Deadly Silence
As we continue to receive reports of mayhem in the slum region of Kenya, one cannot help but ask who is silently motivating and arming those killers. Initially, they had to carry any bricks or pieces of logs they could find with which they dealt blows at their helpless victims until they were dead. Now they have started carrying machetes. Before long, they will start carrying more deadly weapons like rifles and explosives. And someone will argue that they are mere angry unemployed youths seeking to express their discontentment with the government "in a dramatic manner"; unleashing vegeance on a particular ethnic group. Is it not the same government that made two specific promises upon assumption of office in 2002, to wit, that it will try to jettison corruption at high places, and to improve on the economic relevance of the country? Both pledges, it had fulfilled. It beats me hollow to imagine that a man should go to pick up a deadly weapon like that, sit by the stone to sharpen it over a period of time and move from point A to point Z and fail to show any change of mind along the way; and goes ahead to hack down fellow human beings - big and small. Clearly this is a case of premeditated aggression. It is even more disheartening that the politicians whom one could hold responsible for encouraging these killings have preferred to keep silent; giving the impression that their hands are tied. The questions therefore arises as to how tight or tied their hands would be in terms of controlling the masses if they were given the mandate to rule. Who would want such a ruler? And the children that are being paraded as victims of Police high handedness. What responsible parent would allow his underaged child to join a gang of robbers being used by politicians to undermine the existence of their fellow citizens? Those parents do not have value for their children talk less of love and concern for their future. My deduction is that those children are being recruited without the consent of their parents, and are being used as human shield as well as a calculated ruse to intimidate the Pose and in turn give them a bad name before the international community. If the two elder statesmen from the depths of Ashanti town in Ghana could not resolve the political fiasco in Kenya, why would the international community fold their arms and watch innocent citizens perish? Let someone bell the cat.
As we continue to receive reports of mayhem in the slum region of Kenya, one cannot help but ask who is silently motivating and arming those killers. Initially, they had to carry any bricks or pieces of logs they could find with which they dealt blows at their helpless victims until they were dead. Now they have started carrying machetes. Before long, they will start carrying more deadly weapons like rifles and explosives. And someone will argue that they are mere angry unemployed youths seeking to express their discontentment with the government "in a dramatic manner"; unleashing vegeance on a particular ethnic group. Is it not the same government that made two specific promises upon assumption of office in 2002, to wit, that it will try to jettison corruption at high places, and to improve on the economic relevance of the country? Both pledges, it had fulfilled. It beats me hollow to imagine that a man should go to pick up a deadly weapon like that, sit by the stone to sharpen it over a period of time and move from point A to point Z and fail to show any change of mind along the way; and goes ahead to hack down fellow human beings - big and small. Clearly this is a case of premeditated aggression. It is even more disheartening that the politicians whom one could hold responsible for encouraging these killings have preferred to keep silent; giving the impression that their hands are tied. The questions therefore arises as to how tight or tied their hands would be in terms of controlling the masses if they were given the mandate to rule. Who would want such a ruler? And the children that are being paraded as victims of Police high handedness. What responsible parent would allow his underaged child to join a gang of robbers being used by politicians to undermine the existence of their fellow citizens? Those parents do not have value for their children talk less of love and concern for their future. My deduction is that those children are being recruited without the consent of their parents, and are being used as human shield as well as a calculated ruse to intimidate the Pose and in turn give them a bad name before the international community. If the two elder statesmen from the depths of Ashanti town in Ghana could not resolve the political fiasco in Kenya, why would the international community fold their arms and watch innocent citizens perish? Let someone bell the cat.
1 comment:
To all of us from Africa, the situation in Kenya calls for prayers. I agree with you Vince that it is indeed criminal for all african leaders to keep silent in the face of this ugly incident in Kenya. I was visibly terrified when I saw some youths moving from house to house to hack down their neighbors of many years just because they belong to one political affiliate or ethnic group or the other. It reminds me of June 12, 1992 in Lagos when Babangida annulled an election which is still considered the freest in the history of Nigeria. We took to the street to protest the annullment but pity enough some of my friends did not make it back home. they fell to the bullet of a military despot. I have said ealier in my article that Mr Kibaki should bury his head in real shame. I was one of those who hailed his election in 2002. And his inaugural speech was hinged on bringing a renewed hope to a nation hitherto enslaved by Arap Moism. To whom much is given much is expected, I thought following the massive support the good people of kenya gave him in 2002 election, Mr Kibaki shouldn't have paid back with such election frauds and riggings which evetually sparked off the violence. Let me use this medium to call on Mr Kibaki and the opposition leader Raila Odinga to stop this violence forthwith. They should jettison their pride and put an end to this chaos. Remember the buck stops on the desk of the president. Enough is enough!!! Corrupt and election riggers should not turn Africa to slaughter slabs. Kibaki, Odinga, stop the viloence in Kenya now.
Oludare Fase is the Editor In Chief of African Examiner online (www.africanexaminer.com).
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