Where is God?

That is a question a female Kenyan blogger is asking fellow women in view of the Kenyan situation.

At a time when many, like old Friedrich Nietzsche, are arguing whether God is alive or dead in Kenya, no reflection could be more timely for those concerned with the faith dimension in the current crisis.

Do consider reasoning with and responding to that blogger, if you may.

Rwanda suggests military option for Kenya crisis

Source: Reuters

The leader of Rwanda, which suffered a genocide in 1994, said intervention by the military may be the only way to halt Kenya’s escalating ethnic bloodshed.

“This is a case of emergency where certain things have to be done very quickly to stop the killings that are going on. There’s no time to go into niceties and debates when the killings are taking place,” President Paul Kagame told Reuters.

Unrest in Kenya since President Mwai Kibaki’s disputed re-election last month has killed about 850 people.

Though Kenyans are horrified by the brutal events in their usually peaceful nation, the situation is far from the ethnic slaughter that killed 800,000 in Rwanda in a three-month killing spree that shocked the world in 1994.

Kagame said the Kenyan army might have to take over before things get worse.

“I know that it is not fashionable and right for the armies to get involved in such a political situation. But in situations where institutions have lost control, I wouldn’t mind such a solution,” he said.

“I tend to believe that the Kenyan army is professional and has been stable,” he added in the interview late on Tuesday.

Kagame, a former rebel leader who marched on Kigali as the genocide was taking place, said he backed mediation efforts headed by former U.N. head Kofi Annan, and that any military takeover should only be temporary.

“I tend to suggest that maybe whatever in terms of leadership that is there should be swept aside and space be created for people to go back on the drawing board and settle their grievances,” Kagame said.

As with other countries in the region, Rwanda’s economy has been affected by the chaos in Kenya, as goods and fuel which travel by road from the Indian Ocean coast have been blocked.

Kagame said Kenya ought to learn a lesson from the central African country’s bloody history.

“It starts with five deaths, then 10, then 50, shortly it grows to 100, then it goes to thousands … By the time you realise, it has a dimension that is wiping out life in villages and communities and is getting out of control and the whole political situation is in a mess,” he said.

“There’s a serious tragic situation taking place in Kenya, especially when you look at the numbers of people that are being killed, how they are being killed. Despite all mediation efforts you see a situation not getting better but worse.”

Kagame said he knew his suggestion of military intervention was a radical one.

“I might sound controversial but in the wake of such senseless killings with no immediate solution, if anybody suggested that (military) option to me, I would say I agree with it,” he said.

“It is not too late for Kenyans to look back and see how our country went down the drain in the past and I don’t think we would wish a similar thing for any country.”

Attack fears, university transfers

I just returned from Daystar University.

Students from the Kikuyu area of Nairobi are talking about possible raids planned against non-Kikuyu residents of the area.

A buddy texted to say there was an IDP camp in which there was no police presence as late as 4:26 pm today.

The buddy said residents were asking for urgent transportation to move to safer sides of the city, which would appear to be narrowing as an option, if threats reported in other areas (not necessarily from the Kikuyu community) are true.

I alerted some folks in and out of authority, I hope something can be done, – I got home just in time to hear some reports had been filed on national television to the effect of the alerts.

I welcome more security alerts, for as long as what you tell me can be backed up by actualities on the ground.

At Daystar itself, more students are coming in from other institutions, seeking credit transfers and admission for the new semester.

If you have nothing to say, don’t say it here

With over 70,000 of you reading this blog, am not hungry for better statistics.

With many of you also leaving comments on old and newer posts, am not equally hungry for comments, favorable or otherwise.

I have always desired for us to reason together, though disagree we sometimes might.

In times gone by, attempts to disrupt this order of things has almost always come from fellows I have associated with the state.

In recent days, however, it has not been difficult to notice that Kenyans abroad and back home are turning to incitement online.

Two such comments were recently left on this site – which I have done away with today, following an alert from other members of the reading public.

While my attempts at sober blogging have not always been perfect, it will have been noticed that I generally detest extremist views on this blog.

Those of you who have known me over the years will not only affirm that I love people and ideas, but that I am also measured in much.

I’m not about to change that tradition and practice, – not now, not tomorrow.

On the particular ethnic tensions currently undoing the Kenya most of us knew, nothing could be more urgent than responsible blogging on the part of us all who wield some influence.

