Post-Election Corruption (Kenya)

I am learning that the situation in Kenya is far more complex than it seems. There are undercurrents of deceit and corruption and nothing is clear. I don’t know who to believe. Every day the story seems to change.
The other day I met some young business men from the US with high contacts up in the government and they shared some information with me that makes the whole situation seem more internationally insidious than expected. Even foreign interests play a role in the political aspects of the election. Things are more complicated than they seem and I don’t know what to think.
But politics aside, going to the real people on the ground-level of who this power struggle is affecting I see that things are worse than I thought as well. It is one thing to hear about the struggles going on with the higher ups and quite another to listen to a woman tell me about her narrow escape from rape because of the conflict.
Right now Kenya is in an eerie tenuous state of almost lawlessness. I have never felt tension like this in my life and though things seem fairly normal on the surface, it feels like the air is loaded with dynamite. There is a government that people say is not legitimate. There is the opposition trying to encourage people to dismiss the government. There are thousands of police and GSOs (Government Service Officers) employed on the streets to keep the peace, but they act under the government which many deem to have no authority.
Some of the GSOs are taking advantage of their power in the lawless situation. They are no better than the looters and criminals. I have spoken to many people who have told me that they saw the GSO officers and policemen looting beside the rioters. There is a shoot to kill order as well and there is no telling how many deaths have been caused by police who are supposedly trying to keep the peace. What worries me is that if these people are benefiting from a lack of peace through looting themselves, what motivation do they have to prevent this from happening? They have yet to be paid by the government for their long hours post-election so some of them seem to be taking matters into their own hands and furthering the suffering of Kenyans.
“The other day (January 10th) when they were supposed to go to Uhuru Park, there was a big group of Mungiki outside my compound,” said a woman who works as a housekeeper that I was talking too. “The police (GSOs), they fire tear gas at them then run away. They come back and into my house pretending to look for Mungkiki. They ask for money. I tell them I do not have. They say they rape me and my daughter if I do not have money. They say they rape me in front of my daughter and my daughter in front of me.” She is visibly shaken and her eyes cloud with tears.
“I go give them more than 12,500 shillings and they go away. I was lucky because I had my pay money and money from Christmas. I had it all together to pay school fees and transportation for everyone home from Christmas.”
She said they went around to all the homes in her compound, 6 in total and did this with all the women that were in the homes alone. She does not know how many of them were less fortunate and were raped because they did not have enough money to prevent it.
There is a huge refugee situation that has received much attention, but even those who still have homes are not safe in their own houses.
The most shocking part of this to me is the lack of surprise when I talk to other Kenyans about what happened. Another woman I spoke to told me that the GSO is known for that. It almost seems as if they accept it. There is nothing the people can do. The people that are supposed to protect them are looting and raping. This is not an isolated incident. It is widespread and happening throughout Kenya. The longer this conflict continues, the more damage is being done to women and children.
It is a very scary thought that the very people charged with keeping peace might have more to gain by keeping the chaos.

