Kenya from the Inside: Part 1
shadi February 20th, 2008
For over 2 months, my husband Brooks and I have been living out of the suitcases that we initially packed for our 2 week holiday in India. We left Kenya on the 17th of December and planned to return on the 1st of January to our home in Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya and home of the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. On December 29th, it became clear that we would have to delay our return to Kenya once news broke out of widespread violence throughout Nairobi, Kisumu, and the Rift Valley region resulting from the disputed presidential elections.
Now into its second month, the Kenyan post-election crisis simmers as the government and opposition negotiation teams continue into the third week of mediation talks led by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General. Since the outbreak of the crisis, over 1000 people have been killed and the UN estimates 600,000 Kenyans have been displaced along tribal lines. In a country that historically has enjoyed being East Africa’s beacon of stability, economic progress, Kenya’s economy is on a slow but steady decline and people all over the country are feeling the inimical effects of disunity.
Although the initial crisis began as a result of the outcome of the presidential elections, the demonstrations, protests, and unfortunate looting and violence that have ensued go much deeper. Kenyans have long held grievances over the distribution of land, political representation, and economic and educational opportunities along tribal lines dating back to Kenya’s independence from colonial rule in 1963.
In a message to the African Baha’i believers in 1996, the international governing council of the Baha’i Faith notes three “underlying requisites” towards which the African Baha’is should pay “special vigilance and exertion… These are the elimination of tribal prejudice, the transformation of prevailing social practices, and the fostering of education.”
During the presidential elections, the choice of candidate and voting process were largely driven along tribal lines. When the results were announced, they were immediately disputed by supporters of the losing candidate and some international observers. The anger and violence that followed the elections were partly to do with the outcome, but also had a basis in the perceived history of economic injustice towards the aggrieved tribe.
In the same message to the African Baha’i believers, a warning is issued, that tribal conflict is “one of the most pressing issues facing Africa…Hatred and animosity based on tribe, like those based on race, blight the human spirit and arrest the development of the society that accommodates them.”
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Brooks and I, currently based in Nairobi while assessing the situation, recently made a day trip to Kisumu to visit some colleagues and pack some essential items.
While the crisis continues, the calls for unity and fellowship struggle to overcome the rising tribal tensions and ongoing migration of people to their tribal homes. A political solution to a crisis that has sparked from decades of tribal disparities in opportunities and resources alone will not foster a true and lasting peace that Kenyans are yearning for nor guarantee that tribal rifts will be prevented in the future. A spirit of love and unity must be resolutely and persistently pursued by all walks of Kenyan society in order to achieve a truly united Kenya.
