Right on
written by newafroguy , January 19, 2008

@Nanjala

Thanks for bringing forth this perspective. I bet very few people have thought of the current situation with the vividness with which you capture it.

My own view of the situation is that the clashes are merely symptoms of other more malignant underlying issues. But unfortunately the pundits still myopically think it is a Raila - Kibaki, or Luo - Kikuyu issue. What a sorry bunch of intellectual imposters.

...
written by AtSanity\'sEdge , January 20, 2008

Nicely done. A little too simplified but it gets the point across. Here's what I think, expressed in terms of the 100 person village.

Indeed, most of the 100 people should be able to process this data which begs the question why aren't they on the same page?
Only those interested in preserving the integrity of the village are concerned about poverty, disease, the collective well-being of the village and it's general development and find some of those data elements disturbing. A number of others only have self-serving motives which they have successfully executed at the expense of others. They want to remain part of or join the 20 who possess most of the wealth at any cost.

It seems that in the village, being the headman gives one [and his] unlimited access to wealth building opportunities. It's undeniable that ex-headmen and their ruling councils perpetuated this cycle for decades and it's showing no signs of slowing down let alone stop. Had the access to the opportunities been more equitable there wouldn't be this much unrest, I believe. The villagers will continue with their blind support of only those like them if the perception that this cycle will never break is maintained. Everyone now wants in, not for the sake of the village, but for themselves and theirs. It's sad that majority of the villagers feel that the only way to advance economically is to install your own headman, a gatekeeper of sorts, who then creates access to the magic money pot to return the favor and limit access to everyone else. It truly stinks to high heaven that people are now fighting to get the opportunity to do what they consider reprehensible or maintain the status quo.

Among the 35 purported to be fighting are those who see the chaos for what it is...bullshit politics. Still, that hasn't prevented 0.6 from losing everything. The leaders within the feuding parties are doing nothing to stop it and nobody is working towards healing the deep wounds that the village has suffered. The village is on fire and murders and counter-murders are being committed...the pressure had been building for sometime.

What are the underlying malignant issues that threaten to finish off the village? That's what the 56 adults should be actively engaged in trying to remedy...again, why aren't they?

What are the other 65 doing? Something and nothing...what is known is that some of them are participating the the feud between the 35 and some are aware of the BS ingredient in it while some are opting out. There are alliances to be formed and broken after all, the 22 and 13 that make up the feuding parties cannot install a headman of their choice without the help of the other 65 and they know that...scratch my back...and what not.

Not much of anything is getting done, I'm afraid, well, except murder, mayhem and the exchange of stupid insults online and off.
In this era, even the phoenix has a hard time rising from it's own ashes. This village will never rise up if it's allowed to burn any longer.

the other tribes
written by Amir Ibrahim , January 20, 2008

Well, the Kikuyu, the Kisii, the Kamba, the Embu, the Meru, the Tharaka, the Nithi are all getting killed for voting the wrong way, or for being wealthy. I see there are those who want to pretend that there is an equal fight on both sides, a few Kikuyus are retaliating, but we know that it has been almost a year since the hate got this bad.

We know of people who refused to pay rent, we know of people who called themselves serikali and took free-rides on matatus. It is not just Kikuyus who are on the receiving end of ODM bigotry, just go to any website anywhere on the internet, if you are not with them, if you are even moderately with them, you are insulted and treated like a dog.

Remember Kalonzo became a donkey? Even here you have people like WuodAketch celebrating the destruction of their country. Can you imagine that? People who want to bring business in their own country to a stop?
Sorry Nanjala. There is a clear aggressor group here. This election was never about justice, or equality, or resources, it was about hatred, and we are now living the results. I want to say categorically that anyone who thinks there is anything but an ethnic angle to this election is lying to themselves, or is being wilfully malevolent. You cannot have at the vanguard of a revolution the same thugs who have bled you dry cry for your rights. Raila, Ruto, Musalia have together raped Wanjiku for all she is worth, proclaiming them her protector is plain lunacy. It is just as ridiculous as suggesting that Kibaki or Moi are a revolutionary. Let's be honest, it is all tribalistic envy and malice, nothing else.

There will never be true equality of wealth, but what we must at all times appreciate is that there are absolutely no barriers to a Luo opening and running a business in Kisumu, or in Nairobi. Asians, Kisiis, Somalis,Kikuyus coming there are simply fulfilling a role that the locals have proved unable to take up. For a fact, some Kenyan groups are more successful than others at some things. There are no Somalis who win gold medals at athletics, and few Somalis are professors at the University, so please do not burn my business. My business is here to serve you, even as it provides me vital income.

