With elections about 6 weeks away the number of political parties mushrooming across the country continues to grow. In a week that saw intense speculation over a new party to be led by former finance minister Simba Makoni, another political party in Gweru has been formed. Former town councillor Ruyedzo Mutizwa is reported to have formed the People’s Democratic Party and wants to contest the presidential election.

The Southern African Development Community’s initiative to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis, believed to be at a deadlock over key electoral issues, went into high gear as mediator Thabo Mbeki arrived in Harare on Thursday. The South African President met separately with Robert Mugabe and leaders of the two MDC factions, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara. Reports said Mugabe returned home from his holiday on Sunday allegedly earlier than planned, after Mbeki requested this crucial meeting.

The Security Council has renewed the mandate of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) and French forces supporting it until 30 July so the world body can support the holding of free, open, fair and transparent elections. In a unanimously adopted resolution, the Council said it will review by 30 July the mandates of UNOCI and the French force, as well as UN troop levels, “in light of the progress achieved in the implementation of the key steps of the peace process.”

Government troops and rebel forces in the Central African Republic (CAR) continue to clash despite ongoing talks of a peace agreement, and nearly 300,000 people had been driven from their homes as of last month, according to a United Nations update. Even more worrying are the attacks by Coupeur de Route bandits, who continue to wreak havoc across the country’s northwest, burning and looting houses and kidnapping and killing civilians, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported.

The Sudanese Government has released eight rebel detainees to the newly-deployed United Nations-African Union (AU) hybrid peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, which is seeking to bring peace to the war-ravaged Darfur region. The eight members of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) were released in El Fasher in North Darfur, into the custody of UNAMID Force Commander General Martin Luther Agwai in his capacity as Chairman of the Ceasefire Commission (CFC).

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that at least 100,000 children have been forced to flee their homes due to the wave of violence that swept through Kenya following last month’s disputed elections. The agency said that as many as 75,000 children are now residing in over 100 camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), while many thousands more children are believed to be living temporarily with other family members.

South Africa was an early adopter of GM crops and, more recently, introduced a national food-fortification program. This article discusses the country's experiences in developing an appropriate regulatory framework and the responses of key stakeholders. In addition, an assessment is presented of the prospects for the adoption of biofortified crops in South Africa.

Kola Ibrahim argues that the new economic partnership agreements that are being proposed by the EU are driven by the old unequal economic relationships.

The new plan of the European Union to have economic agreements with her former colonies has not received much attention in terms of critical analysis especially by the civil society groups and trade union movements. However, those who have spoken on it have given some explanations on why it must be rejected. The issue is what alternative is available if the agreement is rejected. It should also be stated that as the negotiation of the agreement is going on, the WTO is also renegotiating with African countries in order to force the pill of economic enslavement that was earlier rejected at the Cancun Round in 2005. According to the letters of the agreement, African countries are to be given "preferential treatment" to European market for some of their agricultural products without restriction while the third world countries will also have to "gradually" open up their market for European business. Definitely, this market includes education, health and public utilities. Many African leaders have vaguely complained about the agreements but there is a consensus that the agreement will represent an advantage for the third world countries.

The agreement represents another way of rapaciously and legally exploiting the resources of the third world countries especially Africa where most of the population are living in absolute poverty. In the first place, the goods to be exported to European countries are mostly agricultural produce with little local content and market value while European countries will bring in finished goods which are high valued. This definitely means the continuous underdevelopment of the third world countries. Therefore, there will continuously be wide technology gap, increased trade imbalance and capital flight from the countries.

Secondly, most poor African farmers lack the infrastructure facilities to produce agricultural goods at cheaper cost as the transport system are archaic, modern storage system unavailable, farm equipments inaccessible while credit facilities are rare for tens of millions of poor farmers. This will mean that African countries will receive little pie of the market while local farms in Europe will massively and cheaply produce as a result of favourable technological and economic situations thus lowering prices in the market which will only benefit the big farmers who produce at cheap prices. Thirdly, as against what is being portrayed, the European countries will continue to subsidize their local farmers, especially the big business farms, which will mean economic disaster for the African countries most of whom depend on agricultural export for revenue.

Furthermore, the agreement gives right of access to European business in African countries. This means that there will not special treatments or consideration for government owned firms while social services should be open to competition without any special spending. It implies that state-owned firms will be under funded thus leading to their being bought over at the stock market or through wholesale privatization (that is to the European multinationals) while education, health, water, electricity, transportation will be totally commercialized and privatized for the market to have access. All this is meant to make labour cheap and flexible for exploitation. This process will result in retrenchment, high cost of accessing social services, rotting away of social services as a result of under funding and fall in living standards. It is a return to full scale neo-liberalism. All this is meant to give European firms a preferential access to African market at token as against the threat from other economic centres especially China, South East Asia and US. This is the real kernel of the agreement.

However, it is the rich big business of Europe that will enjoy this plan to rapaciously exploit the working poor of Africa. For instance, it is the rich farms (mostly owned by big multinationals in beverage industries) that are enjoying the subsidies being given by the European governments from the state resources that should have been used to provide better living for the poor in their countries. According to a 2005 report from Seattle to Brussels Network, titled "the European Corporate Trade Agenda", 15 percent of French farms (that is big business farms) received 60 percent of the European Commission's subsidies to France while 70 percent of small farmers received just 17 percent of the subsidies. It goes further to show that 70 percents of the EU subsidies goes to just 20 percent largest farms in Europe. These subsidies are in the final analysis going to the pockets of the big multinational firms such as beer and beverage companies that have big farms. These companies are also extensions of the world capitalist business with links to bigger firms through stock trading, bank loans and credits, etc. In fact, Oxfam reported that "farm income in UK has declined by more than 40 percent while France has lost half of its (small) farmers over the past 20 years".

Therefore, the so-called subsidies and economic agreements being negotiated by the European countries are basically on behalf of big business and not in the interest of the whole European working class. In fact, the movement of European big farms and industrial production to some third world countries is being used to drive down wages in developed countries as European working class are threatened with retrenchment employment movement and industrial relocation. Therefore, the imbalance trade agreement that favours privatization, commercialization and trade liberalization will neither favour the European working class as much as the poor people of Africa. Two third of the world trade is concentrated in just 500 big multinationals while the top 200 companies that account for one quarter of the world economic activities employ just 1 percent of the global workforce meaning that the rest are employed mostly by governments. Therefore, further attempt at handing over the economy to the big business through trade liberalization will lead to retrenchment and further concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich few.

On the other hands, the African leaders are not much enthusiastic to confront this imperialist agenda because they depend on them for survival. For instance, most African leaders are sustained in power by big business in their various countries through political support and provision of liquidity from which most of these leaders get their “rents" through direct looting of the treasury or promotion of policies that will favour their personal economic interests. In fact, most African leaders have been integrated into big business with most of them coming from the private sector while most of their advisers and legislators are either businessmen or IMF/World Bank trained intellectuals who are seconded to the African leaders to give prescriptions of neo-liberal policies that will favour the multinational vampires that are the backbones of these multilateral financial institutions. Through shares, stock trading, merger, "strategic partnership", etc, local businessmen and politicians are linked to the world business; therefore, the local leaders cannot challenge it.

