“We never thought it could happen here” is the most common phrase you hear in Kenya today.
In three decades of covering conflict in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Korea, Chile, Argentina, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique, the two weeks I have just spent in Kenya saw the worst violence I’ve ever experienced among many of the nicest people I’ve ever dealt with.
These are some notes from two weeks in Kenya as a counsellor to those who were raped and/or experienced extreme violence as well as assisting people in refugee camps and debriefing aid workers, medical staff and trauma counsellors.
Six hundred families, as an example, live in the nursery school and primary school of the Star of Hope Academy in violence-torn Mutare North in Nairobi. Principal David Gathura moved them to sleep in the open air of the grounds of the school, to make way for his 250 pupils when school began this week.
“We need food, bedding, tents; this is hectic. People fled here from Kijiji-Chachewa, a village across the river [five minutes from downtown Nairobi], when it was attacked by Luos two weeks ago. The villagers include Kikuyu, Kamba, Kisii and Taita …” He sighs and, standing on a hill, waves his hand across a vast open space where the village once stood. Now only soil and bits of plastic remain.
In that small refugee camp alone, there are nine newly orphaned children ranging in age from two to 15, with an average age of nine. The severely overstretched Red Cross has only delivered food to them twice, the last time six days ago, and starvation is setting in.
Teachers and children across Kenya have been profoundly traumatised. The Kenyan Counselling Association and the Kenyan Psychologists’ Association have stepped up calls for voluntary or trained counsellors.
Lilian Kasarani (35) is not Kikuyu but her husband, a teacher, is. When their home in the Rift Valley was attacked along with others, she and her husband picked up their two small children and ran, leaving the house they had worked hard to build, and even their car. They now live with relatives in Nairobi, too frightened to return.
Her six-year-old son, Bob, sits motionless with vacant eyes. She says: “He wakes up screaming at night, saying, ‘Have they cut daddy up? Is he dead?’” He refuses food.
Her 18-month-old daughter, too, refuses food and has gone back to being breast-fed. Lilian, a master’s student in engineering, sobs: “We have nothing. Everything we worked for has gone. I wish I was dead.” She does not know how Bob (he is a second-grader) or her husband, a teacher, whose hands now tremble, will cope at school.
There is possibly not an individual in Kenya who has not been touched by the violence, either directly or through a family member or friend.
More than 1 000 children (at conservative estimates by the United Nations Children’s Fund, which provided scant assistance – 35 000 tents yes, and some aid packs, but there is still no database of missing children or attempts to reunite them with families) have been orphaned or separated from their parents. Some are now being subjected to rape in refugee camps (which have sprung up at churches, schools, mosques and sports arenas) and on the streets.
Horrific ongoing revenge killings are taking place even in central Nairobi. The estimate of 1 000 killed is probably low.
In one instance, a group of young men was abducted at 6.30pm on Monday on Jogoo road in downtown Nairobi, by a Kikuyu gang. The men were taken to a house and then called into a room where one by one they were hacked to death. The only person to survive was allowed to live because he had a card showing he was a volunteer with a relief organisation, but the skin was partly removed from one hand with a scalpel, he was badly beaten, made to lick the blood of those hacked before his eyes, and had to open his mouth while attackers urinated into it. He, too, is profoundly suicidal.
Rape statistics have at least trebled, even though few are able to go to hospitals for help because of erratic public transport in Nairobi and dangerous road travel in rural areas — military convoys escort those on roads outside cities and even those convoys get stoned, shot at or have to dodge burning barricades or rocks. Most factories remain closed and many tour agencies with thousands of bookings cancelled are laying off people, which means the wage-earning economy has been cut dramatically. People without money not only cannot afford transport, but they are also starting to starve.
In one instance this week in Nairobi, eight women were abducted by a gang and taken to a burnt-out building where they were repeatedly raped, some with their daughters. A tampon was removed from a menstruating woman and attackers squeezed her menstrual blood into the mouths of those they raped.
