Democratic Consensus vs. Reactionary Discourse

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Onyango Oloo
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Democratic Consensus vs. Reactionary Discourse Jan 7, 2008 12:41:26 GMT 3

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Post by Onyango Oloo on Jan 7, 2008 12:41:26 GMT 3

A Digital Essay By Onyango Oloo

PART I

A week after the violent post-election crisis in Kenya exploded onto the global stage, there is an emerging consensus among progressive, patriotic and democratically minded Kenyans:

1. Kibaki and his PNU cronies stole the Presidential election using the Electoral Commission of Kenya, and it should be underscored, the police, the paramilitary and other coercive organs of the state;

2. What we have in the country today is the reality of a civilian coup with increasingly fascist tendencies as can be evidenced by massive presence of the police and the paramilitary in the Kenyan capital and the fact that it is often Police Commissioner Major-General Hussein Ali and the Chief Propagandist, Dr. Alfred Mutua who are the visible expression of government policy;

3. Mwai Kibaki’s credibility as a would be elder statesman is forever tarnished and his credentials as a "reformer" and "democrat" shattered to smithereens;

4. The poor and other elements of the lumpen elements de classe have turned their anger on each other reducing the conflict to crude tribal terms as they simultaneously hunt the “evil ethnic other” and cower from the same; unless stanched and nipped in the bud, the ethnicized violence poses immediate and long term threats to the very notion of Kenya;

5. That the business and professional elite as well as other sections of the comprador/petit bourgeoisie, rattled by the financial ramifications of the current unrest are desperate to restore an element of “stability” and social control by bombarding Kenyans, via the air waves and media channels of the need for a “peace” which is not necessarily anchored in justice or democracy;

6. The major players in the capitals of capital- from Condoleeza Rice at the US State Department, to David Miliband the British Foreign Secretary to their counterparts and opposite numbers in Ottawa, Canberra, Paris, Berlin and elsewhere are concerned that the current unrest could degenerate into something that they cannot control or to a situation that threatens the economic and geopolitical strategic interests of international global monopoly capital;

At the other, reactionary, backward and right wing end of the ideological and political spectrum, there is a desperate fight back to revise the reality of the recent developments and create a counter-discourse that is characterized by the following hall marks:

(a) A strident attempt to force a shot gun marriage between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki that will effectively legitimize the December 30th civilian coup and undermine the potency of Raila’s popular, national democratic bedrock of support around the country;

(b) A dishonest attempt to broker "peace" without paying attention to the blatant injustices perpetrated on the Kenya people by the stealing of the presidential election;

(c) A melodramatic campaign alleging that some specific communities are the subject of a "genocidal attack" as a convenient smokescreen to wish away the totalitarian acts of state terror and fascist reprisals against peaceful pro-democracy campaigners;

(d) A crass push for political realignments spearheaded by power hungry election losers like Kalonzo Musyoka and the majority of former government ministers who were trounced by ODM at the parliamentary elections.

Bearing in mind the patriotic and democratic consensus I spoke about above, let us look at the reactionary counter-discourse and its political implications.

I will deal with each factor in turn.

A strident attempt to force a shot gun marriage between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki that will effectively legitimize the December 30th civilian coup and undermine the potency of Raila's popular, national democratic bedrock of support around the country;

In my opinion, those hankering for a so called "government of national unity" are those members and supporters of the PNU who realize that their leader Kibaki has lost all moral authority to govern this country. More importantly, they know that in parliament they simply DO NOT HAVE THE NUMBERS to form a legitimate working government that can enact laws and implement policies. Even though they have Kalonzo's ODM-K as their not so secret trump card, they do know also that Kalonzo Musyoka has been totally discredited as a national politician not just by his pathetic showing at the polls, his obscene pressures on the ECK to release fraudulent results, his opposition to an internationally brokered mediation process but most principally by his cynical horse-trading behind the scenes to ascend to the position of vice-president-this in an outfit that he spent his entire campaign trashing at every pit stop. Any attempt by Raila Odinga to even consider this possibility will thoroughly undermine Agwambo’s credibility and national stature especially in the aftermath of the stolen elections. If he did this it would confirm those slurs that all the Lang’ata MP is interested in is raw political power, devoid of any devotion to principles.

