WHAT NEXT FOR KENYA?

After a fractious four years of a coalition government, the March 2013 polls are barely three months away. An election is looming in the horizon and we must get a new tenant to occupy the house on the hill. This is an election that has showed all the signs of being an explosive one. Ground-shaking alliances and separations have already shaken the political landscape to its core. Battle lines have already being drawn and potential candidates are raring to go.  The punda na farasi wawili storylines have become real, at least going by the CORD and JUBILEE alliances. These two divides have brought together strange bed-fellows, all by a myriad of reasons. Form political survival to the Hague nightmare, these are the unshakable inspirations that have driven our politicians to these alliances.

However, at the backdrop of all these is the politically instigated bloodbath of 2007-2008, that as a nation, we are yet to recover from, at least fully. The world is watching to see if we have truly learned from that bitter post-election experience. As the late minister for Internal Security, Prof. George Saitoti, said, the world is indeed watching and we can ill-afford to fail, for if we do, the world will not give us a second chance. The man is sadly gone, leaving in our hands this huge responsibility. We have tremendously moved, in an effort to ensure that the ghosts of 07-08 do not revisit us; a new constitution is in place and surgical reforms, both in the police force and the judiciary have followed suit.

The key suspects of the post-poll quagmire are awaiting full trial at The Hague. The so –called small fish are also facing their moment of truth in our Kenyan courts. However, poor Kenyans, who bore the brunt of this post-poll bloodletting, are still in the tents, four years down the line. But as a country, have we really moved in a direction that will help us remain a united nation after next year’s elections? This is a question that the entire is grappling with. My instincts, compounded by the ugly scenes that are unfolding in some parts of Kenya, tell me that we are yet to learn. Talk of poor students of history!

The Tana Delta is burning. Barely three months since the infamous Kilelengwani massacre, where at least 100 Kenyans were butchered, has violence struck once again. In the latest attack, at least 40 people were killed. It is only after the deaths that the police come out, guns blazing to assure already disillusioned residents of their security. Welcome to Kenya, where the massacre of more than 30 civilians is apparently not big enough to demand the attention of the country’s bigwigs. Some distance away Mombasa; there is the issue of the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) that must surely keep the region’s security apparatus on their toes. Funny groupings like Nyuki, all bent on causing havoc in the region have cropped up.  Must all these groups rise in the run-up to the general elections?

In Kisumu, the Chinese and Marine groups are up, all meant to cause mayhem in this tense political climate. These are really uncertain times for the country. Sadly, a section of our country’s youths never learn and will always be there to execute primitive political tactics in exchange for some cheap brews and a few coins! When you see able-bodied young men publicly being coerced to swear that they will part company with stone-throwing, even in the madness of political heat, then you realize that indeed this is a people who have lost the plot.

Then there is the Baragoi massacre, where at least 40 police officers were slaughtered in Suguta valley; the valley of death. This is the worst attack on our police force in post-colonial Kenya, where some daring cattle-rustlers unleashed havoc on the very people entrusted with ensuring the respect of the rule of law. In its aftermath, the chilling stories of what could have led to this massacre must have surely scared the nation. You must see the trouble that as a county we are in, considering that police officers are mercilessly killed, then what will happen to the ordinary Kenyan? Grenades and other improvised explosive devices are now claiming the lives of both the officers and the citizens. Then in what many will consider the height of daring the devil, three officers of the armed forces were shot at in Garissa. They all succumbed to the bullet. This is unpalatable.

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and his people at the now reformed judiciary, offer the only hope to all these madness. The perseverance of our judges and magistrates is what is deterring some old-fashioned fellows from engaging in primitive behavior, under the guise of political tension. The judiciary is literally living every word of our national anthem that, justice be our shield and defender. They are the soldiers of reform, fighting tirelessly to slay the merchants of impunity and disrespect to the law.

As the election countdown enters its homestretch, politicians are all making all manner of promises. As usual, this has sent the country into frenzy and Kenyans, in their masses are getting lost in this heat. We have literally forgotten that election swill come and go and that these problems call for our undivided attention. President Kibaki famously said that elections are not a lifetime event. We will cast our vote and go back home to our problems and challenges. This is what Kenyans never listen to. As a country we eat and live politics while teething problems continue to give us tiring days and sleepless nights.

A truly sad Kenyan scenario!