I say this as someone who recently participated in the disputed electoral process.

I say this as someone who has a fairly strong online presence, home and away.

I say this as someone who believes his Christian faith ought to mean something in the manner that he celebrates life, its tragedies and comedies.

I say this as a Kenyan who deeply shares in the current situation – I’ve benefited much from friends across the ethnic divide, and I have friends and relatives from nearly each of the 42-plus ethnic communities in the country.

I say this too as a Kenyan who has friends and relatives, some reportedly killed, others currently marooned by murderous gangs, all the way from Naivasha to Eldoret.

With the foregoing in mind, it should not be too much to ask that if you have nothing to say, kindly don’t say it here.

A.O.B:

1. Kudos to M, Whiteafrican and Pundit who have blazed the trail in responsible blogging at this time.

2. Mashadites – Frank Njenga has his work cut out there.

3. Super Eagles – I still believe in miracles made in Ogaland 🙂

Prophecy about Kenya

Uttered in Arabic by Prophet Maged Gimian, from Egypt, at ICCPE hall, Nairobi, Kenya, On April 28^th 2007

Translated word by word by Dr. Nabil Morcos into English

 

“The Lord gave me the scroll, and said to me “ Eat it” , so I ate it, and it was sweet in my mouth but bitter in my belly. Then the Lord said to me “ Prophesy now over people, tongues, nations and tribes. I have called you to Kenya, as I have called Jonah my servant, to convey the gospel of grace before the eternal gospel  which is full of judgment to my people in Kenya. This is the time of grace, the time of acceptance and the time of salvation; the time when epochs will change. I’ve sent you to them, to my people in Kenya, because I love them, so that they won’t lose their history and their destiny as a nation.

This is a very difficult time over the whole world, for I have put in the heart of the beast that is coming out of Hades to wipe out peoples, nations and tribes from existence. (Some) nations will be  crushed away completely. Old political borders will be removed in (various) geographical areas, to be replaced by new political borders. Old political systems will collapse, resulting in economical destruction to many nations. Some nations which have been starving will be satisfied, but only at the expense of the destruction of other nations. Other satisfied nations will get hungry to the mercy of God and to the loaf of bread. International and regional Political plans and coalitions will change, and the assistance coming from dependence on Babylon and its power will collapse.

(Some) nations will fall down once they see their great symbols (leaders) break  down in front of their eyes. Construction of many towers of Babylon will come to a stop; and nations, tribes, homes and families will divide and break up, and the brother will kill his brother in a spirit of ecstasy to bring victory to the beast and to Babylon which is carried by the power of the satanic beast.

This is the time of the judgment of God on all those nations and people which have submitted to the spirit of Babylon. They will be destroyed by the beast. Yet I’ve put in his heart to accomplish my own purposes. I am the chastiser of  nations, am I ignorant? I am the chastiser of  nations, for I have made and formed the nations; can I then be ignorant? For they have despised me! They call my name upon themselves but only my name without their wholehearted obedience. (Therefore) I will severely shake nations , and many civilizations will vanish away. Yet my mercy won’t be removed from them.

This is why I’ve sent you to Kenya, for I have given Kenya a short (grace) period to recognize the time of her visitation by the Lord, for this is the time of Kenya’s visitation, for I have loved Kenya, and the blood of its saints who were martyred is still screaming in my ears. Yet, here is the patience of the saints and their faith.

I have loved Kenya, therefore I’ll grant her a (grace) period of 10 years starting from today the 28^th April 2007 , to repent and turn back; for my people to repent from deception, crookedness , and maliciousness; from worldly ways and agendas, and from sordid/shameful gain. I am calling my people to repent. Let your leaders climb up with me to the mountain of Olives, to Gethsemane and let them shed blood instead of tears, so that I won’t wipe away my people in Kenya and allow them to be taken to captivity and their land given away to another nation.

Let the political, economical and spiritual leaders of Kenya proclaim that Kenya is for Christ; yes, Kenya is for me, and not for strangers. Kenya is currently governed by a strange economical power, for all its wealth goes to strangers. What a pity that my beloved people in Kenya are poor, eating the crumbs like dogs from the tables of their masters. I have blessed the land of Kenya, but its wealth is in the hands of strangers. Those strangers govern Kenya economically by exercising an evil spiritual power, emanating from the spirit of Babylon and spirit of the beast. They control everything, yet from behind the scenes.

