Staggering from Crisis to Crisis

I have been taking a keen interest in Kenya for about four years now, and until recently, say Christmas last year, everything seemed to be calm. Kenya rarely figured on the news websites or in the UK newspapers.

But, since the Presidential election, Kenya is never out of the news, allegations of vote rigging, violence, political corruption, mass murder, inter-tribal violence, the Mount Kenya Mafia, police brutality,displaced people, assassinations, the Mungiki, food shortages, and now the prison warders strike - have I missed anything?

And all this has happened in the last four months! What is happening to this wonderful country? How can so few people (the legislators) cause so much havoc in such a short time?

Will Kenya ever get back to the peaceful haven that it was before the elections, or will the underlying racial tensions continue to dominate the lives of the wananchi?

As far as I can make out, Kenyans were so proud of their mixed culture, with 42 tribes, Arabs Indians, and Europeans, all living in harmony, and on my first visit in September 2007, I was impressed.

Now, after my second visit in March of this year, although I did not see any violence, I did notice a tension, especially in the Rift Valley. Maybe I was imagining it, but as far as I was concerned, it was there.