A dishonest attempt to broker "peace" without paying attention to the blatant injustices perpetrated on the Kenya people by the stealing of the presidential election;

I analyzed this phenomenon in depth in my recent essay, No Justice No Peace!! so I need not rehash anything here. Please click on the following link if you have not the essay:

jukwaa.proboards58.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1199355331

A melodramatic campaign alleging that some specific communities are the subject of a "genocidal attack" as a convenient smokescreen to wish away the totalitarian acts of state terror and fascist reprisals against peaceful pro-democracy campaigners;

In many respects this is perhaps the most manipulative and devious of the counter-discourse being perpetrated by the PNU camp. It goes something like this:

Hundreds of innocent Gikuyu men, women and children have been slaughtered and thousands more forced to become internally displaced people as a direct result of the hatred whipped up by Raila Odinga and ODM and that the ethnic violence flows directly from ODM’s Majimbo/Ugatuzi electoral platform which they equate with rabid Kikuyuphobia.

While it is 100% correct to say that many, many members of the Agikuyu people have been direct victims and targets of ethnic specific violence and also true that thousands are now displaced and homeless, it takes a huge stretch of the imagination to sustain the allegation that Raila Odinga and ODM are behind the criminal attackers of innocent Agikuyu.

Facts are often not very convenient to those who want to make sweeping allegations unsupported by empirical evidence.

For instance, Raila Odinga went out of his way to plead for a peaceful, democratic and just determination of the contentious issues swirling around the controversial tabulation process leading to the announcement of the fake presidential results and he stressed that it would be very unfortunate and Kibaki and the powers that be would be held responsible if Kenya became another Ivory Coast. This demeanour is not consistent with a blood-thirsty tribal war monger who was intent on Kenya descending into an ethnic dystopia.

Moreover, the ODM was prevented, by bayonets, tear gas, live and rubber bullets to address its followers and pass them ANY KIND OF MESSAGE. Raila and the ODM leadership can hardly be now accused of "inciting" and "instigating" their followers when Michuki unleashed his triple fascist weapons: an effective gag on the media; an illegal ban on opposition rallies and the flooding of public and civil spaces with ferocious looking trigger happy members of the GSU and other security troops.

CONTINUED>>>>>>>

Last Edit: Jan 7, 2008 23:30:01 GMT 3 by Onyango Oloo

Onyango Oloo
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Democratic Consensus vs. Reactionary Discourse Jan 7, 2008 12:43:31 GMT 3

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Post by Onyango Oloo on Jan 7, 2008 12:43:31 GMT 3

PART II

Judging by most objective media reports, the brutal attacks that targeted members of the Agikuyu all over the country were SPONTANEOUS acts of lumpen and often criminal mobs who vented their anger on innocent Kenyans whose only "crime" was sharing an ethnic background with Mwai Kibaki.

To take this a step further, let us examine closely the charges of "genocide" that have been bandied around by PNU zealots who want Kenyans to forget that all this violence was sparked off by the criminal and illegal announcement that Mwai Kibaki had been "elected" the country's fourth president.

I looked up the term “genocide” in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and this is what I gleaned:

Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, religious or national group. While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, the legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). Article 2 of the CPPCG defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."… Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups…...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group;

...The phrase "in whole or in part" has been subject to much discussion by scholars of international humanitarian law.[11] The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found in Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic - Trial Chamber I - Judgment - IT-98-33 (2001) ICTY8 (2 August 2001)[12] that Genocide had been committed. In Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstic - Appeals Chamber - Judgment - IT-98-33 (2004) ICTY 7 (19 April 2004)[13] paragraphs 8, 9, 10, and 11 addressed the issue of in part and found that "the part must be a substantial part of that group. The aim of the Genocide Convention is to prevent the intentional destruction of entire human groups, and the part targeted must be significant enough to have an impact on the group as a whole." The Appeals Chamber goes into details of other cases and the opinions of respected commentators on the Genocide Convention to explain how they came to this conclusion.