Let my people turn back to me so that I may have mercy on them from all strangers and evil people. Fear God, ye spiritual leaders of my people in Kenya. Why are you craving after the love of money? There is great abundance in my heavenly stores for you. Be sanctified, get purified and call upon the Lord so that I may heal your land and raise the dead. You will then witness the generation of my miracles and signs, and you will then witness the acts of Elijah and his power when it sweeps upon this country, exposing and destroying all the principality of Jezebel; defeating and killing the prophets of Baal; and destroying all idolatrous worship. You will then witness – from the east, west, north and south- my prophets who are carried by the wind of the spirit of Elijah, restoring the hearts of Kenyans to one another, so that the Lord will raise new families who are sanctified, purified and healed, and who will form a great nucleus for a new generation that the Lord will create to restore Kenya, lest my judgment comes upon you.

I love you, so help me to lift you up. Come close to me and I will come closer. Don’t touch my anointed ones. Don’t kill my prophets. Release the generation of Elijahs and I will then encourage you.

I am reminding you one more time: I have given to you a grace period of ten years starting from now, so that you  restore Kenya to me. If you won’t raise the heroes, Kenya will fall down in a progressive series of a very steep decline in the form of disasters, starvations, wars, with the end result that Kenya will fall down and be given to another, and vanish away from existence with no salvation.

Beware, for if Kenya falls down, many other nations will fall down and vanish away by the vanishing of Kenya. Beware of the strangers amidst you, and from the stranger and false prophet who is coming these days, bringing to you the law/code ( Sharia) of the gentiles and not my law, in order to govern maliciously and wilily. I will have mercy upon you says the Lord.

The Lord showed me that Kenyans are kindhearted and generous, but there there land is being  exploitated. Listen , Oh people of Kenya. You are not slaves in this land. You are the owners of this land. God wants to restore the wealth of this land to you.

The Lord showed me another thing about Kenya: How can the church in Kenya send out missionaries as long as it is lingering in poverty, and the wealth of the country is not owned by the church? The Lord, therefore, tells you: Restore the wealth of this land to you. The Lord warns you from the stranger, but not from the refugee. There is a stranger who is governing you via a strange spiritual economical satanic power. Time has come to see great ( Kenyan) Christian businessmen who would govern the economy of Kenya instead of the stranger.

Then there is another stranger that is already coming to Kenya. It is another strange religious power which has no spiritual history in this land, yet it is now invading Kenya in a very subtle and secretive way. (Those words were given to me by the Lord before I’ve ever met any person from Kenya). The destiny of Kenya is in your hands. The destiny of East Africa and many other African nations, including the destiny of Egypt is in your hands. Don’t ever say “I am a despised nation “ Or “ I am a small nation”, for the Lord has his own laws: He chooses the despised and the those who are not, to nullify those who are.

Moi illness (and possible death) had been foretold

News is coming in that former President Moi is unwell and hospitalized.  A few days ago, one of my readers, Theodore Aluoch, had this to say about the current political situation (refer to comments’ section for details):

The lord is saying that Kibakis reign in power is short, he withers from within and his reign is short,he said the true bride the holy church of Christ has a solution, to speak life to speak righteousness and justice into this situation, if the living church of Christ will start to speak life into the atmosphere and into the lives of the affected there would be life again but this is only after genuine repentance by all,
the church the true church should be focused on the great commission to preach the gospel now in words wonders and deeds, it is time for the church to preach in deeds, feed the hungry shelter those that do not have shelter,clothe the naked,and be peace makers
There will be chaos in parliament and battles , but the lord is also warning the nation that there will be assassination a tempts on the lives of some prominent leaders, this will fuel the fire the church should start praying again ts it now say the lord,
the lord also has shown me that something will happen to the former president moi, an ailment that will confine him to bed, his days are near.

Marriages fall victim to Kenya violence

Over the weekend, Kofi Annan visited my constituency, Cherangany, and other parts of the conflict-ridden Rift Valley Province.  Here is an AP story emanating from one of the areas in the province.

He doesn’t call. He doesn’t write. His cell phone has been switched off for weeks. After 17 years, Naomi Kering’s husband is gone — one more intertribal marriage fallen victim to the violence that has followed Kenya‘s disastrous presidential election.

