Setting the record straight

Over 500 people dead, hundreds of thousands internally displaced, and the death toll increasing with every dawn. People are fleeing their homes by the dozen everyday. Going where? They don’t know! This is what has befallen Kenya, once a beacon of peace in a sea of violence in the great lakes region. Wait a minute…how did all these start? A disputed presidential election, they say, is the root cause of this unprecedented mayhem!

A country on the brink and a government almost incapable of resolving this crisis, thanks to a strong and hardliner opposition is the picture as of now. With Kibaki sworn in as the president of Kenya on that fateful 30th of December, 2007, the opposition has continually stated that even the ECK chairman, one Mr. Samuel Kivuitu, doesn’t know who won the elections. This, I would say, is a selective interpretation of information. The actual question posed to the ECK chairman was “Do you believe that Hon Mwai Kibaki FAIRLY won the election?” to which he responded, “I don’t know. That is until I see the original records, which I can’t for now until the court authorizes. What we have are records of results from field officers.”

Folks, the question is straight forward! It is a matter of whether the president won the elections fairly or not. It is not about whether he won the elections!

Lets settle this once and for all, Hon Kibaki did win the elections – fairly or not is a case to be determined by the courts, period!

With mediation talks entering a very crucial week, Kenyans can only hope that a solution is forthcoming; a solution, not only to the political stalemate, but also to the ethnic issues at hand.