Kenya: Kibaki and Odinga to blame for election violence

Even though the two principals, alongside former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, were last Friday honoured by the University of Nairobi for restoring peace in the country, the Waki Commission has referred to them over a number of acts of omission and commission that may have led to the violence that threatened to tear up Kenya at the beginning of this year.

The report also traces some of the causes of the unprecedented violence to the retired President, Mr Daniel arap Moi’s era, saying that his failure to implement findings of the Akiwumi commission into ethnic clashes that rocked parts of the country during the 1992 and 1997 elections contributed to the latest chaos.

And on Sunday, Justice minister Martha Karua said the Grand Coalition Government has to implement the report, stating that President Kibaki and Mr Odinga have given their pledge to meet the Herculean task.

“As a Grand Coalition we must implement the report and President Kibaki and Mr Odinga have given their pledges,” she said.

The Waki Commission report accuses President Kibaki of failing to exercise the required political control that would have convinced the public and the international community that the 2007 General Election would have been free and fair. This includes the President’s failure to lead the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) from the front when he took over power in 2003 after winning the December 2002 elections.

“The post election-violence is, in part, a consequence of the failure of President Kibaki and his first Government to exert political control over the country or to maintain sufficient legitimacy as would have allowed a civilized contest with him at the polls possible,” the report observes.

The report also blames the President’s decision to renege on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the President’s National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK) and Mr Odinga’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) before the 2002 elections. Under the agreement, the post of PM was to be introduced after 2002 General Election and the Constitution reviewed to recognise the new position. Failure to honour the MoU broke the trust that had been built between President Kibaki and Mr Odinga, in the process splitting Narc.

Cabinet ministers, senior civil servants and business people straddling the President’s inner court at State House were blamed for the failed MoU. Mr Odinga’s allies blamed them for refusing to share power with others and branded them the “Mount Kenya Mafia”.

The Waki report also blames President Kibaki for the way he handled the search for a new Constitution and the 2005 referendum and its aftermath.

“Even though the 2005 referendum was peaceful and results were accepted rather than contested, the parameters were nevertheless drawn,” the report noted.

Worse was the decision by President Kibaki to dissolve the entire Cabinet after losing the referendum and excluding Mr Odinga and his allies from the Government a month later when he reconstituted his administration. The net effect, the Waki Commission stated, was further political polarisation.

“Kibaki Government’s turning away from it and removing from government the group of ministers associated with Odinga had the effect of increasing the polarisation of politics along ethnic lines,” it says.

By so doing, the Waki report points an accusing finger at the President saying that he failed to take actions that would have bridged the escalating ethnic and political divide, which fuelled the political violence.

“Kibaki’s regime failed to unite the country, and allowed feelings of marginalisation to fester into what became the post-election violence.

The Waki Commission blames Mr Odinga’s party — ODM — for the impression it created after winning the 2005 referendum regarding its Presidential candidate.

Witnesses from Coast said it had been expected that Mr Odinga would win with a huge margin and when Mr Kibaki was declared the winner, it triggered mass riots.

“We (the commission) heard that the referendum had created very high expectations and the majority of the Coastal people saw real hope for positive change in the ODM party and its presidential candidate Raila Odinga who was widely expected to win the presidential poll.

“The common belief in the region was that Raila could only lose if the poll was rigged,” it said.

The PM is also accused of having been present at rallies during which core members of the ODM team labelled the Kikuyu community residing in the Rift Valley as “madoadoa” (blots or blemishes) who should be evicted from the region.

“Rising up in arms in the context of the post-election violence therefore was self-driven imposition of this version of majimbo, through a forceful removal of people from places that were not considered to be their homeland,” the report adds.

Former President Moi stands accused for allowing the culture of impunity to take root following the election violence of 1992 and 1997.
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API/Source.The Nation (Kenya) – October 20, 2008.