kenya is up in flames after what seemed to be a democratic process ended up in the death of more that 200 people in post election violence. This is shocking! The people of Kenya managed to campaign for moths on end without this ugly violence swallowing this nation. What I do not understand is the mindset of one voter slashing off the head of another voter because of the choice they have made, please enlighten me. My man on the ground tells me that rigging of the election is suspected. To me rigging or no rigging the question still remains 'Does slaughtering of each other solve this problem?' The answer is an emphatic no, it only makes thinks worse. Where are the politicians now, those who spent months on end wooing these people to vote for them. They need to be there on the ground talking to these people to stop but no they have retreated into their security walled mansions-SELFISH. My heart is with those people that lost their lives when the Church they had sought refuge in was torched.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/01/world/20080101KENYA_9.html
http://politics.nationmedia.com/
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Is It Another Rwanda
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Lets hope they see sense Mhofu. We cry for Kenya as we see killings of innocent people.Confusion reins as the media is banned from giving us any current news. Lack of food and resources is gets worse by the day. When shall these leaders come to their senses? Let the ODM leader Raila call for peace for he has the moral and ability to calm his supporters. As for the president, please realise that Kenyans are dying and care less for what promises were made to them at this point. We have kept peace in this country since independence. Let us not destroy it now.
Kibaki, Raila and Kalonzo you should burn to hell.You take your families to safe place and watch as innocent Kenyans are dying. Why in the first place did they have to vote for you? The so called international observers are pretenders of the highest order. Kenyans, where are these leaders now that you are fighting one another? Raila go to Kibera they voted for you and promote peace from the gound not from the office.Kibaki get out of the state hse go round the country like you did last week preach peace. Raila you incited people against the Kikuyus and the kikuyus are not going to take that lying down. Kibaki you have failed Kenyans.Go home and apologise to Kenyans.What if the votes and Kibaki is the winner? What will you tell Kenyan Raila? What if Raila is the winner? Will will you say mr president? It does not matter who is the winner both of you are responsible. My poor fellow Kenyans who said that it is only Kenyatta's, Raila's, Kibaki,s,mudavadi,s,nyaga,s families who can rule the country? Raila, Kibaki, Moi you are all murderer's. For the press you have to become neutral and report professionally. You are very good at inciting, see what is happening now. Your reporters will also be victims. Carry your share of blame. Kibaki is not bringing any change to Kenya not with that clique surrounding him. Raila what change are you promising Kenyans with Ruto, Mudavadi,Nyaga who are the making if Moi and Charity who has been in Kibaki,s govt. My poor fellow Kenyans the rich people are gambling with our lives we need to eject all of them out of the parliament and vote very new faces from among the poor. Good luck the poor people are going to form the next govt.
As you rightly state in the two entries above I see this is a matter of urgency as the number of casualties continue to grow. When the country is on fire like this they must suspend their political divide and appeal to their supporters while they still can for them to have a country to govern in future. These tensions have a history in East Africa and I am afraid the sighs are not good. Yesterday I saw harrowing images of a man being hacked to death by clubs and machetes; his sin was for belonging to another ethnic group. This was not an isolated incident. This is a far outcry from the vote rigging allegations coming from Nairobi. That is the DANGER when things are out of control.
I know its just not worthy it,I think we Africans need a reality check.The politicians stir things up,then they escape and leave poor kenyans dying alone.I don't think they give a monkey about anthing.
I wanted to go to Kenya this month but i had to cancel cos i can't risk it!
Dear Mhofu, I just want to address one of the points you rise so wisely: where are the politicians these days? Why are they -all of them, government´s and opposition´s alike- using ordinary Kenyans as pawns in their own strategies? Why are they not out there asking their supporters to stop the bloodshed? Why are they not publicly stating the obvious, that is, that before Kikuyu, Kalenyin or whatever, they all are Kenyans, that they all are human beings? You know, regarding power, politicians everywhere behave just the same: they treat other people as 'means' to their strategies, and not as 'ends' in themselves, that is, as fellow human beings deserving uttermost respect. Now all this irresponsibility is having tragic consecuences in Kenya, as yesterday it had everywhere else, West, East, developed and developing countries alike. In this regard, we in Western countries should not be very proud of our record, and certainly cannot lecture other regions, but at least, after lots of wars and tragedies, have struggled to develop some institutions to avoid some of the most dramatic consecuences of political behaviour and the quest for power, and keep peace and social order. Let´s hope Kenya, and many other countries as well, may defend and keep in place some of these institutions in the future.
