Editorial Comment- A victory for Kenya and Africa

It is a day of pride for Kenyans, who against all odds held an election on March 4 that was lauded by the international community as free, fair and credible. The African leaders who are witnessing this historic moment, Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe included give the new leaders that assurance that they are not alone.

Uhuru takes the reins of power from president Mwai Kibaki and he does so exactly 50 years after his father became Kenya’s founding president in 1963. Thus in a way, this is a homecoming for Uhuru since he is entering familiar territory – the presidential palace where he spent his formative years while his father was in charge.

Although his rival, outgoing premier Raila Odinga challenged the poll results in the courts of law, Kenyatta still emerged victorious.
Kenyatta on his part extended an olive branch to Odinga and indicated that democracy and the people were winners of the March 4 election, and that no one was bigger than Kenya, and that Kenya had to move forward with development that is in sync with global trends.

This was a complete departure from the 2007 post-election incidents, which resulted in unprecedented violence that led to more than 1 000 deaths and saw many Kenyans displaced from their homes.

The new president realises the long and winding road he traversed before the culmination of this day.
Together with his running mate, now Vice President William Ruto, they are among a group of Kenyans indicted by the so-called International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity arising from the 2007 post-election violence, and they have maintained their innocence.

As his Swahili name Uhuru means, “freedom or independence”, president-elect Kenyatta now knows what it means to be independent and also hold sway against the enemy.
His election was a virtual referendum on Western interference in African affairs, and not only Kenyans, but Africa as a whole emerged victorious.
Kenyatta was not deterred by the ICC indictment.

The Kenyan electoral system should also be lauded for allowing the Jubilee coalition pair to run for the highest office, despite the ICC saga. They wanted the people to decide for themselves, instead of allowing The Hague-based organisation to be the kingmakers.
The people’s will prevailed over that of the ICC. Kenyatta now becomes the second sitting president to be indicted by the ICC after Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.

Kenyans refused to prejudge Kenyatta and Ruto, and in a way gave the West signals that Africa is tired of being bullied; of being dictated to and of being policed.
Why should the ICC only find African leaders on the wrong side of law when Western leaders such as George W Bush, Tony Blair and others walk scot-free despite committing crimes against humanity?

When Kenyans made this sovereign decision to elect an accused who is innocent until proven guilty, it is only fair that the international community respects the wishes of the Kenyan people.

Apart from the ICC, there was also a lot of meddling in Kenya’s political affairs by Western countries in the run-up to the elections.
US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs Johnnie Carson warned Kenyans of “consequences’’ of voting for Kenyatta.

The Americans had to swallow their pride, when they had to accept that Kenyans had chosen Kenyatta and Ruto, and not Odinga.
The run-off they hoped for never materialised. Any wonder that Odinga and the top brass in his party have skipped today’s inauguration, preferring to regroup in South Africa? Does that sound familiar?
What does this day mean to Africa? Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo summed it up: “Indeed they (Kenyans) have reassured the world that African countries are

capable of strengthening their political and democratic institutions regardless of past ugly incidents if the people are willing to commit themselves to the idea of democracy,” he said.

Notwithstanding, that ugly past should be a continuous reference point of how best we can avoid repeating the same mistakes, and it is a past that should make Africans vigilant.

This “ugly past” includes the Mau Mau Rebellion against the British settler colonialists, which we are deliberately being made to look at as anachronistic and irrelevant to the future.

However, if Mau Mau, Chama cha Mapinduzi in Tanzania, Frelimo in Mozambique, Zanla and Zipra in Zimbabwe, Swapo in Namibia, Umkhonto we Sizwe in South Africa and MPLA in Angola had not stood up to fight against the settler colonialists, the new crop of leadership rising up on the continent would not be there.
This should be the rallying point for Africans: the past, looking into the future, not as underdogs but as masters of their destiny.
How does president-elect Kenyatta connect with this history, since he is continuing a legacy from his father’s time?

President Kenyatta takes over the reins of power of the largest economy in East Africa with diverse investors and interests.
He has a tough task ahead of him to ensure that Kenyans and the whole region prosper. He was a deputy premier in the previous government.
We are confident that his vision of taking Kenya to a higher level will be realised.

The insurgency Somalia is a major problem for Kenya, so too the ethnic rivalries in Kenya.
Fifty years after Mzee Kenyatta, the new president should reassure Kenyans that these are problems of the past, and that the negotiating table is the solution to resolving any disputes.

By agreeing to attend his trial at The Hague, he has shown that he respects the rule of law no matter how flawed it is.
But the bottom-line is that 50 years on, Africa has realised that no nation can claim to be greater especially if that nation relies on natural resources from the African soil.
We hope that the addition of President Kenyatta to the African Union will make the continent richer. And we also hope Odinga and others of his ilk learn their lessons.