Moi
Lucy Hannan in Nairobi
Dismay at recent political killings overshadowed the opening session of the Kenyan Parliament this week. Both sides of the house stamped, shouted and jeered, and opposition MPs waved placards protesting at “genocide” and “a legacy of killing”.
More than 100 people have been killed in Rift Valley province since January in attacks directed at communities which voted for the opposition.
But opposition MPs failed to present a united front in their effort to disrupt the session. Some stood, some sat, some bowed, and some demonstrated. As they drummed their heels, they drowned out an appeal to the government by the new official leader of the opposition, Mwi Kibaki, to stop the killing.
President Daniel arap Moi responded with a few disparaging gestures. Just before Parliament opened, his government issued a statement blaming the clashes primarily on Kibaki’s Democratic Party.
Kibaki inherits an opposition that has proved almost unleadable. A single opposition candidate would have beaten Moi in the December general election, and Kibaki tersely concedes that a historic opportunity has been missed.
“As much as they wanted to fight Moi, the opposition were too busy quarrelling about their own leadership,” he said.
He claims that a hung Parliament and a determined opposition will make the next five years “different”. But those listening to this week’s proceedings did not seem to agree. “It’s worse than ever,” one opposition voter said.
Kibaki says Kenya faces a leadership vacuum because of Moi’s refusal to stop political violence and sort out the “gangsters” fighting for succession in his party, Kanu.
So far Moi has refused to appoint an heir: a vice-president. Kibaki says that is because the post was promised during the elections to four different regions, “and if Moi chooses one now, he will create a crisis within his own party”.
Having served 10 years as vice-president, Kibaki is familiar with Moi’s wily but whimsical style. “He relies completely on his advisers, and nothing important goes through the normal machinery of government.”
He says the government wants to “destroy” the Kikuyu — his own ethnic group, which overwhelmingly voted against Moi.
Other opposition leaders disagree with him, pointing out that similar political clashes have affected other areas and communities, like Transmara in western Kenya, and Likoni in the Mombasa area.
In the Rift Valley, gangs have murdered, looted and burnt with little restraint by the security forces.
In urban areas, including Nairobi, leaflets are circulating threatening to evict and kill. Counter leaflets call on the targeted communities to arm and defend themselves.