Blessed are the peacemakers - Kenyan Election 2007

Sunday, December 30th, 2007 at 11:12 AM

Last night Kenya was on edge. For the first time I started doubting my own deeply held belief that this election would be largely peaceful. News from around the country of serious looting in Kisumu, violent protests in Kakamega, Eldoret, Mombasa, parts of Nairobi under siege were all very disturbing.

There was some fracas along Ngong Road in Nairobi which (combined with the looting of supermarkets elsewhere in the country) led to Nakumatt (understandably) closing all their branches across the city. Kenyans (and Nairobians in particular) have become used to the culture of retail convenience. When people turned up at Nakumatt Junction found it was closed went to Nakumatt Prestige, found it was closed, panic started checking in. Uchumi, perhaps sensing the opportunity to make a killing, lowered some of their shutters but stayed open. Within an hour word had spread that everything was closed apart from Uchumi, the place was PACKED!

People were buying everything. Bread, eggs, canned food, cereal, lots and lots of alcohol, but nobody stopped at the hardware section. With rumours weeks ago about people buying pangas in bulk (big sharp machetes used mainly for gardening) everybody was watching the panga and knives section. I wonder what would have happened if a person tried to buy a set of pangas.

Because Uchumi was packed and everywhere else was closed, the small shops at petrol stations which have been largely deserted since the arrival of 24 hour supermarket shopping were also full. I queued for 20 minutes to try and buy some Safaricom airtime only to be told the only ones available were KSH 50.00 which explains why this post is coming to you this morning rather than last night.

Things were not helped with the flurry of irresponsible txt messages flying from phone to phone. One alleged that PNU bigwigs (Kibaki’s party) had mobilized Administration Police across the city with orders to torch slums, another one alleged that ODM (Odinga’s party) had bussed it battle harden troops from South Sudan ready to cause chaos across Nairobi. And on and on it went. Strangely with everyone assured that “their side” had made contingency plans for violence everyone was slightly reassured. Now I know what it must have felt like at the height of the cold war when both sides had the ability to completely destroy each other so no one made a move. A weird illusion of peace as violence is balanced.

It is not all bad news however; together with the violent, rumour filled txts came the calls for peace. Soon my phone book was over flowing with peace messages many of them religious. At midnight thousands of Kenyans knelt in pray in a prayer chain. Calls for prayers came from all over even the blogosphere. For sure churches and other places of worship are full to the brim this morning.

I know that as I write this a meeting of influential but non political Kenyans from across tribal, gender and religious lines is being planned with the aim of convincing all big three presidential candidates to appear together in public and make a joint appeal for peace. (This effort may be overtaken by events as all eyes are now on TV screens as the Electoral Commission of Kenya is about to give a press conference where presidential results are expected).

I leave you with a txt message I received this morning, it also leads as one of the longest txt messages I have ever received:

An Open Appeal: For the record the MP-Elect from my constituency in which I voted, Ikolomani, is from New-Ford Kenya, a PNU affiliate party, and this has been taken peacefully by people because there was OPEN fairness even though almost as many voted ODM. Please let us note that Biblically God promotes peace when founded on God’s standard of truth and justice. Let us pray for truth/justice and fairness to prevail amongst all decision-makers and in all our hearts in the nation as the foundation for building peace now and forever. We note that the previous regime’s (Moi’s) “peace” legitimized oppression and unfair deals. People and God reject that and this negatively tainted whatever was done. Let us who have worked in Rais Kibaki’s government give a legacy worthy of our National Anthem. Thank you for praying. God bless. Please pass this on.

kenyaelection07

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