African Insights Blog - January 2003

Not Yet Uhuru…but it is coming…

I am writing this on the first day of the New Year.  A day when people set New goals for the coming year, dare to dream again, hope for a better future, that job, that relationship that will bring a new day into one’s life.  The first of January is certainly a day of new beginning for many.

January 1 came one day early to Kenya, a new day for the Kenyan nation and its people, the end of a way of life, of a rule that had lasted for 29 years under the reign of President Daniel Arap T. Moi.  The ruling party (KANU) had governed Kenya for almost 40 years.  Most Kenyans had known no other President but President Moi and then the unimaginable happened.  President Moi promised to retire at the age of 79.  One of the old, ruling men, who had acted more like a King than a President was going to retire … Kenyans held their breath and hoped that it would really happen.

They went to the polls in droves on the 27th of December 2002, some walked for miles from their Shambas (farms).  They came from the slums, the fancy homes in their cars, the rural areas both up country and along the coast, all with their voter cards or passports clutched tightly to them, their dreams in their heart; dreams for Kenya, dreams for a better future for themselves, of land, of education, of food, of jobs, of Freedom -Uhuru.

They stood in lines for hours, waited, chatted, laughed, but there was a purpose to all of this.  Like people everywhere, Kenyans desire Liberty, Freedom. All they had known was a despot who ruled like a King of old.  His picture displayed in every establishment at the highest point, every time they bought something there was his picture on every bill and coin, if they went to secondary school, there was a good chance it had the name Moi in it, streets everywhere began with Moi and stadiums were named after the dictatorial President enamored with himself and enriched himself at the expense of his people. It was even against the law to say something against the President in public.  At previous elections there had been violence instigated by the government to intimidate voters to stay away from the polls besides the usual buying of votes for a few shillings.

The people of Kenya had known two Presidents since independence from the British rule in 1963.  There was Jomo Kenyatta, a firebrand in his youth, a passionate politician, who led Kenya to independence.  Kenyans loved him, though he was a mortal with feet of clay.  They saw him as Moses leading the nation of Kenya out of their Egypt, the colonial rule of Britain.  Kenyatta died and Uhuru - Freedom, had not yet come to the average Kenyan, they were still in bondage economically, landless, and lacking the ways and means to bring about change.

President Moi, who was the Vice-President, became President and in the early days of his rule, people would line the streets and refer to him as Joshua, even calling out to him “Joshua – lead us into the promised land.  They saw Moi as their Joshua who would lead Kenyans, like the Joshua of old, into the Promised Land. The land of liberty, free of fear, education for all, opportunities to become.  29 years later Kenyans realized that the Promised Land, Uhuru was still afar off, and that Kenya in regards to freedom, liberty, and economic independence was on its path to Hell instead of the Promised Land.

But, on the 27th of December, 2002, Kenyans spoke with their votes, throwing the ruling party out, rejecting its Presidential Candidate Uhuru Kenyatta (he might be a great President later), the son of the first President and giving Mwai Kibaki, a 71-year-old economist a mandate to lead Kenya into Uhuru – Freedom.

On December 31st the people of Nairobi and surrounding area came the thousands (5000,000) to Uhuru Park to participate in the historic event as President Kibaki was sworn in as Kenya’s Leader.  They jeered the outgoing President, Daniel Moi and cheered their new leader that they had legitimately elected.

There they stood for four hours, in the front rows the street kids of Nairobi had come standing, hoping for a bed, a home, schooling, food, a future and hope, along with the thousands of common folks who once again felt that they had a voice and that their vote could make the difference. They hung from trees, in fact one tree collapsed with eight people falling out of it, but the celebration went on. 

This first day of the New Year is here, a day of new beginnings for many of us, a day when Kenya dares to dream that this is the year of Jubilee, when Uhuru comes to every hamlet, to every tribe, clan, family, village.  Tonight the people of Kenya in Kisumu, Machakos, Lodwar, Kapenguria, Kisii, Kericho, Nakuru are hoping that their new President is who he says he is, a man of humility who will lead with dignity and listen to the people that he leads.

Changes will hopefully come to Kenya this year.  I am sure that even now the pictures of Daniel Moi have come down in most places, the pictures on the currency will take a bit longer and the name changes to the schools, stadiums, streets and other places, that will take time, but it will happen.

On the eve of this first day of 2003, the people of Kenya are dreaming of Uhuru and they are feeling that it has come a bit closer.  Africa is changing; President Moi was one of the last old men to go and one of the few to go away peacefully. Tonight Africans in Zimbabwe, Togo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan are looking to Kenya and hoping that the change that has come there will come to their land.

Uhuru, no not yet, but on this first day, Kenya is on its way to enter the Promised Land they had hoped to enter for 40 years and longer and President Kibaki has promised to heal the land and deal with the people in a spirit of compassion and humility…that is refreshing…jon

By the way, there has been no request for a recount, no chads, no intent of the vote and no supreme court decision…and one of my favorite radicals in Kenya, Koigi Wa Wamere is in parliament, he won his election handily.

May 2006...President Kibaki has let down a nation, a people, the East African Community.  He had the chance to be a Joshua and lead Kenya into the promised land...he led them back into captivity, back to corruption, scandals, repression of the press and people.  It's a shame.

August 2008:  Kibaki won the December election by hook and crook, violence broke out in the country and January 2008 was hell in Kenya, thousands chased out of their homes, hundreds dies, the slums erupted in violence until there was an arrangement for power sharing deal arranged, things have calmed down, but only on the surface, underneath that surface what took place may happen again in a flash, if something goes wrong with the power sharing deal.

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