Diary 5 – We need a lasting solution

By Abass. [As KP I have asked readers to submit their own perspectives on the unfolding events. This is their voice.]

Mandera, in the far East of the country is where I was born. With many refugees from Somalia already living in our town, for a moment, I was pondering what if all of a sudden we become like them. I was confident though that things would calm down and that Kenyans are wiser than the footages I was watching at miles away from home. Still, the notion that we are Africa’s beacon of stability and democracy has being dealt a blow that only time will tell its severity.
Living in the diaspora too doesn’t help much. You live in anxiety, not knowing what tomorrow holds in place for your country. You can’t contemplate on what would happen if the worst-God forbid- happens. I remember during the election day, I used to stay awake almost all night waiting for the results. And when I finally go to bed, it is so difficult to sleep. And when you finally wake up, you can’t wait to switch on the PC before you pray or do anything. Little did I know that it will end in this. Much credit to Ory, who has being invaluable in keeping us up-to-date.
What hast triggered all of this ’sudden’ violence? Personally, I believe it is a combination of complex factors rooted in injustice, poverty (the result of unemployment), ethnicity, a struggle between two generations, greed for power and what I would say a lack of academic or mental maturity among other factors. Successive regimes since independence ignored the needs of the people as they amassed wealth to enrich themselves and their closest relatives. In where I come from, Mandera, for example, the people often wonder whether they are part of Kenya. This is because the people’s needs have being ignored, many live in abject poverty and they feel they are being marginalised. The same with other communities all over the country. When the ‘leaders’ only care about their selfish interests, when the plight of the youth is ignored, when one group dominates another, there is bound to be some sort of reaction that may result in violence with time.
The solution? I believe first and foremost that the root cause of the problems be addressed. I believe that for this problem to be addressed effectively, the plight of the youth must be addressed. Kenyans from all over the country must be treated equally beyond the constitution. With justice comes equality, with equality starts the eradication of poverty, with the eradication of poverty, comes stability. With all these, we can achieve unity and with unity, we can have peace. As for the political limbo we are in now, a gov’t of national unity is, in my view, not the way out. We need to address all those things I mentioned and others. We need to lay the foundation for a stability that will be beyond Raila and Kibaki. The international community is calling for a gov’t of national unity but I doubt whether they have any understanding of the political situation in Kenya. In fact, I doubt whether Jendayi Frazer ever heard of something called NARC. When this didn’t work in 2002, how is it going to work now? I guess the short term solution is an interim gov’t with a new election in the shortest time possible. Read that again. The short term solution, not a long lasting solution. Once we have a legitimately elected gov’t then, the first task of this gov’t should be to address all these factors and find a lasting solution for posterity.