Kenya Can’t Be Allowed to go to The Dogs

Yesterday will go down in the country’s history as having been a tumultuous and tension-filled day. It was a day when all the citizens (and even hundreds of thousands of non-citizens who live in the country and abroad) were on edge, jittery and anxious.

This situation was extremely exacerbated by the late announcement of the president of the republic of Kenya in what could be termed as a circus of sorts. Only the National Broadcaster, KBC, was present to broadcast the announcement live to all and sundry as all other media outlets, both local and foreign, had been ‘bundled’ out of KICC. And even more disturbing was the fact that within an hour of the announcement, President Kibaki was sworn-in to serve a second term in office.

The ODM cried foul for, in their book, their presidential candidate Mr. Raila Amollo Odinga had won the elections and therefore was the one supposed to be sworn-in instead of Mr. Kibaki. For this reason they have made it clear, in black and white, that they don’t acknowledge the presidency of Kibaki.

To prove that they mean business, they have made it clear that they will organise their own swearing-in ceremony at Uhuru Park today.

As things stand right now, there has been untold suffering unleashed on the people who live in some parts of Western, Nyanza, Coast and Nairobi. Fears are almost tangible that this planned rally and swearing-in by ODM and Raila will not augur well for the Kenyan populace.

My take is that, if such a thought is allowed to blossom and become a flower then this country could as well be headed to anarchy and lawlessness of untold proportions.

Hon. Raila, there surely are other ways of championing your cause instead of letting it take this route. Sir, the lives of the people you very much want to protect (by becoming the president) are at stake here. Many have already been lost in the carnage that has erupted; please don’t stoke a fire that will be hard to put out. Steer clear of that hearth for the sake of innocent mothers, fathers, and children. Innocent Kenyans should not be caught in the cross fire that is more than likely to materialise.

Our great country should not go down the road that Somalia, Sudan and other such countries have trodden. The citizens of these countries come to our country to seek solace and refuge. We are a beacon of hope in this part of Africa; we are the hope of the people who live within our borders.

Kenya country should not be allowed to go to the dogs.

Still Your Hearts

In a few hour's time we are going to the polls, my dear Kenyans. Rudyard Kipling has something to tell us this day:

If you can keep your head when all about you,
Are losing theirs and are blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster,
And treat those two imposters just the same.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute,
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything’s that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a man, my son.

Have peaceful elections tomorrow. And may the best man win.

The Day After: Friday, 28th December, 2007

I have a racking headache this morning. Yesterday was a tough, nay, gruelling day. Yeah, and so much so. It was Election Day; the most competitive, much anticipated issue-based election since independence.

I was among the last people at the polling station having stood in the hot sun for almost half a day. Yeah, and the turn out was something to behold. Scores of people stood in queues, braving the hot sun, to ultimately cast their votes!

I hardly slept a wink last night. My neighbours next door (three bachelors who stay in the same room) just wouldn’t let me. Their high-pitched radios (as they kept count of the number of votes from polling stations the country over, thanks to the leading channel), raucous laughs, guttural voices and frequent screams as beer bottles fell to the floor, were just tormenting.

Everything is quiet this morning save for the throbbing headache between my ears. The throbbing is as if tangible. And for no apparent reason at all, my heart is pounding savagely (as if I am climbing a precipitous mountain).

Now I start recalling. A day before the polls, I wagered my friend Mark ksh 5000/- that my choice for president would win the polls with a landslide victory. I was more than confident that this would be the case. Then, where is this jittery feeling coming from?

If my choice for president does not win the elections, then, I'll have to part with my precious five thao. Not a pretty picture at all.

But, then, who says he will not win.

Just as this thought takes its form in my mind, two pictures (so vivid and life-like) suddenly cascade in my mind’s eye; one from left to right, the other from right to left.

The two pictures are those of Raila and Kibaki. Both of them are smiling. In fact, one of them is grinning like a Cheshire cat. Their lips are moving as if trying to tell me something.

I strain my inner ears but fail to hear anything.

I look at the wall clock. It is 6:30am. I think it is time to put all my fears to rest. I ‘trudge’ to my wall unit and almost simultaneously switch on both my TV and radio.

The news on radio and TV is replete and inundated with election-related news. Reports are coming in from all parts of the country. The number of votes each candidate has received in various parts of the republic is mentioned.

My heart lurches. No, no, what I am hearing can’t be true. Those unflattering number of votes can’t be those of my chosen president. No. Never.

Almost instantly I decide what I‘ll spend the rest of the day doing.

“Counting the votes. Yes, that’s what I am going to do the rest of the day. I can’t leave anything to chance, can I?”

I also decide to call on my neighbours later in the day to compare my notes with that of their vigil last night.

I fetch a pen and some foolscaps and get ready for the task ahead of me. Oh, I had almost forgotten. I usually take a hot cup of coffee at around this time of the day. And today it will do me a whole world of good.

A steaming cup of coffee.

Spare a Thought for the Hurting and Down Trodden

I came across the poem below as I was sifting through my paraphernalia this morning. It got me thinking.

The poem was writtenby the prominent German anti-Nazi activist, Pastor Martin Niem?ller.

First they came...

In Germany they came first for the Communists,
And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
And I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
And by that time no one was left to speak up for me.

Most of our dear brothers and sisters are suffering and have suffered immensely in Kuresoi, Mount Elgon, in the hands of the ruthless mungiki and in election related violence in the recent past.

Speaking up for them is our divine responsibility. Taking the government to task and fervently asking why these heinous acts are being perpetrated under the very 'bulbous' nose of the state is the first step to much-needed healing.

Something has to give; something's gotta be done!

Well, if we don't speak up for the hurting and down-trodden in our country, who will speak up for us when it happens to us and our very own.
Food for thought, this.

Tell Ritch what you think.

Can this senseless propaganda (in our civilised Kenya!) please stop

The other day I read a ridiculous vernacular 'propaganda' sms sent to an aquaintance of mine. It was in Kikuyu and it read:

Mwathani arokogitira maonduini mothe ma ngoma ta mirimu, aichi, mungiki, arogi, thuya, nguya, rwagi, ndaa, ngunguni, na muno Raila na kiama kia ODM.

It roughly translates to: May the Lord keep you safe from the wiles of the devil such as diseases, robbers, Mungiki, witches, stubborn insects (mosquitoes and the rest), and most of all from Raila and ODM.

Just sickening!