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NAIROBI: Kenya is reaching a most delicate crossroads. How she carries her sacrifice beyond this crossroad is anybody’s guess. The pot of ethnic hostility was catapulted into the population with reintroduction of multi-party democracy in 1991. We failed to grasp the essence of democracy. This cauldron of death is accordingly coming to a dangerous boil. We will have to choose between walking in the light and chasing after darkness and perdition.
Opposition leaders are eternally unhappy because of what they say is “serial stealing of (their) elections.” More obviously, they are unhappy that they are not in power. The truth about the last election is a point of detail. The issue is they are not in power and therefore unhappy. In recent times, they seem to have vowed to make life living hell for President Uhuru Kenyatta. They possibly think they could run the President out of town. They have discovered the most worrisome thing for this government is the very thought of violent demonstrations. For every grievance they have — real or imagined — therefore, there is only one solution, “We will hold demonstrations.” The magic wand of demos is, however, rattling not just the government. It is also upsetting ordinary citizens. Their life and activities must be put on hold while the demos last. This does not seem to concern the owners of the demos. But even if the wider economic implications don’t bother them, they have possibly not assessed the eventual political implications for their careers. History has taught us that a demo as an expression of displeasure must be civil and peaceful. A violent demo, on the other hand, must be enduring, swift and revolutionary. This is the experience everywhere from France, Mexico, the Philippines, Czechoslovakia and Romania.
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