Sunday nation editorial: Interests of the citizenry must come first

Ref: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=24&newsid=114962

Interests of the citizenry must come first


Publication Date: 1/20/2008

Experts are still grappling with the daunting task of quantifying the collective damage to the economy over the last three weeks of post-election violence. Hundreds of lives have been lost and property destroyed on a scale never been witnessed in this country since independence.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes and are now living in deplorable conditions in refugee camps in their own country. Thousands more have crossed international borders to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.

Again, we have never had such a huge number of people seeking refuge outside the country.

As a media house, we have been consistent and passionate in calling upon leaders across the political divide to put the interest of the country and citizenry ahead of their political ambitions. We have urged them to come together to save this country from the wasteful conflict that has been gathering momentum since the disputed presidential election results were announced.

As we report elsewhere in this newspaper, our leaders either do not appreciate or seem to grasp the magnitude of the human suffering caused by fighting which is largely assuming ethnic overtones. The result is mass destitution as once thriving rural economies have been wiped out in just three weeks.

The situation on the ground should be enough to jolt political leaders out of their hardline stances and move to quickly resolve their differences that are holding the country to ransom. In addition to the traumatising of large sections of the population–children and women bearing the brunt of it all–the bad blood between communities will require more than a round table conference of the adversaries to resolve. And it is doubtful whether conventional economic methods can conclusively put into figures the losses incurred by farmers and small and medium-sized businesses in the trouble spots across the country. What is evident is that it will take a long time before full recovery is realised.

Rift Valley Province, which has borne the worst of the violence, is a case in point. This extensive region is one the most productive in the country. Our food security is often dependent on it. It produces maize, wheat and other important food crops on a large scale.

Before the elections, fertile farms in areas like Makutano, Mumberes, Timboroa and Burnt Forest held large quantities of unharvested crops. The towns were robust commercial centres where hundreds of people were in gainful employment. Many of the farms have been destroyed and the market centres are deserted.

Thousands of people working on tea plantations and other large farms have lost their jobs and the wherewithal to fend for their families. In turn, these holdings are losing millions of shillings daily in lost production, further complicating the economic situation of the region.

Critical farming resources like tractors and harvesters have been destroyed in the mayhem. The infrastructure that makes the province attractive to both local and international investors is in ruins.

Ordinarily around this time, farmers would be tilling their fields in preparation for the rainy season. However, even for those with the necessary tools, there is the added burden of inflated fuel prices. The implication of all this on the food situation is indeed grave.

Clearly, this province and other strife-torn areas will need vast sums of money to restore their productivity to previous levels. For now, though, the most critical task is the restoration of peace.

Communities at war with each other will need to be brought together by a selfless leadership. This will entail taking a candidly hard look at outstanding grievances like the distribution of resources. This would signal the beginning of a process of trust and the healing the ugly wounds that have been opened by the violence. But all this is unlikely to happen as long as the current political standoff continues.