That Kibaki stole the elections last week is no longer news to anyone anywhere. its a consensus even his own principal legal adviser has now accepted.
That there has been wanton violence , destruction of property and death of innocent people all over the country is also no news at all.
in fact no news is existing right now. the only thing we would wish for is news of Kibaki becoming human again and accepting that indeed as Jesus Christ came from Nazareth that despised part of israel, so can a man born of the Luo community be popularly and democratically elected president of Kenya.
in Kibakis campaign, he showed it clearly that he despised only one community, the luo. Luo nyanza as it is called was the only place the president never visited to look for votes or even create those many districts and indeed even now when violence broke, that was the only place where police were ordered to shoot to kill. in other places even the more dangerous Rift Valley, police had restraint and only used tear gas. you will note that Kisumu protesters only throw stones, in rift valley they use guns.
and today, the police commissioner has shown this even more by visiting Eldoret to talk to the people. again no need for talking to people in Kisumu!
In my view, this treatment of Luos as specially despised people is to a great extent the main cause of Kibaki's lose in the election as well as his lose of respect both nationally and internationally. his campaign was based on painting Raila dirty and a leader of poor filthy people who live in Kibera with no toilets. it was therefore quite difficult to accept the eventuality of a Raila win. Kibaki's camp could not reconcile to that fact and hence the embarrassingly awkward doctoring of election results.
i would think that even the riots and demonstrations have shocked Kibaki. he thought that Kenyan politicians , being largely selfish would quickly rush to him to be given VP posts, ministerial posts and other lucrative posts. so far only Kalonzo has shown interest. Other MPs in ODM are still staying put.
My call to the police would be to stop using live bullets on people wherever they are . Am even sad that Kibaki decided to disallow the meeting at uhuru park
how has kalonzo shown interest? Wacha Domo domo wewe
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to say this but all this drama began with Kenyatta. From there Luo - Kikuyu relations have been in the toilet.
ReplyDeleteAnd now they are beyond rescue, what is worse is that now it is the GEMA vs everyone else.
@annon, you ask how has KM shown interest? i saw his body language even before the counting was over. it was confirmed by Kivuitu and further the man said it himself yesterday that he will negotiate properly. i have been in Kenya long enough to understand politicspeak !
ReplyDeletepolite advice, if you need to insult people please go to PNU sites where abuse abound and they are legion. this one is a private blog
@acolyte, thats sad. very sad, i wonder how come inter-mariiages , travel, education and work relations have not been able to change this and i wonder what will be able to change it
ReplyDeleteOdegle,
ReplyDeleteJust think you are too biased. The elections were rigged but life is more important than all. One man's dream should not kill the dream of 34-37 million Kenyans. No justification!
@annon, i dont see how am biased. i have condemned the violence be it in Kisumu or eldoret, mombasa or nairobi. and i agree with you, Kibaki's ambition and greed does not justify shooting innocent people in Kisumu just because the person who beat him in the poll was a luo. We must all condemn police killings as much as we condemn the violence.
ReplyDeleteand why is the police using live bullets only in Kisumu and Kibera. do you support that?
OD, long time lurker here again. The luo/kikuyu divide is the saddest thing in Kenya for sure. I am Kikuyu and I just don't see a way out of this impasse. I would even welcome the possibility of splitting up the country at this point. This thing has been going on for far too long and it seems as bad as ever.
ReplyDeleteOD,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on most counts. However, I think neither Kibaki nor Raila is statesman enough to put an end to this. BOTH have failed to provide direction. By rigging, Kibaki started the fire but has Raila done much to avoid stoking the fire? Can we really excuse Mudavadi and the PNU goons who claimed victory on TV thus setting the stage for bloodshed? I also think that the election was merely an excuse for tribal hatred to burst out in the open. These are the seeds that politicians have sowed since 1963. I see no solution in the two protragonists - none is MAN ENOUGH.
Odegle,
ReplyDeleteYours must be the only blog in the world that still pretends that Kibaki is the only one who stole the election.
All the observers, Wako and even Kivuitu maintain that it is impossible to know the true turnout because both parties stole votes!! You get it? Both parties.
I see you are from Nyanza, now you need not put this in your blog, but for sure you can ask some Nyanza people whether or not they stole votes. Or maybe you know already, but care not to confess it?
The President was never against Luo Nyanza and you know it. You make that grand statement and then fail to follow it up with any facts. He had planned to campaign there but at the last minute he saw that there were more votes to be won in Ukambani, and he was right.
Now as to crowd control in Kisumu. Well, Kisumu was the first case the government had to deal with, and I am sure we all know that it made gross mistakes there, but no it does not amount to a genocide and looking at pictures from my city, I can just imagine what the looters had in mind.
