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It’s still raining in Nairobi. Local TV news bulletins show heartbreaking pictures of displaced Kenyans in Jamhuri Park sheltering under tiny umbrellas sitting in mud and puddles, with all their belongings soaked. Just as an aside, the local TV coverage of the crisis has been really excellent from reporting the election results as they unfolded, up to today. Mostly I have been watching NTV (Nation TV) who has the most sophisticated BBC style look – though KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corp) has also been good with fair, impartial reporting.
Kiss and Easy FM radio has taken up playing over and over again anthems like: Black Eyed Peas ‘Where is the love?’ (‘People killing, children dying…’) and Alicia Keys ‘Everything’s gonna be alright’.
My husband heard something on the radio about Mass Action being called off by ODM today but I daren’t believe it because the station I listen to say demonstration is set to go ahead with Najib Balala (ODM) planning to lead a march after Friday Prayers from the main mosque in Mombasa and there is a heavy police presence now in the CBD here in Nairobi. There was also no mention of protests being called off on the 11am NTV news. Looting and violence has been reported to have taken place in Kisumu already today, also demonstrators have blocked the main road out of Eldoret, bringing traffic to a complete standstill.
My eldest daughter’s school will close early this afternoon, in the hopes of avoiding parents getting caught up in heavy traffic diverted from the cordoned off town centre. The school say that the week has been quite chaotic, with children either staying home, or if they have been attending, parents have been arriving to pick them up early at completely random times from lunch onward. The headmistress wrote; ‘I realise that we would all have wanted to finish the week on a more positive note, but I am not sure that we can.’ At least our kids can go to school unlike so many thousands of other children in Kenya.