Stop pushing country to the edge and give dialogue a chance

Yet again, yesterday’s demonstrations against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials turned violent. Unfortunately, fears expressed by a cross section of Kenyans that the siege at the Anniversary Towers would turn bloody came true. When the sun set yesterday, three Kenyans died needless deaths.

The level of violence witnessed yesterday is worrying with three reportedly killed in Siaya and Kisumu and at least 30 suffering gunshot wounds. Perhaps as an indication of the protests’ contagion, the demonstrations spread to the country’s second biggest town, Mombasa. And even there, the police used teargas to disperse the demonstrators. The Speaker of the Mombasa County Assembly and an MCA were detained by the police.

In Kakamega, a demonstration led by Senator Bonie Khalwale also ended in chaos and the Senator is said to have been arrested and charged in court. Nairobi was no different because the police dispersed demonstrators using teargas and water cannons. Earlier in the day, they had cordoned off the sprawling Kibera slum perhaps to push back would-be protesters. While perfectly within their right to preclude violence, the police’s action in cordoning off an area of the city was viewed as incitement and the youth engaged the police in day-long running battles.

Yet it is the new dimension that the demonstrations is taking, which if not nipped in the bud, risks plunging the country into a deep quagmire. With each side in the political divide hardening their positions, the country should ready for a prolonged confrontation. Yet it shouldn’t have come to this. Violence for whatever reason is inexcusable. Neither is the heavy-handed nature of police response.

Needless to say, the political rhetoric going round and the continued violence poses grave threat to the security and unity of the country. It should be stopped.

Like this newspaper has said before, this is no time to moralise about the Constitution, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Last year, when the country was beset by a wave of insecurity, the country’s leadership had no qualms changing the law to make it easy to remove the then Inspector of the Police Service David Kimaiyo who enjoyed a security of tenure in office. These times are no different. And this by no means is to hector the President to break the law or that he is wrong and that the Opposition coalition is right. Not at all. It is that as Head of State, he needs to provide leadership at this critical hour.

Furthermore, the right to picket doesn’t mean the right to inconvenience others getting on with their lives by engaging in acts of hooliganism.

Last week, the Church offered to broker peace between the Opposition and the government, but positions taken by both sides have made this impossible. Even in the face of compelling evidence that tension in some parts of the country is steadily building up, the ambivalence from the Government and an Opposition that refuses to call off the demonstrations to give talks a chance, does not help matters.

Both sides of the divide seem more preoccupied with scoring off against each other than finding a solution.

The politicians should use the small window of opportunity to give dialogue a chance before it is too late. They should stop playing Russian roulette with the country.