As the Luo and karenje tribes kill Kikuyus
By: Peter Qeko Jere.
The results of the 2007 Kenya Presidential and parliamentary election has finally created a very worrisome tribal and ethnic tension that has led to the death of more than 300 people and about 250, 000 going to neighboring countries of Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda for refuge. Majority of those killed are the Kikuyu living in the areas largely populated by the Luo and the Karenjes. In this regard, the Luo and the Karenjes have ganged up to fight the Kikuyu a situation which has been described by many international community as another Rwanda mainly because of the kinds of instruments used in the mass killing. BBC and many international Television networks are showing how Kikuyus are leaving the western and parts of Kenya as well as how the youth belonging to the Luo and Karenje tribes have taken matters in their own hands as they root, kill and terrorize the kikuyu. In Idorret, Kikuyus who seek refuge in one of the churches in town were burned to death a situation which has raised a lot of question as to how could the Luo or Karenje youths burn the church, a house of prayer? Do you have to burn both the church and people inside to show and demonstrate your anger?
The main issue however is that Raila Odinga who is a Luo, accuses Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuya, of rigging the just ended election. Raila Odinga feels that he won the election and he has gone to the point of calling Kibaki a “thief” a very unpresidential language and something, which shows the other part of Raila Odinga. As a statesman and someone who would want to rule Kenya, he needed and still need to calm down and demonstrate that he can take care of things than going about calling names because this does not help anybody.
To our view, while we understand the problem that Odinga has at the moment, he first of all needed to go back to his people and order them to immediately stop the genocide. This is vital because soon or later and when this whole fiasco is over, he will be held responsible for the mass killing, ethnic cleansing and genocide by the international community because whatever took place in Kenya was televised live and the world saw how young Luo boys took up arms killing defenseless Kikuyus. So it’s vital for someone who is a leader to ask his men to stop the killing. Infact, Kenyans is a very big Christian nation in east Africa and from the look of things, what has just happen in the country leaves a lot to be desired because majority of the Luos and Kerenje youth who have taken part in the mass killing probably belong to the Kenyan church. Now the question could be what was and is the Kenyan church doing about this whole thing? Did the church become like the Rwanda one where those who seek refuge in the church got killed and butchered right there? Mass killing can not stop if Odinga and his tribal men don’t stop the killings. Infact those involve in genocide in Kenya need to realize that issues of this nature always follow wherever you will be until justice is done. In this regard, they should know that the blood of those killed during these elections would always speak and seek justice in one way or the other today, tomorrow or in the future.
The latest event however is that Odinga has refused to the formation of the unity government with Kibaki and is calling for his total resignation of Kibaki and new elections within three months. At the same time, Kibaki says that negotiations will only take place when the violence stops. The American envoy and Bishop Desmond Tutu visited the country to help bring peace. They have talked to both Kibaki and Odinga and in few days time, AU current Chairman, Ghanan president Kofour will be in Kenya to help bring peaceful settlement between the two leaders.
Now what do we say in a situation where Kibaki has already been sworn in as the Kenyan president? Will Odinga achieve his dreams of ruling Kenya? What do we say of a leader in a situation where his tribal men and women take arms to kill those of different tribes? Has Odinga demonstrated that he is the rightful presidential material for Kenya this time around or is he just taking advantage of the already hostile situation in the country?
The fact that Kibaki is already sworn in as Kenyan’s president as of now is another hard nut to crack because he has all the government machinery behind him. He is in charge of Kenya. Now whatever Odinga and his violent tribal men say, Kibaki remain the sworn leader of Kenya for the next five years. This means that it is up to him to decide how he wants to rule Kenya. He may decide to have a unity government or just ran the show independently. Now what do you do in this situation? To our view, since Kibaki is already sworn in as Kenyans president, the best way for Odinga and Kenya is to allow dialogue otherwise more innocent civilians will continue to be killed in the country. These leaders need to realize that the more their young men are involved in ethnic cleansing, the more they tarnish the image of their party hence destroying their own opportunity to rule the country in the future. They need to know that even if Odinga become the President today, he will need the support of the Kikuyu because this is a largest tribe in the country and nobody can rule Kenya without them.
A lot is being said as to whether Odinga will achieve his dream of ruling Kenya one day. Previously the situation looked brighter but this ethnic mass killing of the Kikuyu tribe has to our view badly damaged his movement’s image inside and outside Kenya. No-one in the world would like to associated with a politician or a party whose tribe has been involved in mass killing of innocent men. Where Odinga seem to be missing the game is that since he seem not interested to ask his men to stop the killing, many Kikuyus, even those who were supporting him has quickly realized that they were following the wrong man and that the best way for them has been to stay tight and suffer together with their fellow Kikuyus.
