The current political trouble in Kenya - a single country in crisis or an underlying continental problem?

This week, it approaches nine years since I visited Kenya for currently the only time. It is a beautiful country that takes on a different level of significance for me, given family ties there.

And at the moment, it is a country whose situation is symbolic of Eastern and Western African politics in the last century.

In mid-August, it was announced that Uhuru Kenyatta had again triumphed with an overall majority, keeping hold of the Presidential seat that he has held since 2013. He had held off the challenge of 74-year-old Raila Odinga in what seemed to buck the trend of African elections – that it would emerge peacefully.

Odinga is a man who is seen as God-like by his supporters, and when he previously failed in the elections of 2007 and 2013, it led to strong resistance against the vote.

It must have been inevitable then, that Odinga’s party The National Super Alliance (Nasa) would subsequently describe the result as ‘fraudulent’ and thus refuse to accept the outcome of what appears to be democracy. In Nasa’s strongholds Kibera and Mathare, which are slums in the country’s capital Nairobi, as well as Kisumu, a city in the West, the result of the vote was not taken well. It was clear that violence was on the way.

This violence has not ended even two months after the country should have reached a peaceful conclusion. Odinga’s supporters are protesting every Monday and Friday in the hope of getting the commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IBEC) sacked for 'rigging' the elections. It must be said that this seems very unlikely.

A new election has been scheduled for 26^th October, but Nasa have vowed that until their wishes are appeased, they will not allow the election to take place. Odinga has also told the police that they must not stop the protestors from exercising their rights.

However, the police have intervened, using teargas on protestors and in recent days, the U.S government has released a statement saying that it is ‘deeply concerned’ about the state of the country.

The whole situation has become a sorry state of affairs, and is one of many similar incidents in Africa, a continent that has often been ridden with war since the end of Colonialism. Both political parties claimed ‘victory’ in Cote D’Ivoire in late 2010, South Sudan has erupted into a fierce civil war, and Robert Mugabe’s control of Zimbabwe has been nothing less than barbaric for 30 years.

It is interesting how simple the reasons are for constant political instability throughout Africa.

Unsurprisingly, the main reason is corruption. We are blessed here in the West to have unbiased governmental systems, and these are often taken for granted. In most of Africa, a lot of the time due to poverty and lack of money residing in the continent, the so-called ‘important people’ in democracy, the election committees etc. are bribed too easily.

Furthermore, the leaders seem to be more power-hungry more often. A lot believe it is their birth right, which also emanates from the Colonial system, and that when many African countries gained independence from the European powers, it was often the most driven and forceful who took over.

As a consequence of this, and also the sweeping poverty, oppression of the people is all too easy.

Yes this may be a theme all around the world and you might argue things are still concealed by the richest even here. But it is so much more prevalent in an area where, for centuries, the common people haven’t even had a voice, and some may not even be aware that they should have one.

In civil war, no civilian death is welcomed, no civilian death is welcomed anywhere for that matter.

But when they don’t even have a fair say in how their country is governed? Where every single election doesn't cause controversy? Does that make it worse? I think so.

In the first two days following the Kenyan election, 24 were recorded dead. All of them civilians, many of them children.
These people just want peace, and a government that they can trust. Yet they, rather than the controlling party leaders and vocal supporters, are the ones that suffer.