Nairobi Days

Nairobi has been kind to me. I have been stranded here but it has all worked out incredibly well and now it really feels like home. I am trying to decide how I might fit into this world and what I should do as a career and after the post-election chaos here in Kenya, I know this is the kind of thing that I want to be involved in.
As tragic as all of this has been, I think being in conflict zones is the best place for me to be able to help people. I am drawn to either journalism (but seriously doubting my skill as I have yet to sell a story despite knowing the situation so well after being here for so long and being in this conflict which seems like it should have been my big break) or relief work.
The last couple weeks I have felt so incredibly alive. The tension, adrenaline, excitement, chaos, compassion, pulling together and sense of community is amazing. Though the situation has brought out the worst in some, it has brought out the best in others. It has been an unbelievable glimpse into the world I want to live and work in as well.
After being swept up into the security house and regaled with tales of relief workers who have this sort of competition to be the first to conflict zones I am utterly enchanted with the idea. The woman I was staying with told me about the time her relief group convinced soldiers to let them ride in their tanks so they were able to get there and start helping the injured right as the fighting began. What a way to have a tangible impact!
I have been enjoying my time in Nairobi, the center of the world for NGOs and a lot of media groups. I have been able to help with a few NGOs and watch as Kenyans show a real sense of community. People are acting with so much integrity and intelligence that though conditions are poor at the moment, I have a feeling that things will be ok here.
One contact has lead to another and I have not had to spend too much time in scary hostels. Rather I have been able to stay in spectacular homes. Right now I am in one of the nicest houses I have ever been in and I have it all to myself this week as the owners are out of town but just offered it to me. This is the third house I have stayed in!
Before the people left, I went out with their daughter and got a sense of Nairobi nightlife, which might be the best scene I have ever seen. People are trying to get their lives back to normal so the bars were lively and full. It proved to be fantastic people watching. There was such a variety in the crowd and everyone just wanted to dance and have fun. There were locals, ex-pats, diplomats, kids of the diplomats, backpackers, Indians, business people, old, young and everything in between and everyone got along.
I have gotten a glimpse into the ex-pat/diplomatic lifestyle with this family here and I have to say, what a way to live and grow up! The ex-pat community here is great and something I would love to be a part of someday. I think that people that are driven to live in a place like this all have similar open-minded and adventurous personalities. I like how the circles run too, ex-pats don’t keep to themselves like in other countries, they mix in with the locals and everyone seems to be friends.
I am finally getting a grasp on the landscape of Nairobi and getting the transportation in the matatus down. It is feeling like home. The Kenyans might be the nicest people I have ever met in my life. I feel so humbled when I think about how most of them are fluent in 3 languages: Kiswahili, English and their native tribal language. Quite impressive.
I have made contact and made friends all because of the friendliness of everyone I have met in Nairobi. It has been a glimpse into a life that I hope so much someday I will have a place in.
The journalists are great too, that is a circle I dream to enter but fear I don’t have what it takes. Yesterday was the day that parliament opened. The whole area was sealed off, but I managed to get in with the press. There were more soldiers around than some small countries have in their own armies. Guards were on horseback and the tension was high as protesters tried to get in.
I hung around by the press trying to work up the nerve to talk to them. Finally I approached one crew, it didn’t help that one of the guys (they were all AP) was possibly the most attractive person I have ever seen in my life. They were all really nice and sympathetic to my plight as a freelancer. I was envious of their press passes and access, their circle of hotels and parties and press conferences. Maybe someday.
One thing that happened that was exciting was all the cameras were gathered in front of the parliament house filming the MPs entering the gates. It wasn’t very exciting and I thought the story might be somewhere else so I wandered around the back. Almost like a “Where’s Waldo?” book, I found Raila and the pentagon! They were meeting out in the back, so I quickly pulled the AP god aside and told him. In return he gave me the phone number of one of the executive editors in the Nairobi office. They don’t need help now, but I am holding on to that contact!
I wandered around the city talking to people. I think journalists have the best job in the world. They get to just talk to everyone, discern what the stories of the day will be and filter out what is important. I can imagine nothing better than being sent into conflict zones and places of chaos to talk to the locals and bring a human aspect to the abstract images of turmoil, negotiating obstacles as they come, rushing for a deadline, never knowing where I will be going or what will be happening and seeing so much of the world and ways of life.
At the same time it is frustrating, how am I supposed to help people when I don’t have the credentials to get their story out there? Really knowing the situation here I thought this would be a big break for me. Despite being two of the best weeks in my life, they have been two of the most frustrating. I do feel like this is my calling, this kind of chaos, but I don’t know how to get there. But I can imagine nothing more satisfying than going to some of the most difficult places in the world and being able to make a difference. What a way to connect with life and experience so much of it. What a way to really explore our humanness when it is all broken down to its most basic elements. What a way to live a life of adrenaline and challenge and bring the world together in our own humanity.
I leave Kenya tomorrow. I have no idea what the future will bring. I am going to see my mom in Tanzania, then when she leaves I will hope that the road will be safe to go to Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. It is unsettling having everything up in the air, but I should be used to it by now. T.I.A.