The most frustrating of all this problems in Kenya and the one that hurts me more is to see people that should be helping each other, killing between themselves because they have different opinion or belong to a different group. This won't help the ordinary people on the ground but bring lots of tragedy and sadness. This will only help some politicians because they will see the power they have on people and do not care if human beings are dying or not as long as they have their people fighting for them and they stay in their comfortable houses. Seems like this politicians have a very good plan influencing them but this people that do the killings do not have a clue why they doing that for. Some politicians should be responsible for the death of so many innocent lives and people should not stop until they find answers.
The two ladies above and Professor, I feel genuinely passionate about sanctity of human life. I feel very small and without strength when it comes to taking human life. I feel I am on this world to promote life rather than take it. Tell me that I am wrong. I very much agree with your thought out perception that Kenya is only one example of many such conflicts through the world and that there are fundamental differences between Western and African politics and their institutions of continuity. These institutions are run by beings (that part of existence that make us human)respect,optimism and hope. This is the part that I think lacks very much in African politics, they set up the institutions but there is no will to let them work. This coupled with an electorate that is largely unaware of their fundamental importance. In Africa politics is mostly seen as a business and not as an undertaking that creates business opportunities. Like Ruth said they don’t give a monkey about people, they line their pockets. That’s why Zimbabwe is still collapsed none is electable but they still force themselves on the populace. As I write I see Hillary Rhodam Clinton fighting tears trying to woo voters to her side in New Hampshire primaries, true or crocodile tears? up to you.
As if her loosing is the end of the world.
By Tirondi Tambwera
THE Kenyan post-election violence has shocked the world, and as the scenario continues to unfold, all peace-loving people the world over are praying that sense will prevail among the feuding parties.
However, I have so many questions that beg answers.
Firstly, why is it that opposition politics in Africa seems to be defined by the motto "we must win at all costs", and that if the ruling party wins an election, the election has been rigged?
Opposition parties cry foul and say their vote has been stolen.
MDC faction leader Morgan Tsvangirai has done this in Zimbabwe ad nauseam.
So did Kiiza Besigye in Uganda, General Muhammad Buhari in Nigeria, Michael Sata in Zambia and Jean Pierre Bemba in the DRC.
Now we have Raila Odinga in Kenya singing the same old opposition song.The Orange Democratic Movement is now putting the lives of millions of people in Kenya and the whole Great Lakes region at risk because Raila Odinga has become the enemy of the secret balloting systems, since he thinks that him and him alone was the rightful winner. There is also the notion that those in the opposition are the true democrats who know all about the rule of law and good governance. Their political manifestoes talk endlessly about freedom of choice, the upholding of democratic principles, etc, but watch them after every election, when they lose to the winning party.
They forego all these.
If they do not threaten to contest the election, be sure that they would want the West, especially the EU and the USA to monitor the election process, and anoint the final results.
Who is fuelling tensions, and who is backing these fly-by-night opposition movements in their quest to diminish Africa’s sovereignty and self-determination?
Why is opposition politics in Africa also characterised by political plagiarism?
The likes of the Orange Democratic Movement in Kenya are all copycats of western popular thought patterns and movements like the one staged in the Ukraine a few years ago.
The plagiarism is done without due regard to the fact that in most cases, the grafting might actually not bear fruit?
Hi Mhofu,
I have awarded you a special prize...
http://usafari.blogspot.com/2008/02/arte-y-pico-award.html
Thank you Paco I do not deserve any price nomination for my contributions to the things I feel partionate about, but if you insist, the price is not for me, it is for the people who read and respond the topics and issues raised. Hopefully leading to a realisation and change of the present world and not the establishment.
Ladies and gentlemen when i was so traumatised with the Kenyian deaths, the toll was less that 300 and as i come to you today it is in the excess of 1000 more that the number of British soldier that have died in combat in Iraq in about four years. THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE IN SOCIETIES. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Post a Comment