Anyone who was hoping for the wounds in Kenya’s coalition government to heal over time might be in for a rude awakening. While there have been moments when it looked as if an uneasy peace might hold, rhetoric in the last few days indicates that tensions might be re-mounting in Nairobi.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, of the Orange Democratic Movement, has called upon his rival, President Mwai Kibaki and his Party of National Unity, to hold new elections. Upping the ante, Kibaki’s people have asserted that Odinga is “fomenting a coup,” which strikes me, irrespective of the merits of Odinga’s argument, as brazenly irresponsible considering the violence that consumed Kenya after the December 2007 elections.
Assuming that the political center cannot hold, let’s all at least hope that when new elections do happen, the principals call for peace and create a tone that will allow for peaceful democratic processes to take hold. Kenya is still fragile. Those who claim to want to rule it ought not be the ones allowing the country to shatter again.