Also, career advancement for these IMF/WB advisers depends on how much they are able to ensure the implementation of these policies. For instance, the multilateral institutions have promoted the former ministers of finance and education in Nigeria, Okonjo Iweala and Oby Ezekwesili, after they have ensured the implementation of the neo-liberal economic pills of privatization, deregulation, commercialization and debt buyback fraud. Moreover, these leaders have practically nothing to lose in the agreement. For instance, most of the government subsidies to farmers through bank loans and fertilizers only go to the big farms that are owned for instance in Nigeria by ex-generals and politicians in power. With a smooth connection to the local and international markets they definitely have a lot to gain as they will have increased access to the European market at the expense of millions of local farmers and working people who will bear the brunt of economic enslavement and neo-liberal exchange for big business profits.

Therefore, the Economic Partnership Agreement is nothing but another attempt to colonize the African countries and indeed the third world countries in close collaboration with the local leaders and businessmen. A genuine agreement to help Africa and her poor people will mean massive development of infrastructures, technology and industrial capacities of the African countries by Europe with no strings attached. This will help Africa to develop its massive human, natural and materials potentials while the trade between various countries will be dictated by mutual interest to provide basic needs for the working poor. Capitalist businessmen, multinational vampires and their local collaborators cannot carry out this task who are ready to milk the poor dry in search of maximum profit; it lies in the hands of the working people of Africa, third world and indeed Europe by building a radical working people's party that will struggle for power and create a socialist economic planning where the massive resources of the society will be nationalized under the democratic control of the working and poor people themselves which will provide the resources for the massive development of the third world countries while laying the basis for a genuine trade and aid among nations. Leaving the fate of the working and poor people in the hands of the rich moneybag politicians is the tragedy of all time.

Many free trade agreements have been signed and enacted into law by capitalist governments at the back of the working people. This is because the working people in Africa and other third world countries do not have political platform of their own. This is why a radical, working class party is needed to champion the interests of the poor working people. The first task in this direction is to build a left alliance among labour activists, radical organizations, civil societies against this ruinous capitalist onslaught and demand for abrogation of all imperialist free trade agreements. This will mean building struggle movements at the grass root, local national and international levels against this agreement as a basis for the formation of a working class political platform. It is unfortunate that many official trade unions bureaucrats in many third world countries have accepted neo-liberal ideology. They only raise fingers when pressures from the rank-and-file workers threaten their positions. This places heavy duties on genuine working class activists to build a genuine alternative - through day to day interventions in the struggle of the working people for better deal - firstly within the trade union movements as a basis for building working class political platforms.

* Kola Ibrahim is a student activist from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, email: [email][email protected]

* Please send comments to [email protected]

An Inspection Panel report on the World Bank’s safeguard policy violations in its Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) forest sector operations prompts discussion on new approach and greater role for Pygmies in decision-making about the future of the world’s second-largest rainforest.

The PRC Sub-Committee on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons undertook missions to various countries affected by the problem of forced displacement as part of its activities for 2007. It should be recalled that this Sub-Committee deals with all matters pertaining to forced displacement on the Continent.

A key rebel alliance has told the United Nations and African Union (AU) Special Envoys for Darfur that it is ready to work with the newly-deployed hybrid peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID. The Envoys, Jan Eliasson and Salim Ahmed Salim, held a four-hour meeting in an undisclosed location in the north-west of the war-ravaged Sudanese region with the United Resistance Front (URF), a grouping of several of Darfur’s splintering movements.

Congratulations to Bw Ngugi, for a very succinctly presented case for the "people powered revolution", in his article, LET US NOT FIND REVOLUTIONARIES WHERE THERE ARE NONE A look at the Kenyan opposition party"
The only hope is that we can find right thinking people/leaders like Bw Ngugi to galvanise action accordingly
Best wishes to all Kenyans

This weeks' AU Monitor brings you news and updates from the African Union, as it announces the 10th Ordinary Session of the Assembly in Addis Ababa, holding under the theme: "Industrial Development of Africa". Also, questions are being raised as to whether this summit will cause African leaders to " rethink the continent's approach to an industrial take-off ".

Further, former United-Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has accepted an invitation from AU Chairman John Kufuor to lead an AU panel to negotiate peace in Kenya . Mr. Annan called on both sides of the conflict to "bear in mind the interest of Kenyans and show goodwill".

The Centre for Citizen's Participation in the AU is holding a continental conference on the AU summit in which the main objective is to " create a platform where structured debate and collation of views will be made among stakeholders across the continent". The conference aims to include the meaningful participation of Africa's citizens into decision-making processes of the AU. Lastly, draft agendas for the 12th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council and the 10th Ordinary Session of the Assembly are now available.

In regional news, Charles Onyango-Obbo provides commentary of the East African Community's (EAC) involvement in the Kenya crises , stating that the crises has set a record for attracting the most former African presidents but that "the East African Community has had no public role at all" in the process.

In peace and security news, the United Nations and African Union Special Envoys for Darfur recently began a week-long mission to facilitate peace in the region.
Following a meeting of the Forum on Tax Administration of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) participants agreed to set up an international tax centre in Africa, with the aim of building the capacity of tax administrations in African countries.

Kenya continues to dominate the African blogosphere as the ODM opposition begin three days of protests against the election.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/337/blogs_01_kenyanpundit.gif continues to publish her diary of events and thoughts around the election and post election. Her latest post is a piece by Kenyan Mariposa “I am a lesbian.
A queer.
A shoga.
A dyke.
An ‘ abboration’ of nature.
Mariposa writes that she left Kenya when she was 24 years old “burdened” by the choice she had to make. She finds herself far away from friends, family and country in this time of crisis and violence but is not surprised
“Yet, in the stillness of my heart, I am not surprised. I am not at all surprised that underneath the veil of calmness lies intolerance. We are as a nation and as individuals are not sentries of peace, we would like to believe that we have no strong affiliations to the groups that we belong to. However, I ask, take a moment to ask, who do you consider your friends, your crew, are they born from the same background, do they look like you, what are their professional and personal affiliations, are they in synch with yours?”
Yet despite the chaos and violence, the corruption and intolerance she remains hopeful in that the Kenyan people have an opportunity to become more mindful and compassionate about others and end the “vicious cycles of hate”.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/337/blogs_02_mentalacrobatics…Mental Acrobatics considers the possibility of a “silver lining” in the midst of dark clouds over Kenya when Parliament convened “and no punches were thrown”. Nonetheless the situation has reached the levels of farce as the President appears to have dug his head in sand whilst the opposition have their man elected as Speaker of the House.

“ODM controlling parliament sets up some very interesting and indeed ridiculous scenarios. Kibaki gets to appoint a cabinet and that cabinet has to work through parliament. Yet the majority in parliament is completely opposed to Kibaki’s policies and will do whatever it can to wreck them. Kibaki, if he was thinking straight, could have overcome this by appointing ODM MPs to key cabinet positions. Instead he chose to ignore ODM all together in a move that made no political sense. ODM due to their strength in numbers will control all parliamentary committees. In another ridiculous scenario, some powerful parliamentary committees have a majority of seats reserved for the opposition in an attempt to prevent the largest political party in parliament from dominating all proceedings.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/337/blogs_03_potashke.gifKenyan Urban Narrative revisits his “Kikuyuness” and discovers that all Kenyans are equal but some are more equal than others – those who stole the truth and with it took the land.