Our national healing will come from an appreciation of this reality. We cannot all be successful. If it is poor service we are complaining about, it is more likely than anything that it will be the fault of the local government authorities, and not a Meru who is in private business. There are very real structural realities within the tribes, systems which dictate poverty or wealth, it is not the government!!!

re: the other tribes
written by manta ray , January 20, 2008

Well, the Kikuyu, the Kisii, the Kamba, the Embu, the Meru, the Tharaka, the Nithi are all getting killed for voting the wrong way, or for being wealthy. I see there are those who want to pretend that there is an equal fight on both sides, a few Kikuyus are retaliating, but we know that it has been almost a year since the hate got this bad.

We know of people who refused to pay rent, we know of people who called themselves serikali and took free-rides on matatus. It is not just Kikuyus who are on the receiving end of ODM bigotry, just go to any website anywhere on the internet, if you are not with them, if you are even moderately with them, you are insulted and treated like a dog.

Remember Kalonzo became a donkey? Even here you have people like WuodAketch celebrating the destruction of their country. Can you imagine that? People who want to bring business in their own country to a stop?
Sorry Nanjala. There is a clear aggressor group here. This election was never about justice, or equality, or resources, it was about hatred, and we are now living the results. I want to say categorically that anyone who thinks there is anything but an ethnic angle to this election is lying to themselves, or is being wilfully malevolent. You cannot have at the vanguard of a revolution the same thugs who have bled you dry cry for your rights. Raila, Ruto, Musalia have together raped Wanjiku for all she is worth, proclaiming them her protector is plain lunacy. It is just as ridiculous as suggesting that Kibaki or Moi are a revolutionary. Let's be honest, it is all tribalistic envy and malice, nothing else.

There will never be true equality of wealth, but what we must at all times appreciate is that there are absolutely no barriers to a Luo opening and running a business in Kisumu, or in Nairobi. Asians, Kisiis, Somalis,Kikuyus coming there are simply fulfilling a role that the locals have proved unable to take up. For a fact, some Kenyan groups are more successful than others at some things. There are no Somalis who win gold medals at athletics, and few Somalis are professors at the University, so please do not burn my business. My business is here to serve you, even as it provides me vital income.

Our national healing will come from an appreciation of this reality. We cannot all be successful. If it is poor service we are complaining about, it is more likely than anything that it will be the fault of the local government authorities, and not a Meru who is in private business. There are very real structural realities within the tribes, systems which dictate poverty or wealth, it is not the government!!!

Well spoken, Amir. About time ODM adherents converted to another religion called patriotism and nationalism. The gospel of malevolent, evil, malicious hatred and conniving deceit will take them nowhere. It is becoming increasingly clear that their strategy has come a cropper and so the hopelessly arrogant posturing of Raila.
Pretending that he can't speak to Kalonzo because he supposedly betrayed him just demonstrates how his monumental ego has gotten the better of him. Kibaki is slowly strangling him and soon he will have no options including the ability to call up mass action, let alone speaking to Kalonzo and even less Kibaki. Nobody will be listening to him very soon.
Please note that Kibaki has not utilised even one tenth of the military muscle at his disposal.

A different set of eye
written by InSidious , January 20, 2008

Manta Ray,
Did it occur to you that things could get far worse before its gets better? The onus is for the occupant at Statehouse to chart a prudent way forward and demonstrate that indeed, we are one Nation, indivisible and that he is at the helm of it. this must be resolute and direct!

...
written by politicalscientist , January 21, 2008

There is an old Native American saying that goes "only when the last tree has been felled, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been killed will we realise that we cannot eat money". In the same breath I venture only when the last Kenyan has fallen will our politicians realise that you cannot govern nothing.