As African people, it is always true that blood is thicker than water, meaning that we naturally tend to support our tribes mainly when your people are innocently killed, as is the case in Kenya. As we speak today, thousands of those Kikuyu who were supporting Odinga have made a U-turn and are in solidarity with their Kikuyu tribal people, which has made Kikuyu a tightly bonded tribe. In another word, this situation in Kenya has helped Kibaki and his party to have more of his tribal people supports him and has increased the population of his voters. At the same time, smaller tribes that hate violence will at the end sympathize with the suffering and defenseless Kikuyus something, which will leave the Luo, and Karenje fight the election battle alone. So it is important as leaders to make sure that we should handle issues and control violence so that we protect our tomorrow.
The one some people are asking this question, what do you do as a leader when you loose elections? Do you ask your boys to take up arms and fight? A leader is someone who has authority to control his team and able to give instruction which people can follow and listen. He is someone who demonstrates statesmanship when they loose the elections by accepting defeat. A leader is someone who realizes that Romans 13 says that all leaders comes from God and that you don’t pick up a fight with someone whom God has anointed. Now the situation we have today where Odinga’s Luo and Karenjes have taken up arms killing the Kikuyus, shows that something must be wrong in this party. This is because no leader would love to see his people involved in bloodshed and mass killing of innocent people. In this situation Odinga would have quickly ordered his men to immediately stop the killing for the sake of the party’s legacy. We however feel that this whole thing is wrong because you don’t take up arms against your countrymen. Why should countrymen begin to fight and what can they benefit from this? There is no gain in Killing and shading blood of your countrymen. So what the Luo and Karenjes are doing is terribly wrong and need to repent and make peace with their Kikuyu brothers.
Now has Odinga shown and demonstrated that he is the right presidential material for Kenya? Do Kenyans need Odinga at this particular time? Can Kenya as a nation benefit from a situation where Odinga become the national President? From our view, the way Odinga handled the post-Kenyan elections shows that the man is not yet ready to be ther President. Odinga missed his God given opportunity to show the world that he is a statesman by asking his men to stop the mass killing of innocent Kikuyus. Also Odinga failed to control himself and take care of thing without getting emotional and calling others names.
By: Peter Qeko Jere.
The results of the 2007 Kenya Presidential and parliamentary election has finally created a very worrisome tribal and ethnic tension that has led to the death of more than 300 people and about 250, 000 going to neighboring countries of Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda for refuge. Majority of those killed are the Kikuyu living in the areas largely populated by the Luo and the Karenjes. In this regard, the Luo and the Karenjes have ganged up to fight the Kikuyu a situation which has been described by many international community as another Rwanda mainly because of the kinds of instruments used in the mass killing. BBC and many international Television networks are showing how Kikuyus are leaving the western and parts of Kenya as well as how the youth belonging to the Luo and Karenje tribes have taken matters in their own hands as they root, kill and terrorize the kikuyu. In Idorret, Kikuyus who seek refuge in one of the churches in town were burned to death a situation which has raised a lot of question as to how could the Luo or Karenje youths burn the church, a house of prayer? Do you have to burn both the church and people inside to show and demonstrate your anger?
The main issue however is that Raila Odinga who is a Luo, accuses Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuya, of rigging the just ended election. Raila Odinga feels that he won the election and he has gone to the point of calling Kibaki a “thief” a very unpresidential language and something, which shows the other part of Raila Odinga. As a statesman and someone who would want to rule Kenya, he needed and still need to calm down and demonstrate that he can take care of things than going about calling names because this does not help anybody.
To our view, while we understand the problem that Odinga has at the moment, he first of all needed to go back to his people and order them to immediately stop the genocide. This is vital because soon or later and when this whole fiasco is over, he will be held responsible for the mass killing, ethnic cleansing and genocide by the international community because whatever took place in Kenya was televised live and the world saw how young Luo boys took up arms killing defenseless Kikuyus. So it’s vital for someone who is a leader to ask his men to stop the killing. Infact, Kenyans is a very big Christian nation in east Africa and from the look of things, what has just happen in the country leaves a lot to be desired because majority of the Luos and Kerenje youth who have taken part in the mass killing probably belong to the Kenyan church. Now the question could be what was and is the Kenyan church doing about this whole thing? Did the church become like the Rwanda one where those who seek refuge in the church got killed and butchered right there? Mass killing can not stop if Odinga and his tribal men don’t stop the killings. Infact those involve in genocide in Kenya need to realize that issues of this nature always follow wherever you will be until justice is done. In this regard, they should know that the blood of those killed during these elections would always speak and seek justice in one way or the other today, tomorrow or in the future.
