: A new election is the only truly democratic path to peace. It is something that all Kenyans of all tribes can rally behind.
 
  CONCLUSION
 
  There is also a benefit to Kibaki in having a new election. Should Kibaki win an election monitored by a completely independent party--like the Carter Center--those who say that he stole the election will lose all credibility. Should he win a truly democratic election, Kibaki will be able to occupy the seat of the president without international scorn...and sanctions. All those who truly love Kenya must accept the outcome of a new, independently monitored, free and transparent election, especially those of us who continue to demand democracy.
 
  For the sake of Kenya, the whole world must now rally behind a new election. Progressive voices, be they Kikuyu, Luo, Mjikenda, Mkamba, Maasai, Luhya, Kalenjin, or other, must loudly demand a new election. And we must compel our politicians and friends in high places to do the same.
 
  Had the US, the EU, and Britain demanded a new election a few days ago, then many, many Kenyan lives would have been saved. 
 
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  SOURCES WORTH NOTING:
 
  These articles show that the west clearly has a conflict of interests in Kenya: It must choose between renditioning terrorism suspects in an undemocratic--secretive and immoral, if not illegal--manner or promoting democracy in Kenya by pressing for a new election. Why, we wonder, is this a difficult choice for nations, especially the US, that are always championing democracy?
 
  1. Ruthless leader Raila Odinga battles to save 'rightful' victory
  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3128419.ece - Raila is labeled "ruthless" by Richard Beeston, the UK Times Online's "Diplomatic" Editor.
 
  2. Kibaki, Odinga reach compromise
  http://www.24.com/news/?p=ra&i=807461 -- In lieu of an identifiable author, we can only assume that this is this 24.com's position as a news agency. This site labeled Odinga as "rabble-rousing" despite the admission inherent in the title that he was willing to compromise. The article has some merit in that it also reveals fascinating information about Kenya's value to America:
 
  "Kenya was crucial to the US' war on terrorism.
  "Kenya had turned over dozens of people to the US and Ethiopia as suspected terrorists, allowed American forces to operate from Kenyan bases and conducts joint exercises with US troops in the region."
 
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  MORE SOURCES
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,,2237448,00.html
 
  http://www.sa-venues.com/nelson_mandela.htm - From "Nelson Mandela: A Tribute"
  "Nelson Mandela on Gandhi: 'He dared to exhort nonviolence in a time when the violence of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had exploded on us; he exhorted morality when science, technology and the capitalist order had made it redundant; he replaced self-interest with group interest without minimizing the importance of self.'"
 
  http://www.avoiceonline.org/aam/ - The US Congressional Black Caucus and its role in the anti-apartheid movement