From: People For Peace
Voices of Justice for Peace
Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2012
Although it is fiction story, this small booklet by Kwani? ‘after the Vote’ a series of opinions, recollections and short stories written by Kenyan authors following last year’s contested election and its violent aftermath, there is a lot to learn from it.
;[image]Inset- Yusila Cherono narrates her ordeal at the hands of suspected Mungiki members during post-election violence/ Photo courtesy Daily Nation.
One of the authors, Kalundi Serumaga puts it correctly when he says that poverty in Kenya cannot be eradicated as long as our leaders continue to shout of power struggles instead of giving service required of a leader.
He is convinced that even if August 1982 coup attempt succeeded Kenya would not be different from what it is now. During the mayhem, there was a lot of shouting of “Power”, but no answers about poverty which according to Serunga is the worst form of violence.
At its own worst, it is a form of slow genocide. Girls are affected the worst, as it exposes them to all sorts of deprivations that lead to temptations and inducements resulting in angry, enervated young women. Even as an adult, a person raised in poverty often suffers a certain furtive sense of shame and anger that they can never quite shake off.
As long as this trend will not change this generation and the ones to come will live to see vivid images of houses going up in flames, policemen shooting teargas and lives bullets at mocking protesters, deranged mobs dragging people out of vehicles and hacking them to death, burning people alive in a church, houses, market places among other crowded places.
The crisis that is Kenya today comes largely as a result of the Kenyan intelligentsia’s abject failure to come up with viable alternatives to this mess. Those in power never had answers, and are not interested in looking for them because that is not their interest.
The obituary of Simiyu Barasa recalls of a sad story on what happened in Naivasha where some particular ethnic communities were targeted. Dead bodies spread everywhere.
Simuyu tells of his sister, Rozi who lived in Western Kenya, on the Eldoret/Kakamega border. They had taken a patient to Moi Referral Hospital Eldoret. On their way back, the ambulance was stopped by youths bearing all forms of crude weapons.
They demanded to know which tribes everyone in the ambulance belonged to. The driver was of the local tribe, so he was told to step aside. As the others showed their National Identity cards, his sister realized that all around them were corpses of human beings freshly chopped to death.
Her turn came and she said she was Luhya. They told her to speak in Luhya, but his Sister doesn’t know Luhya. “I really can’t speak it because my mother is a Taita!” she pleaded. She had to desperately show a photocopy of my mother’s National Identity card which she had in her purse, a photocopy her mother had given to her the previous week to use as a referee for the bank account she was switching to. That photocopy saved his sister.
The only language his sister can speak, apart from English and the National Swahili, is Gikuyu. The tribe the youths were targeting. She pleaded “my friend, I know no tribe. I only know languages. My mother is Taita, my Father is Luhya, and we were raised in Kiambu among the Gikuyu. It has never been important in our family to know which tribe we should belong to, my sisters and brothers have names from both sides of our parents communities”.
If she said she was Luhya, the Gikuyu with whom she have lived and now she was engaged to one of their daughters would kill he as they have gone on a mission to revenge the deaths of their kinsmen in Western Kenya.
If she flew to her parent’s home in Luhyaland, the neighbours would barbecue her alive for she can’t speak their language and of course her mom is from a foreign tribe. Not to forget that the guy who sold them that piece of land where her mom and Dad saved so hard to buy is known to come and insist on grazing his cow on their compound claiming “my cows used to feed here, buying the land doesn’t mean I don’t own it!”
Complete with murderous gangs imported from up-country to protect their own- Mungiki for the Gikuyu, Chinkororo for the Gusii, and the Baghdad Boys and Taliban for the Luo. Simiyu’s sister wondered which tribe to run to. The only two tribes she could run to don’t have such armies. Claiming her Dad’s Luhya identity, and a Bukusu at that, was problematic in itself.
The Gikuyus were hunting them down claiming they voted ODM together with the Luos, and the Luos were hunting them down too claiming they voted for Kibaki together with the Gikuyus. Such was her fate for her father belonging to this tribe that voted 50-50!
