This Was My Feeling....

There is a story which was collected in March by the project members that shows that a small incidence in elections, that saw a candidate lose, can wash away all the good work done by the PMC. It also showed that celebrations of election victory can make people forget the need for good neighbourliness. However, the flipside of the story also shows that there is an awareness of people taking a responsibility to desist from violence and engage in relative calm. From this stand point it is encouraging that individuals in Kibera had come to believe in the country systems which should provide dispute resolution mechanisms as witnessed with the acceptance of the Kenyan Supreme Court ruling on elections. It shows also that celebrations of election victory can make people forget the need for good neighbourliness.

The question it left begging for answers is whether there is a better platform where these issues can be addressed so as to unite people of different feelings living in Kibera. Below is the account as collected by Erick Owuor, a member of PMC, and told by John Kavoi, A Kambi Muru resident in Kibera people’s settlement:

“I have been having very positive thoughts about other ethnic communities especially after attending voter seminars organised by the “Action Inter-Ethnic Youth Dialogue and Peaceful Reconciliation Project.”  I first got involved as a participant in this voter education seminar at Kambi Muru where the main issues revolved around voting processes and peaceful co-existence. The most striking thing I had come to cultivate in this process is that I was developing very positive impression about other ethnic communities other than mine. I was convinced that Kenyan people had come to age especially when I saw an assembly of youth from different entities preaching one Kenya and united for a common cause.

Members of the Project Management Committee in a function

All these hopes came to change after the general election. After the elections I felt that my effort towards inter-ethnic tolerance was wasted since immediately after the announcement of the presidential results, most of those I reached out to were the one who were bragging on how that some ethnic communities in Kenya will never lead. The said people even went a step further and confirmed that even if the supreme court favour my favourite party, they will go on and fight it in the name of ethnicity! Sincerely, for the first time in my contact with the project, I vowed and took a commitment not to vote in a Kenyan election; Never!

My bitterness with certain ethnic communities is not likely to change any time soon. I wanted to restore it until others felt just too superior. I thought people would engage others in meaningful discussions after the elections but now it is about our ethnic community winning and you loosing. My only hope now is that the court ruling address the real issues of what happened during the election because as much as we try to work towards tolerance and peace building, tribalism and the feeling of “this is ours” is a burden we have not accepted to offload. My fear is that the same manifests every five years and the worse of it all is that some communities are more than certain that it is only them who can lead; only because of ethnicity.

As much as I appreciate the work of the project team, the Kenyan situation needs to go much more than elections made in boardrooms. Political players still call upon their tribes to destroy any change in elections. My fear is that people are resorting back to the old order. This may in essence end up destroying the spirit of people like us on democracy and fair elections. So many people will not vote in the next elections; this I can confirm to you if you want.”

The story has shown that the calmness experienced in Kibera after the elections cannot be equated to peace. Sustainable peace can only come when people feel justice has been achieved. The Kibera people have been given awareness and they believed that the Kenyan electoral system would work this time round. However, the failure of the electronic voter register which saw people revert back to the black book saw members of the society lose interest and believed their voting rights has been violated once again.

On the other side, those perceived to be winners celebrated and even asked rhetorical questions on why the other side could not steal votes. The essence is that there are two divides living together in Kibera and so many underlying issues left untouched. Kibera needs to be cohesive enough for meaningful development. This means that a platform of dialogue should be encouraged and meaningful reconciliation instituted.

Edited by Ramogi Osewe-PMC Member

Project is Funded by The European Union