Kenya: Socio-Economic Cleavages to Blame for Current Mayhem

By Farid Omar

Following the outbreak of violence in the aftermath of the disputed Kenyan elections, the western media was quick to portray electoral politics in Kenya as “tribal” with perennial “ethnic” loyalties, rather than issues of national debate drumming up support for competing political interests.

But Kenyan and other African pundits have rejected such negative media depictions, stating that ethnicity was not a factor in the December 2007 Kenya elections, pointing out the Raila Odinga led Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has garnered multi-ethnic, trans-regional, national support in almost seven out of Kenya's eight provinces.

A Seniour Police official has confirmed that at least 600 people have lost their lives while UN figures indicate that 250, 000 people are displaced and close to 500, 000 are in need of urgent humanitarian aid.

Diplomatic efforts are under way to help resolve the crisis with the ODM calling for the establishment of a transitional government and a re-run of the presidential polls within 3 months under an independent commission while the besieged “President” Kibaki has indicated willingness to establish a government of national unity.

The underlying causes of the current political crisis are rooted in existing socio-economic cleavages, social disparity, state corruption, poverty, unemployment, crippling inflation and state's inability to curtail rising crime rates. Most of those caught up in the ongoing violence are Kenya's rural and urban poor, unemployed youths and other marginalized sectors of society.

The post elections violence in Kenya is a clear reflection of decades of frustrations by the marginalized who saw any prospect for better future destroyed by the massive electoral fraud meant to preserve the status quo.

By all accounts, Kenya was a powder keg waiting to explode. The myth that Kenya has always been a “peaceful” and “progressive” model for other African countries to emulate has finally been shattered by the violent unrest that threatens to plunge the country into further chaos. Kenya indeed, was never the so-called “stable” East African nation and “beacon” of hope for Africa.

Public discontentment with the massive state corruption that has driven millions into poverty has been fomenting for years. In four and a half decades of neo-colonial rule, the Kenyan comprador elites, working in collusion with international capital, had succeeded in the pacification of the masses through coercion, patronage, clientelism, co-aptation and other corrupt practices. “Pacification” as we know, is not the same as “peaceful co-existence.”

Kenya's long pacified, diverse communities all share one thing in common; marginalization at the hands of a corrupt, dictatorial, pro-west, capitalist state implementing neo-liberal economic policies that has enriched a select group of elites at the expense of impoverished masses deprived of even the basic necessities of life.

The disputed elections was a just a trigger that allowed the oppressed in Kenya vent their anger against the state as seen in violent clashes between rioters and the police as well as the unfortunate attacks on sections of the population accused of supporting the Kibaki regime.

In today’s Kenya, the masses have started to seriously challenge all forms of “pacification” or intimidation through the state’s excessive use of force. Thus the series of mass peaceful rallies underway across the nation will form the basis of popular resistance to the Kibaki regime.

For peace to prevail, Kenyans and progressive forces around the world should pressure Kibaki to step down and allow for a speedy re-run of the polls under the supervision of an independent electoral commission.

In the meantime, ODM's call for the formation of an interim government with the sole mandate of preparing the stage for new elections is a viable option that offers a way out of the current impasse.