...
written by Thunder , January 21, 2008

Very soon calm will return and people will go on with their lives within the boundaries of the status quo. Some other day the things which happened from the end of last year will happen again not because Kenyans like them but because the perpetrators are so powerful that it will take all kenyans not just a handful to throw them out.
This people have perfected the art of divide and rule and finger pointing to the level that no kenyan knows who the real enemy is. The Luo thinks Kikuyu is the enemy, Kikuyu thinks the luo is the enemy e.t.c. I see it in the country, i see it even in the blogs some feel raila is the enemy of kenyans others feel kibaki is the culprit behind the problems facing kenya others swing left right and finally settle on the fence out of confusion.
Soon a commission of inquiry will be formed and kenyans will not be given the report, neither will they know the content. What I am saying is that for anybody to organise any thing of that magnitude in kenya, if at all this killings were organised he must have had govt blessings.
I actually believe that the chaos were specifically designed to introduce martial law in the country by the kenyan mafia in case raila won. Don't be surprised if one day reports come out -if they will ever- that Mo1 was aware of what happened in the rift valley. This people - mo1 and team of elites from the 60s - could not take chances of having raila expose them and bring back the lot in the foreign accounts. Remember opinion polls tipped him to be the favourite of kenyans through what he stood for. The plan I believe was to use chaos to introduce military rule because this was the only remaining viable way to protect themselves.
What a big coincidence that Moi, Nyachae -who had even hinted to retire, Pattni, Saitoti, Biwott the list continues, could actually come together to mount campaigns for PNU.
Some even paraded their armies in the open day light and nothing was done to them. They were not even censured by the govt for their show of might.
I would encourage all to be critical in evaluating the scenario. It may come to you as a shock that the people you least expected to be involved in the atrocities were involved.
Soon you'll see a handful of people arrested and charged in courts but the barons and perpetrators will never be known so save your breath.
I believe that if the powerful people in the country will continue to lord it over us using the divide and rule system and propaganda we shall forever be slaves of the status quo.

SUMMARY
What is happening in kenya now is an actual replay of 'the animal farm'. Many will continue pledging their loyalty to the pigs until the day they are sold to be slaughtered.

...
written by politicalscientist , January 21, 2008

I thought I was the only one seeing parallels between Kenya and Animal farm!! Ha ha...all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. What we are seeing is the bit that maybe Orwell didn't get a chance to write; Trotter and his compadres falling out after they've gotten drunk with power.

what?? more BS
written by Tim Norwood , January 22, 2008

Animal Farm in Kenya? Certainly, but nowhere along the lines you seem to suggest and totally removed from the context of the elections.

Thunder/ PS
Now, hear it from me, no one was afraid of Raila's exposing them. He is a part of the monied thieving elite. He has just as much to hide as any of them do. He has made 4 bn in the last ten years, you think that was from his salary?

He has one of the biggest immoral privatisations under his belt, how can that not be worthy of censure? He will play with your victim mentalities, because you are tribalised people, unable to see the wood from the trees, and vice versa, but Raila has never stood for change.

parable of talents
written by Tim Norwood , January 22, 2008

Aketch,
You are always shifting goalposts. You keep alleging that there exists a Mt Kenya Mafia, that there is a land question, that there is an oppressive Kikuyu minority. I am telling you now that there is no such thing, if there is a class oppressing Kenyans, that class knows no tribes, and among its number are the very goons your keyboard is soaking in blood for.
Categorically, mong the biggest land thieves in the country are the ODM's leading lights.
Ntimama
Musalia
Gumo
Ruto
Raila
Kones
Musa Sirma
Sally Kosgei
Henry Kosgei
Hoseah Kiplagat

and the head honcho of land robbery, Sammy Mwaita himself.

We can talk about the elections some other time, but please stick to the topic here. The message of inequality that favours the Kikuyu is quite simply nonsense.

By the way, have you noticed that as Amir once said here, even when Kenyans move to the west, there are communities that quickly build fortunes off of hard work, saving and thrift, while others throw gamely soirees and buy flashy garb?
This now is what Kenyans must address, and not an idea of some domination by Kikuyus!! What nonsense!!

...
written by politicalscientist , January 22, 2008

Norwood, Your list may be accurate but it is not complete. In fact it falls way way short. What about the Kenyatta family (did Brookside just drop from the sky?!). And what about Kibaki and the sale of continental house to parliament for "MPs" offices in 2003/2004? Michuki's Muthaiga golf club? Chris Kirubi?

The parallels to animal farm were not referring solely to Kibaki et al. We were referring to the entire theatrics of this whole process. All the politicians are the pigs and we the people are all the other animals, confused about how quickly the pigs song changed as soon as they had evicted the farmer (Moi). And now our elections are about choosing between different pigs, but all pigs who at the end of the day will retire to their mansion or golf clubs and discuss matters over a glass of imported port.

With all due respect Norwood, if Aketch is guilty of shifting goal posts then you ,my friend, are guilty of the most persistent case of selective amnesia if ever there was one.

Please do tell
written by Isaiah , January 23, 2008

Those land grabbers, where did they grab?

1000
written by James Watt , March 08, 2008

Nanjala you should make the village considerably bigger. Like a thousand because you'll end up with many .1 people, if you are to correctly portray the Kenyan society. The 35 people fighting is also inaccurate as the Kalenjin are very active participants in the whole thing. Thus you should ask with 47 people fighting what are the other 53 doing.