As a true ODM man, you not only hate Kibaki but cannot stand Kalonzo. How nice it would have been if Raila had shown better manners in dealing with Kalonzo. The difference between Kalonzo and firebrands such as yourself is that he can see that this is not about elections any more, it is about preserving Kenya.
I hope you do not have such a chip on your shoulder that you cannot acknowledge that even as Kibaki elevated a Luo to foreign minister, even as Kibaki TENA employed Luos in at least two top executive positions, the ODM campaign used the whole of 2005, 2006 and 2007 to demonise the Agikuyu.
@1st annon, i dont agree with you that there is no solution here. look at history. kenya has only ever made great strides when there was Luo-Kikuyu alliance. start from independence, to repeal of section 2A etc. even kibaki never won until luos came in to help him.
ReplyDeleteWhen i look around me, especially in the informal sector, most successful partnerships are between the two guys and so on. all of us who are enlightened will agree with me that what we have is not luo-kikuyu rivalry but just some tyrants in top leadership who want to divide kenya all for the wrong reasons.
our mandata? To stop them!
@2nd annon, i must agree with you whether i like or not. you have hit the nail where it matters most. my suggestion is that we rise above anyone who tries to divide us. we must rise above anyone who keeps on reminding us about how different we are. its time to focus on how alike we are.
ReplyDeleteWe must condemn the vote robbery
we must condemn the live killings and forceful eviction in Eldoret and its environs
we must condemn police shooting to kill in Kisumu and Kibera
we must condemn Kibakis selective development
@3rd annon, phew! try going to kisumu by road and then you will get the picture am talking about. the old man went more than 4 times to western province and about the same number of times to Kisii. he even came as close as budalangi but he had to go there via bungoma, using a very long route with only one mission to avoid as much as setting a single foot on luo nyanza. well no need to go on.
ReplyDelete-please note am not an ODM campaigner, am just a kenyan who is convinced that ODM has the best plan for the country.
about KM , everyone agrees that he was as much of a waste of time to Kenyans as was nazlin umar , matiba, muiru etc. kalonzo never had any agenda. all he kept talking about was a miracle which as expected never even came in his own province. he also kept on asking steadman to come and see his crowd. now thats not hate, its just that he did not convince kenyans
-about rigging, it was only kibaki who rigged since he was the only one who refused a retally! if those other guys rigged too they would not have proposed a retally/recount
This is by far the most constructive blog on Kenyan matters that I have found so far.
ReplyDelete"its time to focus on how alike we are." Therein lies the solution. And for selfish reasons, that is precisely what the politicians will always want us to forget. This is the time to stop 2 selfish individuals. At the risk of apportioning blame, I believe Kibaki's rigging, which stinks to high heaven, set off this catastrophic events.
For the anons who suggest there is no solution, I respectfully differ. Note how the Kenyan voter fired MP after MP, minister after minister regardless of party affiliation? Somehow lessons are being learnt. I know sooner than later, we'll have cleaned out the parliament and the dinosaurs who believe in election rigging, tribal divisions and muzzling basic freedoms will have nowhere to hide.
What is happening now is shameful. In 2 days, some PNU and ODM leaders have taken us back, 45 years +. (At the risk of apportioning blame, Kibaki as the CEO stands fully accountable). However, the Kenyan is a resilient individual and I am sure sooner than later, we shall rise from the ashes. When history is written, Kibaki, Raila, Ruto, Musyoka et al may have a not-so-nice mention.
When this nation needed statesmen,they chose to play politics.
OD, this situation has been so unbelievable that my anger, frustration and disgust have now turned to paralysis. There are no winners here. I don't know how EMK will successfully govern a nation so divided. We all saw the stark irregularities; re-tallying will not be the answer. The votes and tallying records have been in the government's custody for the last week, who knows what they've done with them? Re-tallying may just be another futile exercise. I think dialogue is the best alternative at this point. It's easier to fight your enemy when you keep him closer to you than when you keep him at bay. I think ODM would have a better chance of turning things around by actually infiltrating EMK's government and stirring things up from the inside rather than the outside. RO is a great politician, and I'm sure he can find a way to fight this injustice with brain rather than brawn. He is also receiving tremendous international support which I think, if done diplomatically, could apply unbelievable pressure to EMK and Co. Both camps spent significant time with the Wananchi during the campaigns, I think they should take on the same strategy to visit all the hotspots and plead for calm. RO has a huge & loyal following, his supporters will listen to him if he pleads for a truce. At this point, we should let our intellect lead us, and not our emotions. RO is a much bigger man than this chaotic mess.
ReplyDeleteOdegle:
ReplyDeletei understand/sympathise with ur anger - but kenya is not about Luo and kikuyus there is bigger issue bothh PNU and ODM need to disband.
having said that Kibaki rigged or accepted rigged resulst for that he should step down and perhaps be tried.
as for Raila he sought to and rode
an ethnic juggernaught to power whose implicit message was US vs Them.
i know because im neither a luo or kikuyu but given the messages i got during the elections. i will preserve them so that in future they can be part of a tolerance museum.
Kibaki needs to step down for accepting stolen elections an dneeds to take responsibility for hes comaptriots ethnic chauvinism.
Raila needs to take responsibilty for riding the anti kikuyu.
i have no idea why people keep on commenting on luo-kikuyu relations on this post. if you read the post, it clearly talks about Kibaki's attitude towards luo-land in general. i have not mentioned kikuyu-luo intolerance. unless you want to tell me that Kibaki=Kikuyu.
ReplyDeletethe person who messed our country right from 2002 when he trashed a gentlemaan's agreement and failed in most pledges was not kikuyu but one man called Emilio Mwai wa Kibaki. I cannot blame a whole tribe for the misdeeds of one greedy tyrant. however those who back kibaki for its own sake or for the sake of his being Kikuyu inherently admit and indeed accept his crime and so are jointly culpable.
secondly, Raila never fanned the violence in several parts of the country. Kibaki did. i also dont support that violence whatsoever. i cannot accept hatred or murder of kikuyu for its own sake. again raila never rode on kikuyu hate. Raila campaigned against Kibaki not kikuyu.
ReplyDeleteI hope Kenyans who read and comment on this blog have enough intelligence to differentiate between Kibaki and Kikuyu! one is a subset of the other but the two are not equal!!!
to the last annon, tell me which part of my anger you sympathize with. coz what angers me most is the fact that Kibaki has taken us back 40 years into repression
odegle, you cant make it more clear! But since some people think that kibaki and kikuyu are synonymous,they fail to see your point. i also raised the same point, talking about how international media was busy portraying this as luo vs kikuyu which is not the case.
ReplyDeleteOD,
ReplyDeleteI concur with all bloggers who view you blog as biased.
Let me state my case:
First please get me right, that this does not mean that you are a bad blogger, it is your blog and you have a right to express yourself in whicherver manner. What it does mean though is that you are acutely opinionated. And we all know it! Your bias oozes so freely even without you knowing it. Take it from us.. we are the ones on this side of the screen. In fact your continued denial of the same only continues to make you more the man-that-fits-the-description.
So much so.. that I've come to learn that whenever I want to get a feel of the general ODM mood, my first port of call is your blogg. Truth be told; and everyone knows it. I believe that much has been said by other blog sites in review of your blog.
Now,what I find dispicable and buffling however.. is this: that the same leader by whose efforts in restoring our economy gave you the nerve to begin this very investment blog, has now overnight turned to become the object of your ridicule and mudslinging.
I conclude. It is my considered opinion that if one was in business, or was an active investor in the NSE or took part directly or in grand scale in the economy, the prospects of a change in government was a threat too large to bear; a threat that united us even across tribal differences. (Am not Kikuyu)
One last thing perharps. I have always harbored my private opinion that Kenyans take way too much for granted. I wish to remind all that we DO NOT have a divine right to anything; not prosperity, not unity, not respect, not even peace.
Think about that.
Politicians and anarchists are the only people who are happy to perpetuate the belief that the tribal chiefs at the top are synonymous with tribe. That is why when you attack Mwiraria, response is you are targetting "Merus", criticise Kibaki and you are "anti-Kikuyu" and disagree with Raila and you are "anti-Luo". Frankly, Kenyans are beginning to see through these lies, slowly by slowly.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Not that it is any skin off my nose but Odegle is free to support/not support ODM/PNU. That is his right. If the killers in the Rift Valley could appreciate that truth, there would be no killings.
I have a friend from Iraq who has been following all that's happening at home and he's very dissapointed with Kibaki like most of us are. He said to me that Kibaki should not behave like Sadam. But then again he said to me - you know there'll be an end to all this.
ReplyDeleteI must say that most Kikuyu's agree with Kibaki and most Luo's agree with Odinga. I you talk to a Luo anywhere he will tell you that Kikuyu's have had their chance while if you talk to a Kikuyu, they will tell you that they will not agree to be ruled by a Luo.
ReplyDeleteThis is Luo Vs Kikuyu no doubt. Ask anyw one in Nairobi.