Kenya: Bloggers rooting for peace and reconcilliation · Global Voices
Rebecca Wanjiku

After many days of hatred and acrimony, Kenyans are now rooting for peace and reconciliation. While blogs and other online forums had become new avenues of channelling tribal prejudices, bloggers are now using the same avenues to express the need for peace and justice.
The major highlight has been the starting of the website, I have No Tribe, where all traffic at Mashada forum is being directed to. Most blogs are now exploring peace initiatives and avenues.
Kikuyumoja gives his opinion about the site:
No matter how you feel on tribalism in Kenya, pls check out this nice new website and see what KENYANS ONLINE have to say about tribalism and nationalism.
Walking the walk explains why we should forgive but not forget the evils:
This morning I woke up and realized how much i hate ODM and now the tribes associated with it .As I took a showers the battle in my mind went from one way to the other .In the end I said a silent prayer that while I should hate Evil. I should not use broad swipes to classify people . Many in Kenya have died while many have gloated over those deaths some even justifying the killing of innocent Kikuyu Men Women and Children .How sad and how evil .Then as I sat down for breakfast my daily morning devotional had the following reading from Matthew 18:23-3523″Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
More to life wonders whether he is a patriot:
For as long as patriotism is being what Kenyans are making news over these days, then I am proud to say that I for sure, I'm not a patriot.
If I had to choose where to be, I'd choose to be where I felt safe, was able to go about my own business, develop myself and make and work towards my own personal growth. I would never declare some space, that in actuality belongs to God, seemingly because I was born in it. No. If my neighbors proved to be capable of murder, based on our birth distributed differences, then I would not want to be anywhere near them. I would opt to leave. I have no desire to change people or no great hope in that people change that much either. Borders are man made. And were it not for modern day border policies, human nature would have had many people move around a whole lot more, as was common before formal rule took over the world.
And what does a patriot do?
I have potential to be a patriot. If I could choose citizenship. Citizenship based on character and nobility, not birth places, color, accents or tribes.
I could very easily belong to a citizens group of intelligent thinkers, fair and balanced persons, people who understand self responsibility and overall responsibility to the world around you. I could be a citizen of people who are more interested in humanity, the things that havent changed since before Christ, the real things of the human nature. And in this realm of citizenship, I could be a patriot.
But patriotism, lover of a country filled with kinsmen that march around with machetes against their own kind over subtle differences? No, not for me. Actually I want to be far removed. From all types of people that have the potential to sink this low. I want no association.
Kumekucha has published an article from the Citizens Pathway Group urging all kenyans to join in the quest for peace:
The Citizens’ Pathway Group (CPG) is a multi-ethnic and independent group of Kenyans united in our hopes and future aspirations for Kenya. As Kenyans, we view ourselves as a people that are able to earn and uphold our pride of place among nations as a sovereign and remarkable country of outstanding people enjoying a high quality of life.
Don’t our leaders live in this country? Do they watch television and read newspapers? Are they immune to the sight of mobs hacking their fellow citizens to death? Are they not moved by mothers and children being burnt to death in the places they went to seek refuge? Don’t they lose sleep at night over this calamity?
What is wrong with our leaders? Why do they continue to speak so insensitively and arrogantly? Is it because they remain unaffected by the chaos? Is it because their children don’t sleep hungry and are still able to go to school while those of many citizens are caught up in camps unsure where the next meal will come from or whether they will ever go to school again? Whether they will be alive tomorrow? Do our leaders believe that their status protects them from a further breakdown of law and order? Do they think that they are safe? Do they believe that their wealth or the money stashed away in some foreign country will save them? If this is what they believe, then they do not really understand the level that the current crisis could escalate to if not decisively dealt with.
Kumekucha who has been critical of the whole government process is optimistic about the negotiations:
The crux of the matter lies in the next tackling the POLITICAL DIMENSION to the crisis. And that will definitely mark the point of departures among the hitherto agreeing negotiators from both camps. The naked and unpleasant truth is that Kibaki is simply buying time and fooling the world with motions bereft of no meaningful movement politically or otherwise.
Let us be REAL for once and accept the bitter truth that nobody risks his/her reputation by sacrificing hundreds of lives only to STEAL an election and give the voters back their rights. More so if the thief holds the monopoly of force. Add this to the tribal cabal waiting in the wings for any trace of opportunity to strike Kenya dead so as to scavenge on the resulting carcass disguised as INDUSTRY.