Kenyans blame leaders for descent into mayhem

Even as they agreed Tuesday to hold formal peace talks, Kenya’s embattled political leaders faced a growing public backlash over their postelection failure to stem the nation’s slide into violence and economic chaos.

President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga met with former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a downtown government office to sign an agreement to participate in mediation efforts. But after a monthlong standoff that has sparked tribal war, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Kenyans and decimation of the economy, many ordinary Kenyans blame both Kibaki and Odinga for their failed leadership and inability to compromise.

“They should both step down,” said Fidelis Wanjiku, 28, a Nairobi receptionist. “They’re just power hungry and have done nothing for the country.”

Criticism is coming even from once loyal supporters. Joyce Nduta Kinuthya, 35, a farmer from the same Kikuyu tribe as Kibaki, voted to reelect the president, but supported the opposition candidate for her district’s parliamentary race. Now she’s living in a plastic tent at a displacement camp north of Nairobi with five children, surviving on donated clothes and food handouts. She blames both sides.

“If there were another election, I would never vote for either one again,” she said. “We are living here like prison inmates and we hear nothing from them.”

Recent editorials, letters to the editor and radio call-in shows have echoed such sentiments.

“The people that started this are sleeping in their mansions while the country burns,” said Maina Kageni, a popular FM radio disc jockey.

A front-page editorial Tuesday in Kenya’s Standard newspaper called on political leaders to end tribal clashes, saying the violence was threatening to throw the once-promising East African nation back to the “Stone Age.”

But the editors also warned it might be too late. “Leaders have lost control of their supporters and few can call for calm and be listened to. This is how low the country has sunk.”

Kenya has been in chaos since a disputed Dec. 27 presidential election that international observers say was riddled with irregularities. Kibaki and Raila each claimed to be the rightful winner. After Kibaki was declared the victor by his handpicked election commission, riots and ethnic clashes broke out nationwide, killing more than 700 people and displacing an additional 250,000.

Thousands of Kenyans have lost their jobs as the nation’s tourism, transportation and agricultural industries screeched to a halt. The Mombasa port is clogged with undelivered goods because the roads are unsafe. Food prices in many cities have doubled and there are concerns about shortages of supplies such as milk.

Violence continued Tuesday with the early-morning assassination of an opposition parliament member outside his Nairobi home. Two gunmen were seen fleeing.

The killing sparked riots, looting and revenge attacks in several Nairobi slums, where more than seven people were reported killed. In the resort city of Naivasha, north of the capital, military helicopters opened fire above angry crowds to prevent rival tribes from attacking one another.

Kibaki issued a brief statement Tuesday urging the public to avoid jumping to conclusions about possible motives behind the killing. “The president appeals to all Kenyans to maintain peace,” it said.

After visiting the slain lawmaker’s family, Odinga warned, “This country is drifting into a state of anarchy.”

The mediation talks are expected to last several weeks, addressing not only questions about the validity of the election, but also underlying tribal resentments over the distribution of land and power.

Last week, hopes for peace rose when the two men met face to face for the first time since the election, shaking hands and smiling for cameras. But hours later they reverted to political squabbling.

At the meeting Tuesday with Annan, the men did not shake hands.

Kibaki has refused to acknowledge the election controversy and has been criticized for failing to address the nation after last weekend’s brutal tribal clashes in the Rift Valley, where as many as 100 died.

Odinga is also facing criticism for calling for nationwide protests that have now spun out of control.

“Even if he told his supporters to stop, now they won’t stop,” said Raphel Bwosi, 36, an opposition supporter who was chased out of his Central province home and now lives on a grass plot at a police station.

He said he believes that Odinga won the election, but that he now questions whether the struggle for justice is worth the price. “It’s a difficult question,” he said, glancing at his wife and children, now sleeping in the dirt under a tree. “All these politicians are just thinking about themselves.”

edmund.sanders@latimes.com