“They told me that Red was for the blood that was shed and green was for the land that was won. I grew up and then I realised: red was for those who died fighting and green was for those who lived- to reap matunda ya uhuru. My ancestor inherited the red, your ancestor inherited the red; so why do we have to die that those that inherited the land may stay ever green?”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/337/blogs_04_charlestaylortria…The Trial of Charles Taylor provides a detailed day to day report on the trial of Charles Taylor which for the past week has seen the defence cross examine one Denis koker, a Mende from Sierra Leone and former member of the AFRC who were aligned to the RUC. Koker provided security for an advisor to the President. His evidence is a detailed and chilling witness to the violence wielded by
Taylor and the RUF as he describes what was called “Operation No Living Thing”.

“He said it was an order from Mosquito–that we are burning houses so that if ECOMOG or government soldiers come, they cannot stay in Kono. He said we will take the zinc roofs and build other houses. Then the RUF and Juntas would completely control Kono. I saw them shooting civilians in Kono. I saw them capture civilians in Koidu Town and surrounding villages, looting property, capturing kids–boys and girls, they shot civilians who were unwilling to carry loads. In Koidu, they captured civilians and forcefully initiated them into the force. Many women and children were captured. Those who weren’t captured ran away toward Guinea as refugees. In Koidu, women were captured and made into wives. It was like serving yourself tea to drink. It was very common wherever we went–in Freetown, Masiaka, Kono, and all along the way there. I saw it myself. Operation No Living Thing went on every day and every night, burning houses all over Kono. They burned mud houses and even concrete houses. In Koidu Town, there were more houses burned down than I could count. There were more than 100 and I couldn’t count them anymore. I wanted to find a way to reach Kailahun because that was my mother land. The group was moving towards Kailahun anyway. RUF and AFRC fighters had broken into a bank in Koidu and taken money and diamonds. They wanted to use this to open a route to Kailahun. Eldred Collins handed us over to be security for this together with Staff Sargeant Saliu Kanneh, who was Julius Maada Bio’s bodyguard. I saw the money myself in big bags. I became frightened because I had taken a military oath. We had no respect. In the military I had taken some courses and learned how to fight a war. I saw that the money was looted and thought it would be a disgrace to my family.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/337/blogs_05_akin.gif
Nigerian blogger, Akin reports on the “shame and scandal in the family” surrounding former President Obasanjo who is accused by his son, Gbenga, of having an affair with his wife and far worse, his father-in-law for having an incestuous relationship with his daughter.

My grandfather is my father
There appears to be two children in the marriage and their supposed father casts doubt on their paternity by seeking a DNA test that brings in his father and father-in-law – how reprobate can this get?.............Some matters need to handled with discretion especially where children are involved though this matter of a seemingly seriously wronged man by his wife, his father and his father-in-law is a powder-keg ready to shake Nigerian societal values to its core – this case cannot be an exception..............But this can almost be too reckless on the part of the petitioner, representing the very ugly face of acrimonious divorces – if the children were to find out that their father is either of their grandfathers rather than the husband of their mother – how damaging would that be for the children and to what end?

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/337/blogs_06_orenotes.gifOre of Ore’s Notes reports on her recent trip to the island of Zanibar and her final stop in the “Spice Tour” where she visits a slave chamber.

“Slaves were hidden in here after trade in slaves was abolished. The cave is a dank pit, which appeared to spiral into the ground. After taking about 20 steps down, the daylight was already being subsumed by the underground darkness. I climbed down as far as my slippers would allow me to on the slippery and damp ground. Our lone torch gave out and my camera battery, which I had been carefully nursing all through the trip (not having a battery charger with me) eventually failed. It was time to call it a day and head back.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/337/blogs_07_blacklooks.gifBlack Looks publishes messages from members of Kenya’s Nabuur community in towns and villages across the country. The messages were sent my email and sms to each other and to their volunteer supports.

“04 jan: “Hi Pelle! It’s terrible here! No phone cards. Pple dying esp. children of disease. Hunger biting. More police shooting. Trying to raise some support to assist people.”
01 jan: “Security situation is getting worse! over 300 ppl killed - one being my cousin. Gun shots everywhere. The impact is real - no basic needs available.”
30 dec: “Kibaki declared Presidential winner though opposition won. He’s just been sworn in 15 minutes after. There’s bloodshed in Kenya. Police kills over 50 ppl.”

* Sokari Ekine the Community Coordinator for Kabissa.org and is author of Black Looks

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org

Yesterday I heard a commentary on the BBC on genocide and today I read with interest Mukoma's intervention. It is good that the discussion on revolution and revolutionaries has begun. (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/45291) There can be no revolution without revolutionary theories and it was good that Mukoma went back to Cabral.

But we must remember that Cabral told us that when the revolution breaks out it would be like a seed that has long awaited germination. Kenya has a long tradition of progressive organizing and revolutionaries from the period of Dedan Kimathi. Revolution may break out in Kenya but revolutionary intellectuals must be sure that they are on the side of the people who want change.

While this discussion on revolution is taking place, we must seek ways to stop the theft and manipulation by those in power. My biggest worry is the role of the US. If we remember that after the Ethiopian fraud in 2005, the US and specifically, Jendayi Frazier worked to rehabilitate Meles and supported their incursion into Somalia. All of the evidence of the alliance between the US and the present Kibaki regime should alert us to the ways in which Kenya is being used as a based to subvert peace and transition in all parts of Eastern Africa. Jendayi and the US representatives on the ground are up to no good. I can agree with Mukoma on the call for fresh elections between Kibaki and Raila.

WE must exhaust constitutional, legal and political means to ensure that war of the kind that broke out in the Ivory Coast does not break out in Kenya. This is not far from the surface and while we are critiquing Raila and the ODM, we have to be aware that there are forces at work bigger than Raila. Progressive and if need be revolutionary Pan Africanists cannot be on the side of the killers who are now in power. All lives of the poor are important.

The Rwanda genocidaire (living in Nairobi since 1994) is being protected by the present group in power. The "rebel" leader from Burundi who is subverting the peace process in Burundi is hiding in Kenya. Both the Tanzanian and South African governments has requested that the Kenyans hand over this killer, but to no avail. Both the US and the Kenyans are holding these forces (Rwandan and Burundi) in reserve for their long term plans. Kenya is also the rear base for the war that is being planned in the Sudan. This does not even bring us to the fabricated terrorist campaign against the people of Somalia. We cannot compare Raila to the Ukrainian movement and overlook these realities.

So, at this moment we have to be very careful about revolutionary language. WE do not want any kind of armed confrontation between the poor in Kenya. All forms of non-violent political struggles must be exhausted. This means that we have to be responsible. We cannot point to Raila's potential alliance with imperialism while overlooking the current clear alliance between the Kibaki regime and the US military. Look at the base that was recently built in Wajir for use by the US military.

Mukoma has rightly pointed to the fact that the police have killed over 500 innocent young people. Brother Mukoma should rightly identify these persons as Mungiki. This was a terror group that was being held in reserve. It is the kind of militia that was organized to terrorize poor men and women. And to give them the necessary, resources, they placed them into the pyramid schemes of the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The past Ministry of Internal Affairs and the thugs who mobilized Mungiki killed members of Mungiki that they could not control. Hence, there should be a call for an investigation into the police killings of these 500 young men. This is to ensure that those who want to turn on and off these young people for their purposes will be exposed before the poor Kikuyu workers, trades and youth. This is especially the case for poor Kikuyu women.