The judges continue in paragraph 12, "The determination of when the targeted part is substantial enough to meet this requirement may involve a number of considerations. The numeric size of the targeted part of the group is the necessary and important starting point, though not in all cases the ending point of the inquiry. The number of individuals targeted should be evaluated not only in absolute terms, but also in relation to the overall size of the entire group. In addition to the numeric size of the targeted portion, its prominence within the group can be a useful consideration. If a specific part of the group is emblematic of the overall group, or is essential to its survival, that may support a finding that the part qualifies as substantial within the meaning of Article 4 [of the Tribunal's Statute]."[14][15]

In paragraph 13 the judges raise the issue of the perpetrators' access to the victims: "The historical examples of genocide also suggest that the area of the perpetrators’ activity and control, as well as the possible extent of their reach, should be considered. ... The intent to destroy formed by a perpetrator of genocide will always be limited by the opportunity presented to him. While this factor alone will not indicate whether the targeted group is substantial, it can - in combination with other factors - inform the analysis."

I have deliberately quoted such a huge chunk to inform the debate around the question of whether a case can be made that what is happening in Kenya today is genocide.

In my opinion, I think it is RECKLESS and DISHONEST to further inflame passions in the already taut Kenyan crisis by making sweeping statements about genocide in Kenya whereas the facts seems to suggest that among the poor in the cities and countryside there have been widespread criminal acts of murder, rape, looting, plunder and even ethnic cleansing TARGETING specific tribes among them the Agikuyu, especially in the Rift Valley.

This ethnic targeting include the case of a Kikuyu mob torching houses in Kikuyu Township inhabited by Luhyas and non-GEMA communities; Kisiis being singled out for allegedly voting for the President; Luos in Kibera and elsewhere being killed and forcibly circumcised by gangs allegedly associated with the dreaded Mungiki sect.

All of these ethnic specific terror attacks are reprehensible and should be condemned by ALL Kenyans irrespective of their political affiliations.

In other words it is patently DISHONEST to suggest that it is only the Agikuyu who are being targeted.

Let us also put the current violence in perspective.

Who is responsible for the highest number of civilian casualties?

Marauding Luo mobs?

Wrong answer.

Vengeful Kikuyu gangs?

Wrong again.

Enraged Kalenjin warriors?

One again, wrong answer.

Here is the truth:

The highest number of deaths has been caused by the STATE itself, working at the behest of masterminds who want to “protect” the illegal Kibaki usurpation.

Judging the bullet riddled bodies in hospitals across the country, it is clear that it is the police and the paramilitary who are responsible for most of the killings so far.

A report carried on Page 9 of the Monday, January 07, 2008 edition of the Standard accuses the police of shooting minors in the western city of Kisumu and its environs.

Eight year old Loreen Awuor testifies that she was sitting inside her home in Koru when a group of police officers broke in and shot her-threatening to come back.

Washington Odhiambo who is only eleven reports that he was shot in the abdomen after a lorry full of GSU paramilitary troops fired shots at Kona Mbaya in the Manyatta neighbourhood of Kisumu.

Kevin Otieno, 13, was shot in the thigh by AP cops at Kibuye Market on the 6th of January.

My own brother told me about four days ago that he personally went to the New Nyanza Hospital where he counted ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY BODIES, most of them bullet riddled and including several INFANTS.

How many civilians have been shot dead in Kibera and other parts of Nairobi?

Were they all looters, murderers and rapists?