Counsellors and medical workers are burnt out and profoundly traumatised. Jane Mburu, a social worker, said: “I can’t take any more. This is not the country I know. I can’t sleep. I want to leave this country. I can’t bear it.”
The Nairobi Women’s Hospital is an outstanding example of how Kenyans are rallying to help. CEO Dr Sam Thenya has personally visited refugee centres daily, listing those needing medical treatment and sending in ambulances, medical personnel or counsellors to help. Funds have been diverted from a $60-million building project for a desperately needed new hospital to send assistance in the form of medical staff and counsellors across Kenya. The country is awash with angels, like him and his staff, among profound horror and deepening misery.
Rains have come early and a potentially significant health crisis faces the country with hundreds of thousands of Kenyans living in the open with little or no sanitation and a plague of flies and mosquitoes already in some refugee camps.
There is scant government assistance to a massive but haphazardly coordinated relief effort led by NGOs that are facing huge demands with minimal foreign donor support. The bags of cast-off clothes left by middle-class Kenyans at relief centres or food items donated by some supermarkets are simply not enough to cope.
President Mwai Kibaki visited one relief area, under heavy security, in Kachibura, Kitale East district, and promised to build houses for those who had lost their homes — a promise no one believes, with severely rutted, badly congested roads in Nairobi that haven’t seen any upgrades in years and little maintenance.
There was scant trust in the mediation process initiated by Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who is also chairman of the African Union, which Kibaki rejected out of hand or that underway with former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. The day before the Kufuor process began, Kibaki appointed his new Cabinet in a move widely seen as contemptuous of the mediation process.
Media coverage has been critical of the ruling party, with Jaindi Kisero writing in the East African, as an example: “In Kenya, winning and losing elections is a high-stakes affair because it means exclusion of the losers from power and distribution of resources for five years … Members of the Kalenjin tribe of former president Daniel arap Moi voted massively against Mwai Kibaki. [They feel] too many of their tribesmen were sacked when Kibaki took over in 2003. A nascent Kalenjin business class that had emerged during Moi’s regime disappeared overnight, their links to sources of patronage having been suddenly cut off.”
A report I wrote to aid agencies included this: “Heroic efforts have come from many Kenyans who have given up their jobs and their time to work long, thankless hours to assist those who need aid. There are endless heroes and heroines at this time in Kenya; however, given the nature of this being an emergency effort, there are gaps — most of which can be easily filled and remedied.
“Aid organisations and government need to anticipate a looming crisis in the hinterland because so many people have relocated there. This will put pressure on land, housing, education and health services.
“Early rains, too, bring the risk of water-borne diseases ranging from typhoid to cholera and malaria in already-overcrowded refugee centres. The small, underserved ones in Mutare North that already have plagues of flies and mosquitoes are an example.”
Kibaki shows no evidence of a desire to negotiate a peaceful compromise to end the ethnic violence in Kenya. When Parliament opened on Tuesday January 15, MPs from his ironically named People’s National Unity party formed a minority even though he persuaded a splinter party, ODM-Kenya, to add its 16 MPs to the PNU, bringing its representation in Parliament to 77 — still lower than the ODM’s 105 MPs.
Former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa toured some refugee camps in early January with Zambian statesman Kenneth Kaunda and former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano.
The United States and the European Union have warned that it could not be “business as usual until there is political compromise which leads to a lasting solution that reflects the will of the people”. US aid to Kenya alone tops $1-billion a year.
Analysts are warning the situation in Kenya and political uncertainty in South Africa could affect investor confidence in the continent. Last year, international banking saw a record number of investments in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Monetary Fund. There was $46-billion in net private capital flows to the continent in 2007 and $15-billion in private portfolio investments.
Kenya’s economy, last year one of the best performing in Africa with growth of 7,5%, is, after less than a month of violence, in rapid freefall with best-case growth projections now at 4%.
Disinformation is escalating with a nine-page email purporting to be a confidential “Executive Brief on the Positioning and Marketing of the Orange Democratic Movement and ‘The People’s President’ Hon Raila A Odinga”, dated September 8 2007, being circulated among business leaders and NGO heads with the message: “ODM’s core strategy was to market hatred of Kukuyus [sic] to other tribes.”
