Why leaders shouldn't reopen old wounds

Jomo Kenyatta (right) greets Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • Leaders ought to take a cue from Jomo Kenyatta.

  • Addressing white farmers in Nakuru in 1963, he spelt out the guiding wisdom that binds this nation regardless of race or tribe thus: we shall forgive, but not forget!

Four months to the General Election, my humble appeal to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga is not to remind voters of the pain of the 2007 post-election violence. When Mr Odinga addressed a rally in Mathare, Nairobi, last Friday, he steered clear of the subject. But fellow Nasa principal Moses Wetang’ula answered the President in graphic detail, citing the Nairobi, Naivasha, Kiambaa church in Eldoret and Kisumu election violence killings.

Leaders ought to take a cue from Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who, addressing white farmers in Nakuru in 1963, spelt out the guiding wisdom that binds this nation regardless of race or tribe thus: we shall forgive, but not forget!

Mzee was referring to colonial atrocities including the Lari and Hola massacres by British soldiers; the slaughter of Mau Mau freedom fighters; the execution of Dedan Kimathi; and, his own kangaroo trial and conviction at Kapenguria. Mzee never dwelt on those atrocities in his 15 years as President. It healed the nation; but inside his heart, he never forgot. Second, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga swore no uhuru (independence) without Kenyatta; and, Kenyatta is “my next God”, while Mzee was in prison. After independence, the two pals differed bitterly on political ideology, culminating in Kenyatta detaining his old friend. When Kenyatta died on August 22, 1978, Odinga was at State House and uttered intimate words in Dholuo about his friend. He, too, never revisited the bitter past in his many years in the Opposition. This week, President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto were in Kisii where the former spoke out of turn. He told a rally that it was Raila who fanned the 2007 post-election violence in which more than 1,300 Kenyans were killed. Both President and Mr Ruto were implicated in the Waki Report and then ICC prosecutor Moreno Ocampo’s investigations. They suffered the humiliation of trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity but were later acquitted.

THREE IMAGES

Therefore, the President should be the last person to rub salt into old wounds. Three iconic images that shocked the world come to mind and give every reason why the post-election violence should be forgiven, but not forgotten. A devastated Elizabeth Wangui of Eldoret, General Service Unit policeman Joseph Musyoka Nthenge in Nairobi, and the callous shooting in Kisumu epitomise the sad moment. Wangui was captured on camera outside the Kenya Assemblies of God Church in Kiambaa near Eldoret wailing. The 70-year-old with one rubber shoe in her left hand was mourning the death of her son among the 35 people burnt alive in the church on January 1, 2008. Her trauma was exacerbated when she witnessed people escaping from the church fire being hacked to death by marauding youths.

THE COMMANDER

But GSU policeman Nthenge was the commander of a contingent of officers at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, sent to prevent ODM supporters from entering the venue for a rally that had been outlawed. He persuaded youths and politicians not to destroy what had taken 40 years build. Nthenge had in 1991 similarly used diplomacy to deal with tribal clashes in the Rift Valley – only that there was no camera then. He was awarded United Nations in Kenya Person of the Year, whose citation said: “Today, the UN family in Kenya recognises Supt Nthenge for his contribution to peace through dialogue. He is, indeed, worthy of the title ‘Kenyan hero’”.

The third image was that of a policeman kicking the body of a man he had shot. He was later tried and acquitted for lack of evidence. These are just but three telling incidents out of more than 1,300 deaths. A repeat of this would be catastrophic for the country.

Emman Omari is a political commentator.