And even if they were suspected criminals, is it lawful in Kenya for police to shoot to kill with impunity?

Related to the above, even though there is substantial evidence that the police and paramilitary TARGETED Luos in Kisumu, Migori, Homa Bay and other areas, I would personally still hesitate before I built up a case of genocide against the police.

There is simply insufficient evidence for me or anybody to claim that those cops were out there to FINISH OFF MEMBERS OF THE LUO COMMUNITY from the face of the earth.

The cops were there on a brutal fascist mission:

to suppress any forms of popular dissent and protest-and I think it is IRRESPECTIVE of the ethnicity of the protestor as can be evidenced by similar police brutality in Mombasa, Kakamega, Bungoma, Eldoret and other Kenyan towns and neighbourhoods.

Why then the claims of Agikuyu particularism when it is a fact that ALL THE INNOCENT VICTIMS were KENYANS and that each and every one of their lives was precious and did not deserve to be lost, especially on account of one’s tribal background?

For me, I think, and I repeat, it is a disingenuous and ultimately DECEPTIVE attempt to shift the FOCUS from the immediate cause of all the violence-Kibaki's civilian coup-to a preoccupation with victims of one particular community.

The end goal is to let Kibaki off the hook and coerce Kenyans into believing that "We" as in ALL Kenyans are somehow to "blame" for the aftermath of the stolen election fiasco and fracas.

Well, some of us ARE NOT BUYING that manipulative argument because it is simply not held up by the reality on the ground.

Let us remember:

Before Kibaki was illegally and unjustly announced as the fake “winner” of the Presidential poll, NOT A SINGLE LIFE HAD BEEN LOST because of the election results- and I am not forgetting that up to 100 people had lost their lives in pre-election violence before December 27, 2007.

And both in the local and international media it is often overlooked that at the same time as the Eldoret church atrocity was being played out by murderous mobs, Moi's farm in the Rift Valley was being torched so we must remember that NOT all the attacks were necessarily ethnic.

Moi was a CLASS target because the people who attacked his property were fellow Kalenjins.

A crass push for political realignments spearheaded by power hungry election losers like Kalonzo Musyoka and the majority of former government ministers who were trounced by ODM at the parliamentary elections.

It has been pathetic watching election losers like Musikari Kombo, Raphael Tuju, Suleiman Shakombo, Mukhisa Kituyi, George Nyamweya, Moody Awori and of course Mwai Kibaki MASQUERADE as the “government” of the day when the reality is that they ALL lost their jobs on election day.

It has been even more comical following the empty grandstanding of Kalonzo Musyoka, Mutula Kilonzo and other members of the also ran ODM-K posse pontificating on the future of Kenya even as they shamelessly lobby for positions in the same Kibaki regime that they boasted loudly of vanquishing at the polls.

The attempts of PNU poll robber barons and the shifty schemers in ODM-K to cobble together a "coalition government" is the SECOND attempt to subvert the democratic will of the Kenyan voters who overwhelmingly rejected BOTH PNU and ODM-K.

The next government should and must be formed by the ODM whose 100 seats (give or take one) plus the 3 from NARC and the couple from UDM and other friendly parties gives them the DEMOCRATIC and LEGAL mandate to form the next government with the popularly elected Raila Odinga at the helm of this government.

Let us recap the patriotic, progressive and democratic consensus I spoke about at the beginning of this essay:

•Kibaki and his PNU cronies stole the Presidential election using the Electoral Commission of Kenya, and it should be underscored, the police, the paramilitary and other coercive organs of the state;
•What we have in the country today is the reality of a civilian coup with increasingly fascist tendencies as can be evidenced by massive presence of the police and the paramilitary in the Kenyan capital and the fact that it is often Police Commissioner Major-General Hussein Ali and the Chief Propagandist, Dr. Alfred Mutua who are the visible expression of government policy;
•Mwai Kibaki’s credibility as a would be elder statesman is forever tarnished and his credentials as a "reformer" and "democrat" shattered to smithereens;
•The poor and other elements of the lumpen elements de classe have turned their anger on each other reducing the conflict to crude tribal terms as they simultaneously hunt the "evil ethnic other" and cower from the same; unless stanched and nipped in the bud, the ethnicized violence poses immediate and long term threats to the very notion of Kenya;
•That the business and professional elite as well as other sections of the comprador/petit bourgeoisie, rattled by the financial ramifications of the current unrest are desperate to restore an element of "stability" and social control by bombarding Kenyans, via the air waves and media channels of the need for a "peace" which is not necessarily anchored in justice or democracy;
•The major players in the capitals of capital- from Condoleeza Rice at the US State Department, to David Miliband the British Foreign Secretary to their counterparts and opposite numbers in Ottawa, Canberra, Paris, Berlin and elsewhere are concerned that the current unrest could degenerate into something that they cannot control or to a situation that threatens the economic and geopolitical strategic interests of international global monopoly capital;

If we start with the last bullet point about the major players in the capitals of capital being concerned about events in Kenya because of their geo-political strategic and ideological interests, it then behooves Kenyans of a democratic and patriotic mien to transcend these imperialist interests even as we lobby the same capitals of capital to isolate the Election Thief Mwai Kibaki.

We must craft our own immediate and long term democratic agenda that is not simply a carbon copy of the West’s blue print for Kenya. This may very well mean expanding the spaces of contest to incorporate AND go beyond the immediate ODM locus as we insist, campaign for and struggle together for the restoration of democratic rule in our country.

Progressive Kenyans, especially those of us who are socialist and part of the Left must do much more to expose the agenda of the tiny Kenyan comprador/petit bourgeois business elite (generally pro-PNU) who preach a vacuous “peace” devoid of Truth and Justice.

We must educate, sensitize and galvanize the poor and especially the lumpen elements to rise above and move away from the parochial, backward tribal mindsets which makes them conceive of the "enemy" in destructive and violent ETHNIC TERMS. There is a lot of work to be done here and it will have to involve faith leaders, women, peace makers, musicians, artists, athletes and sports people, mediators and those with conflict resolution and conflict transformation skills and experiences.

We as progressive, patriotic and democratic Kenyans must immediately do the groundwork to form A NATIONAL MOVEMENT built on the four cornerstones of PEACE, DEMOCRACY, TRUTH and JUSTICE.

The bedrock of this movement should be Kenya’s youth, the women, all democrats and anti-imperialists and not forgetting the huge community of patriotic Kenyans abroad.

This movement should be publicly launched before the end of January 2008 and it should have as it main immediate goal:

The removal of the illegal Kibaki civilian junta which usurped power during the infamous December 30th Coup.

Completed January 7, 2008, 12:30 pm

Onyango Oloo
Nairobi, Kenya

Last Edit: Jan 7, 2008 22:37:44 GMT 3 by Onyango Oloo

kamalet
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Democratic Consensus vs. Reactionary Discourse Jan 7, 2008 17:22:39 GMT 3

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Post by kamalet on Jan 7, 2008 17:22:39 GMT 3

Oloo,

Unfortunately the Kenyan public do not seem to be in agreement with your line of thinking. It is these Kenyan people that have forced ODM to cancel their rally scheduled for tomorrow and which has been postponed daily. Perhaps if you heard the FM phone ins this morning, Kenyans were unanimous that they would not take part in the rally tomorrow and all said that the politicians should sort out their problems.

The public's opinion is that they are tired of being used by politicians who only want it for themselves and activists (and you know who am talking about!) who only want jobs in a new government formed by ODM.

You and I know that this will not happen and even the sham mediation efforts being tried out on behalf of Raila by Gordon Brown will come to nought. Brown will quickly realise like the Americans did that there is a law in Kenya.

