NASA leader Raila Odinga's adviser Salim Lone. [Photo/Nasa coalition]
"WEST WARNS AGAINST JUBILEE MILITARIZATION OF A POLITICAL CONTEST
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i’s claim yesterday that “a massacre of catastrophic proportions was going to take place” was meant to prepare Kenyans for more arrests and turbulence.
But this escalating chain of events has thankfully begun worrying Uhuru’s US and EU allies, who yesterday issued their first explicit criticism of this government since the 8th August election, thanks to excellent western media coverage of this dangerous and utterly unnecessary militarization of an essential political contest.
That was also how the international response to the rigged 2007 election unfolded, when the US initially stuck with President Kibaki, but was forced by excellent media coverage of the post-election violence to change tack.
In 2007, the violence broke out in Rift Valley villages but this time round it’s the police which is responsible for the violence has occurred and is being planned, since the massive swearing in ceremony of President Odinga went off without a single incidence of violence or looting.
Uhuru’s western allies, whose total support has allowed the government to bring Kenya to this dangerous point, must now take stronger steps to get Uhuru and Matiang’i to de-escalate. One hopes that the public criticism was coupled with stronger private warnings.
Salim Lone,
Adviser,
President Raila Odinga"