ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS TO KENYA'S STALEMATE: Secession, Constitutional Reform, Military Coup

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:46:43 -0500
   
Dear Kenyans,
 
We are at a crossroad. A dilemma. Is it a curse? Did we get ourselves to this problem or did the problem just get us?
Whatever your answer is, we are here, at a crossroad, a dilemma, a crisis which could lead to civil war.
Fellow Africans are not able to help. They whisper, "Do not interfere with a fight of two brothers, its a family thing." Meanwhile they wait in the periphery to benefit from the fallout, encouraging us to join them in the miasma of poorly managed and war ravaged economies.
 
The Imperialists are indifferent.
Their procrastination on what appropriate action to take is consistent with the mongrel of the very democracy they introduced and have shoved down the throat of African nations even when it is apparent we are allergic to it.
Their priority is self interest rather than saving human life, and as usual will regret and shed crocodile tears as they witness the reality of the aftermath, what with the case in Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Somali, Congo, Liberia, Chad and others.
 
I am sitting in my living room depressed about Kenya. We are paying tribute to MLK's life, work and we enjoy the benefits which tricled down. I cannot help but wonder why a powerful nation like the mighty USA listened and changed course regarding civil rights. True, theirs was a mostly peaceful and non violent demonstrations. However, when the demonstrations got violet, and protesters looted or teased police, Jim Crowe and the police did not use live ammunition on its citizens no matter what they did, whether some were still thought of as slaves and in presence of acknowledged discrimination. Why couldn't the US authorities do to its citizens what the illegitimate Kenyan authorities are doing to wananchi? I will come to that in a bit.
 
The scenes from Kenya of brutal and barbaric police action on innocent unarmed citizens make MLK's civil rights protests look like a funeral procession. After seeing those horrible pictures and videos from Kenya, I plead temporary insanity. Those acts and scenes also render many temporarily insane, and I question their actions. Some argue that we should not be allowed to see those scenes? The answer is no, we must be part of this history. Not to see is what will cause a to repeat in future. We must tell and show our children what happened.
 
The reason why what is happening in Kenya could not happen in the USA is that the US citizens are allowed to bear arms. History indicate that the freedoms enjoyed in the US are embedded in the right of the people to bear arms, to defend themselves from intruders and robbers and to protect the rights of civilians. In fact, due to fear that the government itself might grow horns, become too big and even dictatorial, the drafters of the US constitution encouraged the existence of militia as a check and balance.
 
Someday, the crisis in Kenya will diminish not end. While writing and  fine tuning the constitution, it may be prudent to consider allowing common citizen, or provincial militia the right to bear weapons for self defence against dictatorial regimes like Kibaki's and for self defense against bandits like Chinkokoro and Mungiki.
 
In the mean time, I am wondering why it is taking the military so long to realize that there is civil war in Kenya, and that the police are compromised to the extent they are unable to maintain peace and order. More so, only the president's tribesmen in the police force are able to follow orders, effectively rendering the police force a GEMKA (Gikuyu, Embu, Meru, Kamba) outfit. Taking the rule of Kenya from its civilians now may be the next fair thing if Kibaki cannot step down from a stolen elections. What is taking them so long?
 
If the military does not have the will power to take over the government from Kibaki, the provinces should secede from the central government and declare independence forthwith.
It is the urgency of now, stupid, that MLK talked about. Just do it!
 

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Joram