ELECTORAL VIOLENCE IN KENYA: A CONSISTENT VIRUS

 

Elections in Kenya, Image by CCPR Centre 

There has been a wave of massive civic education and a better understanding of pivotal moments in our history as a republic due to the ongoing “GENZ REVOLUTION”. This “organic revolution” by the youth has brought forth drastic improvements in governance as they are constantly breathing fire down the necks of corrupt politicians. Something that until recently, has rarely been witnessed in Kenya’s young history as an independent nation.

However, in the wake of these improvements, the history of electoral violence in our country is extremely understated. Most individuals in our nation except for Boomers and early GEN X, are not aware of this existing issue that has afflicted our great republic since the early 90s and which for the most part, has been sanctioned by the state. My article seeks to stress just how much electoral violence diminishes our attempts at unity as a nation, and how ignoring it further will exacerbate our current situation.

The first instance of widely experienced electoral violence in the nation stretches back to the 1992 election; which was the first multi-party election since the 1963 election with KANU, KADU and the APP. This is because in the summer of 1982, Kenya became a one-party state due to the introduction of Section 2A to the constitution. Section 2A banned other political parties and effectively made KANU (Kenya African National Union) the only party in the nation.

This move led to the suppression of those in opposition to the government of the day under Mzee Moi. The move towards a one-party state was championed by the then-retired Attorney General Charles Mugane Njonjo and Vice President Emilio Mwai Kibaki. The irony of this is that the two who championed for this move were the system’s first victims-Njonjo shortly after the Coup Attempt of ’82 in 1984 when he was forced to resign from being a cabinet minister and Kibaki in 1988 when he was removed as the second in command of the country.       

For the next decade, Kenya would be under the rule of only one-party. Elections at that time were a sham due to the introduction of the infamous “mlolongo voting system.” Furthermore, state officials abused power at will with zero repercussions. However, in the early 90s, this trend took a dramatic turn as the youth of the nation had had enough of the autocratic Moi regime and began civil disobedience throughout the country, especially in the universities. Some of these included the Saba Saba rallies. Eventually, the civil unrest coupled with major international pressure from our primary foreign aid donors, made Mzee Moi concede as he repealed section 2A to allow for multi-partism. The country was elated!

There was a ray of hope as Kenya’s political course had been altered towards a more progressive path. Amidst this new challenge to Mzee Moi’s grip on power, the self-proclaimed “professor of politics” had a few tricks up his sleeve. Firstly, he assembled a group of young men from various parts of the country to form a KANU paramilitary wing for youths loyal to him.

This team of youths was led by businessman and later MP of Lugari constituency in Kakamega County, Cyrus Jirongo. He was subordinated by Samuel Nyamwea and our current President H.E William Ruto. The name of this organization of the youth was known as YK92 (Youth For Kanu 1992).

YK92’s campaign across Kenya for President Moi was formidable. These youth regained a significant amount of ground that President Moi had seemingly lost. William Ruto’s oratory skills wooed the crowds, especially in Moi’s Rift Valley backyard. Despite their successes in wooing and bribing crowds, the group was extremely infamous for intimidating, threatening and orchestrating violence on ethnic minorities in the Rift Valley and other KANU strongholds. As the famous adage in law goes “He who alleges must prove,” and so I will bring forth evidence to prove the same.

A picture depicting the mlolongo voting system, by the Daily Nation

In the Akiwumi Report of 1998 by former Speaker of the Ghanian Parliament, the Late Justice Akiwumi states that “an estimated 5,000 people perished as a result of the ethnic clashes in the Rift Valley orchestrated against the Kikuyu, Kisii and Luhya communities”^[1]. Most of these clashes were done with the knowledge and approval of the state.

The report goes on to say that the “pastoral communities such as the Maasai in Narok targeted the Kisii and Kikuyu who had settled in the area, with the Nandi targeting the Luhya in the Kakamega and Nandi border”^[2]. Clearly, my claims are not hearsay, since an independent commission led by a neutral third-party observer stated that there were cases of sanctioned state violence.

The leaders of this youth wing were also known for bribing opposition politicians and sewing division in the opposition parties along ethnic lines. As noted in the KTN documentary ‘Agwambo,’ based on Raila’s struggles in fighting for multi-partism, FORD (Forum for the Restoration of Democracy) split up because certain leaders were not of the idea that certain communities should lead them. As expected, President Moi exploited the situation to the fullest, and the opposition, with a divided voter base left Moi the winner of the election, in which he only garnered 36-40% which was enough under the old constitution to take up the instruments of power.

However, after the ’92 elections Moi dismantled the YK92 as he felt too much power and arrogance would get into the minds of the young men. Although he was fearful of their arrogance, he retained most of them in government, and they would be his right hand men from then on alongside Nicholas Yator Biwott and Joshua Kulei.

Half a decade later, Kenyans went to the polls again and this time the main challengers were former Vice President Kibaki and famed opposition leader Odinga of DP (The Democratic Party)and NDP (National Democratic Party) respectively. The tactic of divide and conquer was used, and just like in the days of the British Colonialists, it worked astoundingly. The incumbent Moi won, albeit very narrowly leading him to form a coalition with Raila Odinga in order to secure a majority in Parliament that would comfortably enact laws in Moi’s favour.

Both of these elections were, according to the Akiwumi report, filled with instances of ethnic clashes; although the ’97 one was not as bloody as the ’92 elections. The most affected areas were the Rift Valley and Coast regions. Indigenous communities in the Coast were chasing away “intruders” who had taken large tracts of land, leaving the Coast residents disenfranchised.

