Detached

January 8, 2008

Schiphol, Amsterdam

I'm on my way to Canada for a pre-planned break from 'the field.' When the election madness started getting really crazy in Kenya, I seriously considered changing or canceling my flight to stick around and keep an eye on things. Given the way things have gone in the past week, I decided to go ahead with the trip, in hopes that I can follow whatever political developments emerge through Kenyan newspapers online and text messages with friends in the country and involved to various degrees in the process. We'll see how that goes. I'm already feeling rather detached.

By mid-day yesterday, the planned ODM rallies across the country and in Nairobi had apparently been called off. It seems that attempts to turn the political standoff into a popular revolution by using peaceful mass demonstrations have been frustrated. While they've been showing commendable restraint in dispersing the rallies that have been attempted (tear gas and water cannons qualify as restraint when it comes to Kenyan protests, whether political or not), the police and military have clearly not joined hands with ODM in protesting the outcome of the General Election. The rumours that circulated in the last days of 2007 and first few of 2008, that the police commissioner and high ranking military officials had or were about to step down in protest have been shown to be mere rumours. Security officials continue to cite peace and order as the reason for not issuing permits or allowing mass gatherings by ODM. Many Kenyans, however, perceive this as clear support for the PNU government and president Kibaki. What this means for dealing with the complaints of fraud and non-democracy, is still unclear.

The ODM Pentagon members and key players were, as far I had been made aware just before I got to the airport, planning a lunch time session just outside Nairobi to strategize the way forward. It's still too early for news to be released, though (Kenyan) tomorrow's newspapers should have something by late afternoon Eastern Canadian time. Already my disconnection from direct information and my burning curiousity are causing me problems.

The online papers say diplomacy is moving forward. There's an invitation for a meeting on Friday. Kibaki wants to convene parliament on the 15^th (which could spell his doom, depending on the crafty politics). Etc, etc, etc.