These terrorists would terrorize poor women about cultural practices yet not say a word of the imperialist culture of the settlers in the Rift Valley. All sections of the Kenyan ruling class are against the rise of the political consciousness of the workers, poor peasants and itinerant traders. The rise in consciousness will be a potent force for the revolution. Revolution needs revolutionaries. If we are looking toward the future organization of the poor in Kenya toward revolution, then we must identify those in power at the moment as the enemy of the poor. One cannot criticize Raila as a capitalist owning the molasses company and overlook those who currently dominate the Nairobi Stock Exchange. This criticism of Raila without a concomitant criticism of Trancentury and those behind Vision 2030 will not go over well for those who are thinking of revolution. For the moment, there are no revolutionary leaders in the mainstream political parties. But while those of us who are organizing for the break are engaged with this recent spontaneous combustion, ponder the nature of our involvement, let us target the primary contradictions (Kibaki, the leaders of the Nairobi Stock Exchange and US imperialism.

We can place this group on the defensive by calling for the enactment of the UN Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative. Bring back Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing to the front pages by implicating the British government as collaborators. This means that Moi and the allies of Kibaki in the Anglo Leasing scandal will be further exposed. And in the process, any future government will know that they cannot steal with impunity. I found it odd that the criticism of Mukoma were directed at Raila and not at the capitalist class in general.

Struggles over transparency and the use of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament will in the short run act as a way to educate the poor in Kenya. Ethnic manipulation is running its course. It can only survive by the use of intellectuals to support one-sided analysis. Those of us who supported the struggles for liberation in the Congo in 1998 understand the long-term consequences of the talk of revolution without real revolutionaries. After more than 2 million dead in the Congo, as intellectuals we have not done a proper summing up of that debacle. Philippe Wamba died while thinking through ways to reach the youth for a new revolution. He went to the source to be with the youth. War and partisan analysis will not do at this time. Our platforms must be different from the imperial media outlets.

Peace.

Salma Maoulidi looks at developments in Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and assesses the state of democracy in the country

Tanzania’s ruling party Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) held its Congress in its party headquarters at Kizota in Dodoma this past weekend. The last party congress was held five years ago in 2002. The size and style of political event created a lot of media interest. High on the agenda of the Party Chair, President J. Kikwete, was restoring the party’s credibility among workers and common citizens (wananchi) following a number of graft allegations involving numerous party and government personalities. Similarly it provided an opportunity for the Chair to assert his authority and consolidate his grip on the Party after assuming its leadership following the 2005 General Election. Unexpectedly the congress also became an opportunity to conduct lessons in democracy. Amidst political recriminations by the opposition about unfair privileges the ruling party enjoys and its failure to be accountable for its unconstitutional or undemocratic practices Mr. John Tendwa, the Registrar of political parties, appears to have absolved the party when he announced in the Daily News of November 6, 2007 on the highly publicized CCM Congress, “CCM has set an example of how a democratic party must operate”.

“Gulp!” was my immediate reaction after reading the story. Not surprising the editorial reflected this line of thought having but praises for their benefactors. While most of us are not surprised by the Daily News adopting such a stance we ought to be uncomfortable, if not shocked, by Mr. Tendwa’s choice of words. One would think that there exist many models of democracy each evolving in its own context. Does ascribing a mandatory ‘must operate (in CCM fashion)’ not show some bias in where the leanings of Mr. Tendwa are in so far as political organizing and organization are concerned? ‘JK gives secretariat new face as big names fall,’ read the Citizen of November 7, 2007. It reports that Hon. Kigunge Ngombale Mwiru and former Premier Fredrick Sumaye failed to make it into the powerful National Executive Committee but were retained in the Central Committee hardly ground breaking a development. And as I went over the names, I found my self wondering what the fuss was about because I knew Hon. Msekwa, and Hon. Magret Sitta (who enjoys a place similar to his wife, Hon. A. Abdalla when he was the Speaker in the last Parliament). Nor are the names of Hon. S. Wasira, Hon. A. Kigoda or her boss Hon. D. Mwakyusa…new to most Tanzanians. Am I missing something about the ‘new and fresh’ faces? Perhaps, I was expecting to hear names like Mary Mpya, Joe Simfahamu or Salama Mpendawatu to solicit a reaction of, “who in the heck is Mpendawatu?” Alas, this was not to be. In my book I rate the election at the level of a minor reshuffle of the ranks which hardly suggests new blood. And by CCM’s own admission, as well as news stories in various newspapers, most of these individuals have been at the helm of major institutions in this country. Mr. Msekwa, the new stunned Vice Chairperson, is reported to have been Mwalimu’s right hand man since the early days of independence. Until 2005 he served as the Speaker of the National Parliament. Absent political viagra what should I and 37.99 millions Tanzanians expect from this reshuffle which is a disappointing as recent government reshuffles in terms of their commitment to bring in new and fresh personalities and ideas? In many ways the event itself held many of us captive limiting the scope of local news available. Indeed, the CCM Congress was front line news in most major papers for the whole week forcing everyone, even those of us who are increasingly indifferent to the political shenanigan that has come to define our elusive attempt at democracy in Tanzania. The Sunday Citizen of November 4, 2007 speaks volume by describing the impending elections as, “determining the fate and direction of the nation”. Such a statement equates the CCM Congress at par, if not higher than the General Elections last held in 2005 raising my eyebrows.

So what is democratic in all of this? If anything I read a lot of mixed messages in the charade that was the congress. While the Party Chair waived a wand of words condemning corruption in the Party, we saw before our eyes the different lobbying styles in operation that spelt actions closely fitting that description. Those antic we missed party members let us in on after some public exchanges of “vijembe” or “nasaha” in a supposedly democratic process. An observer writing in Raia Mwema of November 7, 2007 shared how the air in the main hall was subdued and all matters on the agenda were being endorsed without clarification or opposition Bunge style. Apparently, the CCM Chairp wants harmony in the party but does harmony equal kumezea; or sweeping issues under the carpet instead of addressing?

I must confess I was not in Dodoma and all questions I raise comes from what I heard on the radio, read in the papers and discussed with a number of wananchi. I am thus limited in that my observations are not fresh but somehow diluted as I have had to depend on other mediums to get a sense of what transpired inside Kizota Hall. This, however, does not stop me from raising key concerns which in my very humble opinion pose greater questions for an aspiring democracy.

While I respect the President’s initiative to invite representatives of friendly parties from different parts of the world to the Congress, I am keen to establish were these delegates were invited by the President of Tanzania or by the Chairperson of CCM? Moreover, given the sizeable delegation that came along I am keen to know who footed the bill for their participation. All I can hope is that tax payers’ money was utilized for maendeleo purposes while CCM dug deep into their coffers to entertain their friends. Equally, I trust government officials did not utilize public property or finances towards their participation in an undisputedly partisan event.

As a woman who comes of a country that in 1998 paved the way in the region in so far as passing a progressive legislation on sexual violence, I take strong issue with hosting Mr. Jacob Zuma at the Congress. This is a man who was trialed for sexually assaulting a woman, who was, in African terms, technically his daughter, which in itself is inappropriate let alone the circumstances in which he did it. Let us be clear irrespective of what the court in South Africa ruled, Mr. Zuma never denied what he did but affirmed his actions though his own interpretation of Zulu masculinity and its inevitable expression when confronted with a woman in kanga cloth!

