Political Turmoil in Kenya

Unlike my Peace Corps friends...I have had not had the luxury of being able to evacuate Kisumu, Kenya. Although my parents have offered, I feel that the Kenyans do not have that luxury so I am toughing it out as well. Luckily, the violence and rioting has not affected me because everyone knows I am not a citizen and have nothing to do with the voting, election, or subsequent chaos. Where I live, the residents are the main supporters of Raila Odinga, the presidential candidate that is believed to have won the election but did not get sworn in because of corruption. Luckily for me, the West (US, UK, and European Union) sides with this region and believes that Raila should have won and corruption did indeed take place. If the West happened to side with the opposition, it could have been a mess for me where I live. I have already had someone blame the manufacturing of the bullets that killed someone on America.

So a little background....December 27th Kenya held its 4th election since independence. The election itself was smooth and peaceful, showing that Kenyans really do want this democracy to work here in Kenya. It took two days to count the ballots, discovering that some ballots were missing, and election officials were caught with them in their presence. Also, some names beginning with A and O were missing from the list of registered voters (many Luo names, the main supporter of Raila, begin with A and O, including Raila Odinga himself), and power was cut to several locations that were up counting the ballots well into the evening. Finally at 5:30pm 2 days after the polls closed, the announcement was made that Kibaki won, which was quite a shock considering Raila was ahead in the popularity polls, and as the constituencies released their individual numbers, he was always in the lead...by a lot. Then all of a sudden, he loses and Kibaki wins.

So the supporters of Raila raised up to show their disgust and anger with the processes that have just unfolded. They began rioting and looting stores in the main downtown area of Kisumu, Nairobi, and several other towns around Kenya. Supporters of Kibaki retaliated by doing the same, and soon chaos and political strife were well under way. The riots though, were not violent to begin with. They were just looting goods, the women taking food and goods they need, and the men taking refrigerators and TV's. The Kenyan police, anti-rioting squads and eventually the Ugandan militia were called in to restore order, but what this entails is shooting the looters and taking the loot for themselves. In my city alone, there were over 100 deaths by police. When this started happening, and when people started being shot for looting and peaceful protesting, the people got even more angry. Afterall, the right to protest peacefully is a component of any democracy and should be respected. The ODM (the political party supporting Raila) leaders were arrested for leading peaceful protests, and then the people began to burn and kill people of the Kikuyu and Kisii tribe (the main supporters of Kibaki). Its quite sad that people were being targeted just by what tribe they belonged too, even though they themselves might have voted other ways, and what does it matter? In a democracy, everyone has the right to vote for the presidential candidate they seem most fit, why are they the targets of such violence and hatred. This tribalism has got to stop, it is fueling the fire in which the people are igniting.

So, I have been locked in my compound (which is a fortress I might add, complete with thick concrete walls and a night watchman), listening to day after day of gunshots, teargas, and rioting. I have seen the legs of chairs and refrigerators being marched past my gate, and a friend of mine who owns a motorbike was supplying my with whatever food and water he happened to run across. Fuel deliveries were halted, all transport to and from the city were halted (the Peace Corps were chartered out of here by private means), and people could not come in from the rural areas to sell their produce. Day after day, more people died, more stores were looted, and more and more people became displaced as their homes and shops were burned.

It is much quieter now, life is coming back to Kisumu and whatever shops that were not looted are slowly restocking their shelves. The lines at the gas stations are longer than ever, and I stood in line for 4 hours the other day at the only supermarket in town that was not destroyed. The morgue is full of unknown or unrecognizable bodies, but slowly transportation is starting to flow and people are able to come in and sell their food, recognize their loved ones and prepare for funeral arrangements.

The West is putting pressure on the Kenyan Electoral commission to hold another election (since it is too late to do a recount and it wouldn't matter anyways since a lot of the ballots were fudged or "lost"), and they are going to use a non-biased third party to do the counting. I think that is fair, and until the country is stable enough, and corruption is gone, this might be the best way to hold all future elections.

In the meantime, I have decided to stay on in Kisumu, finish my work despite the threat of possible future violence and rioting. After all, the people of Kenya can't leave, and they still need health care. I have come here for a reason and I am going to try my damnedest to finish what I started, and offer help in any way I can. Many NGO's are pulling out as the foreign population flees back to their countries, but I do not think that is the answer. I know I have to look after my own safety, but seriously, I do not feel unsafe at all. As long as I stay indoors while gunshots are ringing out, and venturing out only when I hear that normalcy has begun to return.

On the bright side, I believe that many job opportunities will come out of this as people begin to pour aid into the country to redevelop the economy, restore health care, and help the displaced. That is a good thing.