The violence stirred up a movement of young Mount Kenya youths whose land was disenfranchised, to create a “land defense force” similar to that of their ancestors in the colonial era, known as the “Mungiki”. Unfortunately, this group would later evolve into a vigilante organization, which is a story for another day.

It is clear from the illustrations above that electoral violence is not a one-time event, as some of us GEN-Z’s initially thought. Those of us who have grandparents who are ethnic minorities in the Rift Valley should ask them about the same, and they will vividly describe to you the situation at that time.

 As Moi took the oath of office in 1997, he informed the country that that would be his last term in power. Some of the allies he used to instigate ethnic clashes in the Rift Valley, such as William Ole Ntimama, had defected from KANU citing betrayal.  Ntimama, who fought the Agikuyu community in Narok and admitted in an interview with Nation Media that Moi used him to say “Wakikuyu watalala flat kama bahasha,”^[3] eventually ditched him.

Similarly, famed Youth Pastor, T Mwangi who was raised in Narok, admits that the Maasai Morans came baying for blood and armed to the teeth, descending from a “famous MP’s House”.^[4] The narrow win despite a divided opposition, was enough evidence that the nation was fed up with Moi.

In 2002, majority of the country overwhelmingly flocked towards Kibaki’s NARC coalition, except those of the Rift Valley and southern Central Kenya. This time, thankfully, unlike the past two elections under multi-party democracy there was peace and no instances of violence.

The country breathed a sigh of relief, especially ethnic minorities outside of tribal lines. They were all sure the oppressive days of state sanctioned violence were behind them and that the fourth line of the first stanza of our national anthem was finally fulfilled; “May we dwell in unity, peace and liberty.”

Just three years after NARC(The National Rainbow Coalition) had been elected to government, the country was more divided than ever before. Mwai Kibaki’s government had lost a referendum pertaining to constitutional reform. On the other hand, the opposition was led by former ally turned rival, Raila Odinga, who capitalized on Kibaki’s ethnic bigotry. The country was once again in the dark days of the past.

The ethnic hate spilled over to the 2007 election campaigns where the opposition used the ‘41 V 1’ rhetoric in ethnic balkanization. 41 V 1 was a dog whistle used by some ODM leaders in order to turn other tribes against the Kikuyu who were viewed as enemies of progress because they supported the incumbent Kibaki in his re-election bid.

The use of this tactic was admitted by former ODM (The Orange Democratic Movement) member turned CS for Environment Aden Duale, in an interview with former NTV journalist Enock Skolia in 2022 in a segment called “The Great Divide” on the Kenyan Historian show. ^[5]

The government used former Provincial Commissioner of Central Kenya and member of KANU, Simeon Nyachae, to chase away William Ruto from Kisii while he was campaigning with hired goons. Nyachae’s provocation exacerbated an already sensitive situation, and provided the casus belli for the 2007 violence witnessed on both sides of the political divide, which inevitably led to the death of over 1700 according to government estimates.^[6]

The animosity witnessed by the nation was unprecedented. A young democracy that swore its dark days were way past it, and that the era of petty tribal politics was long gone, was indeed shaken. Fortunately, Kofi Anan was able to ease the situation by suggesting the formation of a “coalition government” that enhanced both stability and unity.

Since then, however, there have never been large-scale ethnic clashes during the election period. This does not mean that the situation can never turn ugly again, amidst the GENZ “tribeless” rhetoric, the extent to which our society is laced with toxic ethnic bigotry has been exposed.

All it takes for the country to go nuclear is the right amount of incitement and propaganda! It is often said that, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Let us kindly spread awareness on this issue and have healthy conversations about it so as to reduce and eventually dismantle the foothold greedy politicians have over us to manipulate us and to get us to turn on each other. 

Additionally, we should continue to push for the independence of state bodies to prevent their participation in such grotesque activities. We should ensure that the Truth, Reconciliation and Justice Commission have ample resources to rehabilitate victims of violence in order to reduce the number of internally displaced persons. Furthermore, politicians who perpetuate hate speech should be prosecuted and barred from contesting for any leadership or representation position.

KENYA NI HOME KENYA NI MOJA NA KENYA NI YETU!

Written by Alex Kariuki, a second year law student at the University of Nairobi, Parklands Campus.

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[1] Akiwumi A.M, ‘Report of the Judicial Commission Appointed to Inquire into Tribal Clashes in Kenya’ (1999)

[2] Ibid

[3] Nation Newspaper, ‘How Moi used me to shout at the Kikuyu to lie low: Ntimama’ <https://www.google.com/url?q=https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/weekend/how-moi-used-me-to-shout-at-the-kikuyu-to-lie-low-ntimama--875262&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwjP5ZCh05-IAxXYQvEDHdG7B3AQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0WwAdQzA97TS33QdAvfiBr> accessed 2^nd September, 2024

[4] Cleaning the Airwaves, ‘My Childhood Upbringing - Pastor T Mwangi’ https://youtu.be/N1VMciUzPT8?si=j2a8W07rAoHsXma0> accessed 2^nd September, 2024

[5] The Kenyan Historian, ‘KENYA'S GREAT DIVIDE part 1: Kibaki vs Raila, Kibaki tosha, NARC govt & 2007 post-election violence’ <https://youtu.be/q1jbPjtTtW4?si=aVA12x4b93mnmOjU> accessed 2^nd September, 2024

[6] Department for International Development, ‘Elections in Kenya in 2007’  <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79936940f0b642860d9284/elections-ke-2007.pdf>  accessed 2^nd September, 2024