After signing of the Accord that ushered in the Grand Coalition Government, I basically thought that ALL our leaders were committed to the letter and the spirit of the Accord.

To my chagrin, I now realize that some of our leaders are still not sincere to Kenya and Kenyans. Do we really need to reconcile? Do we really need peace? And do we really need national healing?

There was enough reason that warranted President Kibaki and the Right Hon Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and their respective parties, to sit down and come up with a solution that was going to save Kenya from destruction.

We are not yet out of the woods, and the amount of bravado, chest thumping and out right contempt that I see, is not sufficient to create Peace, National Healing and Reconciliation.

If we are to reconcile, we must not point fingers at each other. In so doing, how can we reconcile by condemning only one side? The Police killed very many innocent Kenyans on instructions from their political masters; The youth vented their frustrations because someone stole their victory; The ECK bungled the elections because of pressure from some quarters, and their Chairman so admitted in front of the cameras.

So, whom do we blame? Do we only blame the youth? And must we not blame the police, the Executive, the ECK, the Chief Justice, the Attouney General, must we not blame everybody.
In such circumstances, we must release all those youths who were so arrested as a consequence to the bad handling of the elections. If someone must face the law, then, let us not PRETEND that we value PEACE, NATIONAL HEALING and RECONCILIATION. For those words become meaningless when we must insist on selective justice.

The President and the Prime Minister MUST ensure that the law is applied to all if someone must face the law. If the youths must be taken to courts, then arrest everyone who was involved, and take all to court.

In this regard, arrest the Police Commissioner and the entire police force, The Attorney General, The entire ECK Commissioners, The entire Executive, all the politicians, and then we will see our brand of selective call for Peace, National Healing and Reconciliation.

Let Kenyans adopt to peace, national healing and Reconciliation with an open heart; that heart that will make you forgive, for the sake of Kenya and our children. Chest thumping and holding on to grudges is not the way to address peace.

My take is that one person is not being honest to his partner here. And for this, the buck stops with the PRESIDENT.

Odhiambo T Oketch,

Komarock Nairobi

– – –
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2008 01:43:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: odhiambo okecth
Subject: Police Won’t free suspects