Ab-Titchaz
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Kenya not yet in the clear on chaos risks
Youths brandish weapons at the height of the 2007/ 2008 post election violence at Karagita in Naivasha. Photo/FILE NATION MEDIA GROUP
Posted Wednesday, November 14 2012 at 19:54
In Summary
- Ahead of next year's elections, the ghosts of the 2007-2008 violence, haunting in their mournful cries, demand to be listened to and laid to rest.
- Kenya did not begin bleeding in 2007. In fact, even before the first ballot was cast, the now defunct Electoral Commission had to establish new polling stations in Kuresoi in the Rift Valley to allow those already internally displaced to vote.
- On signing the National Accord to end the violence in 2008, the coalition government pledged to address the underlying causes, drivers and triggers of ethnic violence. Clearly, we are not yet there.
- Ethnic violence in Kenya is inextricably tied to local and national contests over power and access to resources. Until these underlying causes are fixed, the hope invested in mechanisms such as the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission is plainly misplaced.
The verdict of the official investigations into the crisis of the 2007 elections was unanimous in its indictment of security institutions.
Both the Waki and the Kriegler Commissions concluded that the police failed to provide a secure, impartial and safe environment for elections.
Ahead of next year's elections, the ghosts of the 2007-2008 violence, haunting in their mournful cries, demand to be listened to and laid to rest.
It is inescapable that the integrity and legitimacy of next year's General Elections will significantly turn on the question of security.
Less than four months to the elections, we need to clearly and audibly pose the question as to whether the country has put in place adequate and credible measures to deliver a secure and safe election.
Makeshift camps
It is often forgotten that long before violence that killed 1,133 people broke out after the dispute over election results, Kenyans were already in makeshift camps having been displaced by ethnic violence.
Kenya did not begin bleeding in 2007. In fact, even before the first ballot was cast, the now defunct Electoral Commission had to establish new polling stations in Kuresoi in the Rift Valley to allow those already internally displaced to vote.
In Mt Elgon, the reign of terror by the Sabaot Land Defence Force militia had just reached its peak as the country went to elections in 2007.
In the run up to another election, yet again, many Kenyans are in camps, displaced in places like Tana River and Baringo. These have added to the pool of the remnants of the 2007 post-election violence that are yet to be resettled.
Quite evidently, the country is yet to figure out how to prevent the cycles of the violence it has experienced for the last 20 years.
On signing the National Accord to end the violence in 2008, the coalition government pledged to address the underlying causes, drivers and triggers of ethnic violence. Clearly, we are not yet there.
Going to 2013, it is likely that we may not witness the kind of widespread and local level mobilisation for violence as we witnessed after the 2007 elections. The conditions and circumstances of the 2007 will not be easily replicated.
Nevertheless, the lesson from what is happening in Tana River, in Baringo and the simmering tensions in other parts of the country is that Kenya's tragic love affair with political violence is yet to be broken.
(READ: Kibaki sends army after Baragoi killers)
Ethnic violence in Kenya is inextricably tied to local and national contests over power and access to resources. Until these underlying causes are fixed, the hope invested in mechanisms such as the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission is plainly misplaced.
Neither will the institutions of law and order achieve much without decisive leadership interested in staunching once and for all the shameful flow of blood for politics every election year.
It is true that in too many cases, Kenya's security forces have failed to prevent the violence before its flares up. However, ethnic violence in Kenya is much more of a political tool than just a failure of the police to enforce the law or apprehend the perpetrators.
Kenya not yet in the clear on chaos risks - Politics - nation.co.ke