Happy New Year friends and family! Another year gives us the opportunity to reflect on the joys and sorrows of the previous year as well as the hopes and opportunities for an upcoming year. At the end of 2007, I visited my homeland, Kenya, for two weeks. It was an extremely exciting time in a country that was viewed by many as one of the most peaceful and prosperous nations on the African continent. I was there before and during what was a historic election that was hoped to bring to the country the change that many are hungry for.
On Election Day, December 27th, I accompanied some of my friends to the polls and had the privilege to hang out in the national and international press stand to capture the images of what was seen as a model election. Folks (especially young people as well as some of the most poor and disenfranchised members of the society) came to the polls in record numbers…some came as early as 4am to wait in line…. 3, 4, 5 hours, talking, laughing, reading newspapers… all the while confident that after many years of disappointments, this time would be different… this time their votes would be counted fairly. Then we went home and waited…. and waited… and waited. While we waited we watched on the TV for the tallying of the votes that were slowly trickling in, and listened to the extremely informative debates and discussions about the need for change in a country with its share of gender and class disparities. The votes were counted polling station by polling station… region by region, and although there were disputes in some areas over the process, overall all seemed to be going well.
We went to bed and in the morning our worst fears were realized…the 2007 elections were stolen!!! That next day within a span of 33 minutes the press were kicked out the conference center (except the one government owned media outlet), the presidential results were announced, and Mwai Kibaki was sworn in for yet another term as president. Tensions were high…. there was so much confusion…..…live media coverage was banned (in a country with one of the freest presses in the world)…clashes broke out…and overnight our country became a police state with riot police stationed at every intersection of all the major roads. That was a sad day for Kenya….
I am not a citizen of Kenya and therefore do not have the right to vote, so how I would have voted is somewhat irrelevant, however, I am Kenyan, as well as an activist- scholar who has dedicated her scholarship to trying to understanding the complexities of a continent that has suffered under unjust systems of slavery, colonization, the Cold War, bad governance, corruption, and the continued injustices that Africa experiences through the current global economic and political system.
Also, I was there during the outbreak of the politically related violence that followed which has resulted in the deaths of over 6oo people, the displacement of thousands, and a form of police brutality that I have never thought possible in my beloved country. Some of the international media and even some Kenyan intellectuals that I respect have portrayed this as a “tribal war” between two of Kenya’s largest ethnic groups, the Luos and the Kikuyus. And while it’s true that ethnicity is a factor, this war cannot be analyzed solely on the basis of ethnicity. It is my opinion, and the opinion of others who have attempted to provide clear thinking in this time of hurt and confusion, that this war is about a political and economic arrangement that has been in place since colonial times that until now has gone unchallenged; it’s a “war of hunger” and a “war of medicines” – with a handful of powerful old men getting richer while the majority of Kenyans sink further and further into poverty with little or no access to healthcare, education, food, and shelter…it’s about speaking up for what is fair, what is just… it’s about fighting for the Kenya we want and not just settling with the Kenya we have.
Unfortunately it has also been an opportunity for gangs of mainly poor and disempowered youth to steal, rape, and kill, while politicians on both sides, clouded by their arrogance and pride, refuse to compromise and although they have denounced the violence taking place within the country, their voices have not been loud enough. What we are witnessing is folks from various political and ethnic groups turning against each other instead of fighting together to oppose the real forces that oppress them.
Furthermore, the constant comparisons between the crisis in Kenya and the civil war in Rwanda and the many references to “genocide” is frankly inflammatory and irresponsible. This is not to deny that there are similarities between the conflict in Rwanda and the current political crisis in Kenya for example the way in which neighbors and friends quickly turned against those from the other side of the political or ethnic divide; or the way in which the most vulnerable members of the community are easy targets to vent the frustrations of angry mobs; or the ways in which politicians play on our fears and insecurities about the “other”; or the pace at which a seemingly peaceful society can quickly deteriorate into utter chaos.
However, as someone who has had the opportunity to live in- and study Rwanda for almost 4 years now, I have come to understand that terms like “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” have both legal and political implications and that the choice of wording does in fact matter.
In Rwanda, a group of extremists using the power and resources of the nation, systematically attempted to eliminate an entire group of people… and they almost succeeded…. in about 100 days, approximately one million people, 1 of every 15 Rwandans, were brutally murdered. Additionally, close to 2 million Rwandans fled to other countries in the region as well as to various parts of the world. To say what is taking place in Kenya is a genocide implies that there is a systematic and deliberate attempt by the Luo leadership to eliminate Kikuyus or by Kikuyu leadership to eliminate Luos, yet the reality is that the situation on the ground is chaotic…the masses (of various ethnic groups) are angry and are venting their frustrations at each other…..there are Kikuyus who are killing Luos because they would rather kill than be ruled by “one of them”; there are Luos who are killing Kikuyus because “those people” continue to steal “our” share of the national resources; there are Kalenjins who are killing because they feel that over the years they have been betrayed and their ancestral lands have been stolen; there are gangs of Luhya youth who are terrorizing members of their community – they are taking advantage of the fact that police presence in their community is limited…. and on and on… in the end whether its 100 or a million lives, that’s too many lives lost in our great nation.
So today I’m mourning for Kenya, the country where I spent 16 wonderful years of my life! I’m mourning for the many families that have lost their loved ones in so many acts of senseless violence…I’m mourning for the many who have been made homeless in the land that our ancients fought hard for with their blood, sweat, and tears…I’m mourning for the many women whose “bodies have been used as battlefields” to vent the anger and frustrations of disempowered and misguided men…I’m mourning because too many Africans have stopped believing in Africa (I stopped counting the number of people who have said to me “this is a sign that us Africans can’t govern ourselves”). …and yet, the Afro-optimist that I am refuses to give up hope….
I’m hopeful because for the first time in the history of my country I see people of various ethnic groups…mainly young people (both in Kenya and abroad… including Rwanda where there is a large community of Kenyans) coming together to dialogue and discuss some of the root causes of the unresolved issues that led to the crisis that we’re in today – I believe that Kenya and Africa will never be the same! I also see Kenyans praying… praying like they have never prayed before because many are holding on to the biblical promise that the Creator can indeed “heal our land”. Also, there are many folks locally and internationally speaking out against the violence because a failure to do so would be a betrayal to the people of Kenya. Furthermore, as the late great Dr. Martin Lurther King Jr. reminded us that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Aluta Continua! (The Struggle Continues!) Viva Africa! (Long live Africa!)