I find it strange that ODM will not go to court to get a recount ordered or the election nullified under the spurious reasoning that the courts are compromised. But these courts are only compromised when it serves one best. For instance, these are the same courts that have injunctions against government in suits filed by Raila and Ruto on corruption charges. They are the same courts ODM want to use to stop the Safaricom IPO. Why not give it to the courts and then discredit their results?

Elsewhere, Enigma or Dubois gave Raila the alternative of throwing Kibaki out through a vote of no confidence in parliament. Why is this not an option or would you like the murder to continue so that Raila becomes president?

It is time to let the law take its course.

mimimzalendo
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Democratic Consensus vs. Reactionary Discourse Jan 7, 2008 18:37:50 GMT 3

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Post by mimimzalendo on Jan 7, 2008 18:37:50 GMT 3

it depends on which kenya public you speak to.

the pnu tranced masses in gema land

or the rest of the country who FIRMLY BELIEVE the elections were stolen.

just to correct the perspective.

from now on, we will have 2-kenyas (the pnu tranced kenya found in 2 provinces and the rest of kenya)

job
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Posts: 5,210

Democratic Consensus vs. Reactionary Discourse Jan 7, 2008 19:43:11 GMT 3

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Post by job on Jan 7, 2008 19:43:11 GMT 3

A Letter from Tanzania

Kenya: Odinga - Do Not Betray Those Who Have Died for Your Country

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

OPINION
7 January 2008
Posted to the web 7 January 2008
Makwaia wa Kuhenga

Mr Raila Odinga,
President-elect,

Republic of Kenya,
Nairobi

Dear Brother,

In the intervening period I have unsuccessfully been inquiring from friends about your mobile phone number so that I can volunteer some urgent piece of advise. I have opted to write to you this letter in the alternative in the hope that you will be able to read this newspaper, which I believe, circulates in Nairobi and is also available on the Internet.

My advice, in the light of the intense regional and international pressure is: Do not succumb to machinations and manipulations as offered by the powers that be in this world to any thing like being part and parcel of a government of "national unity" in your country nor engage in a "dialogue" between your party and those who have robbed your victory with wanton abandon.

Those who are pressurizing you to engage in a dialogue know only too well that there has never been a dialogue between a thief and a victim anywhere in the world, has there?
This is a small world my brother, Raila, more so for us East Africans.

Long before Mr. Samuel Kivuitu announced his doctored tally of votes which he has himself admitted that he announced them under duress, someone here had forwarded to me a text phone message from a source right from the Kenyan Electoral Commission) (KEC) to the effect that "State House Nairobi had ordered the tally to read in favor of Mr. Kibaki"!

This text message was later vindicated by Mr. Kivuitu himself when he later declared that he "did not know" whether Mr. Kibaki was the winner of the elections saying in many words that he had announced the results under pressure from the Kenyan presidency.

From here, we recall the drama leading to how Mr. Kibaki swore himself in. I have information that the "command post" in the rigging and subsequent swearing in of Mr. Kibaki is allegedly headed by Kenya's Internal Security Minister and a couple of other powerful individuals surrounding the 76-year old Mr. Kibaki.

The story taking the rounds here in Dar es Salaam is that the Chief Justice of Kenya was dragged from the church where was taking part in a service and commandeered to State House Nairobi where he found the President's wife, family members and those powerful individuals surrounding the President ready for the swearing in ceremony!

I know you have a sense of humor and this is why I have mentioned that powerful wife of H.E. Mr. Kibaki deliberately because someone jokingly volunteered his own "information" here that the wife had threatened to "slap" her husband should he be foolish enough to let the presidency slip through his fingers while he had everything at his beckoning - the army and what have you that goes with state power!

But this is no laughing matter, our compatriot, Raila. It is grave. And it is sickening that a couple of people allied in a lootocracy of their country can be so callous as to cause hundreds of death of their fellow countrymen and still manage to look at other men in the eye that all is well and that they have a people's will as their source of power!