The document notes: “Tap into pledged funding from external donors including the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Venezuela, Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as individuals/institutional caucuses such as the GTZ Network, Cyril Ramaphosa, the Deya Ministries and US Republicans.”
It says, as an example: “Anti-Kikuyuism must be reinforced with promises of jobs and economic gains to key players from every community supporting this initiative [to elect Odinga].”
Ramaphosa says South African businessmen were approached by Odinga for funds, but he knows of none who assisted.
SMSs spread fear. Take this one as an example: “Got this from a Kikuyu friend at 3am: House of Mumbi, they killed hundreds of our people. We didn’t retaliate — we knew they were very angry. But their new call to mass action means kill more Kikuyus in Rift, Western and Nyanza. If Kibaki stole votes, he was not with us so why are we being killed. We say, no more innocent Kikuyu blood will be shed. We will slaughter them right here in the capital city. For justice compile a list of Luos, Luyhias and Kales [different tribes] you know at work, your estate, anywhere in Nairobi, plus where and how their children go to school. We will give you numbers to text this info …”
The Kenya Government Office of Public Communications has placed full-page ads in newspapers calling on, among others, “ambassadors of the USA, UK and Germany, international and local media, Law Society of Kenya, UNDP and UN observers”. It says: “You have claimed that the presidential elections were irregular. For the sake of justice and transparency, can you provide evidence that this is so? … You have made allegations; Kenyans want evidence, not analysis nor biased reports, utterances and opinions.”
Thirteen donor countries have threatened to withdraw direct aid to Kenya’s government unless it shows a commitment to “good governance, democracy, the rule of law and human rights”; they include the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, Spain and the European Commission. The country has already lost R2-billion in tourist revenue.
In Mombasa, many hotels usually filled with tourists at this time of year have closed. In Nairobi, hotels that were filled to capacity in November and December are down to 10% or 20% of capacity and have laid off most staff.
Restaurant terraces that served 150 people lunch a day are grateful if five arrive. The only institutions that are full are hospitals, but because so many patients have lost everything, most are being treated free and hospitals are facing financial dilemmas.
Kenya’s powerful economic growth has seen skyscrapers in downtown Nairobi and a wealthy political elite, but Kibera, Nairobi’s slum of three million people, is the biggest in East Africa. Roads are potholed and overcrowded and clean water a privilege. Violence is being led by young people who have no work and no prospects of getting a job; they have nothing to lose – if we ignore all dangers presented by Kenya, we must consider this.
Any peace in Kenya now will only be temporary until a more socially just system emerges, but whether any of Kenya’s present array of politicians will bring that is moot.
Fear is everywhere. The day after four people died after violent protests emerged in 11 towns, the Nairobi Star carried a double-page feature headlined: “Genocides of the 20th century: Kenya could go this route.” Live broadcast of unrest is forbidden and threatening sounds are being directed toward the media by the government.
There are fears that direct foreign investment, which had been shrinking, could disappear — United States investors spent $68-million in Kenya in 2006, down from $145-million in 2005, according to the US Commerce Department. However, US investments rose by 14% in Uganda to $14-million and in Tanzania by 40% to $35-million in the same period.
The seven landlocked countries around Kenya, including Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, which rely on Kenya for fuel imports and up to 20% of their exports, have been seriously affected. Fuel supplies have been affected in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, all of which rely on Kenya as a hub for fuel supplies — most of which travels by road. It is unsafe to travel on Kenyan roads outside cities without a military convoy and many truckers refuse to take the risk.
As an example, Uganda relies on 100 truckloads of fuel daily from Kenya; last week only 36 fuel trucks entered Uganda from Kenya. Uganda also has more than 5 000 Kenyans in refugee camps. In Eldoret, a Kenyan town with at least 12 000 displaced people, dairy farmers are unable to process 30 000 litres of milk a day because there is no fuel for boilers to pasteurise milk.
