On Tuesday 8th August, Kenya will be heading into its General Elections to choose people who will lead in various capacities for the next five years.
The election has been described as a hot contest especially for the top seat of the east African nation. And more so because it is an election that means so much to not just Kenyans but the African continent and the rest of the world.
In recent days however, there have been fears of violence during or after the elections day. This has prompted various individuals and organisations in and out of the country to call for peace during this time.
Here are some of the peace initiatives that have taken place over the past few days
Global Peace Foundation
Industrialist Manu Chandaria in 2016 launched a peace initiative under the auspices of the Global Peace Foundation of which he is the Kenya patron.
The initiative was aimed at preaching peace and defusing as well as cooling down the political temperatures.
Players in this initiative decided instead of having fragmented initiatives in different organisation settings, it would be better to have one caravan that will be the vehicle for a peaceful 2017 General Election.
Some of the organisations that took part included National Police Service, National Cohesion and Integration Commission, National Counter-terrorism Centre, Brand Kenya, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and Kenya Private Sector Alliance, among others.
“Elections do not just happen to be peaceful. We have to plan and make them peaceful. We do not want to witness another ugly side similar to that of 2008,” said Chandaria.
International leaders led by European Union Ambassador Stefano Dejak, German envoy Jutta Frasch, Danish Mette Knudsen and US represented by Randi Michel, pledged total support for the programme.
The DriveKE
This was an initiative that brought together a number of BMW car owners in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi on July 22nd.
Close to 90 BMW cars thronged Nairobi major roads and over 100 people joined together to promote peaceful elections in Kenya. They were all donned in t-shirts that indicated their tribes and their pride to be Kenyans.
“The statement highlighting tribe was a bold statement acknowledging and showing our appreciation for the diversity we have as a country,” said Victor Muniu, one of the organisers of the DriveKE.
“Our unity should be because of diversity and not uniformity”, he added.
Matatus Welfare Association peace campaign
Matatus are privately owned minibuses in Kenya which help commuters all over the country move from one point to the other.
As of 2014, there were more than 20,000 individual matatus in Kenya. The industry has employed hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who work as drivers and conductors.
At times though, these matatus have been associated with criminality or reckless driving among other vices. But times have changed! In 2004, the then Transport and Communications Minister, the late John Michuki single-handedly restored sanity in Kenya’s troubled public transport sector through his rules.
This time, the Matatus Welfare Association launched a countrywide campaign aimed at preaching peace in the country ahead of August 8 general election.
The national chairman Dickson Mbugua noted the transport sector will bear the brunt should violence break out since over 100,000 public service vehicles are on road.
“Those who will be injured will have nobody to transport them to hospitals and so there is need to prevent violence since we don’t want loss of lives or property.
“We don’t want a repeat of 2007/2008 post-election violence since we underwent heavy losses,” Mbugua said.
They also called on politicians to be in the forefront in preaching peace and not misuse the youth to cause violence.
Mkenya Daima (Forever Kenya) initiative
Local investors in Kenya renewed call for peaceful and transparent general elections on Aug. 8 in order to safeguard economic and social progress the country has made in recent past.
The investors said they will rally behind efforts to promote free and fair elections in a bid to boost social cohesion and economic growth.
Since 2013, Kenya’s business leaders have actively championed for peaceful campaigns and transparent elections under a flagship project called Mkenya Daima, loosely translated into forever Kenyan.
“We reiterate our full support for agencies tasked with conducting the upcoming elections to ensure the exercise is above board. We are confident that the electoral agency has put in place strong measures to ensure the voting exercise is credible,” the investors said in a joint statement issued in Nairobi.
The investors have since 2015 held sessions with lawmakers, policymakers and ward representatives to explore ways to strengthen national cohesion ahead of Tuesday 8th polls.
According to Dr Vimal Shah, the chairman of Mkenya Daima, the business community will actively engage with key stakeholders in the electoral process to ensure peace and stability.
Peace meetings and prayer rallies
Kenyans from different parts of the country have also been holding peace meetings and prayer rallies for peace.
Areas perceived to be hotspots especially those that have been haunted by bandit attacks have taken time to invite people from those villages for peace and security meetings.
In Baringo County, approximately 300km from the country’s capital, security stakeholders have promised to ensure Tuesday’s general election is peaceful, the Star reports.
Elders, religious leaders, members of peace committees, security teams and representatives from the office of the county commissioner have been attending these peace meetings.
“We do not want to see our county dragged again into the skirmishes and loss of lives we experienced in 2007/8,” County Commissioner Peter Okwanyo said.
“We will work tirelessly to make sure there is peace throughout and after the election,” he added.
There have also been a number of prayer rallies in the nation’s capital where key political leaders have attended and promised to keep peace. Traditional leaders in the country’s rural areas have also been holding prayers in an effort to ask God to make Kenya have peace during and after the Elections Day.