God in Africa (Kenya)

One thing that I have learned in my time in Africa is that the people that are the most faithful in God are the ones that seem to have been the most abandoned by this god. I mentioned this in Zimbabwe and I have seen this time and time again.
I don’t know if people believe so strongly in God because of the hardships they have faced and they need faith, or if God tests them because they believe so much. Much of this trip for me is about figuring out what I believe in. I have had a good life, I have no complaints, yet I find it extremely difficult to believe in a God. Then I look at these people who have faced atrocities I could never imagine and their faith is unwavering.
All the Africans I have met are extremely religious. Christianity particularly, but Islam as well, is an integral part of society. They mix prayer with education and politics. It is taken for granted that most people are Christian. They are always praying. Throughout this whole debacle with the Kenyan elections, everyone I interviewed overwhelmingly said things like, “We are trusting in God.” “We pray that God will help us.” “God will take care of Kenya.” And so on. Their conditions never cause them to lose their faith in this God that is supposedly watching out for them.
I find myself praying more as days go by, though I am not sure who I am praying too, but I pray that the prayers of all these people will be answered. They haven’t in Zimbabwe yet, but they still are hopeful. I am more pessimistic and wonder if that day will come.
I meet more people as the days pass while I am here in Kenya and while their faith grows, mine is tested as I hear their stories.
I went into the slum of Mathare, the infamous slum that houses the Mungiki, the gang that terrorizes people.
“God has blessed us. I thank him every day,” said Mercy, the manager of the orphanage as she showed me their living quarters. There is a room for the girls and a room for the boys. Bunk beds are lined up, pushed together because the single beds with no mattresses, just hard wire must hold as many people as possible, an average of 5 squeeze onto each bed.
“The children that are really malnourished get an egg a day, but we cannot afford one for everyone. The rest eat ugali and sometimes vegetables.” Mercy tells me.
The children look happy. They play on the cement, banging on cinder blocks like drums, some do the washing and others play with a ball made of a plastic bag.
She takes me to their small plot of land in the slum. There are a few animals, cows in wooden stalls without enough room for them to lay down or turn around in, but it provides them with milk for the children. The kids laugh as they cartwheel and dive-bomb into the manure. It serves as a playground for them as well.
Walking through Mathare, there is life everywhere. No electricity or running water makes it quite a social place, as does the sheer numbers of people that live in each shack. Each shack holds as many people as possible which forces everyone outside during the day. The washing is done in buckets outside. There is a small trickle of brown water in a ditch along the side of the dirt road, clogged with trash. This serves as a source of water for washing, garbage disposal and latrine. But the people look happy. A tenuous peace has returned for the moment.
Children follow me chirping, “How are you?” People go about their daily life, listening to music, selling a variety of things from eggs to used clothes to a few tomatoes. Everyone I talk to seems to mention god in some way.
“We just pray that god continues to have peace here.” One woman says over a crate of eggs.
“We don’t care who wins the election. People are suffering. We only want peace. It is the poor that has the worst of it, the politicians don’t care. I will never vote again. But never mind, god will take care of us,” said a teacher at the orphanage.
Their faith seems unwavering.
I look around at the slum, peaceful for now but nothing has been solved. It is heartbreaking to see that the worst of the violence and destruction has been taken out on the people who are the poorest to begin with. I am seeing the human face of the suffering that is perpetuated by the power-hungry few. But for now they are optimistic and trusting in their god.