Perhaps his graft accusations may not have been enough in a party whose leadership is struggling with similar accusations. Nevertheless, in view of our recent loss of Hon. Salome Mbatia, who was the deputy in the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children, I would have thought that female parliamentarians, and more so the women of CCM, and some of those good African men who respect their mothers and love their daughters would at least have raised objection about Mr. Zuma’s attendance. Moreover, to avoid the ethical faux pax this issue now poses, in an ideal democratic setting, CCM wakereketwa who still care what others think about the Party and its actions would have at least proposed to the ANC a less controversial name. But then again I live in a cloud of ethical standards only I and a few others have been privileged by virtue of our nonpartisanship. Such contradictions are hardly topical among those posing as flag bearers under a governance scheme that fails to meet all good governance standards. The media, I must add, faired no better choosing to focus on Mr. Zuma’s past identity as a freedom fighter while leaving out his current history as someone facing serious graft and sexual allegations. Under the new AU framework, particularly elucidated in the Peer Review Mechanism and Maputo Protocol, both are key indicators for good governance.

I cannot end this piece without going back to the subject of the elections itself, which after all was the main purpose of the Congress. In all fairness we must call a spade a spade to accurately represent what transpired. Therefore, my headline would have read “CCM vigogos reinstated in top organs” rather than elected or re-elected since such a connotation does not adequately represent what really happened or the outcome.

In electing its veterans, as well as some powerful members of the current government, CCM, in my estimation, has tried to re-assert its authority in both the executive and the legislature since most of those reshuffled hold powerful position in key governance structures. Otherwise, those not currently serving in the government or in the legislature hold considerable influence. Surprisingly, little was said about the presence of religious leaders who did more than bless the event but stayed on to receive some indoctrination.

Also visible in photographs were members of the Tanzanian People Defense Force also adorning the party colour green. Of course they may have been bodyguards to the country’s leadership but what is a country’s military which is not partisan doing in a partisan event? Does Mr. Brown or Bush go into their political party meetings with members of the army or just the secret service, or better the political party’s own intelligence and militia? Only the judiciary somehow managed to be inconspicuous at Kizota. Some of the supposed new faces like Mr. Bernard Membe formerly held positions in the civil service. Under the law civil servants are non partisan yet we have witnessed a number of civil servants venturing into politics and at times transitioning between their civil service status and their political ambitions. Absent a clear demarcation between their political appointments or elections; and their retirement from civil service does the Registrar of Political Parties not feel such issues need to be interrogated more rigorously to properly ascertain how far political parties abide to requirements set in operating laws?

I would have been more impressed if Hon. Msekwa, in view of his already distinguished career in public service (and in the party) would have declined and campaigned for a younger pick to fill the powerful position of party Vice-Chair. Undoubtedly, this would have expedited his nomination for life membership in the Central Committee. In fact all vanguards over retiring age like Kingunge and Malecela can snugly assume a new leadership role within the party (or their communities for those committed to go back to the village) reflecting a transformation in their progression in their leadership journey instead of being stuck at the helm with no where else to go.

If you ask me, democracy in Tanzania, generally, and in political parties, specifically, still has a long way to go.

* Salma Maoulidi is an Activist/Executive Director of the Sahiba Sisters Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

In part one, Onyango Oloo diagnosed the Kenya crisis. In Part two he prescribes, amongst other remedies, continued civil action against the Kibaki government

In this section of my essay, I want to examine the options ahead for the Kenya democratic movement.

Many of us heaved a sigh of relief when Raila Odinga announcement the postponement of the rallies.

Let me hasten to add that our sigh of relief DID NOT coincide with NOR WAS IT THE SAME AS the sighs from the Kenyan comprador and petit bourgeois elite.

Rather, our own sense of relief was grounded on organizational, tactical and strategic considerations.

We felt that the initial round of protests were largely spontaneous and unfocused.

Even the first attempts of ODM to rally the troops to Uhuru Park relied heavily on the passions and voluntarist energies of the ODM popular base. These actions were not very well coordinated in our view and that is why the cops had an upper hand.

We also felt that after the series of lumpen jacquerries in the informal settlements which had left in their wake infernos, innocent victims and tribal acrimony, it was crucial for the ODM to step and take charge, because contrary to the strident accusations of PNU supporters online and throughout the country, the Orange Democratic Movement as a party HAD NO ROLE in the riots and subsequent carnage.

This fact is graphically illustrated by the plight which befell hundreds of innocent Kisii speaking voters in Nyanza and parts of the Rift Valley. A comrade of mine who was one of the defeated aspirants in one constituency on the southern tip of Nyanza province recounted to me the violent reprisals and terrible ordeals which befell innocent Kisiis who had actually voted for Raila Odinga. He told me that there was a series of very blatant rigging of the ballots for Kibaki in parts of the Greater Kisii region where the PNU Presidential candidate got abnormally high amounts of votes- a clear plan to steal votes from Raila Odinga. When these artificial tallies were announced by ECK and especially after the shocking award by Kivuitu to Kibaki of the 2007 Presidential prize, mass anger erupted in places like Migori, Kericho, Kuresoi and Kisumu. The target this time was not confined to innocent Kikuyus and their property but also members of the Kisii who were wrongly accused by enraged Luo and Kipsigis mobs of having “betrayed” the people of Nyanza in bringing back Kibaki to power. I am told that even now there are unclaimed bodies literally some of the tea estates in Kericho with many members of the Kisii community losing their businesses in Kisumu and some areas in the Rift Valley. The many illegal road blocks erected on the Kisii-Nairobi road especially the Sotik-Narok section were scenes of unbelievable horrors if one happened to be a Kisii. This account corroborates the harrowing narrative of the Toronto-based Dr. Matunda Nyanchama that was posted on the Africa-Oped and Mwananchi online discussion forums.

My comrade told me that it took his own urgent personal intervention to two members of the ODM Pentagon that enabled the leadership of ODM to travel to the Rift Valley and Nyanza to appeal for calm and the end of ethnic slaughter.

The point I am trying to drive home is that the ODM leadership could have hardly "ordered" an ethnic attack on the Kisii community which rallied together to rout Simeon Nyachae and eliminate the PNU as a political force in Gusii land.

If anything, the ODM leadership, especially in southern Nyanza can be accused of being largely impotent in the face of a grave crisis affecting their own fervent supporters.
I would like to state for the record that I have been disgusted by the emerging PNU propaganda that attempts to portray the ODM leadership as Interhamwe type masterminds of genocide when the facts point to two developments:

The deployment of state troops who went on a shooting rampage in Nairobi, Eldoret, Kakamega, Bungoma, Kisumu and Mombasa killing innocent civilians and two; The cynical abdication of duty by the same state employed uniformed security forces when looting and plunder was taking place in Kisumu, Kibera and Mombasa to just cite three examples where eye-witnesses (including my brother in law in Mombasa who happens to be a half-Kikuyu and who had his bar on the west mainland pillaged and plundered under the uncaring eye of hordes of heavily armed cops who stood by as his club was stripped of all the equipment, appliances and facilities that he spent the last two years installing to revamp the place). It is my considered opinion that the looting and plunder WAS CONSCIOUSLY FACILITATED BY THE STATE TO DISCREDIT RAILA ODINGA AND THE ODM. This position was echoed by an elderly clear headed Kisumu resident when he was interviewed last night by a KTN television crew.