All is because of the struggles for power, that is why the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has the reason to regret following the recent spate of violence in the country that the forthcoming General Election may spark yet another violence.
NCIC Chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia regrets that the recent ethnic violence in Mandera County (between the Garre and Degodia), Wajir/ Garissa (between Ogaden clans), Tana River/Lamu County between the Orma and Pokomo communities respectively and the violent protest in Mombasa following the death of Sheikh Aboud Rogo is a clear indication.
While over 70 innocent Kenyans have died, hundreds of houses torched and thousands of families displaced despite the county forums on peaceful election held last week, it is even more worrying that the violence is happening just six months to the General Election.
The killings in Mandera County are happening despite a series of peace initiatives aimed at forestalling clashes between the Degodia and Garre clans as campaigns ahead of the 2013 General Election gain momentum.
It explains why, even though the National Cohesion and Integration Commission has also disclosed strategies that the commission has developed to ensure peace and avoid the repeat of what happened in the past elections, with these indications it demonstrates that Kenya is still far away from peaceful elections.
Among the strategies he cited were a national initiative called Kenya Kwanza that was launched recently and whose aim was to preach peace among Kenyans at the counties. The initiative Kibunjia thinks can encourage co-existence of various ethnic communities. The initiative requires all political office-seeking candidates in the upcoming elections sign an agreement binding them to prevent ethnic hatred and violence.
Kibunjia wants his commission to work with other government agencies including the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) and law enforcement to investigate and prosecute those Kenyans spreading hate through SMS (text) messages, blogs, posts in the social media such as facebook and twitter. He also intends to start a media campaigns on radio, television and other channels calling on Kenyans to avoid violence.
Kubunjia also wants mobile operators in Kenya to have to approve political text messages before they are sent out to subscribers, according to guidelines being mooted by the CCK. The CCK has proposed guidelines that require all political parties to send their SMS messages to mobile network operators for approval 48 hours before they can be sent out between 6am and 6pm.
Prior to sending of any proposed political message, a mobile network operator shall vet its content to ensure compliance with these guidelines. The mobile network operator will notify the requester of its decision within eighteen (18) hours of submission of the request.
The CCK has also restricted the use of language to English and Swahili only. This move bans the sending of political messages in vernacular languages to avoid incitement that may turn communities against each other as was witnessed in the 2008 post election violence.
Under the National Cohesion and Integration Act, making a hate speech that stirs ethnic hatred attracts a maximum Sh1 million fine, or three years in jail or both. Incitement to violence attracts five years imprisonment without the option of a fine.
If found guilty the four counts against MPs Wilfred Machage, Fred Kapondi and businesswoman Christine Miller could attract a fine of up to Sh4 million or 12 years in jail.
The court ruled that the content of a recording adduced in court failed to comply with provisions of the evidence Act. According to the magistrate there was no certificate of ownership of the recording, and the maker of the footage was not called to give evidence.
Although successful prosecution of hate speech can help stop the violence, given that the success depends on getting water-tight evidence, which is never easy due to the difference in interpreting what has been said, it is almost impossible to convict anyone basis of such communications.
The 2008 law defines hate speech as that which advocates or encourages violent acts against a specific group, and creates a climate of hate or prejudice, which may, in turn, foster the commission of hate crimes.
Part of the problem in enforcing this act is that “this definition is broad so providing evidence that passes the prosecutorial threshold is somewhat difficult. That is why cabinet minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere, who stands accused of inciting hatred against “Arab” settlers who he said had taken land from indigenous coastal communities may not have sufficient evidence.
It is also why three Kikuyu musicians – whose songs praising presidential aspirant and ICC suspect Uhuru Kenyatta were termed by the Commission as “insulting” and “threatening” to the Luo community may also luck sufficient evidence.
One of the songs suggests that Kenyatta should “kill” Luo presidential rival Raila Odinga, the current prime minister – “an uncircumcised man who wants to push you there [the Hague] and take over your wife and all your wealth” – for his alleged role in bringing about the ICC prosecutions.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
People for Peace in Africa
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Peaceful world is the greatest heritage
That this generation can give to the generations
To come- All of us have a role.