Seasonal things

Well, I've been absolutely terrible in updating my presence on here. I will admit to its being down to simple inability on my part to get around to it, despite having so much to say on everything from Obama's triumph in the States to the completion of the LHC in Switzerland (some relatives have a house on top of it). I've got out to a few more places and am laying plans for a few more ('til I die), but for the moment there's nothing more to put there than all season's greetings and best wishes for 2009.

A new year, new effort, but old ugliness

I'm sorry, sick at heart indeed, to have to begin what I hope to be major posting on such a sad note, but this is something I need to speak out on, some few points that ought to be made. Despite the media storm on the events so tragically unfolding since the end of December last year, a view of what is happening can become as obscured as the skyline over Nakuru this morning. I lead with the Kenyan flag wearing a black sash of mourning, setting out my grief over what has overtaken the country I have come to love. A rather bold gesture, but nonetheless appropriate.

Although there certainly were electoral irregularities sufficient to invalidate the election, the events that have followed have rendered the squabbling of the two factions of little consequence. The lack of resolve shown on both sides to refrain from provocative gestures and try and reach some form of practical unity in the face of the violence engulfing the three most important cities of the country has reflected poorly indeed on the statesmanship of any of the parties to the dispute. Politicians, especially in the upper reaches of power, can show a marked tendency to conflate their ambitions and interests with the common weal, locally, nationally, and internationally. I'm sure that I need not enumerate examples. But here, it needs to be made plain that the ambitions of Messrs. Kibaki, Odinga, and co., their financial and social interests, and their desires to manipulate the absence of that which is lacking in the body politic are not worth a single wananchi life. How might they justify their performance to the raped, the dispossessed, the injured, the traumatised, and the relatives of the dead?

Pointing the finger seems superfluous at the moment. Nonetheless it should be said that majimbo was an incredibly dumb idea. Notwithstanding the ethnic hatreds it stirred up, the sheer impracticality of carrying out devolution over a country whose development is so spectacularly unequal, and it's hard to think of any nation of which this is more true, should have been obvious. The rushed and furtive way in which the new government was formed was such as to fatally undermine its credibility in the circumstances. Worse, it has left confidence in the entire democratic process shattered. People had already associated politics with violence, as is only natural where there is so much to play for, and so many left outside, with nothing but their anger to keep them warm and their sense of wrong to propel them forward. But now the contempt many wananchi feel towards the political elite, who promise them fulfilment of their needs in a manner reckless even by the standards of politicians, has deepened even further. The democratic process cannot thrive where it is not taken seriously. And this means recognising, accepting, and working to overcome all its faults and drawbacks.

It's worrying indeed that Human Rights Watch has pointed the finger at certain ODM officials for organising the violence that has disgraced the country, substantiating to a certain extent government allegations. There has been a lot of loose talk, even in political terms, with wild rubbish spouted about genocide and Idi Amin (like calling Hitler in Europe). That said, it may well serve to hide some disturbing realities.

The international media coverage has of course been extensive, but of very variable quality. The same woeful phenomenon I observed when I first returned from Kenya, of everyone wanting to talk to me about it, and nobody knowing anything (thus leading to some frightful blunders), has asserted itself in the comment and reportage sections of organs that really ought to know better. My favourite has been that fool David Lambert, in the Torygraph (yes, we like Private Eye), saying that Kenya has never succeeded in ousting a sitting president at an election. Well, Uhuru Kenyatta was, to all intents and purposes, a sitting president, being installed at the head of one of the oldest and most sophisticated political machines in Africa, but nonetheless being crushed in 2002 - five years to the day before last December's bitter disappointment. The kind of ignorant coverage that has angered me so (I have a very low tolerance for fools in print) serves to reinforce the image of the Dark Continent, where nothing is known, and all nightmares can be projected onto. As a community-based compendium of incidents, www.ushahidi.com (check the button at left) is the place to gain a picture of what's happening. This is put together daily, and supported via text message, a medium which has been an absolute lifesaver for many - although put to more sinister uses by some.

The government's behaviour, although they and the opposition are moving closer together, like two squabbling cats on a rock that is slowly being submerged by the rising tide, is still leaving a lot to be desired. Flinging mud at the ambassadors of nations who have complained of electoral irregularities really does not help. And the crass idiocy of John Michuki's jingoistic pronouncement, in a country that depends on foreign tourism for a huge sector of its economy, and one which is slated to lose 120000 jobs, really had to be seen to be believed.

The important thing now is to believe in the country, with redoubled support needed for its battered economy - without foreign income, things will be even harder. I should politely exhort anybody who has been sufficiently interested to read this far to consider donating to the relief efforts for the displaced - many of whom had little enough to begin with, and now the political process they placed their hopes in with the hearts, even if their heads forebore to give away their trust, has taken even that away from them. I have friends who have had to flee the violence or skulk in their homes, terrified of the rampaging mob. But at least they are still substantially unscathed, thank Heaven. How many will still have a job and income by next month is hard to tell. In any case, there are many different organisations putting together assistance for the vulnerable in the midst of suffering that has been none of their making. www.mamamikes.com is one such, but there are many others.

There's more to say, there always is, but I must save it for another occasion.