Diaspora to sign pre-poll peace pledge

By Chris Wamalwa in USA

Kenyan ambassador to the US, Elkanah Odembo is set to officially launch a pre election peace campaign among Kenyans living in the US.

The Diaspora Kenyans for Free, Fair and Peaceful Elections campaign targets about 90 per cent of Kenyans living in the US and Canada and it will be launched on Thursday, April 12, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ambassador Elkanah Odembo welcomed by Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick during their recent meeting at State House in Massachusetts [Photo: Chris Wamalwa/Standard]

This will be during an official dinner party with Kenya’s elite team of marathon runners that will participate in this year’s Boston Marathon. The dinner party hosted to honour Kenyan athletes is organised and supported by the Kenyan embassy, Kenya Diaspora Advisory Council of New England, Run with Kenyans and Diaspora Voice.

Boston Marathon will take place on Monday, April 16, 2012.

From Boston, Massachusetts, the campaign will, during this coming summer move on to other cities and states that have a significant number of Kenyans.

Briefing the Standard on the campaign, Odembo said it would be tragic for Kenyans both at home and abroad to assume that there will be peace before and after the much-anticipated general elections. "In a polarized country like Kenya right now, we can’t just hope and assume that there will be peace. After all, there are already tell tale signs that there could be big trouble if we don’t act decisively to forestall such an eventuality," he said.

He said the campaign that will involve those willing to maintain peace during this electioneering period, signing a pre-polls pledge committing them to maintaining peace and advocating for free, fair and peaceful elections.

At the end of the campaign, the signed pledge will then be submitted to the Government and the Kenya National Cohesion and Integration Commission before elections. He said this would, in part be in honor of Mary Onyango, a member of the cohesion commission who passed away recently.

"Mary Onyango’s death is big blow to Kenya’s efforts to build a cohesive society. I was on phone with her days before she passed on and in fact we were planning a cohesion road show in America," he said.

Reports from different commissions and task forces formed to look into the causes of the post poll violence in Kenya consistently pointed a finger at the role the Kenyan Diaspora played in whipping up emotions that led in part, to the violence that gripped the country soon after the announcement of presidential results.

The Diaspora is accused in part, of taking tribal and ethnic positions during the last elections and through radio call-in and social media like Facebook, in part fuelled inter-tribal animosity. Casual observation of the way the Kenyan Diaspora behave and act would reveal a disturbing strong sense of tribal leanings and affiliations.

But, despite all this and the fact that some in Diaspora were directly affected by the violence, there have been no coordinated initiatives and efforts aimed at healing and reconciling the affected groups.

According to organisers, the four-month campaign road show will be fronted by music and dance, song and poetry and will be a stage-managed showcase of Kenya’s rich socio-cultural diversity as a unifying factor. It will feature a moving stage complete with a discotheque, live performances- songs, spoken word, comedy and any other ‘open-mike’ presentations all aimed at not just entertaining the audience but also educating the Diaspora on their civic duty.

Powered by Diaspora Voice TV show, the campaign will feature live streaming of discussions of issues affecting the Diaspora. Most significantly, the campaign will be a forum through which Kenyans living abroad can express themselves on what it is and what it means to be a Kenyan living abroad.

From Boston, Massachusetts, the campaign will move on to: New York/New Jersey, Pennsylvania/Delaware, DMV- Baltimore, MD/DC, Metro area, North/South Carolina, Georgia/ Alabama, Texas- Dallas, Houston, Missouri/ Kansas, Florida, Kentucky, California, Ohio/Indiana, Minnesota and Illinois –Chicago.

Others will be Michigan-Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ontario. Details and dates are still being worked on.