Chaotic polls nearly sent Kenya into an abyss

A woman cries outside the Kiambaa church in which

several people were burnt to death. Violence trickled

 down into daily life and the state no longer commanded

the monopoly of force it once had in a previous era.

Sunday, December 1, 2013, By EMMAN OMARI

 In Summary

• The violence came in two waves: first immediately after the declaration of President Kibaki as winner, then a lull, and second when Kibaki summoned Parliament to meet on January 15, 2008.
• The president named a 17-member cabinet, bringing in Kalonzo Musyoka, his rival from ODM-Kenya, as Vice-President.
• This infuriated supporters of Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

Mayhem, destruction, murder.

These are some of the tragic words that defined Kenya in her darkest hour in 45 years of independence.

The date was Saturday, December 29, 2007, when the writing appeard on the wall that tension was boiling over.

The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), now defunct, had delayed in announcing the results of a hotly contested presidential election, raising suspicions and triggering charged demands for the release of the outcome.

The next day, amid high tension, President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner against Raila Odinga. Hell broke loose. Protesting groups poured onto the streets with a violent might.

The ugly scenes threw the world into panic, leading to desperate efforts to restore order in a country that was highly valuable to the international community.

The violence came in two waves: first immediately after the declaration of President Kibaki as winner, then a lull, and second when Kibaki summoned Parliament to meet on January 15, 2008.

The president named a 17-member cabinet, bringing in Kalonzo Musyoka, his rival from ODM-Kenya, as Vice-President.

This infuriated supporters of Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

MASS ACTION

Odinga called for three days of mass action throughout the country to force Kibaki to agree to repeat elections.

Tension consumed East Africa as Kenya tottered on the edge of the abyss, with leaders in the region, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, suggesting that the army should step in to quickly restore order.

The two countries suffered as movement of goods through the port of Mombasa stalled, with severe economic consequences.

The tension that burst into violence had been compounded by the ECK’s blunders. The electoral body had first announced tallies from Odinga’s strongholds. At one point, the ODM leader had a one-million vote lead over Kibaki.

When results from Kibaki’s strong regions began flowing in, dramatic figures began changing the lead within minutes.

Odinga’s supporters saw nothing but rigging. Suspicion grew to unprecedented proportions within 12 hours.

Things were made worse by ECK Chairman Samuel Kivuitu’s irresponsible remarks.

First, he said on television that some of the returning officers in the Kibaki strongholds could not be traced to hand in their tallies, and could therefore be “cooking figures”.

A schism appeared in the commission that Kivuitu headed split. Four Commissioners accused their colleagues of having tampered with the results that were relayed from the field to the KICC headquarters.

Commissioners Jack Tumwa, David Ndambiri, Samuell arap Nyeny and Jeremiah Matagaro summoned a news conference to call for a commission of inquiry.

CITED DISCREPANCIES

They cited discrepancies in Molo, Nithi and Juja, where figures for President Kibaki differed with those released at the constituency level.

When Kivuitu surfaced on the afternoon of Sunday, December 30 to announce that Kibaki had won by 4,584,721 to Odinga’s 4,352,943, violence erupted in different parts of the country.

The chaos went into a crescendo the next day when media houses splashed a picture of President Kibaki being sworn in by Chief Justice Evan Gicheru at State House.

The police were overwhelmed as the turmoil quickly took an ethnic dimension. In the North Rift, the Kikuyu, perceived as supporters of Kibaki, were the main target.

The chaos there led to the burning of a church in a place called Kiambaa, near Eldoret. Thirty-five people who had sought refuge there perished.

This triggered revenge attacks in Naivasha, where Luos (seen as Raila’s supporters) were attacked. Many were hacked in their houses.

The same happened in Mombasa’s Magongo area, where 11 people from one family were burnt in a house.

In Kisumu, businesses belonging to the Kikuyu and Meru communities were torched.

Thousands of people sought refuge in stadiums, police stations, and anywhere they felt safer. Soon, camps of displaced persons dotted the Kenyan landscape.

The country came to a standstill. Transport was paralysed. Marauding youths supporting ODM destroyed the railway line in Kibera and Kibos.

They removed kilometres of the rail, halting transport of goods to the hinterland countries of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

HIGHWAY BLOCKED

The highway linking Mombasa port to the hinterland was also blocked in many places between Nairobi, Nakuru and Eldoret.

Violent groups burnt vehicles, ejected passengers, identified their tribe and killed the “unfriendly” people.

Nairobi was most hit on food as vehicles carrying supply from upcountry farms were blocked by protesters.

The capital city was also affected by inter-ethnic violence, especially in Kibera, Mathare, and Kariobangi North. The city’s environs like Kikuyu, Limuru and Rwaka were also affected.

People from other communities were ejected from houses and even killed.

Attorney General Amos Wako warned at the time that some of the crimes that were being committed amounted to genocide, and perpetrators could face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

His prediction came to pass when six people – known then as Ocampo Six in reference to then ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo – were arraigned before the ICC.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang still face cases of crimes against humanity. Charges against former Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, ODM chairman Henry Kosgey and former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali were dropped at different stages before trial for one reason or another, including lack of sufficient evidence and recanting of statements by some witnesses.

Prior to the December 27, 2007 elections, the campaigns had been highly emotive and polarising.

The main protagonists – Kibaki and Raila – had political scores to settle.

NOT FORGIVEN RAILA FOR HUMILIATION

Kibaki had not forgiven Raila for humiliating him through a resounding defeat in the 2005 Constitution Draft referendum. Equally, Raila had a grudge with Kibaki, who had reneged on a Memorandum of Understanding reached before the 2002 landmark victory by Narc against Kanu.

