Posted by David Sibbald
The scenes of choas in Kenya following the election are depressing and sad. As usual the victims and perpetrators of the violence are predominantly the poorest sections of society, their strings pulled as ever by populist politicians. The lure of political power and the fear of losing it drives behaviour by Kenya's political elite that shames the nation and its people, they ought to know better, but they can't help themselves; it's nauseating.
So what happens if Kibaki and Odinga continue to play of each other, inter-tribal tensions between Kikuyu and Luo escalate, yesterday's atrocity becomes today's normality and we descend from there into a situation that takes a generation to recover from.
The best story for hope I read was from a hastily arranged peace march between Luo and Kikuyu people in Kibera, the huge slum in Nairobi -
“For all these years, we’ve been living together,” said Stanley Maina, a Kikuyu shopkeeper. “Why are we fighting now?”
One Luo man yelled out: “Let Raila and Kibaki fight! They are presidents; we are just people!”
I hope that leadership from within the community steps in and brings calm.
We know that the local shopkeepers we work with to deliver a food and medical program to orphaned kids in Kibera have had their shops and stalls destroyed and looted, so there's no food for those kids and the shopkeepers livelihoods have gone. Violent mobs rarely go hungry.
The next few days will be crucial, the longer violence and unrest stay, the harder it'll be to return to normality.