“The kids always ask me, ‘Where is he?’ And I always say he is going to come back,” Kering, a 34-year-old of the Kalenjin tribe, told The Associated Press as she stood in the rubble of her home, torched by a mob last month because her husband is a Kikuyu. “But I hope he stays away, because I love him and I want him to be safe.”

Since the Dec. 27 vote, marriages that united different ethnic groups have felt the strain as communities shun the Kikuyu tribe of President Mwai Kibaki, whose disputed re-election unleashed a wave of bloodshed that has killed at least 685 people.

Until now, marriages like Kering’s were common enough to go largely unnoticed, representing hope for what Kenya could be as a nation. But now the fabric of Kenyan society is fraying, forcing families to confront tribal identities many had cast aside long ago.

“This election has changed the very essence of these marriages,” said the Rev. Charles Kirui, a Catholic priest whose church in the nearby town of Burnt Forest shelters hundreds of Kikuyus. “Marriages are breaking up because of a tribal conflict, which means we really have a problem in Kenya.”

There are no figures on how many families are affected, but the impact is particularly felt in the heart of opposition territory in western Kenya, where tribal tensions have been most inflamed by the election.

This country of 38 million was once seen as a stable democracy on a violent continent. But it depended on a delicate balance of intertribal power.

After independence in 1963, then-President Jomo Kenyatta flooded this region, native to the Kalenjin and Luo tribes, with his Kikuyu people. The Kikuyu settlers quickly prospered, growing into the most powerful of Kenya’s 42 ethnic groups, running businesses and politics.

But favoritism shown to Kikuyus fueled old resentments, and some of the worst clashes since the election have pitted Kikuyus against the Kalenjin, who often are distinguishable by looks and language.

Still, Kering says she never imagined the bloodshed would jeopardize her marriage to Isaac Guthua. The couple fell in love more than 15 years ago, when he would stop by the beauty salon where she worked nearly every day just for a glance at her.

On the night the election results were announced, however, Guthua said he could not stay. Kikuyus were being hunted down and slaughtered. As Kering cooked dinner and Guthua watched the news, they heard screams in the distance — a mob was coming for Guthua and other Kikuyus, including his two brothers who lived next door with their Kalenjin wives.

“We came out of the house and saw people with torches,” Kering said. “They burned our house.”

Guthua, knowing his wife would be spared because she is not Kikuyu, told her to take care of the children, ages 17, 15 and 8. Then he took off at a run with his brothers, Steven and Mwangi, and they haven’t been home since.

“We never had a problem before this election,” said Kering’s sister-in-law and neighbor, 27-year-old Eunice Kinyanjui. She is pregnant with her second child with Steven Guthua, her husband of three years. “We lived happily in our family until this disaster.”

They have decided to stay and face an unsympathetic community.

“The people here, they say, ‘Who told you to intermarry?'” Kinyanjui said, adding that they have not been targeted for violence, only shunned. “We are now useless to the community, they don’t talk to us, anything.”

Kemei Gilbert, 18, a Kalenjin who was manning a roadblock in the area, said the women deserved no sympathy.

“These women are not our problem,” Gilbert said. “In Africa, when a woman marries, she belongs to that community.”

Kering and Kinyanjui both say they are confident their husbands are alive. Kering’s husband called her two days after he fled, telling her he would likely go to Nairobi, 200 miles away. Kinyanjui hasn’t heard from her husband, but he told her as he left that they might meet again.

The women seem resigned to the possibility that it will never happen, though Kinyanjui still has hope.

“I’ll just believe that one day, one time, he will come,” she said, her face wet with tears.

Road to Kigali?

“Last week I was in Thika. Today I just came from Kisumu. The Church is praying at cross-purposes about this crisis. The depth of partiality and anger in the Church is shameful and shocking. Where are the Levites?” – Pr. B.F, Nairobi.

Catching up with some Christian leaders today offered no hope things will get better any soon.

Those who have traveled around the country in recent days have unnerving tales to pass on.

The sum of it all is that Kenya as we knew it is going down the drain, and real fast.

MK is not in control, “duly elected and sworn in” or not.

Much is not reaching you on your television set, radio or the newspaper – much is being omitted / killed, things are not as rosy as the hand-shakes you witnessed last Thursday.

