UPDATE: 11:00 PM
Rumours going round are to the effect that Raila Odinga and William Ruto have been arrested, and William Ruto has been shot. Reportedly this is after ODM announced their intentions to name a parallel government, a move, I must confess, is not entirely wise given the current situation.
More as I get it.
I have just been watching President Kibaki been sworn in, amid applause from his cabal of powerful friends and cronies. As far as I can tell it seems to have been a private ceremony for himself and his friends.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that Kibaki’s friends and minions were already gathered and ready for swearing in minutes after the announcement was made.
People awaiting news
I refuse to call him and his ilk honourable. They are no such thing.
While he and his friends are sipping tea and eating crumpets in statehouse I find myself at crossroads.
I question the very beliefs I once held true — that democracy at the end of the day triumphs.
I feel outraged that Mwai Kibaki can with a straight face tell me how he feels “humbled that the people have elected him” and how he urges his opponents to “respect the electoral process”.
People reacting to the news
I feel mad that Samuel Kivuitu is cracking jokes at State House while my country falls apart because of him and his puppeteers.
I feel that the people of Kenya have been completely robbed of everything they have gained over the last 40 years. We lacked few things but at least we were generally a fair people.
I feel that the change we thought we had in 2005 was just an illusion.
I feel that all the time (3+ years), love, devotion and attention I dedicated on Mzalendo.com, sleepless nights sacrificed, hours of my time and resources have been pissed away in just a few days.
I feel that Kenyans have been robbed of something that can never be valued — their electoral process.
I feel challenged even now to respond to the question I had been asked earlier in the day — “Is there any point voting?”
Fracas begins to develop in my backyard
I feel cheated because the same cabal that has been in power since independence is still in power.
I feel cheated that an administration rejected by the ballot can somehow find itself into the presidency.
I feel sad that Kenyans optimistically queued on the 27th thinking they could control their destiny and the very people they entrusted spat on their good faith and goodwill.
I feel angry that my house has just been stoned.
I feel angry that my friends’ shops have been looted and burnt.
Shops Looted and burnt. FYI the burning kiosk is the left most blue one in the first photo
I feel shocked that on comparing Kibaki to Moi, Moi comes out on top because he actually walked away when he lost.
I feel amazed that the ruling party in no way shape or form is representative of the country.
I feel insulted that people can rig the elections and believe that we are dumb enough not to see through it.
I cry (literally) at realizing that we have been robbed of our peaceful, friendly homeland, where our camaraderie made us famous worldwide by power hungry power barons.
As I sit here in my room sick to my stomach and hear the breaking glass outside my house and see my friends watch helplessly as their shops are looted and burnt I again ask myself …
What have they done?
UPDATE
The Government has just issued a directive via the Ministry of Information & Communication banning all live broadcasts, or broadcasts of anything “inciting”, presumably the reaction to the ECK announcement.
Try harder. You can’t silence the truth.
joe, fellow kenyans et al. the argument isn’t whether kibaki or raila is a better leader. the argument is that the democratic process has been tainted. whether he is a dictator, statesman, king-maker, tribalist and all the name tags you can give him, the bottom line is raila is the people’s choice. kenyans believed in democracy and made the voice heard in the polls.
kibaki should respect that, save lives and democracy.
I’m not Kenyan or even African. I just want to express my sorrow at what is happening now in Kenya. I hope that the good people of Kenya can contain their anger and frustration and channel their energies into rectifying the injustice they have suffered at the hands of Kibaki and his fellow criminals.
A couple of points i’d like to make:
1. Be very wary of the USA getting involved in your problems. I find it very suspicious that they congratulated Kibaki then changed their tune after the EU pointed out their concerns about disarities in the count. They done the same thing at the time of the coup attempt in Venezuela a few years back. America is no friend of democracy.
2. Joe says the violence is unnacceptable but urges people to accept the election outcome as it stands. Joe, why don’t you find the denial of the Kenyan people’s right to self determination, equally or more unacceptable?
@john charo
There is now widespread evidence on the ground that this is indeed so. See kenyanpundit for example:
What Kibaki has done is disturbing and embarrasing.It clear that he has rigged the votes. The Chairman of the electoral commission says he do not know Kibaki won the election. What more explanation you want here.Kibaki has no shame, he should voluntarily step down.Presidents of the East African Community should not accept him as a member because no one elected him.