I spent the last week in Kisumu, part of the delegation of a new civil society movement going by the name ‘We the People’, which is a citizen alliance for alternative leadership in the public interest.
The purpose of the visit was to ascertain how the local community views the evolving political situation in the country, particularly following the handshake between NASA leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
While there will be visits to other parts of the country in coming days, going to Kisumu was natural enough, as the city experienced significant violence in the period after the annulled presidential election last year, culminating in the cancellation of polling in the repeat election held on October 26.
In fact, Kisumu has been one of the places most affected during all the rounds of recent political violence, starting with the post-election violence in 2007/8, some violence in 2013 and the violence in 2016, when the then Opposition CORD, pushed for the ouster of the members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Coinciding with our visit was the visit by the IEBC in what was presented as a public forum to collect views on the performance of the elections body in last year’s elections.
It will be recalled that Kisumu was one of the counties where the second presidential election failed to take place, and that the IEBC initially promised that voting in those counties would be conducted on a later date, but eventually vacated that decision without clearly explaining how this was consistent with the mandate to conduct elections everywhere in the country.
Before any visits to collect views, the IEBC owes an explanation and apology to Kisumu and those other counties where the second presidential election did not take place. Predicated on an assumption that relations with the local community were normal, the IEBC visit was audacious, only succeeding because it was executed in stealth.
Our engagements in Kisumu included meetings with residents, including members of Bunge la Mwananchi, local deliberative platforms that have proliferated in several places in town, where ordinary people converge to debate issues of public interest. In terms of political mobilisation, these Bunges play a role formerly played by university students. We also met victim groups, including women who suffered rape during the various episodes of political violence. There was also engagement with local religious leaders and the Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o was also kind enough to grant us a meeting.
From these meetings, it became clear that although local residents largely view themselves as victims of the recent political violence, with many of them holding President Uhuru Kenyatta responsible, they have resolved to support the handshake.
Two reasons explain this decision. First, Raila Odinga still enjoys unquestioned support and local residents are willing to go with him wherever he takes them. For a number of the residents, support for the handshake is based only on this reason.
A more nuanced reason was discernible from discussions with the residents. Some of them recognised the Luo community would suffer new levels of isolation, and possible persecution, when Raila turned up to take the oath as “the people’s president” without the support of his co-principals in NASA.
Among these, supporting the handshake is seen as a pragmatic decision, based on a realisation that while the region has suffered violations, those alleged to have caused the violations are still in power, and could commit more.
The post-handshake situation in Kisumu is reminiscent of Liberia where, after a bloody war, Charles Taylor who eventually became president campaigned on the slogan: “He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him.”
Among the local population, there is a widely held expectation that the handshake will result in some kind of largesse for them. It never became clear whether this is an independent reason for supporting the handshake.
As a result of the visit, a number of things became clear to me. First, 2017 was the last time security forces committed violence against the local population without expecting retaliation. Within the population, there is now a widely-held view that, in the event of police violence in future, such violence will be met with equal force from the population. A level of radicalisation has occurred in that region.
Second, the handshake puts a massive burden of responsibility on the shoulders of Raila whose decision the local population has decided to back on the basis of blind trust. Implicitly, this burden extends to Jubilee, Raila’s new partners.
Third, the question of reparations for the various violations that have taken place in the region can no longer be deferred. In fact, the handshake has rendered that question a low-hanging fruit, waiting to be plucked.
If the handshake cannot deliver reparations for Nyanza, it would be impossible to justify, to both Jubilee and the local residents. The meeting with Prof Nyong’o made it clear that there has been some thinking, and limited action, on this question. In the the coming days, a clear plan towards reparations needs to be rolled out.
