Today i called a friend in eldoret town. The story that he told me chilled me. He said eldoret town was a mess. Burnt cars, large rocks all over the place and bodies lying about that have not yet been taken to the mortuary. He says he does not know how he will get back to his job in the capital city of Nairobi.
People are angry, thier votes have no power to change things and they have resorted to violence. The govt has tried to put down the violence but clearly they dont have the goodwill of the people. The opposition who might have the power to, have simply decided not to try and stop them. Rather they are channeling the same anger towards more organised protests. A step above letting the people vent thier anger against thier neighbours.
In Nairobi things are a bit different. The people here want peace more than anything. Shops are opening up and to the causual observer it may seem that things are returning to normal. Not so, talk to any person and they are worried about what will happen to this country. People turn up in offices but are unable to work. They think obout thier relations stuck upcountry and about the economy. People do not trust one another as much as before. The social fabric of this country is being threatened. After the business is booming and the people can stay out after dark, then the real hard part begins. The healing process. Some wounds take long to heal and scars may remain.
How did this happen? Simple. The people were denied thier power to vote.
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