08026
January 10, 2008

Up close and personal

Reflections from a PC(USA) mission co-worker in Kenya

by Marta Bennett
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-worker

Marta Bennett

NAIROBI, Kenya — Happy New Year to you all, though here in Kenya we are trying to figure out the appropriate greeting as we meet. Somehow “Happy New Year” seems not quite appropriate given our circumstances.

In response to many emails, all I can say is that what is happening here in this beautiful country is so tragic. Kenyans were stellar in the process of voting on Dec. 27. Voting was predominantly peaceful, observers were pleased and all was in order, even the counting at the polling stations.

But something went terribly wrong in the official tallying and reporting. We had a living room full of people at our house watching the returns over that weekend, including Kikuyu, Luo and Kamba, the tribes of the top three presidential candidates. 

One of the Kikuyus in our gathering started commenting: “Where are the returns from my area?” “All around Mt. Kenya, nothing is coming!” “What is happening?”

Raila Odinga (the opposition candidate) was way ahead, then the gap was closing, with silence from the Mt. Kenya region (a stronghold for President Mwai Kibaki – who is Kikuyu). But still it seemed pretty certain that Odinga (a Luo) was winning.

Then Sunday afternoon, suddenly, in the midst of the commotion of objections at the Kenya International Conference Centre (KICC), the headquarters for this exercise, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) chairman announced that Kibaki had won, which was the first shock.

It could have been true, since the presidential race was SO close, and truly could have swung either way. But then an hour later, Kibaki was being sworn in at a basically private affair at State House. We were stunned and dismayed in our living room, Kikuyu, Luo, and American alike.

Even if he had fairly won, and yes, even if by midnight on that day, without someone in office technically we would have been without a government, it was ALL WRONG and raised red flags all over. Even those supporting him were concerned.

The other terrible thing was that we heard not a peep, nor saw even an old photo of Kibaki from the day of election until that moment he was being sworn in on Sunday evening. Was that the Press? Or where was it he?

Meanwhile, Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka (the two other main presidential candidates) were visible as they came into KICC to watch the results come in. We knew where they were and how they were reacting to the vote counting, even when it was inappropriate behavior such as cheering for victory before the counting was finished.

Then more and more, the returns were so clearly in question in too many instances, with reversals of who was ahead, forms tampered with and too many people being counted – more than 100 percent of registered voters in a number of constituencies.  The European Union electoral observers, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya and other credible people rose up to affirm that the results were, at best, questionable.

I think almost all would agree that the issue that set Kenya on fire was the rigging, and the terrible unjust and wrongful acts being done by powerful “someones” behind the scenes.

If the election results were true and without glaring irregularities, even if Kibaki had won, there would have been reaction, and perhaps skirmishes. People would have been mad, such as Odinga supporters, and would have demanded a recount. But eventually it would have died down and we would have settled in.

But this one – it was such an act of injustice, laced with irregularities and illegalities. We really hoped we would prove that Kenya had taken a major step towards democracy with this election. But instead we have been set back years, and fanned the flames of ethnic hatred among neighbors who up till now had lived side by side peacefully.
 
On Sunday, Dec. 30, I was reading Proverbs 29 before the final results were announced. As alarming questions were starting to surface, the scripture was such a direct word from the Lord.

• Verse 4: “By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down … ;
• Verse 7: “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern; 
• Verse 9: “If a wise man goes to court with a fool, the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace.”

The verses apply in all directions of those running for the presidential seat. At first Musyoka was coming out looking pretty good after he gracefully accepted his defeat and bowed out, leaving the top two to fight it out.

I was thinking that maybe he could prove to be a rational and credible voice in the midst of the fray. But more and more, it seems he’s not helping things as he speaks out, and instead is losing the credibility he had.

As for me and my house, I have noted that without doubt, the Lord is still very sovereign – the issue is with the free-will side of things. We have a couple additional people staying with us right now. One is a friend who is fearful due to location of her residence, having received threats via leaflets stating that “we are suffering, so we will make sure you suffer too,” from some of the ethnic “militia” rising up.

The other is a young mother and her 1 ½-year-old child from Kibera, one of the major hotspots since it is a Luo/Odinga stronghold, though many Kikuyu and other ethnic groups also live there. Kibera is said to be the largest slum in sub-Sahara Africa, with somewhere around 1 million residents.

The young mother’s child was burned on his genitals earlier this week by a neighbor who is of the other ethnic group as a political statement. The boy will be OK in terms of physical healing, but that is such an example of the demonic things happening around us. 

We are praying, fasting, crying out that somehow God would intervene. Yesterday (Sunday, Jan. 6), many churches were praying. In the afternoon, many of the pastors and others met at All Saints Cathedral in town. It sounds like it was a remarkable time with representatives of each ethnic group standing and confessing the sins of their particular ethnic group, asking forgiveness and praying for God’s intervention, truth, justice and mercy, and embracing with tears the representative of their “opposite” tribal group.

Today (Monday, Jan. 7), the Law Society of Kenya, made up of all ethnic groups, is demanding that Kibaki step down. The society is saying he is NOT the duly elected president, and the society also is ousting the ECK chairman from the bar, stripping him of his credentials, even though he had been a known and respected lawyer. 

Though there is relative calm today, there is nothing normal about any of this at this point. School openings are being postponed until at least another week, waiting to see how things will unfold.

As for the kids and me, we are fine, safe and have food and water, though power comes and goes. The kids are going stir crazy having to stay inside for days on end, and most evenings our place has a number of people coming to watch whatever news we can get. On Saturday I took the kids to help sort clothes and food donations at our church, located just meters from Jamhuri Fairgrounds, where more 4,000 people are now camping out for safety.

We are working together with the Red Cross and Africa Enterprise to respond to that situation, but are also thinking about other less-publicized areas and what we can do for the longer term, especially after the initial flood of goodwill dies out. People will still be without a home or business to go to; they will still have no means of accessing food. 

Another big concern as the economy begins to collapse is the impact on surrounding nations, which cannot get fuel, supplies and other things because many major roads in Kenya are closed, including the main highway from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to all inland regions, including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Congo.