By Clement Apaak.
Africans and friends of Africa were shocked and dismayed at the eruption of violence in Kenya after the results of the presidential elections held in on December 27, 2007 were announced. Kenya’s opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) claims that election was rigged in favour of President Mwai Kibaki.
Protests following this contested election have led to some 600 deaths and the displacement of 250,000 people from their homes. The circumstance under on which the opposition has made its claims of rigging seems supported by international and domestic observers, who also raised concerns. The key points stated as indicating a change in the actual outcome of the election include the following:
· The results were delayed for more than a day, at a time when ODM candidate Raila Odinga was leading.
· Many thousands of people seem to have only voted in the presidential election but not the parliamentary or local polls held at the same time
· Some of these results came from areas known to be pro-Kibaki.
· In the parliamentary race, Mr Odinga’s ODM won twice as many seats as Mr Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU)
· Results in some constituencies were different when announced nationally, to when they had previously been announced locally.
· The head of the election commission has admitted that turnout in one constituency was 115%.
According to the official results, Mr Kibaki won with a tiny margin of 230,000 votes out of a total cast of one million. The PNU has urged anyone with proof of rigging to go to court and has in turn accused the ODM of rigging in Mr Odinga’s home province of Nyanza.
The Law Society of Kenya condemned the results as "not credible" and said Mr Kibaki, who was sworn in straight after the official results were declared, should step down. Even the Electoral Commission of Kenya head Samuel Kivuitu has admitted that he could not say for sure if Mr Kibaki had won fairly until he saw the original records. However, top US official for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has suggested that both sides could have been responsible for rigging.
In the wake of the craziness, African leaders, such as Desmond Tutu have intervened in trying to get the two leaders to find an amicable way to resolve the impasse, and to call on all supporters to stop acts of violence against each other. Citizens of Kenya and Africans in the Diaspora have also been calling on brothers and sisters in Kenya to respect each other, and co-exist as they were before the elections.
The African Union initiated action by sending representatives, including its current chairman, the president of Ghana. However, talks conducted by AU leader, John Kufuor aimed at ending the political crisis failed according to opposition and government sources in Kenya.
President Kufuor had hoped to broker a deal between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. Yet a glimmer of hope is that both sides, as, Mr Kufuor noted, have agreed to work under a panel which may be headed by ex-UN chief Kofi Annan.
To make it easier for Annan, all who want to see peace in Kenya must ask the leadership of their nations, both original and adopted home nations, to call the Kenyan leaders and demand that they settle this issue peacefully and stop making statements that may cause more violence.
As renowned Kenyan novelist and playwright Ngugi wa Thiong’o noted, “what is unfolding in Kenya could as well have been lifted from my novel Wizard of the Crow where the ruling party and the opposition parties engaged in Western-sponsored democracy become mirror images of one another in their absurdity and indifference to the poor”.
Clearly, it is the poor and ordinary people of Kenya who have and will suffer from the contest among two political elites.
In Canada, Kenyans, Africans, and friends of Africa have started their own efforts to ask for peace in Kenya, and are calling on Prime Minister Harper to put Canadian goodwill and respect to work in helping to facilitate peace. As part of this effort, a Kenya Solidarity Peace Committee was formed in Vancouver. The committee is composed of people from different ethnicities, and backgrounds issued following statement:
"The Kenya (Solidarity) Peace Committee (KSPC) calls for a peaceful resolution to the current crisis in Kenya. We stand in solidarity with the victims of the recent violence, and we appeal to all sides of the conflict to exercise calm and restraint, and to commit to resolving this crisis through dialogue in peace and good faith.
We call upon all interested and affected parties to work for peace and dialogue to resolve the crisis, and to support whatever activities are underway globally to help achieve these goals. A just, inclusive, stable, and peaceful Kenya is in everyone’s interest. The KSPC will hold a series of events in the coming weeks in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia to support the objectives described above.
The first of a series of KSPC events was a memorial services held to remember the victims of violence in Kenya, and in support of the grieving families they left behind. The memorial took place on Saturday 12, January 2008, at Broadway Church, from 12 noon to 2:30pm. Members of the public were encouraged to make donations to assist thousands of displaced families in Kenya who need food, clean water, medication, and shelter. The memorial service drew Africans and friends of Africa, including federal NDP MP for New Westminster- Burnaby, Peter Julian, and NDP MLA Raj. Politicians as well as other speakers, including me (Apaak) called on the Canadian government to play a role in helping to resolve the crisis in Kenya."
More specifically, I suggest that Canadians:
a) Call for the Prime Minister Harper and the Canadian government to utilize all of its diplomatic resources in supporting a peaceful resolution.
b) Contact the Minister of International Cooperation and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to demand that all diplomatic resources be utilized by Canada in supporting a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Kenya.
c) Express unity and solidarity with those affected by the crisis in Kenya;
Please stand in Solidarity with the victims. We can forgive, but we should not forget. Let this painful and shocking crisis in Kenya remind us all that we must always be on the lookout. Say a short prayer for the departed, and pray for peace in Kenya.
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