The PNU propagandists peddling the spurious “genocide” allegations are of course blissfully oblivious to the fact that the MAJORITY OF DEAD VICTIMS of the post-electoral violence has police wounds riddling their corpses.

If there is a case that can be made of pre-meditated mass killings, then the person in the dock should be those Kibaki connected and conniving political schemers who instituted a shoot to kill policy after arming cops with live ammunition instead of rubber bullets.

The breaking news revelations by Maina Kiai, the fiercely independent Chair of the state funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights to the effect that members of the dreaded Mungiki sect had been reactivated by the Kibaki regime to carry out murderous attacks in Nairobi slums thought to be ODM strongholds is a stunning setback that is already causing ripple effects and knocking the wind out of the sails of those Kibaki supporters online who have been trumpeting a concocted campaign against Raila Odinga and his ODM colleagues who they have stridently accused of ethnic cleansing.

What is even more astonishing that this story was broken by none other than Mungiki insiders who took the initiative of contacting Maina Kiai's offices.

It should be recalled that only a few months ago the same Kibaki regime was indiscriminately executing innocent Agikuyu youth suspected of being Mungiki members based on the sole “evidence” of ethnicity.

What a CYNICAL case of Use and Dump and Abuse Again!

The PNU propagandists may very well get what they wish for with unintended legal consequences for their paymasters because I earnestly believe that an independent, transparent international inquiry composed of legal experts into the Kenyan post-electoral deaths is far more likely to indict the Michukis and the Murages than anyone else within the ODM leadership.

And that is why I say:

Bring on the Inquiry, the Tribunal, the Commission!

Let the investigations commence this very afternoon!

As I was saying before I veered off on that tangent, many progressive and democratic minded Kenyans were grateful when ODM called off the mass rallies.

Why?

The masses were fatigued; they were famished; they were unorganized and disorganized and certainly not very politically conscientized and sensitized. As one of my comrades was pointing out to me yesterday evening, mass action is NOT A JOKE.

You need a detailed strategy.

You need mobilizers.

You need resources; in the same way an army needs supply lines, commanders and maximum flexibility of tactics to outwit the other side.

Of course Onyango Oloo is NOT going to delve into any kind of detail about how one can implement a successful, sustained and popular mass action strategy here online.

I would have to be certified INSANE for me to do that.

The key thing to remember is that the crisis in Kenya has by now evolved far beyond Raila Odinga and the stolen Presidential vote or the right of ODM to form the next government.

What we are now dealing with as Kenyans is the need to repulse a criminal conspiracy to overthrow democratic rule and restore the neo-colonial fascist ethno-kleptocracy of the Moi-KANU years.

What we are dealing with as Kenyans is a direct danger to ALL of the democratic gains we have made over the last twenty-five to thirty years.

What we are dealing with as Kenyans is an immediate threat that could plunge Kenya into a bloody civil war that would make Liberia, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Congo look like child’s play.

The danger we face as a nation calls IMMEDIATELY for, among other prerogatives:

1. A UNITED response that does not look at the problem through PAROCHIAL ETHNIC spectacles;
2. A DEMOCRATIC and PEACEFUL response that eschews militaristic and violent conspiracies;
3. A perspective grounded on SOCIAL JUSTICE and ANTI-IMPERIALIST precepts to ensure a progressive, egalitarian and just eventual outcome;
4. A PROTRACTED approach realizing that Kibaki and his henchmen, having tasted state power, will not, of their own accord relinquish the same unless forced to do so by united, democratic, progressive determination of the Kenyan people rising up to demand their country, their rights and their aspirations back from the PNU usurpers;
5. An organic linkage with the international solidarity and fight back campaigns spearheaded BY PROGRESSIVE AND PATRIOTIC KENYANS OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY together with our other global comrades in many countries throughout the world; There is ONLY ONE WEAPON at the disposal of the Kenyan people at this present time and that weapon is:

ORGANIZATION.

Let me repeat Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary dictum over and over and over and over again:

Organize, Organize, Organize!

Yes we know that the MOST AGGRIEVED IMMEDIATE ENTITY is the ODM who have just been robbed of an election that they won fair and square in broad daylight.

However the issue is far, far beyond the ODM and its immediate supporters. They are millions of Kenyans who are not necessarily aligned to ODM who are completely outraged and want to be part of a successful fight back.

This reality calls for the launching of a Kenya- wide organizational and democratic conduit which is much broader than any one political party in the country.

The other day I called for the formation of a NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT founded on the four pillars of JUSTICE, PEACE, DEMOCRACY and TRUTH. This movement must be based on the poor wananchi in the urban and rural areas, the youth, the women, the cultural and religious minorities, the progressive elements among the middle-class, patriotic Kenyans outside the country and all anti-imperialist forces.

My call is merely one of dozens of such calls emanating simultaneously from Kenyan progressives from all over the country, from Mombasa to Malaba, Moyale to Loitoktok.

Already we see fast mutating ancestors of that kind of an organization sprouting almost on a daily basis.

At the civil society front, a network of over 30 NGOs and non-profit formations formed a Coalition for Peace, Justice and Truth within the first few days of January.

At the core of this coalition are such credible institutions like the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Mars Group, Law Society of Kenya, Kituo Cha Sheria, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, NCEC, the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy-Kenya and other like minded bodies.

We must commend the admirable work of such Kenyan militant patriots and progressives like Muthoni Wanyeki, Gladwell Otieno, Cyprian Nyamwamu, Kepta Ombati, Ndung’u Wainaina, Maina Kiai, Zahid Rajan, Haron Ndubi, Zarina Patel and Mwalimu Mati in jump-starting this much needed vehicle and process.

Among the praise worthy initiatives of the new coalition are efforts to engage members of the Central Kenyan communities through an entity called the Republican Forum- a network of younger business people and professionals from among the Agikuyu. This forum which meets regularly at a certain Nairobi hotel and counts among its regulars people like David Ndii, Mutahi Ngunyi to name just two, is right now assessing the ECONOMIC and FINANCIAL immediate impact and long term ramifications of the Kibaki/PNU on Central Kenya within the context of the national reality that the Agikuyu, like other Kenyans live all over the country and if the anti-Kibaki backlash maintains an ethnic tag how this will mess up national harmony. Apart from that, the group has a mandate to emphasize to the GEMA communities that Kibaki’s coup should not be seen as synonymous as a “victory” for millions of individual Kikuyus, Merus and Embus but rather an insult and assault on every one of them who as Kenyans are equally affronted by this callous subversion of democracy, justice, and yes, prospects for peaceful coexistence across all our diverse Kenyan peoples.

Over and above the above, forces within the coalition are exhorting Kenyans to do the following:

(i)Agitate for new presidential elections within the next three months;
(ii)Urge ODM to take up their seats and continue their struggle in the 10th parliament because a boycott will be a political faux pas that will play right into the hands of the PNU usurpers;
(iii)Engage the police, the paramilitary and the military with a view of winning over these security forces to the side of the democratic and patriotic forces;
(iv)Mobilizing the international community, especially the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union to realize that Kenya will be UNGOVERNABLE under an illegitimate regime and that their interests and the interests of neighbouring countries like Uganda, Rwanda, the DRC, Sudan, Ethiopia etc will be at risk if the current political impasse persists;
(v)Step up indigenous, in country humanitarian efforts reaching out to ALL the victims of the post-electoral strife regardless of ethnicity, political affiliation and regional origins;

There are of course some other interesting developments but I guess it as this point that I will dutifully ZIP MY LIPS.