The Real Post-Election Kenya

Images of Kenyans charging at police in riot gear have blistered the eyeballs of everyone watching, but despite the inundations of violence in Kenya, the vast majority of the country is trying to focus on peace. Despite the heavy police presence, locals are doing the best they can to resume normal life.

“I just want to sell my mangos,” said a street vendor, “I want to feed my family.”

The streets of Nairobi are tentative, more shops are opening every day. There is still a large absence of road and pedestrian traffic, but some women have returned to the streets carrying goods on their heads and men with suits and cell phones walk around the Central Business District in Nairobi.

“We are all brothers and sisters here in Kenya, there is no need for fighting,” said John Gitonga, a businessman in Nairobi.

In Meru, farmers continue to work their land. Despite a lack of petrol, the only abnormality in that area, it is difficult to tell there has been any change since the election.

The Westlands area in Northern Nairobi remains quiet as people try to get on with their lives. Lines twist around, spilling out of grocery stores. The only remnants of turmoil in many areas are burnt tires, smashed glass and wilted branches, signs of peace, laying on the sidewalks. Drive around most of Nairobi and policeman in their riot gear can be seen picnicking in Uhuru Park, the very place that the opposition’s rally was supposed to take place today. Policemen snooze in the shade at roundabouts.

In the areas that have been affected, particularly Kibera, the largest slum in Africa in a part of Nairobi, people just want peace.

“It doesn’t matter who the president is. I just want it to be calm. I pray that god will take care of us,” Said a teenage boy who was fleeing Kibera carrying a blue trunk full of his possessions.

Many have been displaced since the violence and are leaving the area but have no idea where they are going.

“Please, do you have somewhere I can keep my belongings,” a woman holds out a wobbly cardboard box, “I can sleep outside, but I have no home to put my belongings in and this is all I have left.”

Her family home in Kibera was burnt down at 3pm on Thursday.

A steady line led out of Kibera with people carrying suitcases, boxes, trunks and plastic bags of whatever belongings they still had wanting to escape the violence and try to piece their lives back together. No one knew where they were going, but all agreed that they wanted nothing more to do with the fighting. Political and tribal violence has lost its impact and now they simply look weary.

A woman walking away from Kibera had no boxes or trunks like others. “Before the elections I had a home, now I have nothing.”

Kenya Update 2

• 1/4/08- last night I was woken up by gunshots. Despite being in a house that has four guards wandering around the gate community, surrounded by a cement wall with shards of glass on top, with three rings of barbed-wire on top of that and three lines of electric fence on that containing two of the highest trained human security from England's Delta Force who could kill people with a finger but happened to have G3s with them, I was nervous. Not too nervous, but when they got loud I slept on the floor. Today was much quieter. It sounds like Raila and Kibaki are going to talk! Still, we took a drive around the city and there were still lots of police and guards. We saw a steady stream of refugees leaving Kibera and other areas of the city with what little possessions they had. They carried them in suitcases, trunks or simply cardboard boxes. I stopped to talk to a few and they told me their homes were burned down and they had been sleeping outside. They had nowhere to put their stuff. They had no idea where they were going but were praying it would be better than where they have been. I was speechless.
• 1/5/08- I know things are crazy up country, but Nairobi seemed normal today.
• 1/6/07- Today was a day of national prayer. They broadcasted prayer on all the TV and radio stations. The media has been doing a great job of banding together and encouraging peace. This might be a little extreme to say, but I think of Rwanda and how the genocide was really instigated and perpetuated by the media. Who is to say what could have happened if the media hadn't reacted the way they did here in Kenya? There were prayer vigils all over the city. I found a group of refugees and was able to give them my blanket, I know that is nothing but it was good to do something tiny.
• 1/7/07- Things are normal but still tense. A tire blew on a bus and every single one of us in the vicinity hit the floor. We will see what happens with Raila's rallies scheduled for tomorrow. Things seem calm but at a stalemate. Kibaki is not going to step down and Raila is not going to stop fighting. Kenyans, for their part, seem to just want peace.
  

