Followers

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Shame on Kenya

I am shocked and appalled by the apparent complicity of the government, civil society and media in the ethnic cleansing that is happening in our country. Not even during Moi's brutal regime did we see people not only evicted from their homes (of which there were undoubtedly very many), but ferried back to their "ancestral" regions. Though they remained in refugee camps, there was no doubt that they retained the right to return to their burnt out homes. The existence of these camps served as a constant reminder of the determination of the displaced to regain what was (and still is) rightfully theirs.

The Kenyan society stands indicted for the failure to secure the right of any Kenyan to live and own property in any part of the country. Worse still, we are balkanizing the nation into exclusively tribal regions in the name of peace. Historical grievances and a stolen election are being used as an excuse to commit the most heinous crimes with impunity.

Where is the government? Where are the voices of our famously eloquent civil society? Where is the media? Why are we all silent in the face of this most extreme danger to the fabric of our society? Shame on Kenya!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

this observation is so fundamental, it confounds why mediators and general Kenyan society is bothering with other issues! if Kenyans have rights, and they can be so abused without our "formal custodians" even REALIZING the gravity, one wonders what principles will our democracy be based on? so far, you have mentioned one of the most profound indicators that indicate how "FAILED-A-STATE" we already are!!!!!!