THE 2007 POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE MADE KENYA

…just as much as it destroyed it…

AS THE FORTH anniversary of Kenya’s 2007 post election violence approaches, I bet many Kenyans would rather forget the year all together than have it remembered. This is because all that there was good about it was terribly overshadowed by the darkness of civilian infighting as the year approached its climax. Africa and the rest of the world got a chance to witness a new Somalia in the making.

After 44 solid years of self rule we, Kenyans found ourselves politically belittled by our own actions. A country that for a long time had been known as “an island of peace in a turbulent Horn of Africa” kind of found sectarianism fascinating. I asked myself why days back and you can’t believe the quickness with which my brain dispensed me an answer that I think is worth sharing out here. What made us pay dearly back in 2007 lies in the fact that we took a very long time to replace our independence constitution – which I think its main purpose was to see Kenya become an independent state as opposed to addressing long term challenges.

Back in 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s during the struggle for independence, the most important thing for the people was self rule which the independence constitution helped us achieve in 1963. But then again independence alone is never enough. Hard realities and challenges soon came our way and the question of “how best can we solve this and that?” became a constant nag in our heads. Sadly, the agony was brewing at a time when our country was under one party rule with the sitting president as the obvious head of everything. What this meant is that every change we wanted to see had to be ‘begged on knees’ in front of the president – and whenever he said no (like was always the case) there was nowhere else to turn. I’m sorry to say this but this was the case during the reign of our founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (1963 - 1978) and later during a chunky part of his successor Daniel Moi’s (1978 - 2002). Daniel Moi was however pounded by opposition pressure and forced to support the repeal of Section 2 A of our constitution in 1992 to introduce multi-party for the first time in our history.

Introduction of multi-party was a breakthrough and Second Liberation had never looked more certain. But then again as every Kenyan would testify the journey was just beginning. Even after the introduction of multi-party, Daniel Moi who many wanted out of the office would spend another ten good years as the president. This was primarily because there were still very many sections of the constitution that made it almost impossible to remove a sitting president from office. For instance, apart from running the government, the president also headed the army and appointed all other senior bureaucrats including those mandated to conduct elections. And to make things worse, leading opposition voices weren’t as united as many ordinary Kenyans wanted them to be. Then came 2002, a God sent year when Daniel Moi would not vie for president due to compulsory retirement cast upon him by the constitution. Mwai Kibaki became the next man to succeed him with massive support from all Kenyans. His main task was to lead the nation in finding a new constitution. But his failure and politicians then to come up with a single constitutional document for referendum only meant things would continue the same way they had always been. It was now a case of ‘lets live today and wait to see what happens tomorrow’. And who would have thought it would be during the dimness of 2007 post-election violence that we’d find strength to do what’s right?

An outdated constitution played bad referee in a closely contested presidential election and sharply divided the country along party and tribal lines. As a result, we ended up killing each other and destroying each other’s property. But let’s not dwell much amidst that dungeon because the memories are still fresh and can certainly set off great mental distress. But let’s spare a second and take look at a dazzling vent of light. A bright side, if you like. Soon after the violence was over after an intervention by the AU and UN, we begun picking ourselves up with a single promise – a promise to give ourselves a new constitution within the shortest possible period. And driven by our then famous national chant ‘katiba mpya ni jukumu letu’ (a new constitution is our priority), we achieved the enormous goal in less than three years. And on 27^th August 2010, Kenya promulgated a new constitution which I strongly believe is one of, if not the very best in Sub-Saharan Africa. We said good-bye to being ruled by people and allowed institutions running under clear checks and balance take over. And once again how was that even possible? It’s because we found strength in our darkest moment in history – the 2007 post election violence.