In that year, Raila had joined forces with Kibaki after walking out of Kanu, and they agreed on a power sharing mechanism.

Kibaki is said to have agreed to make Raila an executive prime minister. Cabinet positions were also to be shared on a 50:50 basis between them.

When Kibaki reached State House, he acted as if there had been no deal.

The two and their supporters become political foes overnight, looking for every opportunity to settle scores.

As soon as chaos broke following the announcement that President Kibaki had won the 2007 polls, the world community, the EAC and the African Union (AU) launched aggressive shuttle diplomacy to save Kenya.

Their efforts went into full swing as soon as images of violence were splashed around the world.

The AU sent former Sierra Leone President Tejan Kabbah, who led an observer team for elections.

He was the first to meet President Kibaki and Odinga on the need for peace, though the assessment was that the election was flawed.

Next was South African Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who met Kibaki and Odinga separately.

He was the first to announce that it was possible to form a unity government to bring together the two parties.

Then US President George W. Bush dispatched Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, to Nairobi.

Before that, he had visited African countries including Tanzania, from where he had sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi.

Ms Frazer shuttled between Kibaki and Odinga, trying to convince them to reach a compromise.

Regional leaders – Museveni and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania – were also reaching to the politicians on phone. This was just before AU Chairman, former Ghanaian President John Kufuor, flew in to try and strike a deal between the two parties.

ALMOST SUCCEEDED

Kufuor almost succeeded, had it not been for Kibaki’s henchmen, who convinced the Kenyan president not to sign a power-sharing deal prepared by representatives of the two parties.

The reasons were flimsy. Kibaki’s point men argued that the deal had been drafted by a World Bank official with the help of foreign diplomats, and was therefore not an indigenous document.

It was after Kufuor flew out of the country and Odinga announcing three days of mass action that the second phase of violence erupted.

Meanwhile, foreign, world and local leaders were making desperate efforts to restore peace. Locally, Amb Bethuel Kiplagat and Gen Elijah (Rtd) Sumbeiywo persistently appealed for peace and dialogue between the two parties.

President Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon were talking directly to Kibaki and Odinga. Behind the curtains, they were putting together a panel of negotiators to save the country from collapse.

It was not by surprise that come Friday, January 10, 2008, it was announced that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Mrs Graca Machel, the wife of South African icon Nelson Mandela, and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, were to form a panel of negotiators.

However, the arrival of the team was delayed by a week after Mr Annan fell sick. Some reports suggested that he wanted to get assurance from key world leaders that he had the mandate to steer Kenya to normal state. The arrival of Annan a week later was a relief to many Kenyans, including businessmen and investors.

The next problem was the team of four negotiators each side gave. It turned out that all the four were hardliners. On Kibaki’s side were Ministers Martha Karua, Prof Sam Ongeri, Moses Wetang’ula and then Mbooni MP Mutula Kilonzo.

Odinga was represented by Musalia Mudavadi, William Ruto, Dr Sally Kosgey and James Orengo.

For more than a month in what was called “Serena Talks”, the negotiators failed to reach a deal. Annan, being the diplomat of experience, broke the network and reached the two principles directly.

He put everything on the table, and Kibaki and Raila signed a coalition agreement on the door steps of Harambee House on February 28, 2008.

They would share power with the creation of a Prime Minister’s post for Raila, with the powers to supervise ministers.

IMAGES THAT TOUCHED THE WORLD

Three images remain iconic in Kenya’s two months of 2007/08 post-election mayhem.

A devastated old woman, Elizabeth Wangui in Eldoret (on cover), a General Service Unit (GSU) officer Joseph Musyoka Nthenge in Nairobi, and the callous shooting of Olago Junior in Kisumu by a police officer.

First, Ms Elizabeth Wangui was photographed outside the Kenya Assemblies of God Church in Kiambaa near Eldoret wailing.

The woman in her 70s holding one rubber shoe in her left hand was wailing at the demise of her son who was among the 35 people burnt alive in the Church on January 1, 2008.

The picture told of the grief, pain trauma that the violence was creating. Wangui had witnessed the crude hacking of people trying to escape from the church fire. Today, she lives a traumatised life in Eldoret.

Joseph Nthenge (pictured below) charmed the world.

Then a GSU Acting Superintendent of Police, he was assigned to command a contingent of officers at Uhuru Park to prevent ODM supporters from entering the place for a rally that had been outlawed.

Supt Nthenge was captured on TV persuading ODM youths and politicians not to destroy what they had built in the country for the last 40 years. “Mnataka kuharibu Kenya kwa siku moja, inchi ambayo imetuchukuwa miaka arubaini kujenga?” (You want to destroy Kenya in a day, a country that has taken us 40 years to build?), he implored.

For the GSU that is known for ruthless ways of dispersing crowds, he was a miracle man wearing the dreaded red beret. The footage was aired widely on television stations.

It turned out that 17 years earlier in 1991, the same Nthenge had used diplomacy to deal with tribal clashes in the Rift Valley.

On October 24, 2008, he was awarded UN in Kenya Person of the Year. When Nthenge got the news, he responded: “I am indeed honored to be selected for this auspicious commendation on behalf of thousands of dedicated and selfless policemen who daily put their lives on the line for other Kenyans.”

The callous shooting of Olago Junior in Kisumu as captured on camera shocked the world. It caused fury in Kisumu resulting in more riots in the a town.

The police officer was tried and acquitted for lack of evidence. Ballistic experts had concluded that the serial number of the gun from which the bullet that killed Olago was not the same as the one that the policeman was assigned on that day.