The latest event however is that Odinga has refused to the formation of the unity government with Kibaki and is calling for his total resignation of Kibaki and new elections within three months. At the same time, Kibaki says that negotiations will only take place when the violence stops. The American envoy and Bishop Desmond Tutu visited the country to help bring peace. They have talked to both Kibaki and Odinga and in few days time, AU current Chairman, Ghanan president Kofour will be in Kenya to help bring peaceful settlement between the two leaders.
Now what do we say in a situation where Kibaki has already been sworn in as the Kenyan president? Will Odinga achieve his dreams of ruling Kenya? What do we say of a leader in a situation where his tribal men and women take arms to kill those of different tribes? Has Odinga demonstrated that he is the rightful presidential material for Kenya this time around or is he just taking advantage of the already hostile situation in the country?
The fact that Kibaki is already sworn in as Kenyan’s president as of now is another hard nut to crack because he has all the government machinery behind him. He is in charge of Kenya. Now whatever Odinga and his violent tribal men say, Kibaki remain the sworn leader of Kenya for the next five years. This means that it is up to him to decide how he wants to rule Kenya. He may decide to have a unity government or just ran the show independently. Now what do you do in this situation? To our view, since Kibaki is already sworn in as Kenyans president, the best way for Odinga and Kenya is to allow dialogue otherwise more innocent civilians will continue to be killed in the country. These leaders need to realize that the more their young men are involved in ethnic cleansing, the more they tarnish the image of their party hence destroying their own opportunity to rule the country in the future. They need to know that even if Odinga become the President today, he will need the support of the Kikuyu because this is a largest tribe in the country and nobody can rule Kenya without them.
A lot is being said as to whether Odinga will achieve his dream of ruling Kenya one day. Previously the situation looked brighter but this ethnic mass killing of the Kikuyu tribe has to our view badly damaged his movement’s image inside and outside Kenya. No-one in the world would like to associated with a politician or a party whose tribe has been involved in mass killing of innocent men. Where Odinga seem to be missing the game is that since he seem not interested to ask his men to stop the killing, many Kikuyus, even those who were supporting him has quickly realized that they were following the wrong man and that the best way for them has been to stay tight and suffer together with their fellow Kikuyus.
As African people, it is always true that blood is thicker than water, meaning that we naturally tend to support our tribes mainly when your people are innocently killed, as is the case in Kenya. As we speak today, thousands of those Kikuyu who were supporting Odinga have made a U-turn and are in solidarity with their Kikuyu tribal people, which has made Kikuyu a tightly bonded tribe. In another word, this situation in Kenya has helped Kibaki and his party to have more of his tribal people supports him and has increased the population of his voters. At the same time, smaller tribes that hate violence will at the end sympathize with the suffering and defenseless Kikuyus something, which will leave the Luo, and Karenje fight the election battle alone. So it is important as leaders to make sure that we should handle issues and control violence so that we protect our tomorrow.
The one some people are asking this question, what do you do as a leader when you loose elections? Do you ask your boys to take up arms and fight? A leader is someone who has authority to control his team and able to give instruction which people can follow and listen. He is someone who demonstrates statesmanship when they loose the elections by accepting defeat. A leader is someone who realizes that Romans 13 says that all leaders comes from God and that you don’t pick up a fight with someone whom God has anointed. Now the situation we have today where Odinga’s Luo and Karenjes have taken up arms killing the Kikuyus, shows that something must be wrong in this party. This is because no leader would love to see his people involved in bloodshed and mass killing of innocent people. In this situation Odinga would have quickly ordered his men to immediately stop the killing for the sake of the party’s legacy. We however feel that this whole thing is wrong because you don’t take up arms against your countrymen. Why should countrymen begin to fight and what can they benefit from this? There is no gain in Killing and shading blood of your countrymen. So what the Luo and Karenjes are doing is terribly wrong and need to repent and make peace with their Kikuyu brothers.
Now has Odinga shown and demonstrated that he is the right presidential material for Kenya? Do Kenyans need Odinga at this particular time? Can Kenya as a nation benefit from a situation where Odinga become the national President? From our view, the way Odinga handled the post-Kenyan elections shows that the man is not yet ready to be ther President. Odinga missed his God given opportunity to show the world that he is a statesman by asking his men to stop the mass killing of innocent Kikuyus. Also Odinga failed to control himself and take care of thing without getting emotional and calling others names.
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