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February 12, 2008
Hamjambo,
It has quieted down here considerably since the US embassy announced
last week that ten Members of Parliament and several businessmen were
having their visas to the States revoked. There are still problems in
the western towns of Kisumu and Kericho and that area, but we are
hearing very little about it. Nothing has been on the news for several
days.
Crime, of course, is still rampant everywhere, but that is to be
expected. The biggest thing to happen in our area lately is two nights
ago five thieves tried to hijack a car between our estate and Wendani,
the adjoining estate on our south side. The victims managed to call the
police and the hijackers were intercepted, and after a gun battle four
of the criminals were dead but a fifth had escaped.
There is some interesting news from out west, however. Many of the Luo
people who left Ruiru had been living in this area for many years. When
they started arriving in their home places their own tribesman there
began chasing them out saying they didn't want them there anymore since
they hadn't been there for 20 years or whatever. We haven't heard of any
violence on that end, but that almost sounds like ethnic suicide.
The peace negotiations between the two political parties, ODM of Odinga,
and PNU of President Kibaki, appear to be making progress. They have
agreed on some issues and a newspaper report yesterday said they might
have an agreement signed within two weeks. Wow! That would be good news,
but I think it's a little optimistic.
Both parties have agreed to a justice commission to deal with the recent
violence and bring the guilty to trial. Nearly a thousand, or over a
thousand were killed depending on what report you hear. A second item
both have agreed upon is to have a reelection in two years.
Odinga is still refusing to recognize Kibaki as president and wants to
create a Prime Minister position with two deputies that would run the
government. In other words, the president would be the figure head of
state, but the prime minister would be the one running the show. PNU is
rejecting that saying the president must be head of the state and the
government. The prime minister idea would be a hard one to accept
because they'd have to rewrite the constitution, which is something else
they are negotiating. But they've been talking about that since we came
here. Moi was going to have a new constitution but what they came up
with right before the 02 elections was rejected. Then Kibaki promised
he'd have a new constitution but after five years in office the country
is still waiting.
Personally I should think that if they can agree on rerunning the
election in two years it's a face saving victory for both. Kibaki is
still the recognized president, but his term will be cut from five years
to two. Odinga should be happy with that because then he has forced the
government to recognize his legitimate claims to the presidency and give
him another chance. No doubt the next time they vote there will be
election observers from all over the world watching every polling
station to make sure there is no fraud, and no excuse for violence to
break out again.
Furthermore, I shouldn't think Kibaki would be afraid of a rerun because
with the ballot count safely watched over by outside election observers
he could not be accused of rigging it again, and after what happened
this time Odinga probably doesn't stand a chance to be elected because
most people are going to remember all the violence he caused.
So, thanks for your prayers. There's no guarantee things won't erupt
again, and the missionaries we have over in Eldoret may still be walking
on pins and needles, but around Nairobi and in our area we are back to
normal, whatever that means in Africa!
Lance Patterson |
