Kenya - "WHEN WILL WE GET REAL LEADERS???"

[joel]

Below is a bit of an e-mail from Nick...some of you might remember him
as being the young man from Kenya who spoke for the start of the 2006
Leadership Forum Conference...notice his comments about leadership at
the end of the e-mail..."WHEN WILL WE GET REAL LEADERS????"



My Country, Kenya is changing its face of being one of the most
peaceful countries in Africa. That happened just after the general
elections were held on 27th Dec, 2007. The incumbent govt rigged the
elections and that has seen a wave of violence that I have never
witnessed in my entire life. The worst hit areas are slums (Kibera,
Mathare and many others) in Nairobi, western, Rift valley and Nyanya
provinces in Kenya. As much as the skirmish has been political, it is
now turning to be tribal and the supporters of the President are being
targetted. It is so saddening that we can't enjoy the peace that used
to be there and also the tribal suspicion is is so great.

I appreciate your concern. Today I took sometime from work to collect
the Yellow Fever certificate (which is a requirement to travel to
South Africa for the graduate studies). I got the vaccination in a
Nairobi hospital and am actually typing this email in a cyber café in
the central business district. Although uneasy calm has returned in
the heart of the city, many shops and other businesses are still
closed and we hope the planned Million people rally won't disturb the
peace that is trying to crop in. The rally to be held at Uhuru park
(Nobel prize winner, Wangari mathai-fought so hard to save it) is
organised by the opposition and they are calling for a million people
to protest against the govt but the govt has termed it illegal and
there are thousands of armed police officer making a human shield
around it.

What amazes me is that it is only the poor who are killing each
other. The violence caused me to reflect on the hypothesis that the
single biggest problem we face as a world is the rising gap between
rich and poor. Kenya experienced unprecedented growth last year - an
historic seven percent - At the same time, the situation of the very
poor situation did not improve and they see that they are being left
further behind. This can't but contribute to creating a situation of
instability.

I am residing in Limuru, a small town situated in Central province
(what many term as Kikuyu land) and it is abit safe there. There is a
lot of suspicion on other tribes esp. the Luos who are residing or
working at Bata Shoe Co. They are getting threats every day and we
hope that it won't be the same as what is happening in other towns. As
much as they are tribalising the violence, There is no one who is
targeting the Kambas (my tribe) since they are considered neutral.

Its my hope that peace will reign and we will stop hating our brothers
and sisters and that true democracy will one day come in. I wish that
we also stop looking at ourselves as tribes but as Kenyans. It is
amazing that once a particular 'tribe' gets to power they lock out the
rest and award its people the lions share of the national cake and
leave the other regions in the country wallowing in poverty and
economic stagnation. WHEN WILL WE GET REAL LEADERS????