Sun, 3 Feb 2008 12:41:28 +0300


From Newsweek in an interview with Robert Rotberg, an Africa expert at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government:

For the whole interview, try: http://www.newsweek.com/id/107019

How does that affect how the international or African community should handle the situation from the outside? The best way would be if the government of Kenya and the opposition created a unified approach (a), found a ceasefire mechanism that would call back the mobs and that would maybe develop a coalition government, maybe (b) a shared power arrangement. Best of all would be a rerun of the election (c), [but] I think that's a little far out (d). Clearly, the election was stolen [by Kibaki], so how to get back from a stolen election when the group in power doesn't want to lose its power of many years and the opposition feels it's been double-crossed not once but twice. (d)

Friends please note my comments on the above statements:

(a) he agrees that there is a war because he is calling for a ceasefire, and that the priority is to bring a halt to the violence, first

(b) he is NOT sure about a shared power arrangement

(c) speaks for itself - a re-election is in order

(d) ouch! What the hell does he mean by little far out? He goes on to explain a bit... the group in power does not want to lose power and then he asks "how to get back from a stolen election...." and the writer does not end the piece with a question mark. Indeed, that is the question he is asking as a poli scientist.

The answer, they say, is to bring them together to work for a year to correct historical injustices.

Who is behind this causing Kenyans pain? Who is sponsoring Annan? The body and face are those of Gordon Brown, right? But the hand that moves them? Rice? Could it be Bush? Think, Ladies and Gentlemen. Africa Command is using stealth to get in here. If you finish the Newsweek article you and look at the links you may find that they now want to consider sending troops in if Annan's work doesn't come to fruit. But how on earth are they going to meet the targets (four-points and eighteen points) in two weeks and one year at this rate, when the askari on the street is saying that the violence will continue till they put Odinga back or do a proper re-election?

It's extremely bad.


The Kenya Draft Land use Policy recognises historical injustices introduced by the British legal system on the rights of local communities in Kenya.

3.6.1 Resolution of Historical Injustices

190. Historical injustices are land grievances which stretch back to colonial land policies and laws that resulted in mass disinheritance of communities of their land, and which grievances have not been sufficiently resolved to date. Sources of these grievances include land adjudication and registration laws and processes, treaties and agreement between local communities and the British. The grievances remain unresolved because successive post independence Governments have failed to address them in a holistic manner. In the post-independence period, the problem has been exacerbated by the lack of clear, relevant and comprehensive policies and laws.

To this end the Government has proposed measures that will see the injustices addressed. 1895 is the benchmark year, it marks the day the British made Kenya a Protectorate.

191. The Government shall:

a) Establish mechanisms to resolve historical land claims arising in 1895 or thereafter. The rationale for this decision is that 1895 is the year when Kenya became a colony under the British East African Protectorate with the power to enact policies and laws under the Crown. It is these colonial policies and laws which formed the genesis of the mass disinheritance of various Kenyan communities of their land;

b) Establish a suitable legal and administrative framework to investigate the historical injustices and recommend mechanisms for their resolution;

c) Review all laws and policies adopted by post independence Governments that exacerbate the historical injustices, including the constitutional provisions on the right to private property and compensation on compulsory acquisition regardless of how the property was acquired; and

d) Establish suitable mechanisms for restitution, reparation and compensation of historical injustices/claims.

National Land Policy
Addressing Historical Injustices by Kenya Land Alliance 2004