Give Kenyan's Their Rights Back

Kenya has been a role-model for East Africa in the past. It has been a stable haven for refugees from neighboring war-torn countries. The people are educated, the economy improving and tourism accelerating at a frantic pace. Nairobi is becoming an international hot-spot and metropolitan city.

That is why the recent political fiasco is so difficult to believe. If it is happening in Kenya, the star-pupil of East Africa, is any country safe?

The government of Kenya needs to continue to be a role-model for democracy for all of Africa. It has a responsibility to deliver on the guaranteed rights of its citizens.

The citizens are victims right now in the age-old struggle for power. The Kenyan’s only fault was a belief in the democracy they were assured. Now it has fallen apart. It seems in this circumstance, the government has put them in a position where they have no choice but to fight for their democracy, or else it could be lost forever in a precedent of dictatorship.

Polling day had a record turnout. In Kenya, the voting goes slowly, one person at a time. Lines twisted around and people stood for hours in the sun and in the rain. Aside from a few isolated incidents, people were extremely peaceful and enthusiastic to take part in this democracy. They were proud of their country and the process.

Enter the power-hungry government. EU reports insinuate fraud. Voter turnout of over 100% seems slightly suspicious. Maybe it was due to the opposition, maybe it was due to the government, but the real fault lies in the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) not pausing and recounting the contested constituencies.

Whether the rigging was governmental or oppositional, Kenyan’s rights have been severely violated in the events that have taken place after elections.

The draconian media black-out by the government has a chilling 1984 feel to it. There is something oppressive about watching president Mwai Kibaki being sworn in, jumping to the highly contested opposition Raila Odinga’s reaction, then blacking out to a re-run of “Everybody Loves Raymond” a few words into the speech.

The government has been dogmatically blocking citizen’s rights to question this election. By refusing to allow Odinga’s peace rally in Uhuru park they are feeding the fire of oppression.

Sure, that the rally would remain peaceful with so many people is doubtful, but it is also likely that by trying to prevent it, far more people will be killed in clashes with police and in the long-run than if the people were allowed to meet. Tear-gassing people who come holding branches symbolizing peace seems unacceptable.

This rally is a case where the process is more important than the results. Whether the rally would accomplish something or not is not the issue. Kenyan’s must have a venue for a peaceful public meeting to exercise their rights.

These people want peace. They have done nothing wrong and they are being oppressed. They should be angry. Their democracy has turned into a dictatorship. They are not even allowed to dissent. By stifling Kenyan’s rights, the government can almost ensure themselves of more chaos.

For a democracy to function it needs dialogue. Odinga has not yet been given that. Political parties must speak peacefully with a mediator and come to a solution. As they continue to refuse to do this, they are perpetuating the suffering of the people they are supposedly there to serve. If Kibaki and Odinga cared about their people, they would engage in such dialogue.

With this blatant disregard for the Kenyan’s rights, I don’t just fear for Kenya, I fear for East Africa, whose refugees come to Kenya to seek relief, as a whole. If a country as stable as Kenya cannot uphold democratic standards and citizen’s rights, to whom is a country who looks up to them going to turn to for hope? If Kenyan’s follow the democratic process, doing everything that is asked of them and still it is in vain, how long will they continue to be able to believe in their government?

Kenya Update 1

There is a vast amount of media coverage surrounding this election chaos, but I thought I would write updates from how I have experienced it. Here is a brief recap:

• 12/27/07- E-day arrives! It was mostly peaceful. The Kenyans were extremely patient, waiting in lines that wrapped around and around. They waited in the scorching sun and the pouring rain. From what I saw, everyone’s mood was high and people seemed hopeful for elections. There were isolated instances of vote-buying, but that was by far an anomaly.
• 12/29/07- Results began to come in and the streets were empty because we were all glued to the television, which, typical election coverage seemed to continue to say the same thing. As the day progressed things became more frantic. The press room holding the ECK, press corps and party agents erupted a few times, causing them to stop for prayer before resuming fighting. The ECK stopped counting in the evening and said they would continue the next day.
• 12/30/07- The press room was explosive today. Results from the missing constituencies finally began to come in. There were irregularities with the central district, which includes Meru. Though Raila had been winning, the votes from this area were enough to potentially push Kibaki over the edge. Nairobi had check points preventing most from entering the city and we found that because votes were contested in the Meru area, the public transport that made it to the city was being targeted for attacks. At the end of the night, the votes were all allegedly counted and twenty minutes after the announcement that he was re-elected Kibaki was sworn in. On the TV, there were the beginnings of a speech from Raila, then it cut to the media blackout. This lead some to suspect the government was dispensing troops to beat any rioter and did not want it aired on TV. The little information we gleaned was from a banner on CNN telling us that riots had broken out across the country and the police had shot 5 people in Nairobi.
• 12/31/07- Meru was in a jubilant mood, people happy about Kibaki being re-elected. The rest of the country was full of chaos with looting in Kisumu, people running away with washing machines and TVs. Nairobi was essentially closed, a complete ghost town. Widespread violence occurred n Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombassa and Nairobi. The road into Uganda was closed. In Meru, members of the Luo tribe were targeted, 2 were killed, 4 were circumcised and others had their doors marked, causing them to flee to the police station. This is when the term, “Ethnic cleansing” began to be passed around. ATMS begin to run out of cash on this day and phone credit is increasingly difficult to find. People are afraid to leave their homes in Nairobi.
• 1/1/08- There is a tense feeling in Nairobi. Some try to return to normal, but most shops are still closed. There are widespread killings with machetes in the slums of Kibera. 8 more people are killed in Mombassa. We find that some constituencies had over 100% voter turnout. Petrol shortages begin.
• 1/2/08- Fearing I will be stranded in Nairobi, and on the recommendations of friends of mine who have more information than most, I am evacuated to Nairobi. I wander around the city thinking things seem ok, just quite empty. It turns out there is widespread violence in other areas of town. Getting to Nairobi was extremely difficult due to a shortage of petrol. I waited in line for almost 3 hours to get it along with my driver. Arriving in Nairobi into a house that is in charge of the security situation in many of the places in this world most would deem hell-on-earth, who has now found their home-base to be erupting, I am privy to information as it flies around the house, though I know they are keeping the vast majority from me. I found out that in Mombassa, tourist’s vehicles are stoned as they try to escape to the airport. The secret service is in the country along with security consultants from around the world. Some special forces come in (on the down-low) to prepare for an evacuation if proves necessary. Troops are flown into Kisumu. Things are tense, but the locals I spoke with seem optimistic. The EU election observation team releases a report that states there were irregularities with the election. They do not come out and say there was fraud but they hint at it. Meanwhile, the slums of Kibera are a place of rape and murder. Children are starving to death amidst the violence. The refugees that have been displaced are estimated at 70,000. A man is asked to come help with a peace agreement in a town in Western Kenya and it turns out to be a trick, he is hacked to death. Kibaki calls together parliament but around 100 of the 210 seats belong to ODM, others are ODM-K. I think the number of MPs that showed up was 86, the opposition refusing to come, a statement that nothing is going to get done in this government.
• 1/3/07- The day of Raila’s banned peace protest in Uhuru park. So far, people that tried to attend were shot with tear gas (which we can feel here in Westlands where I am) and water cannons despite carrying branches symbolizing their peaceful intent. We headed out in the morning to assess the situation and try to enable me to take some photos, but the city center is completely cordoned off and in the 15 minutes that we drove close to town, they were beginning to close the rest of the roads off behind us. It was ominously quiet with scattered groups beginning to gather wearing the ODM orange. There was widespread fighting elsewhere in the city, calls coming in throughout the day of more death and rape.