Dear Friend,

We want to sincerely thank you for all your prayer support and inquiries as to how we have been doing during this turbulent time in Kenya. Below, I (Reuben) will share a few highlights on behalf of all of us on what has been happening and how it has affected us as a ministry and family. I have also attempted to answer some of the questions several of you have been raising. If you need further clarification, please email me at rk@fishkenya.net or reubenjulie@yahoo.com; May the Lord bless you for standing with us and particularly for your concern which we have felt recently. So what has really been happening?

Julie, the children and I drove to Nairobi on the 26th of December in order for Julie and I to cast our ballots since we were registered in Nairobi. The entire voting exercise seemed to go well on the 27th and so we drove back in great safety to our home in Eldoret on the 28th.

I joined my radio staff on airing the various results from constituencies around the country as soon as we arrived in Eldoret. Everything was heightened given the tightness of the race between the two presidential candidates, i.e. Mwai Kibaki, the sitting presidentand his P.N.U. party, and Raila Odinga with his O.D.M. party. We, therefore, zeroed in on the presidential race as this is what every Kenyan really wanted to know about. Customarily, given previous elections, the results would have been evident by the end of the second day (i.e. the 28th) and, for sure, ready for announcing on the 29th. Unfortunately, even by the afternoon of the 30th, numerous results from more than 20 constituencies had not been announced. What is more, on Saturday 29th, there emerged a big jump in Kibaki’s total votes, which started a major complaint from ODM. ODM then built on the suspicions ECK Chairman, Samuel Kivuitu, had raised that morning – his wonder as to why the results were being delayed with no good reason – and mentioned their fear that the results announced on the ground at several constituencies by the Returning Officers did not tally with what ECK was announcing. They indicated that the ECK results, especially in Central Kenya, Kisii and Eastern Kenya were inflated to favour Mr. Kibaki.

With so much pressure on Mr. Kivuitu to announce the results on 30th, he did, but only after the venue for the announcement (i.e. K.I.C.C) was cleared of everyone but a handful of cooperating persons. The media with the exception of K.B.C. was cleared from the grounds. Kibaki was declared winner, beating Raila with about 230,000 votes and then quickly sworn in as the president a few minutes later at State House, Nairobi.

Unfortunately, this immediately sparked off national protests and riots, particularly in Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret and Mombasa where there are numerous O.D.M. supporters. These, sad to say, then degenerated into ugly forms of violence, which in turn provoked ethnic clashes especially in the Rift Valley and Nyanza provinces. Parts of Nairobi (especially slums such as Kibera) also erupted. This whole week has been unbearable. Over 180 people have been reported killed in the violence and nearly half a million displaced from their homes. Numerous homes have been torched and property of unestimable value destroyed. Over 40 people died in Kisumu alone during the first two days of post-election violence, mainly due to confrontation with the police and, in one of the worst incidents nearly 50 people were burned to death in Kiambaa, Eldoret. Several deaths were reported in Mombasa and Nairobi as well.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

1. Is there any evidence of a rigged election? Yes. The ECK Chairman hinted to it several times before he announced the winner. He seemed visibly troubled by it as well and so made it public in more than one ways. He was later to admit (a few days later) that he was not sure if Kibaki won the election justly, and that he was ready to go to court and prove that there were irregularities. He admitted on camera that he was pushed to announce the results. Besides, five ECK Commissioners have declared that the process was not clean and that they saw irregularities. ODM Kenya (led by Kalonzo Musyoka) has come out publicly and indicated they believed there were irregularities. ODM led by Odinga has continued to decry this point and has come out publicly and given some substantial evidences to support this fact including parading an ECK official who disowned the process declaring it fraudulent and saying that figures were being altered by the Commission and he resigned because his conscience could not allow him to continue with the Commission. International election observers have voiced their dissatisfaction with the process, also citing irregularities.
2. Is the violence triggered by tribal sentiments? I do not think this is the case now, although tribal sentiments have been fuelled up in the second stage of the problem. The real problem is the general feeling by a majority of Kenyans that they have been cheated politically. Before many of the Rift Valley killings were effected, victims were told they were being killed because of a rigged election. Unfortunately, Kibaki was used as a scapegoat to revive tribal clashes. That it is not necessarily tribal clashes, people from other communities than the Kikuyu have also been killed and displaced for the same political reason. This point was evident even before the elections.
3. What is the way forwarde? Two main things: Dialogue leading to a retallying of the election results, and especially the presidential; preferably a new presidential election to be held with a neutral body to oversee them. More crucially, mass education to the effect that the politicians are traitors of the highest caliber. People will vote for them and then fight among themselves with none of the politicians undergoing the “hell” the local person then undergoes. They are all in their comfort zones in Nairobi from where they issue statements, most of which further incite violence. They have security; the poor man who votes and fights for them does not. They can have their meals and drinks and sleep in a nice bed as the poor kill each other and run for safety and have their children die from exposure to hostile elements. The politicians interact freely while the poor kill the neighbors that have long supplied their needs and basically kept them alive. This kind of education is crucial.
4. Did you stop broadcasting following the government ban on live broadcasts? Yes, for many reasons. First, nobody in the Kenyan media fraternity knew exactly what was meant by a ban on “live” broadcasts. For many of us in the media, live meant talking on the microphone. Later the government clarified by saying it meant a ban on outside broadcasting (O.B) and live calls. Despite this clarification, our predicament was different. We were in a precarious situation because anything we would say could be read any way by the perpetraters of the violence in the region. Do not forget that we are a regional (local) station with our station located right where the violence was. For this reason, we kept to our prime mandate, i.e. the Gospel through music and Scripture. It is only recently that we have began to resume our broadcast schedule even though we cannot fully go back to what we need to be doing as most of our staff is still caught up in their homes and cannot travel to Eldoret as yet.
5. Was your family affected by the violence? Yes, but not directly, thank God! We lived in fear because several homes next to us were burned and numerous people have fled. We have had to host between five and eleven people on different days with very meager resources and with hardly any stores open to buy food. With financial challenges in the ministry for the last few months, our faith in providing for others was strethched. It has been hard to sleep at night, sometimes with distant gunshots and the smell of thick smoke from burning houses in the air. I had to prepare my wife and children on how and when to flee. I told my wife she would need to flee with the bigger girls and leave me behind with Shema, our youngest so that I could plead with any potential attackers, etc. We have had no security for the station and home, and could not get any from the government because the gangs were too big for the police so that they needed reinforcements, and so were stretched. For the first time we practically learned that unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchmen watch in vain. (Psalm 127) Psalm 91 has kep-t us at peace every day.
We have been stopped by people who wanted to find out if we were carrying any persons from a particular tribe in our car. It was scary, but the Lord let us out safely every time.
6. How might someone assist the ministry and our family? Right now, due to financial challenges in the ministry, we would particularly appreciate cash donations as we have had to suspend the little advertizing we have had and due to outstanding payments of bills and wages. Cheques and money orders can be written to Word of Truth Ministries USA and sent to;
 
Kennedy Dulo
2909 Ashcreek Ave,
Columbus, OH. 43219


We still need enough to take care of those who are staying with us for now. We also have our daughter Shekinah joining High School this year and will need school fees. May the Lord bless you as you help in any way. Most significantly, we request that you put us on your prayer calendar.