The Nairobi Stock Exchange estimates that $31-million is being lost a day at present. The NSE, which has seen growth of 280% over the past five years, saw 5% of market capitalisation wiped off the value of shares when the bourse reopened after Kibaki announced he had been re-elected as president.
Major agricultural exports — tea, French beans, flowers and milk — are rotting with transport perilous on roads outside cities and even in some urban areas. Property damage is estimated at R10-billion with none of it covered by insurance — all of it is classified as riot damage.
Violence flared on December 30 after allegations from European Union election observers and five members of the Kikuyu-dominated Kenyan electoral commission that there were irregularities and rigging in the December 27 vote, which saw a record turnout of 14-million Kenyans.
The first and third weeks of January saw intense violence across the country with well more than 1 000 dead. Those displaced after losing their homes is estimated at 300 000, but this figure is almost certainly an underestimate. Kenya’s Red Cross secretary general, Abbas Gullet, estimates that food aid is needed for one million people in Nairobi alone — widespread poverty and unemployment has seen need exacerbated by the torching of shops, most factories are also still refusing to open.
Finance Minister Amos Kimunya estimated the first week’s violence cost the county $1-billion — but costs continue to rise with flare-ups, a large population of displaced people, many factories closed and businesses destroyed.
Kenya Ports Authority officials have appealed to companies to move freight. The port is experiencing unparallelled congestion with 23 000 containers clogging it. Fruit and vegetables have rotted at the docks without workers to load them on to ships. Kenya’s horticulture industry, which earns in excess of R5-billion in revenue each year, is crippled without transport to get flowers and potted plants to ports. It lost R250-million in the first week’s violence because transport stalled during unrest, according to Stephen Mbithi of the Fresh Produce Exports Association of Kenya.
What is probably more dangerous to the economy and employment figures — which in turn affect stability — is the vast number of small businesses and informal traders who have seen their lives and businesses destroyed by violence. Their needs to restart their lives are pathetically small, but no one has yet intervened to assist.
Professor Emmy Gichinga, who coordinates counselling at Jamhuri Park refugee centre (in Nairobi’s showgrounds) — which has more than 6 000 registered refugees, of whom 684 have lost everything — has pages of list of their needs. “If Jackie Auma of Kibera had R200 she says it would be enough to start a business and build a shack; Catherin Mwikali wants R150 to return to relatives in Katura to restart her life; Naomi Kimuntu needs R400 to return to her home village near Kisi and set up a small business.”
But no one has yet offered help. In the crowded counselling centre there are not even chairs; people stand in corners or sit on the lawn outside.
Schools and universities were due to start classes on Monday January 14, but many schools are being used for refugees, were burnt or the situation in their areas is too unstable to open. Classes at Jomo Kenyatta University and the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi have been suspended until early February.
The gravest threat facing Kenya is tribalism that founding father Jomo Kenyatta already began stoking in the 1960s, and which reached a pitch during electioneering last year. This is not the first time that ethnic violence has flared in Kenya, but it is the worst.
Phyllis Mukui, who lost her home near Nairobi and saw 15 neighbours die in the violence, said: “My husband’s father is Kikuyu, his mother is Zulu, my mother was Chonyi, my father Kisii — so what tribe are we? What tribe are our children? Our home was burnt by Luos who were killing Kikuyu … why can’t we just be Kenyans?”
Martin Kimani wrote in the East African of interviewing a woman imprisoned in Rwanda for her part in the 1994 genocide. “The war,” she said, “started when I was a little girl in the 1970s and other children would tease me for having Tutsi legs …”
Ten-year-old Daniel Nzise told aid workers in a refugee camp in Muthare North that he had seen his father hacked to death and neighbours killed. He said: “I want to go and kill now.” Kenya has to ensure his words are not a prophecy.
Kimani, writing in the East African, observed: “Our country won its independence but has never broken free from the idea that political power is a licence to rob by means fair or foul … It would do well to heed the fire [political violence] for it has only been damped down for the moment.”
Dante wrote that “hell is reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality” — the world has learned too few lessons from the Rwanda genocide of 1994. It’s hot in Kenya.
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