I spent the best part of last weekend at my aunt's in a suburb in Nairobi. A jubilant family get together, which served as a gentle warm up to the festive season's indulgence. Mrs M, as I will call her, works for my aunt... cooking, cleaning and doing all the things that have become tedious for many Kenyan women who can afford the help.
Upon hearing I'm from the UK, a contagious smile grew accross her face. Listing her domestic prowess, executed in the little English she could speak, she asked if I knew any men over there that may be interested in an IDP.
Her story is similar, yet painfully unique to the thousands that lost loved ones during the 2007-8 post-election violence. A reminder of the failure of the government to resettle and relocate citizens who continue to live in camps. Mrs M joked about the fact that, being considerably tall, her feet would stick out of the tent. She keeps herself busy, too busy according to my aunt. She recalled how she was made to watch her husband being killed and fears for her oldest son who remained at the camp.
As I said, many share stories of loss... and yet looking at the political landscape at the moment, nothing much has changed. Last week, victims of the violence were hopeful at the prospect of the ICC breathing justice to Kenya's history of political impunity. The names of 6 prominent figures were listed as suspects who perpetrated the violence. The ICC does not have the power to carry this burden, and last night, MPs made this clear by expressing their solidarity to 'The Hague 6' by supporting a motion by to withdraw Kenya from the Rome Statute. However, Prime Minister Raila Odinga is keen to state that this is not the government's position, affirming that the withdrawl would be an exercise of futility.
Membership to the ICC places obligations on the state and it seems that when Kenya is required to rise to the responsibility tied to this, it fails miserably. This lax attitude to obligations is both international and national as was the case of the Memorandum of Understanding, signed in 2002, which set out provisions that were unclear and remained unfulfilled.
The only people that suffer are hard-working mwananchi like Mrs M.
Sat next to my 8 year old cousin in her red t-shirt that announced her opposition to the new constitution that passed in August 2010, I am reminded of the fact that politics is everywhere and ingrained in everything that breathes here.
Just today, a 14 year old boy was buried after committing suicide when Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, was announced as one of
'The Hague 6'. On the drive home, my aunt tells me that Luo men are marrying Kikuyu women to secure a vote for Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a Luo, who is tipped to take the presidency in 2012. According to her, Kikuyus will do anything to keep Raila out of the race, even voting for Vice President Musyoka Kalonzo, a Kamba, who is seen by some as the least tribalist of the presidential contenders. He will need all the support he can get being the only representative of the Kalenjin-Kikuyu-Kamba (also unfortunately known as the KKK) coalition who has survived the wrath of Ocampo's list of suspects.
Perhaps Kenya is turning a new page - keen to dislodge politics from tribal affiliations. This may be the case for many youth. I join them in their quest to challenge this affliction. Yet a part of me remains wary. The media is thriving, but still falls under the fate of sensationalism. The current enthusiastic name dropping that is taking place as MPs face investigation into drug traficking is overshadowing the analysis that may shed light on the importance of the demarcation of boundaries that will create constituencies and determine the representation of MPs, allocation of government funds and inevitably determine how far the promise of devolution enshrined in the new constitution will reach.
And as we all know, once we get to the land issue, the tribal issue hastily follows along with it's ugly friend 'entitlement'.
Mr M was murdered because his killers considered him to be the wrong tribe in the land that he owned, worked and enjoyed with his family all his life.
If the voices on the street are anything to go by... he won't be the last.
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