Monday, January 14, 2008

Kenyans continue to live in a dream world.

Well there's been some marvellous lines coming out of government nominated ministers with regards to the hopeful negotiations that all of us Kenyans have been waiting for in earnest on the eve of the opening of parliament and the arrival of Mr Kofi Annan.

The government has now announced that they are only letting Kofi Annan into the country through courtesy and they had not invited him (he was only invited by the ODM party only), as they have no complaints themselves with the election results and don't see why they need mediation at all! The government doesn't sound like they have any thoughts of real negotiations and will just try and pretend everything is quite normal and get on with business as usual.

I am personally distraught by this new revelation as it sounds like we will most definitely be in for some tense few days and things in this country could go horribly wrong once again.

My driver went home to Western Kenya this weekend to bury some family members, (one of which was caught up in the violence), and he tells me tension is incredibly high still in the ODM stronghold. On the main roads - even now - there are roadblocks being set up by Kalenjins with ODM t-shirts and caps stopping people and asking them what tribe they are and where their political affiliations lie.

I have also heard from someone living in Siaya (which is again in the Western part of the country), that the town is overrun with armed men dressed in Kenya police uniform who seem to know very little Swahili and only speak to each other in Luganda.

This does not bode well at all, as Ugandan soldiers are well known for having absolutely no qualms about shooting anyone who they feel is in their way.

This has been vehemently denied by the marvellous Alfred Mutua - the government spokesman who right now the whole of Kenya seems to want to blat - whichever side of the fence they are on, as he has this fixed smirk on his face that really needs wiping off! The rumours of the Ugandan troops has also been denied by the police spokesman and whoever else on the government side has been asked about it.

Aid trucks from the Red Cross have been attacked in lots of Western areas trying to do their best and feed the people. It seems that they are being targeted by gangs who try and get everything off the truck for themselves and their own groups and they have no wish to share it fairly with those displaced it seems. Perhaps this is because these gangs are the ones who displaced those the Red Cross are trying to feed - who knows, but whatever the reason, people are starving that is for sure.

What is going on out there in Western Kenya is really quite a frightening prospect and I think here in Nairobi we are being shielded incredibly well from the real truth of what is going on right under our noses.

Some fab Kenyans have taken the initiative and set up a website in order to try and change the fact that we are living in a little bubble here pretending things are just 'business as usual', which from reports of people up-country, are so not. The website is Ushahidi.com and is a tool for people who witness acts of violence in Kenya in these post-election times. You can report the incident that you have seen, and it appears on a map-based view for others to see. They are working with local Kenyan NGO’s to get information and to verify each incident.

Meanwhile here in Nairobi the centre of town will be on 'lock down' from 11am as Parliament is scheduled to sit at noon.

I'll be sure to let you know what I hear, as I hear it tomorrow.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please sign this petition and help promote it

http://www.gopetition.com/online/16283.html

Anonymous said...

LET KENYA BURN

Who do Kenyans think they are?
They are burning in Darfur
And in Congo and in Chad
They are suffering in Zimbabwe
As they suffered in Soweto
Do you remember Rwanda
And Angola and Uganda?
Why is Kenya any different?

No one cares about Kenya
Not Kibaki - not his people
Nor Mr Bush or Gordon Brown
Not Obama and not Kofi
Not even Kenyans by themselves

They will talk, they will talk
They will not do a thing
They will not give up anything
To try and save the day
They will loot and they will shoot
We will only shake our heads
And when they all are dead
We will only talk some more
Of what is lost that could have been

Let it burn! Let it burn!
If Somalia - why not Kenya?
If people will not change
Then they all deserve to die
If they cannot live together
And they won't agree to part
Then let them kill each other
And waste no one else's time.

Anonymous said...

the person above should be ashamed of himself. he has no family or connections in kenya and feels nothing since he is not directly affected.hope what he has said does not turn on him instead.

Mzungu Chick said...

Anon 1 -Great Petition. I have already signed and posted it on my blog too so hope we get others to sign. Thanks for that.

Anon 3 - Totally agree with you on the comments from Anon 2. However I think we should actually have pity on someone such as that who has to live with so much hate inside them. It must be very hard to wake up in the morning and look at their self in the mirror knowing that they have no feelings but loathing for people throughout the world.
I'm sorry but no-one in the world deserves to die through hatred and especially children - they never asked to be involved.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your nice blogs I always enjoy reading them. I was just browsing and got shocked that I cannot acess the official state house website and that of the office of the president....Can someone please tell us whats going on???

Link to the office of the president websid\te: http://www.officeofthepresident.go.ke/

Link to state house web site: http://www.statehousekenya.go.ke/

Verify the links check: http://www.kenya.go.ke/

Does this mean we are back to 'normal'

Mzungu Chick said...

Hi Nayore, Glad you enjoy reading. I'd say things are definitely back to 'normal' if nothing works properly! Checked those links out - i think what they mean is "GOVERNMENT currently under construction . Please check back later"!

Anonymous said...

heyy...i discovered your blog by accident last week and have been reading it religiously since. your humourous take on stuff happening back home is refreshing. that said i think the posturing by pnu is really sad and it's difficult not to be despondent. living abroad, i'm scared that i might not have a country to retun to once these politician idiots are done messing everything up. DAMN THEM.

anyway, keep up the good work and hope your business will ride this storm. nice to see a patriotic mzungu lol

Mzungu Chick said...

Thanks Zed,
I'll keep you updated on word on the street as i hear it.