*Onyango Oloo, a Kenyan political activist and ex political prisoner.

*Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

From the look of things, it would appear that we are still a long way from resolving the serious post-election crisis that is gripping and almost crippling Kenya.

Even after Raila Odinga and ODM considerably softened their preconditions for internationally mediated talks with their opposite numbers by dropping their demand that Kibaki must resign; calling off a series of rallies and mass actions across the country and lowering the decibel of their political rhetoric, Mwai Kibaki and his fellow usurpers seems set on a suicidal path to tighten their hold on the stolen public offices.

On Tuesday, January 8, 2008 the besieged Pretender President in the State House compounded the putschist, undemocratic initial injury he had inflicted on the Kenyan nation by unilaterally and illegally appointing his cronies and side-kicks to ministerial positions literally hours before African Union Chairperson John Kuffuor of Ghana landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to mediate in scheduled talks between ODM and PNU.

Not only did Kibaki violate Kenyan law by appointing these individuals before they had been sworn in formally as members of parliament, the Othaya MP was desperate to confront the visiting Kuffuor with a fait accompli by grabbing the most powerful and strategic cabinet positions for himself and his faction.

In doing so, Kibaki also laid bare a lot of what Kenyans had been suspecting for months:

Kalonzo Musyoka, the ODM-K leader and also ran presidential candidate had always been a fifth columnist amidst opposition ranks causing much rancour while still in the original ODM and bolting off to form ODM-K as a stratagem of wangling for himself the coveted VP slot. Now every boast of Kalonzo’s about being a “peace maker” and ‘Mr. Clean Hands” rings hollow; words and phrases added to the growing hill of human turd, the self-created merde composed of his swaggering and sauntering election campaign boasts of being the “most formidable opponent” of Kibaki and the “people’s servant”.

How could Kibaki’s so called “most formidable opponent” agree to be a mere junior stand in for his alleged nemesis?

How could an alleged “peace maker” and so called “servant of the people” jump hastily into bed with someone whose criminal actions had led to so much blood shed, ethnic acrimony, economic devastation and political uncertainty?

What is also clearly evident is that Kibaki’s move to appoint Kalonzo Musyoka as his deputy could be an advance gambit anticipating a re-run of the presidential contest where Kibaki and his schemers reckon that Kalonzo may single-handedly delivered the Akamba bloc vote.

Judging by his less than stellar showing at the just concluded parliamentary and presidential elections, it is by no means a sure bet that Kalonzo will actually live up to this lofty expectations.

Many of us in the progressive and democratic camp here in Kenya have been chastened with the emerging agenda of the United States and such multi-lateral global bodies like the World Bank.

A leaked memo authored by the Guyanese born Kenya Country director of the World Bank Colin Bruce basically setting the ground for an acceptance of the Kibaki coup d'etat is a very sobering reminder that when it comes to crunch time, institutions such as the World Bank will gravitate towards the status quo.

Some of my reliable sources here in Nairobi inform me that the United States publicly unstated position militates against a re-run of the election, leaning more towards a negotiated power-sharing formula between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki- as if the national crisis that has seen tens of thousands of democracy seeking Kenyan protesters lash out in anger in response to the stolen presidential vote outcome.

It is also not very clear what the mainstream African agenda is regarding the current crisis in Kenya.

Conterminous with the arrival and presence of John Kufour was the puzzling tour of ex-Presidents Kaunda of Zambia, Mkapa of Tanzania, Chissano of Mozambique and Masire of Botswana.

Were they in Kenya to bolster or undermine the shuttle diplomacy of the Ghanaian head of state?

What are more disturbing are the personal, ideological and strategic intentions of President Yoweri Museveni from the neighbouring nation-state of Uganda.

Credible reports indicate that Ugandan troops-some of them dressed in Kenyan police uniform, some of them in civvies- have been implicated in the extra-judicial state ordered executions of unarmed civilians in Kisumu, including many infants and minors, with some shot at close range while cowering in their own homes.

An observer in Nairobi has privately suggested to this writer that the Kibaki posse of political criminals did approach the Ugandan government expressing their insecurities about dealing with any negative fallout from within the Kenyan military establishment in the aftermath of the elections.

Museveni, according to this source, is supposed to have reassured the Kenyan head of state and his shadowy kitchen cabinet that Uganda was ready to do ANYTHING- including dispatching troops to Kenya to thwart any efforts at overturning the Kibaki civilian coup.

The observer in Nairobi is of the opinion that the main thing driving Museveni’s mother hen attitude towards Kenya has less to do with guaranteeing Kenyan political stability as with the Ugandan president’s own megalomaniacal ambitions to be the capo dei capi of East and Central Africa over the next few years. As many readers of these lines know, there is a push to consolidate the process of implementing the East African Community as an economic, legal, social and POLITICAL entity. Part of the provisions of that process is the creation of an East African Community President.

My source avers that Museveni sees himself as the natural born leader who will fit that slot. M7 (as the Ugandan president is often referred to, especially in his native land) thinks that Kenya’s Raila Odinga stands in Museveni’s way because of the ODM flag-bearer’s own charisma, Pan African appeal and political pedigree (it never hurts to be scion/offspring of one of the Third World’s most celebrated nationalist heroes, Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga).

The observer in Nairobi is convinced that Museveni’s covert and overt (he is the only leader to have so far "recognized" the illegitimate hostage in the State House) support for Kibaki is rooted in a cynical, mid term quid pro quo strategy of neutralizing any aspirants to the ultimate East African crown jewel.

I ran this hypothesis by another friend of mine, this one a highly placed individual embedded at the core of Kenya’s National Security Intelligence Service.

My NSIS contact was very skeptical about the Museveni Factor as delineated by my observer pal.

He says that going by his own contacts within the Ugandan armed forces and intelligence agencies, there does not seem to be ANY credence that could lift the Museveni Hypothesis above the level of wild rumour and baseless speculation. He also doubts the reports, lately echoed by Raila Odinga himself about the active participation of Ugandan troops in the state-engineered massacres of civilians in Kisumu.

I will leave my readers to use their own discretion to interrogate, verify and/or corroborate the veracity or otherwise of these serious allegations regarding the role played by President Museveni in the current Kenyan crisis.

Nevertheless, my spooky intelligence pal shared with me something else:

He told me that there is a high level of uncertainty and even mild dissent within the armed forces, the regular police and other elements of the Kenyan state security apparatus.

He claims that the wildly refuted SMS rumours which speculated that Kenya’s army chief and the police commissioner had resigned around New Year’s Day were NOT totally baseless because there had been some kind of heightened pressures on the duo within those ranks that the military and the police should not be seen to be condoning Kibaki’s electoral grand larceny.

The NSIS Deep Throat also told me that overall morale within the armed forces has been lowered considerably and that there are more and more middle-ranking officers who are quitting the Kenyan military to pursue soldier of fortune opportunities in places like Iraq or take up private civilian security consulting gigs within the country- a trend that he evaluates as not being in the best interests of the Kibaki junta.