One Church leader says he sees us going worse than Kigali, after which we could emerge again.

Another says we have witnessed two phases of that road to Kigali thus far: Sporadic, spontaneous violence; organized militia groups.

And don’t you be fooled that it is only one party doing this or that.

The third one, he avers, has been ushered in by the militarization of the crisis, – anarchy, he says, is just knocking.

Already there are reports of violent clashes within sensitive sections of some organs of state, as those involved begin taking sides with the protagonists in the crisis.

It obviously will take more than a handshake to resolve it this time round.

Verbal attacks stoke Kenya crisis, despite talks

Source:  Reuters
NAIROBI, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Kenyans faced more turmoil on Friday after both sides in the country’s deadly political crisis accused each other of trying to sink mediation efforts.

Hopes of an end to violence that has killed nearly 700 people rose after President Mwai Kibaki met his rival Raila Odinga for the first time since disputed Dec. 27 polls.

The two men shook hands and vowed to seek a solution. But in remarks to reporters, Kibaki’s description of himself as the nation’s “duly elected” leader brought an explosive reaction from Odinga’s party, which says he stole the vote.

“Kibaki lost the last general election and his claim to the presidency is illegal and illegitimate,” Anyang’ Nyong’o, a senior opposition figure, told reporters shortly after the talks, which were brokered by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan.

Nyong’o said Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) would now review the whole process and it was essential that mediation principles be agreed in writing before anything else happened.

Asked about the prospect of more direct talks, he said it would depend on Kibaki’s “good manners”. “We must be assured that Mwai Kibaki will behave himself.”

A spokesman for Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) said the opposition statement on Thursday was juvenile, disappointing and had dragged Kenya into the “deepest abyss”.

The fresh round of verbal attacks raised the prospect of more violence in a nation rocked by riots and ethnic clashes that have shattered its image of stability. “DISASTER” Annan had earlier persuaded the ODM to call off protests planned for Thursday after earlier rallies turned violent.

Many Kenyans already traumatised by their country’s slide into chaos were shocked at the swift change in tone. Henry, a hairdresser in the capital Nairobi whose business has virtually collapsed since the troubles began, was pleased Kibaki and Odinga had finally met face to face.

“Maybe they did it out of shame or obligation however,” he said.

“Kibaki’s language and their reaction is not good for us. Don’t they know all we want is peace? It’s a disaster for all of us. They have to sort this out.”

The ODM had demanded an outside mediator to solve a crisis that has split Kenya down tribal and political lines, after Kibaki narrowly won the closest election in the country’s history following a vote rife with rigging.

Hundreds have died and 250,000 been forced to flee their homes in a combination of politically incited ethnic killings and police action to quell protests that often degenerated into rioting and looting.

In Odinga’s western stronghold of Kisumu, some ODM supporters were angry that their man had met Kibaki at all.

“We are very disappointed. We expected to hear Kibaki will resign after meeting Raila and that they will form a transitional government together before calling for elections after few months,” said Cornelius Otieno, a jobless 22-year-old.

“Raila is now preaching for peace, like he is bowing down from demanding our justice. We will not take that from Raila.”

Kenya massacre survivors ask court to stop talks

Source:  Reuters

Survivors of a church massacre in Kenya went to court on Friday to try to stop former U.N. boss Kofi Annan leading mediation efforts and said some participants in the talks were guilty of human rights abuses.

About 700 people have died in ethnic clashes and riots since President Mwai Kibaki’s disputed re-election at Dec. 27 polls. In the worst single incident, 30 members of Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe were killed on Jan. 1 by a mob who set fire to the church where they had sought shelter near Eldoret in the Rift Valley.

Thirty-seven survivors, many of whom suffered severe burns in the attack, appealed to the High Court in Nairobi on Friday.

“We want Kofi Annan restrained from continuing with peace talks since some of the people he is involved with … have influenced the violence,” they said in their lawsuit. It was not immediately clear when the court might rule on their petition.

Annan on Thursday brought Kibaki and his rival, opposition leader Raila Odinga, together for their first private talks on how to end the crisis. But hopes for a solution were dampened as both sides launched a fresh round of verbal recriminations, and ethnic clashes centred on another Rift Valley town, Nakuru, killed at least a dozen people.