Yes, Kenyan Is Still a Nation of Laws

Minneapolis, USA. In full view of the world, Kenya is burning, innocent blood of her citizens flowing freely as politicians bicker. In the cacophony that the former island of peace in Eastern Africa has been reduced to a bloody mess of tribal warfare, some have remarked that neither courts nor local institutions can be the answer to the crisis.

We disagree.

Several hundreds (perhaps even thousand) dead and hundreds of thousands displaced, it no longer matters whether one favors ODM or PNU. We are the past the luxury of party affiliation or such niceties as transparency. Now is a matter of life and death - literally.

Yet as ironic as this may sound to some, our only solace lies in Kenyans and Kenyan institutions. With due respect to former UN Secretary General Koffi Annan and the other Eminent African Persons, theirs is only a neighbor's wail: Kenyans must resolve the impasse by themselves. No foreign mediator is going to assure that members of different communities who previously lived together in peace continue to do so.

Raila and Kibaki must step up to the plate and provide leadership. They must end the violence. They must condemn lawlessness. They must pledge to respect Kenyan institutions.

Kenyan law provides (with a surprising clarity, for laws are seldom clear), the procedures for resolution of disputes relating to presidential elections. It is misleading to argue that there can be no justice in Kenyan courts. What is laughable is that the same lawyers who only the other day were scampering to the High Court for relief now prefer mayhem, murder and mob injustice to an orderly process as provided for by law.

As an Advocate and an Officer of the High Court, I will not call its impartiality into question until a petition has been presented and the Court has rendered (or failed to), a verdict. I trust the High Court to consider the evidence, examine the witnesses, review submissions and deliver a judgment in accordance with the law.

If PNU operatives improperly tampered with ballots or if the ECK announced results prematurely, or if there was an error in tallying the votes from ODM strongholds, I trust the Court to determine this.

Regardless of my preference (and millions of other frustrated Kenyans), no life or property should be lost because we are too impatient or distrusting of our own institutions. Why do we need foreigners to tell us when votes are stolen, when to sit and talk or even not to hack our neighbors to death? Can't we settle such disputes as we have always done?

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Kenya's only hope lies in how well she respects her established institutions and laws. All Kenyans need now are leaders with enough guts to act. Antagonists Kibaki and Raila are yet to demonstrate such leadership.