Rights activists hold silent protest for PEV victims and condemn parallel rallies

Activists congregated at Nairobi's Uhuru Park where they held a silent protest in remembrance of the post-election violence victims.

The close to 50 human rights activists led by Al Amin Kimathi observed a 30-minute moment of silence at Freedom Corner, as they reflected on the plight of the "forgotten" post-election violence (PEV) victims and the more than 1,300 people who lost their lives.

Mr Kimathi accused both Jubilee and CORD of playing politics with the lives of Kenyans at the expense of seeking justice for victims who lost their lives and property during the violence.

"Justice has not been served to any of the PEV victims and many of the survivors are living in a lot of pain and wounds. We are sad because the plight of the victims is now being used to settle political scores," he said.

The activists who each wore a red piece of garment including T-shirts, caps, head-scarves, dresses and jackets came together after they were mobilised through Twitter under the hashtag #WhatAboutTheVictims.

"The parallel rallies held in Nakuru and Kibra are a pointer that the leaders of the two coalitions are only out to advance their political agendas. This matter should not be an issue for political brinkmanship," he added.

Kimathi emphasised that the matter of post-election violence victims is an explosive one and it required sobriety and not dancing in meetings and chest-thumping. He added that the parallel meetings were a clear sign that the country was divided right in the middle.

Wanjeri Nderu, a social justice crusader said the issues that brought about violence in 2007 are yet to be resolved and accused the Government of trying to sweep the matter under the carpet.

"No one is remembering the victims. One minute we are told all of them have been resettled and the next minute we are told some will be resettled. We will continue holding the silent protests until their plight is addressed," said Ms Nderu.

Nderu warned that the country risked going back to violence in the coming general elections if the atrocities suffered by Kenyans in the past were ignored.

"The same script that was there before 2007 is being replayed now. The country is highly divided as we head to the national elections. We need to fix the issues that are likely to cause another round of post-election violence," she said.