Rivalries, Poverty, Disaster
That most enterprising ethnic group, East Indians, always seem to be in the wrong place at the right time. Brought over to do the dirty work for the British during the colonial era, they stayed on in various places within Africa, to earn their living, to raise their families, to love the country. Setting up as businesspeople, owners of little shops, hard-working professionals, they became a middle class society of their own.But when things turn awry in any of those countries they become instant victims, symptoms of colonialism, despite their neighbourliness, usefulness to the economy and the progress of the country, and despite their century-long settlement there. From grudgingly respected citizenship, instant symbols of modest wealth acquired through hard work, while those around them suffer in unrealized advancement.
Their shops are burned down, their businesses destroyed, and they run for their very lives. Idi Amin blamed them for the ills he brought himself upon Uganda and confiscated their goods and tossed them out. Kenya took them in, grateful for the promise they brought with them. Now the very same poverty-stricken Kenyans who once depended upon them, but who yet destroyed their shops, face starvation.
Tribal allegiances and the rituals of hate and revenge have fall-outs other than tribe-on-tribe violence. Granted, the worst atrocities visited upon the people occur when one dis-entitled and frustrated tribe turns upon the representatives of the entitled tribe. And so it is in Kenya today, a country of social stability and progressive economic advancement - at least in the urban areas.
The Kikuyu and the Luo are oppositional where once they were united in government. Because the Kikuyu remain adamantly ascendant, unwilling to fairly give turn to the Luo, the poor slum-dwellers, the more remote villagers gather in a cataclysmic storm of anger to wreak depraved vengeance on their Luo enemies, once their neighbours.
President Mwai Kibaki refuses to surrender his throne. Raila Odinga refuses to recognize the results of a faulted election. When Mr. Odinga calls upon his followers and supporters to launch protests he very well understands that atrocities will follow; these are tribal "protests". Not his fault that close on one thousand people have been killed, but Kibaki's, for refusing to step down.
David Throup, a British expert on Kenya who has been studying Kenyan elections for decades holds that both sides padded the vote. Unfortunately for Mr. Odinga's aspirations, Mr. Kibaki's side was more diligent and successful in ballot stuffing, hence their victory. "Was it rigged? The answer is yes", said Mr. Throup. "But not by as much as you think. And it was rigged by both sides."
"There are thousands of our supporters who wish to demonstrate their bitter disappointment with this stolen election" Mr. Odinga declared. "They are being prevented from doing so by this government, which is imposing a state of siege in this country." President Kibaki doing what presidents must; protecting all of his citizens from "protests" leading to debauchery and murder.
Let alone the quarter-million Kenyans who have been forced to flee the ongoing violence. Let alone the East Indian shopkeepers who bemoan their faith in the country somehow gone awry.
Labels: Political Realities, Traditions, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 17, 2008
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