Running for free Food
A few days after the results of the just concluded heavily contested elections were announced, Uhuru Kenyatta who was declared presidential race winner was awarded a certificate as the law says and while he was giving his acceptance speech at the Catholic University, his political rival on the other hand was addressing a press conference in which he expressed his displeasure in the manner in which the IEBC (electoral body) conducted the elections and particularly the presidential elections. He told the nation that he was moving to the courts to contest the results since they now had trust in the Judiciary and that his supporters should be calm for they have sufficient evidence to see them through in court. He also added that they should not involve themselves in any unlawful acts since someone somewhere has been provoking the masses top riot so that they can use that against the Cord team.
Many international and Local media stations had camped in Kibera and specifically in Kamukunji awaiting to cover any form of violent activities but their luck did not come this time as they were met with more relaxed, calm residents as much as there was some tension here and there as expected.
Why would these Journalists be interested in covering only the violent stories? Where were they when everything was going on during the Election Day? Does it mean that only bad news from Kibera make news for them? Do they have disk space on their cameras for any good news coming from Kibera as well? These are some of the questions that kept coming in the mind of my colleague and I as we sought we reminded ourselves of the role we had so far played in saying it as it unfolded to avoid the bias that had been witnessed in the 2007 elections.
Talking about the Good and Bad stories…;
Food stores in Toi market were nowhere to be seen as the stalls were seen empty which made it difficult for residents to access this basic commodity and if they did it was at a higher price that the usual price. The good thing is that, there was distribution of food in some parts of Kibera to residents but from the information I received it was not clear as to who provided the food. In Kianda the distribution was characterized by long queues of women who were excited about the offer knowing that they will be able to get a share to take home with them.
The strong getting the food even before its offloading
It was very unfortunate at Dc’s office though, because during the distribution, residents in hundreds flocked the venue to benefit from the free food that was being offered. Fighting over the evident scarce resource started as there was no one managing the long lines. It even got worse when a mother who was carrying a baby all succumbed to death at that place over the relief food where everyone was struggling to get for himself/herself. Their fate (mother and child) were however not lucky as the greedy crowd stumbled over them as they sought to get the food thereby losing their dear lives.
In a separate incident, a woman was also taken to hospital after she was beaten up at the 42 bus stage after they engaged in an argument that had arisen among themselves as they were receiving relief food.
