Kenya -- There is a silver lining to current political crisis

By: Abdulahi Ahmednassir
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[ Posted On: 2008-01-10 ]

The December 27 General Election brought the best and the worst in Kenyans. We displayed our best in the passion we showed in coming out to vote. Our worst came when the institutions we entrusted to conduct the elections betrayed our trust and the resulting violence we unleashed.

The presidential election result, as predicted, was close. The actions and commission of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) was both appalling and indefensible. We are where we are, how do we move from here?

Mr Raila Odinga and the ODM aver that they are aggrieved by the result announced by the ECK. Unfortunately, there are no institutions that can adjudicate or mediate their contentions.

Two institutions that ideally should have settled this dispute are the ECK and the Judiciary.

Both are not up to the task for they are either too partisan or downright inept. In their own different ways they have led to our present pitiful situation.

The ECK has obviously failed us.

The incompetence it so publicly exhibited is beyond comprehension. The Judiciary fares no better. Ideally this is the institution Raila should petition for redress. But which politically naive person will go to an institution like the Judiciary? Despite the radical surgery and the concomitant improvements, the Judiciary is not a credible institution that can independently mediate over a weighty dispute like a presidential election.

It is brimming with gatekeepers and loyalists of the regime. It also has more than its fair share of remnants loyal to the Kanu regime.

Kenya is as a result facing four grave dangers that need urgent redress. These are the hazard posed by the Chairman of ECK, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, the possibility of replicating the Eldoret violence in other parts of the country, the political opportunism posed by ODM-Kenya to benefit from the crisis and the obstinacy shown by both sides of the political spectrum.

Kivuitu poses a personal danger to the peaceful existence of this country. Kenyans well joyously welcome the idea of him going into voluntary exile in a friendly country to save Kenya from the perils he so scarily threatens.

Kivuitu, on his own admission, has revealed that he was pressured to release the presidential result. When he read the statement on national television with some gusto, he didn’t exhibit any such fear; in fact he looked like he was relishing the prospect. Since then, Kivuitu has been giving a constant stream of press releases in which he either contradicts himself, recants his previous position or offers a new but improbable proposition. He is showing all the danger signs of someone who has lost it, big time! He is fuelling the fire he ignited and the sooner he realises the vileness of his reckless utterances the better. Kivuitu is a loose cannon with a short fuse.

The second danger we face is the possibility of replicating the Eldoret massacres. Lots of violence had been unleashed in many parts of the country. Most were in response to the frustrations some Kenyans felt about the presidential election result.

A good example of this violence is that witnessed in Kisumu and Nairobi. The violence witnessed in Eldoret is an entirely new proposition. It looked premeditated with the requisite degree of malice aforethought. The targets were specific and executed with precision. It raises grave issues of international criminal law and has the footprints of how an ethnic cleansing exercise can be initiated and implemented. When places of worship are burnt with innocent women and children the victims, the same cannot be classified as riots.

The third danger the country faces is the political opportunism posed by ODM-Kenya. We need credible and neutral leaders with leverage to arbitrate and defuse the current situation. The individual that comes to mind is the renowned peace-maker, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka.

During his campaign stomps he repeatedly claimed that he accumulated lots of experience from the Somalia and Sudan peace process. He variously stated that it was time that he applied his accumulated expertise to troubled spots in Kenya. This is the time he should play such a role in his country. The early indications are that he is not up to the task. Two reasons underline this thesis.

The forceful submissions made by Mr Mutula Kilonzo before the ECK on Sunday beseeching the chairman to release the presidential result was a clear testimony to where the priorities of ODM-Kenya lie. One saw a party in great hurry to see who will form the next government to go to bed with it immediately, without any of the necessary political foreplay.

Second, all the indications point to a coalition government between ODM-Kenya and PNU in which the former plays the junior partner. ODM-Kenya is a party defined by opportunism inspired by nothing, built and governed with no principles. Instead of playing the peacemaker, the party is in a grand march to reap where it has not sown.

Lastly, the intransigence shown by PNU and ODM is a reflection of the absence of enlightened leadership. For President Kibaki to say that he is the president and will not talk to Raila is unacceptable failure of political leadership from the President. For Raila to maintain that Kibaki has to resign first or admit he rigged the election is naive. We need these two political giants to address the forlorn situation that has engulfed the country and put aside their political posturing.

The only solution is a political one. My unsolicited opinion is that there is a silver lining to this crisis. I’m of the view that a government of national unity, with a limited lifespan of three years, could provide an exit strategy to the imbroglio. During this period we can negotiate a new constitution. We can agree to disband ECK and reconstitute an independent commission.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Abdulahi Ahmednasir -- is a lawyer and former Law Society of Kenya chairman.

| View Profile & All Articles By: Abdulahi Ahmednassir |

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