so it seems clear that Raila got some 4.25 million votes to Kibakis 3.76 million. those are statistics. the reality is that Raila got 4.24 something million and my vote! but Kenyans don't seem to agree on any numbers. even in eldoret some say 200 pple were burnt , others say 30 while some 50. in kisumu,the armed police, whom pple say are from uganda have shot dead more than 40 people. still stats. in mombasa 8 people were burnt to death in their houses. stats stats stats.
but yesterday, i was able to put a face or faces to the stories. i met real people whom had been affected by the violence occasioned by Kibaki's robbery of the otherwise peaceful election. the story was grim. these guys were dragged out of their houses in the dead of the night. they were told to choose to either join the 'revolution' or face death.
then i got an sms from an old friend who was worried about her family in mombasa. she asked me to pray for the country and the opposition. i told her i was finding it difficult to pray now that i saw the robbery live on national TV. i thought justice was a more important pursuit at this time. she got angry that i was not supporting Kibaki yet he had 'won' she told me not the talk to her anymore if i respected her!
further, another friend called me from lugari, she said the bridges in the area had been blown and so she could not get to eldoret from her village. the village is one of the most cosmopolitan in the country since its a settlement scheme. she said her neighbours, friends and even relatives whose IDs showed them belonging to either Kikuyu, Kisii or bukusu communities were asked to leave and go to central kenya. their houses were then burnt indiscriminately. in that area, the protestors are mainly kalenjin and pokots who as opposed to luos , have AK-47s and in kisumu another very long time friend of mine escaped death by the breadth of a hair when a live bullet landed just a few inches from her feat . she had missed the bullet when she fell out of fear. and you wont believe where that was; at the gate of St. Theresa's cathedral church in Kibuye. the poor lady had gone to church. yesterday morning on new year she found several bodies right in front of her gate.
am hoping that the revelation of the human faces to these chaos will jolt even the most hardened hearts of the Kibaki friends and family to see sense and hand over power to a democratically and popularly elected president. Kenya is bigger than Rwanda and containing a genocide will be much more complicated. the time to act is now.
OD, whats your take on tomorrows meeting?
ReplyDelete@annon, i think the government should let it happen. they should not stop ODM from venting their anger. when you stifle someone, you make them angrier and more irrational. remember talking is also therapeutic.
ReplyDeletehowever the same government must provide adequate security so that people do not become rowdy and destroy property
As if the theft of people's rightful victory was not enough,now I hear there's a shoot to kill order!!! A tragic start to a year that held so much promise. I am however persuaded that the scale of violence(tribal-based) is just a spark that lit the fire. I believe the fuel reserves were laid over the years.PNU and ODM alike harbor tribal animosity that has now flowed freely.
ReplyDeleteOD, I have been a lurker on your blog for a while now. There is no confirmation that RO got the number of votes you stated he received. The election was too close to call and there was funny business on both sides. Ultimately, the burden of proof is on ODM as they are not in power. A landslide would have done it for them given that the system broke down. Unfortunately, they were highly negative in their politics so they have forced 50% of the country that supports the govt to dig in their heels. The church massacre only hardens feelings more. Poleni sana to ODM but Kibaki also has 50% of the country behind him and the state.
ReplyDelete@annon, the problem with kibaki is that he has been leading this country based on hatred for luos. he approached the election with a mind that everyone else hated the luos as much as he did and hence the 'unelectable' tag. shock on him when he saw Raila taking 6/8 provinces. that shoot to kill order is only in kisumu and kibera where he assumes there are only luos.
ReplyDeletethe truth is that protesters in north rift are worse since they are having guns. luos just throw stones
@annon, look here my dear, these results were being tabulated and shown by 3 TV stations. NTV, KTN and citizen. before kibaki and his people decided to stop them and cook the now controversial figures. even the chairman himself has accepted that the results he announced were fraudulent. in fact now i am beginning to think that Kibaki could have scored even much lower than 3.7million. truth of the matter is that the old tyrant stole the election.
ReplyDeleteanonymous@ 1:57 a.m.,
ReplyDeleteThe irony of your comment is striking. Mungiki forcefully circumcised twenty or so Luos in the slums. I highly doubt you're going to get Jewish support for that...