We must go back to history

An Understanding of The Recent Political Violence in Kenya

Ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed sad as to what is happening in Kenya. I do believe that most of the people on this blog are either Kenyans....or like myself call Kenya 'my second home'.
Who would have thought that this beacon of peace in the heart of a volatile region could fall into the hands of the devil and turn neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend.
I happened to be in Rwanda on the 27th of December and actually remember being in the Kigali museum for Genocide. It was my fourth time being there and as I bettered my understranding on what happened, it opened my eyes to understand the Kenyan question from a totally different perspective.

If we trace back to the history of kenya, which I guess most of us are conversant with, you will recall that during the time that Kenyatta was in detention, a then Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was acting president for Kanu which was the rulling party in Kenya. At the time, the Beberus (British colonialists ) had wanted to grant Kenya its independence. As it were, the party of choice was KANU which represented the major 'ethnic groups' as opposed to KADU which represented the smaller groups. With Kenyatta in detention, Jaramogi O Odinga was granted the opportunity to be the countries first leader. To the dismay of the colonialists and the suprise of many nationals, Jaramogi showed great humility by declaring that there is no Uhuru (Peace) without Kenyatta and thus he will await the release of his comrad that he may take over the reigns.
So it came to pass that on may 21st Aug 1961 he was released and took over party reigns handed to him by Jaramogi. He was later the first prime minister of Kenya.

The problem in Kenya after independence as is in most African countries vis a vis pre and post independence is the issue of land and land redistribution. The agreement between the the then party mambers of KANU was to adress the issue of land redistribution and ensure that it was equally distributed to Kenyans. Areas that were most affected were the then called 'white highlands' which stretched from Aberdares, Naivasha, Nakuru, Kitale and other fertile parts withtin those regions.
Kenyatta however went against the...what would be translated today as 'M.O.U' between the party members and met with the white settlers, came to an agreement, but when it came to the issue of distribution Kikuyu's were given the first priority.
This is why we find today that many areas in Rift valley are occupied by Kikuyus. I am not saying that it is wrong for one to own land in an area that is not their ancestral home...any Kenyan is allowed to own land wherever they wish within the country, but has to do so legally.

Coming back to the violence in Kenya that we witnessed recently, the western Media and some people trying to distort the true picture of what happened, have tried to make it look like a Luo vs Kikuyu war. well if we clearly look at the statistics of worst hit areas and where ethnicity was an issue, then we have to look at Rift valley province.
Ethnic clashes in this area did not start after the elections were announced, they started way back in the late eighties/early nineties.
Why? LAND. Most fertile land was occupied by people from another ethnic community and calls to gain back what belonged to the indigenous communities started being sounded.

These violent clashes have never been as wide spread as they are today and that can be attributed to the political climate of the day.
Then it was dictatorship, where the people had to abide by what they were told and this sort of incubated the issue and people were not free to express themselves. In the 2002 elections, people finally got their chance to change the reigns and voted out a system that they thought had held them back from expressing themselves.
So in came a democratic government...one that allowed those who once had no voice to be heard. It gave courage to the weak, it opened the eye of those who had beeen blinded by an oppresive regime....it basically made people more aware of what belonged to them and that with an individual who represented them, they could finally reap the prosperity that everyone was talking about in Kenya.

Oranges and Bananas became the fruits of the day. One fruit (the Banana) represented those who were in the reigns while the Orange represented the common Mwanachi ( the common man).
This was the historical reforendum that finally showed that the Kenyan who had never had a chance to speak could finally be heard as he was the victor at the end of the day. The guy who had once formed KADU ( which was a party that represented the smaller ethnic groups)
was now finally after over 40 years of being marginalised, a voice to be reconed with.
This gave them the belief that they could finally challange for the presidency of the country and ahead they went to form the Orange Democratic Party. This party underwent alot of sanding before it became what it was just before the election and in the process a group that felt indeferent, removed itself from the final picture.
All in all, this was the party that represented most Ethnic communities as was evident in the pentagon members and affiliation by the youth and appeal to smaller communities.
After the elections were announced to their dismay, mayhem ensued. Ethnicity became an issue in most communities. The hate that had been incubated for over 40 years was finally unleashed and it is sad that it came out in the way it did. In as much as people think or are made to believe that it was a reaction to the results of the elections....SORRY but this is much deeper than that. As many people, including myself, tried to make sense of what happened in Rwanda, the answer was based on history. The only difference is that as the Rwandese was initially instigated by European colonialists, the kenyan question has alot to do with Kenyans themselves.
Therefore the only people who can solve the current situation are Kenyans themselves.

Timothy Nsengiyumva Mlay (Tanzanian Scholar)