by Joe M'bandakhai, Kenya, 6 February 1998
THEME = VIOLENCE
Violence has once again struck the Rift
Valley Province.
But why all this killing? Who is behind it?
On 5 January, President Daniel arap Moi took the Oath of Office for his final term as President. He made a pledge to the Kenyan people that over the next five years he would concentrate on improving their welfare. To many people, this was indirectly conceding that his previous twenty years in power were full of wasted opportunities. Also, it was clear that Mr Moi did not have it all his own way in the recent elections. In spite of all KANU's preparations, in spite of a government-friendly Electoral Commission, at least a million more people voted for the various opposition parties than they did for KANU.
The Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission now admit there were "numerous flaws" in the election process. Angered by the recent wave of killings in Kenya, they are going back on an earlier Ecumenical Statement issued together with the National Christian Council of Kenya, which endorsed the elections as being largely representative of the wishes of the Kenyan people.
Opposition leader Mwai Kibaki (Democratic Party-DP) indicated that he would petition the Courts to have the election results cancelled because of all the irregularities. No sooner had he made his intention known, than two cabinet ministers, William Ole Ntimama and Kipkalya Kones (both from the Kalenjin subgroup), issued warnings about the "dire consequences" if Kibaki (from the majority Kikuyu tribe), went ahead with his petition. At the same time, Moi himself, forgetting his pledge to work for the good of the nation, threatened to take severe action against anyone who "insulted him".
When Ntimama and Kones talk, you don't take them lightly. More than 2,000 Kenyans perished in the Rift Valley (Moi's home province) in ethnic cleansing between 1991-1993.
During the 2nd week of January this year, Kibaki brought his petition to Court and suddenly all hell broke loose for his Kikuyu people of Laikipia District in Rift Valley province, who had voted solidly for the DP. Kikuyu villagers were shot or hacked to death in a series of organised terror raids. Confused and badly traumatised peasant Kikuyus, abandoned their smallholdings and headed for the shelter provided by the Churches.
The provincial administration said it was doing everything possible to stop the killings, but a member of the paramilitary General Services Unit told The Nation newspaper, that they were under orders to hang around and "do nothing".
President Moi initially kept silent about the killings but Kiptum Choge, assistant minister in the Office of the President was quoted in a local newspaper as saying: "What is happening in Laikipia is just the tip of the iceberg. Should a stupid magistrate grant Kibaki's petition, then take it from me, there will be endless bloodshed in Kenya".
The grim task of burying the dead in Laikipia and Njoro fell to the Protestant and Catholic clergy. On 28 January, the Catholic Bishops issued a Statement entitled: "In God's name, please stop this genocide". The Bishops were incensed that evidence pointed to government involvement in the slaughter. "This government pretends to send the General Service Unit into a given area to maintain order, and what happens? They seem, almost by design, to arrive late".
Many observers believe that when agencies like Human Rights Watch, and broadcasting stations like the Voice of America say it's all to do with African tribes getting at each other's throats, then the Kenyan government is getting away with it, yet again.
END
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement