By Robert Ocholla
So Kenya is heading for another General Election in a couple of days’ time!! What makes it so special that all World and Media attention is zeroed on this great East African Country?? Is it because America’s President Obama has relatives and roots there?? Or is it because this is the elections following the 2007/08 elections that turned violent after the results were announced leaving over a thousand dead, many more thousands injured and much more displaced and turned to refugees in their own Country to date?? Is it the Country’s tea and Coffee or Tourism sites and wildlife??
Let’s zero in on Obama and unfortunately the Violence. Obama’s America has a large State by the name of Texas. It’s one of the most famed States and like Kenya in 2007/08, due to Violence but of a different age, when cowboys roamed freely doing all sorts of Injustices.
In our hood walk-in-sit-out-in-the-cold cinemas, Western American movies are full of scripts of wanted villains with a bounty on their head and Kenya just might be headed back in time and towards the same. Two suspects who are facing cases at the ICC have united to form a grand alliance that just might see them win the Elections and thereby set a standoff with the International Court.
Uhuru Kenyatta vying for the Presidency and his running mate William Ruto are the senior most individuals in Kenya to face the court. Ironically, they are from the communities that were warring in 2007/08. One is accused of amongst others attacking and the other counter-attacking the other community.
Democracy where the majorities have their way and say can be an arse especially in a Country like Kenya where tribal allegiances surpass all forms of ethics. The Presidential front runner and his running mate come from the first and second most populous tribes in the Country.
With the heavy winds beckoning at The Hague where ICC is hosted, the two know that the only way they can avoid time behind bars is by having a coalition of suspects. Everyone who is an Africanist or African knows that no sitting president in this Continent can ever attend court proceedings. The next agenda for the Court would be to post Wanted posters for their arrest.
In the hoods, gangsters are usually worshiped by persons in their hood but scorned and castigated by outside forces who are usually victims directly or indirectly. It is the same case here. The question is if the two gentlemen are elected and take over the Presidency, will they go against “African culture” and attend proceedings at the ICC?? If they don’t will other ordinary gangsters in the Country also skip their court cases and use the Presidents case as a referral point?
March 4th is Election Day in Kenya and millions of voters will walk into polling booths not with Party Manifestos and candidates track record on their minds to influence their vote but with ethnic allegiance high up above.
Already a Human rights watchdog, Kenya Human Rights Commission, report has said that nearly a thousand persons have been armed in Rongai area in Nakuru in Rift Valley Province and new militia linked to and affiliated to rival political parties have been formed in different areas known to be volatile. Since the signing of the peace accord in 2008, there were reports that many people from areas hard hit by the violence began arming themselves with firepower claiming that next time around they would not be caught off-guard by their neighbors.
As the countdown continues to Kenya’s big day,we watch extremely carefully as a great African Nation just might be frequented by Presidents such as Sudan’s Al-Bashir and turned into a Gangsters Paradise.