If one was to take them at their word that they are installed at State House following the will of a people in a just vote, why won't they let you go ahead with just one rally at Uhuru Park? What are they afraid of?

Judging from what is going on right now and the diplomatic flurry of activities to persuade you to engage in a "dialogue" and to "reconcile" - at the end of the day, these same people will turn around to accuse you as the author of all the deaths, internal displacements and sufferings of the people of Kenya. They are going to accuse you as a "tribalist" and "violent" man.

But levelheaded people in Tanzania, in your country and elsewhere know the facts better. Far from a tribalist, you are, above all a Kenyan and African nationalist with an agenda in the interest of the poor majority of Kenya who, in essence, have been the ones who have been robbed of victory at the polling booths.

I have written elsewhere in a parallel column in the robust Tanzanian press that the vote in Kenya has been a contest between the haves and have-nots with you spearheading the latter. My argument is that the Kibera slums billed by the West, as the largest slums in Africa are not exclusively inhabited by your home-mates the Luo. Every tribe is there. So talk of tribalism in this vote is nonsense.

But the most interesting analogy one can make on the current situation in your country is that Tanzanians seem to hurtling and hurriedly rushing precisely towards the direction where Kenyans are running away from - as reflected from their burning country.

Whereas Kenya embraced neo-colonialism and multinationals roughly four decades ago immediately after independence prompting your father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga to pen a book, 'NOT YET UHURU' Tanzanians, thanks to their leaders who have embraced neoliberalism hook, bait and sinker are being drugged into the dragnet of multi-nationals allied to local political and economic foremen.

In Tanzania today, it is no longer unethical to perform public office as well as engage in business. The consequence of all this will produce a Tanzania with more Kibera slums, and a leadership grounded on looters (mafisadi) rather than moral ethical values. In that event, there will be nowhere to run to for the small people of East Africa. God forbid.

As I urged you from the outset of this communiqué from Dar es Salaam, please do not waver in your stand in so far as this theft of a people's will is concerned. The people who have died, in their hundreds thus far have died so that from the streams of their blood a new Kenya will be born - a Kenya in which social economic equality and the dignity of man will prevail over greed and imperialist sycophancy.

Rest assured that the majority people of Tanzania know what has happened to their neighbors and they support you in your steadfastness and resistance because this is the only option left at your disposal to correct an injustice.

Fraternally.
Makwaia wa Kuhenga is a Tanzanian author and journalist

Last Edit: Jan 7, 2008 19:48:00 GMT 3 by job

job
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Posts: 5,210

Democratic Consensus vs. Reactionary Discourse Jan 7, 2008 19:51:00 GMT 3

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Post by job on Jan 7, 2008 19:51:00 GMT 3

D. Kintu of Uganda weighs in (courtesy KOL)....

I believe what the ursuper (Kibaki) is sincerely hoping for is a return to normal commercial life so that he can take credit for economic growth.

If he convinces President Raila Odinga to join his government he will then proceed with his dowager to stall, lie and together with his chief Lieutenants they will consolidate their hold on the armed forces which is what they must do to retain power.

So President Raila Odinga must get Gordon Brown and George Bush or lets pray President elect Barack Obama to maintain maximum powerful pressure to rerun the presidential election.

This election must be supervised by independent objective overseers.

To maintain leverage, President Odinga must maintain the option to paralyze economic growth in Kenya and all the attendant consequences of that (paralysis in Uganda and Rwanda and Burundi).

Tourism must slow down and economic life move to a trickle. That is the leverage that will force the powers to rein down on the cabal and force them to hold new elections.

It is sad but with the military compromised, the only way to not give Kibaki five more years to consolidate himself is to sacrifice Kenya's economy for now. Radical thoughts but these are radical times.

Last Edit: Jan 7, 2008 19:52:05 GMT 3 by job