ON December 27, millions of Kenyans performed their civic duty and demonstrated their commitment to democracy by turning out to vote in their country’s presidential, parliamentary and local elections. But since then, the voters and millions of other innocent Kenyans have been badly – and tragically – failed by their country’s governing institutions and leaders.

For more than a month now, the people of Kenya and the international community have pleaded for the Government and the opposition to find an urgent solution to the post-election crisis.

In public statements and conversations with Government and opposition representatives, Canadian Foreign Minister Bernier and I, have joined in calling for an end to the violence, for all parties to respect and protect internationally recognised human rights, and for the grievances underlying this crisis – including those flowing from the deeply flawed election tallying process – to be addressed to the satisfaction of the people of Kenya. And we have contributed some Sh300 million to assist humanitarian organisations to assist Kenyans affected by the violence.

We have also made it clear that the current situation affords no foundation on which the Government of Kenya can expect us to conduct business as usual. Development programmes are now under review in concert with other partners; and returning to prior methods of direct government-to-government cooperation will, in my view, be very difficult to contemplate in the absence of concrete progress toward resolving this crisis and restoring the confidence of the Kenyan people and the international community in the institutions of Kenyan Government. With respect to official contact and visits, I would simply note that Canadian law precludes the admissibility to Canada of foreign nationals considered responsible for subverting democratic institutions and processes.

Clearly, a political agreement between President Mwai Kibaki and Mr Raila Odinga offers Kenya’s only hope for at least several months to come, of securing some approximation of Government by the will of the people. And the events of the past week have underscored the urgency of achieving such an agreement without further delay. The dialogue established under the auspices of Kofi Annan offers the best – possibly last – hope for resolving this crisis and restoring Kenya’s standing as a pillar of stability and democracy in Africa.

H E Ross Hynes,
High Commissioner for Canada