No End in Sight

I have been experiencing an almost dire case of writer’s block over the last few days when it comes to the to pic du jour – the Kenyan elections, of course. While some people are trying to help with great ideas like Ushahidi (which means witness in Kiswahili), others are giving an on-line soapbox to people who want their voices heard.

Many people thought that schools reopening would be the final step towards the return of normal living for the expat and middle class communities of Nairobi. But our good friends Kibaki and Odinga wouldn’t want people to become too complacent, so they’re still busy fighting over their favourite toy – the country of Kenya.

International mediators from literally all over the world have tried to bring these two men to the table to hammer out an agreement that everyone can live with but the children… err… leaders in question aren’t into compromise. The next peacemaker on the list is former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. To say that the hopes of millions hinge on this one man would, I’m afraid, only be understating the situation.

Parliament is scheduled to open tomorrow and this has people worried enough that my monthly Association meeting has been abbreviated to only an hour so that people can get home in case there are troubles. Of course, since a ban on live local broadcasts is still in effect, it isn’t clear just how these troubles will manifest themselves but people are scared “just in case.”

On the other side of the political fence, we have the opposition who have called for demonstrations on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. Needless to say, the police have said that any demonstrations would be illegal but that hasn’t stopped either the planning on the part of ODM or the fear on the part of everyone else.

With all of this going on, a deadline for my Association newsletter looming ominously over any moment of peace I might have enjoyed, and a general sense of malaise in my own life, I hope you can understand why I haven’t posted much lately. So I apologize for being selfish but sometimes it’s hard to be fair and impartial when the wisest course of action seems to be a few well-placed smacks upside the heads of two very stubborn men.