My shadowy source also asserted that the MAJORITY of the members of the REGULAR police are OPENLY sympathetic to ODM and that could be one reason why the Michukis and Murages opted for members of the dreaded GSU and the Administration Police together with the elements from the National Youth Service as the storm troopers to protect the illegal installation of Mwai Kibaki. Even here he says that many of those young people dressed up in those fierce looking anti-riot gear are actually NOT GSU but AP and NYS personnel because the commander of the Administration Police is allegedly closer to the kitchen cabinet cabal than the other police heads.

Again what I am purveying here is a perspective from one individual. Whether what he is saying is true or not is subject to further investigation and verification.

There are so many things which have been happening in Nairobi which are yet to make it to the public domain. For instance we are told that immediately after the polls, former President Moi (with or without some of his kids) boarded a plane bound for Germany. Upon arrival, the authorities in that European state loaded promptly on another Nairobi bound flight, barring his presence in Germany.

* This is the first part of the essay, the second of which will appear in the next issue of Pambazuka News

*Onyango Oloo, a Kenyan political activist and ex political prisoner.

*Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

I read your comments on the Kenyan elections with great interest. While acknowledging that the Kenyan electorate has indeed lost the elections, I would like to point out that we should have seen the post-election violence coming. After all, ODM never lost an opportunity to state that the elections would be rigged - it was a psychological game that heightened people's fears and anxieties so much so that even if Kibaki had won with a landslide, they would still have cried foul. I do not agree with your sentiments that since majority of the PNU ministers were floored, it is an indication that Kibaki was unpopular. I think for the first time, voters opted to stay away from the 3-piece style; the message some of us were sending was: You may be in PNU but you have not delivered as an MP but we believe Kibaki could do better with a new crop of MPs.

As I look at the line-up of MPs Kenyans have voted into parliament my heart weeps for the citizens. What nation turns a blind eye and votes in remnants of a dictatorial corrupt regime? I cannot believe that the ODM euphoria has brought in men and women who have corruption scandals firmly tied around their necks? So will we ever get justice for the crimes committed against us? And to see some of them give rhetoric speeches on justice is a mockery of our intelligence!

On the other hand, I think it is time we put lots of pressure on Kibaki to deliver on issues that are crucial for the Kenyan citizen. I think it's high time civil society (I wonder if we are still relevant at this rate considering that most of us have been compromised) began to speak with a loud voice on socio-political and economic issues affecting the Kenyan populace. As a young girl growing up, I knew that there were courageous men and women who never lost an opportunity to stand for the rights of the people. Slowly, the voice of justice has died over the years, and what we have as civil society in Kenya are men and women eyeing the political seats too and waiting to oil their pockets with hefty salary perks. The role of religious institutions cannot be under-estimated in the cause for justice. Religious institutions in my opinion, should be impartial, keeping a keen eye on the going-ons in society and providing a critical analysis of the happenings. They should be able to challenge injustice at all levels and ensure that the citizens' rights are prioritized at all costs. I have been disheartened to see religious leaders routing for particular candidates or political parties - how then can one provide impartial criticism when the individual or party disregards the rule of law or disrespects the rights of the common man? The media in Kenya has in some ways been irresponsible, airing politicians' irresponsible utterances and I don't think they were aware of the potential harm of their "freedom" to give every politician the space to abuse and call one another names. The chickens have indeed come home to roost. I honestly believe the media in this country needs to re-define themselves into a professional unit and for once, let news be devoid of name-calling and tribal alignments and assessments.

We need a paradigm shift in this country. As Kenyans descend on one another and kill one another, the politicians to whom they owe allegiance retreat in the safety of their homes and the comfort of their families. Is there any politician who really cares? In my opinion, none. Let us not lay blame totally on the state forces; it is clear in some regions that people had been incited to ensure that those belonging to a particular ethnic tribe should be annihilated or vacated. Could somebody please explain why Kikuyu businesses in Western Kenya were targeted? The youth in Kenya should also be motivated to think independently and it is high time each young man/woman realized that no politician will put a plate of food or salary on their tables. A successful society is made up of people who are able to exploit the existing socio-political and economic space in order to better not only their lives, but also the lives of the communities around them.

As we all wait for peace to be restored in this nation, it is my sincere prayer that we will learn from our errors. Aside from politicians, the civil society, religious institutions and the media have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the unity we have enjoyed as a nation is restored and sustained.

Lucy Simiyu
A concerned Kenyan citizen

We need Democracy, not Band Peace! I have watched with utter shock some of the prescriptions the middle class residing in leafy suburbs have opted to give to Kenya. It is very clear that Kibaki presidency is as a result of pure robbery of the will of voters. How on earth can one then prescribe celebrity bands to sing for peace, and religious groups to pray for peace when its public knowledge what the cause of discord threatening to burn Kenya to ashes is?

Prayer and music will not restore our republic if it does not isolate the issues and urge the people to act on them. For peace to prevail, all must push towards a speedy dismantling of a leadership system whose mandate is questionable. All prayers and songs ought to be encouraging those who are acting within the law and civility to see to it that this happens. Prayer and music ought to be educating all those who are keen on breaking the law by destroying other people’s property to desist and instead refocus their energies on the public enemy of the time.

Kenyans do not need music reminding them of patriotism, they need music to urge on the fight against tyranny of the few against the majority. We do not need to pray for peace, we need to pray for those who are genuinely fighting the dictatorship of a few elites against the will of the Kenyan people. Engaging in musical bands for peace is to seek cheap publicity at the expense of the lives and property of innocent civilians who are bearing the brunt of electoral fraud.

What we need now are liberation songs. Songs such as Bob Marley’s “Stand up for your rights.” We need songs to make those who might have misplaced anger to direct it against the actual public enemy…theft of people’s will. That is not similar to suing for peace while camouflaging and sugar coating tyranny. The Kenyan song ought to be “don’t seat back and hope for the best, get rid of the individual tyrants… don’t allow them to hide behind tribal masks.” Will prayer restore the Kenyan republic? Not at the tenor it has assumed! If Kenyans simply pray for peace and attain artificial normalcy, chances are that they will be giving more time for enemies of the republic to simply restock their powder keg reserves. Kenyans prayed in 1988, 1990 – 92, and in 1997. The year 2002 offered an opportunity for Kibaki and his team to help actualize the 14 year prayer wishes. It became clear that we were on a rollercoaster to strife after 6 months of his leadership. A leading anti corruption czar, Mr. John Githongo fled the country; this was simply wished away. Kenyans held a government sanctioned prayer for peace after the referendum and buried under the carpet what the will of the people had stated by voting against a state sponsored constitution.

As middle class, we might retreat to our restaurants and sip cold drinks. We might even have passports to flee if the red ambers of public anger catch up with us. Yes, we might even choose to simply engage in intellectual talk about the situation and position ourselves for jobs in either of the two warring factions. But we must remember that our drivers, watchmen, cooks, house helps, are watching keenly the developments. For religious leaders, we must remember that the displaced people and those whose property is being destroyed are our members. As it was in the ancient times when faith was used to rally people to a just cause, so it should be today in Kenya if we are to succeed in our quest for peace. Kenyans should not burry their heads in the sand.