By Joseph Koyugi

Kenya’s gains made during the Second Liberation from the Moi dictatorship regime are a thing of the past. Soon after the December 2007 national elections results were announced in Kenya, the American media equated the subsequent clashes to the Rwanda genocide. However, the Kenya conflict resulted from a people that were violated, an election that was stolen and angry citizens who feel abused and betrayed, specifically by an act of theft.
Tribal tensions have been in existence since independence from British rule but that someone would be killed because he is a member of a certain tribe is new to Kenya. The use of the Mungiki militia is a well-calculated move by the state to intimidate the opposition strongholds. Though independence promises of equal distribution of the resources were made, these have not been fulfilled 43 years later.
The clashes are a culmination of the 1969 ideological fallout between Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta and then Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. At that time, the clique of people surrounding the president vowed that leadership of the country was not going to cross the famous River Chania.
By this design, there was every effort to dismantle the opposition and declare Raila Odinga, the first Vice President’s son, unelectable because he is a Luo. Kenyan people are crying to get a better institutional framework to ensure fairness and curtail the powers of the incumbency. The historic voter turnout and peaceful way in which the electorate conducted themselves during the 2007 elections is an indication of how determined Kenyans are to make change. They found their voice in the Orange Democratic Movement and all they are now getting, after exercising a peaceful election, is police brutality and a repressive regime. The gains of the Inter Parties Parliamentary Group (IPPG) that brought about constitutional changes during the famous Second Liberation have been shoved out the door. Kenya will not be the same !
Kenyatta’s approach to nation building after independence used a socio-capitalistic approach to development, which inherited problems with the equitable distribution of resources. Certain parts of the country were more advantaged than others, and here lies the origin of the present conflict between the “haves” and “have nots.”
Unfortunately, the Kenyatta regime did little to address this issue even when his own Kikuyu tribesmen were displaced by the occupation of their land by the white settlers. Little did anyone know that the same ghost of unequal distribution of resources would haunt this great nation 44 years later.
The “white highlands” where the colonial masters settled were better developed than other areas in the country, with better infrastructure to facilitate commerce and industry. These areas are the coffee and tea growing zones of Kenya.  The promise to equally share the national cake has not been fulfilled. There is a big gap between the rich and the poor.
During the 2007 campaigns, the opposition headed by Odinga as presidential candidate did a tremendous job in communicating their agenda on the equal distribution. A careful scrutiny of their manifesto reveals a custom-made approach to this distribution, specific to the resources of the various regions in Kenya. This explains the Orange Democratic Movement’s popularity with the poor. The proof is in the opposition’s strength in the Kenyan parliament, where for the first time in the history of post-independent Kenya, the speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly were elected from the opposition. This in itself speaks volumes; Kenya will not be the same.
The ideological fallout between Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a Luo, is a significant event in Kenyan history. The latter advocated for the immediate equitable sharing of the national cake among the 42 tribes in Kenya, and establishment of legal and constitutional structures to ensure proper checks and balances.  The Senate was proscribed after a brief post-independence stint, a clear red flag that Kenyatta had a dictatorial agenda. The Judiciary has been highly compromised to date, leaving the executive with excessive powers. This is the origin of the Luo/Kikuyu rivalry, which worsened with the assassination of the economic development minister, Tom Mboya, a Luo.
A comparison of the 2007 campaign slogans from the government and the opposition explains why the opposition became the darling of the masses. “Business as usual” was the incumbents’ slogan while “vote for change” was the opposition slogan. The dream of the equitable distribution of resources was well articulated during political rallies by the opposition Orange Democratic Movement. The poor majority from all the 42 tribes voted for change. The anger and frustration seen in the media lately is truly resentment due to daylight robbery witnessed during the presidential tally. The Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya is on record having confessed that he did not know who won the presidential elections and he was under pressure to declare the reelection of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki. One can only guess what more we are not being told.
It is simplistic to view the current conflict as a Luo /Kikuyu affair. In the Kenyan context, tribes are being used to further political agenda and hit at rivals. The real problem is a stolen election. With intermarriages, especially in the urban centers, the tribal equation in the country has significantly changed since independence. The only time this vice shows up is during elections?!  
Kenya suffered 24 years as a result of the use of the tribal trump card, under former President Moi who did not help heal the already tribally polarized nation. This dictator started his incumbency by following the footsteps of his predecessor, and indeed he lived up to his word. He used the “silencing” approach, and Luos took the most casualties during this reign, culminating in the killing of the foreign affairs minister, a Luo.
As a community, the Luo uphold values that have caused them the greatest number of casualties, including political assassinations. At independence, they had the largest number of professionals, including lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc. They are certainly the most outspoken community, hence fodder for silencing by dictators. The advent of Second Liberation, however, saw leaders from Kikuyu, Kalenjin and Luhya tribes join in the struggle for change.
The attempted coup during Moi’s regime was conveniently branded a Luo conspiracy, even though court martial proceedings proved otherwise. The event on Aug. 1, 1982, was actually a preemptive strike to avert a well-organized conspiracy and coup by mercenaries hired by a powerful individual inside the government, a Kikuyu, to wrestle power from Moi. Poor Luos had to be blamed again because the young junior officers in the military involved in the “preemptive strike” were from the Luo tribe. By the time the truth came out, these poor souls had already been executed. In his biography, Raila Odinga mentioned being privy to information regarding this coup.
The momentum for change was strongest during Moi’s regime and other tribes joined in the struggle for justice culminating in the Second Liberation and establishment of the IPPG, which among other achievements exposed Moi’s torture chambers, endorsed the freedom of assembly and repealed the notorious Section 2A of the constitution, that had made Kenya a de-facto one-party state.
These gains are currently at risk with the Kibaki regime’s ban on peaceful mass demonstrations and restrictions on the independence of the media. Shoot-to-kill orders have brought the country back to the dark days of terror. It is alleged that the dreaded Mungiki Militia, is a state-sponsored gang conducting ethnic killings targeted at the opposition strongholds. This deadly gang is unique because they are taking oaths in the Kikuyu language and are working in cahoots with the Kenyan police. Certainly this is not what Kenyans hoped for when they peacefully lined up in the queues to vote for their candidates. With all these killings of innocent souls, Kenya will never be the same again.
From the vows taken during Kenyatta’s regime to perpetually retain the presidency within certain geographical confines, to a recent portrayal of Raila Odinga as unelectable because he is a Luo, I truly believe what is happening in Kenya today was designed at a high level of conspiracy. Kibaki was sworn in as president at a private function at the State House, even before the official declaration of election results. This is reminiscent of the conspiracy in the Willie Lynch document on how to control a Black slave. The presidential tally has Raila winning in six out of eight provinces, whereas Kibaki won only two. By the laws of trend analysis, one would expect the occupant of the State House in Nairobi to be other than Kibaki.
My Kenyan dream is a day when we shall be judged not by the ethnic backgrounds we come from but by the content of our character. Kenya has governed itself for 44 years since independence. It is evident that the 2007 election was unique.  The electorate consciously chose their leaders as the post-electoral demonstrations bear testimony. There is certainly a wave of change despite the killings and a repressive regime. The incumbent is on borrowed time! 

Editor’s note: Joseph Koyugi is an American citizen, originally of the Luo tribe of Kenya, who works for a political subdivision of the State of Colorado. He is co- founder of Friends of Leadership Development and Governance, an organization working towards stability in Kenya and which sponsored Raila Odinga’s visit to Denver in September 2007.

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