Sat, 2 Feb 2008 20:50:31 EST


JaluoPress,

I have not suggested a military takeover. MY point is that the Kenyan military is not part of the current crisis. Moreover, our soldiers voted like you and I; and are part of the body ploitics of the day. It is for this reason that there is a reluctance to widely deploy them in the current crisis. Secondly, if we were to invite the UN to protect Kenyans, we must ask, "What will be the posture of the Kenyan military when Ugandan, Ghanian, Guyanese, libyan, Bangladeshi and South African soldiers are on the beat in our villages protecting our wives, mothers, sisters and daughters?" There is national pride, and I believe the Kenyan military has a lot of it.

Moreover, the UN is not good at fighting groups like Mungiki.

If one asked me if the current dialogue in Nairobi is heading anywhere, my answer would be, "I am not sure because Mr. Kibaki's langauge indicates that it is a window-dressing exercise." I must hasten to add that if any solution is forthcoming, it must come quickly, within the next 10 days. For this to happen, at least four of the heads of Superpower Nations would have to give Kibaki a telephone call between 1.00 AM and 1.30 AM directing that he cooperates fully with Annan. To be saved, Kenya needs a miracle like the one above to work the hearts of Mr. Kibaki and the few people around him.

Sadly, the discredited election result is not part of what he is willing to negotiate; a competing Prime Ministerial position (POWER SHARING) is not in his vocabulary, unless it is after 2012.

Finally, accoding to Kibaki and his inner circle, ODM has become a "terror manufacturing group" that premeditated the post-election crisis. This is going to be very important in the near future. The more Kibaki repeats this last claim wherever and whenever he gets an opportunity, the more the images of multitudes of displaced persons are played in living rooms abroad, the more the label appears in the opening and concluding paragraphs of the Foreign Press, and the more likely foreign capitals will distance themselves from ODM. It does not help that this is an election year in the United States of America; and only critical foreign policy matters will be on the President's plate. We as Kenyans have a long year ahead.

        - JR Alila