On Dec. 27, 2007, the "sundowner," the expatriates' name for the evening "happy hour" in Kenya, tragically previewed the onset of a terrifying darkness. The announcement of the national election results, followed on the same day by the hasty 15-minute inauguration of incumbent Mwai Kibaki as president, met with not mere disbelief and cries of rigging by the opposition party but with a dramatic unleashing of divisive and destructive energy. There were machete attacks, setting of fires, rapes and dismantling of entire villages and settlements with tens of thousands fleeing their homes. More than a thousand were killed. The psalmist graphically sketches the fright and confusion: It is plucked by all who pass by. It is ravaged by the boar of the forest, devoured by the beasts of the field (Psalm 80).

The two significant players were the Luo people of the West and the Kikuyu of Mount Kenya. The election was bitterly contested and, it appears, both sides were poised for violence over the outcome. Starting dramatically in Kibera, a Nairobi slum where Maryknollers and other missioners reach out to as many as a million desperately poor people, post-election madness and mayhem spread quickly to engulf the nation. A Swahili proverb states it well: "When the elephants fight, it is the grass that dies." It is the Kenyan people who lost the election.

Almost 80 percent of Kenya's 33.8 million people are Christian, with one-third of those Roman Catholic. Cardinal John Njue of the Archdiocese of Nairobi published a pastoral letter on behalf of the Kenya bishops, urging calm and safety. He pleaded with all Christians and the Kenyan population to exercise restraint. In his letter he stressed the responsibility of everyone for his brother and sister by way of prayer, generously shared food and water, shelter, safety of passage, sanctuary and the end of violence. He unequivocally called for an international, independent assessment of the fairness of the election. Njue's letter addressed well the event and the immediately needed responses. His pastoral letter was a clarion call for solidarity.

The context that birthed such violence lies with the colonial period and the 44 years since Kenyan independence in 1963. Since then, only some Kenyans have prospered. The feeling and perception is that the Kikuyu people have garnered an unfair share of the economy and political power. Progress is Kikuyu not Kenyan. Unfortunately, very little has been done to foster and build a civic identity.

After independence, Kenya continued the colonial pattern of "divide and rule." Being Kikuyu, Luo, Kalenjin or a member of one of the nation's 39 other ethnic groups was far more important than being Kenyan. Tanzania, Kenya's southern neighbor, stands in contrast. In 1963, when I first served there, I would ask children what their tribe was, and they would answer, "I am a Chagga," or "I am a Sukuma." When I left Tanzania in 1975, more than half would respond, "I am a Tanzanian." Arriving at this point required a multifaceted and massive program of civic education in villages, towns and schools. Led by founding President Julius Nyerere, Tanzania largely melded ethnicity into citizenship and tempered selfishness to the common good. The colonial policy of "divide and rule" required such a radical response. Tanzania made it, but Kenya, as the events of recent months witness, has lacked the leadership to make this radical decision. Time magazine quotes Catholic Bishop Cornelius Korir of Kenya's Eldoret Diocese, "Since their wealth depends on power, our leaders are never able to admit (re-election) defeat."

The events of recent months call Kenyans to install constitutional structures for governance that would foster justice. The campaign promises of 2003 to form a new constitution, to share power and economic opportunity equitably and to fight corruption must be revisited. There needs to be a national dialogue of alternative political programs to address the long-standing grievances of the majority over land issues, employment, decent housing, access to health care and a fair share of the wealth.

Transformation is difficult and demanding. However, Kenya is not without its own and international resources. With some 8.3 million Catholics, an increased role of the Catholic people, united through the national bishops' conference, could be pivotal. For Catholics, the word politics has positive meaning—responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in politics is a moral obligation. Solidarity that unites diverse people as a human family to promote the common good is a key Catholic social teaching. The importance of the many existing programs within the Catholic, Anglican and Protestant Churches to educate Kenyans for social transformation needs to be underscored.

It would also be helpful to raise the traditional Kenyan tribal methodologies of participatory peacemaking to the national level. Kenya's Human Rights Commission needs to be revitalized. Organizations and movements such as People for Peace and Active Non-violence need new courage. The African continent offers the model of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the extensive work done to reconcile the Hutu and Tutsi people of Rwanda.

In 2001, the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference issued a 46-page document, "A Call to Solidarity with Africa." They urged and continue to urge us as Catholic Americans not to forget our fellow Christians and develop empathy with Africa and learn its cultures through contact with Africans. The present situation in Kenya now and in the months ahead should call us to the solidarity of time, talent and treasure and to prayer for the life-giving transformations so much needed for the lives of folks just like us. The yet-to-be answered question is whether the anger, frustration and almost sociopathic violence will become the energy for solidarity and transformation for a renewed Kenya, a nation of reconciliation, justice and peace.

Maryknoll Father John Conway, from New York City, is a former regional superior for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers serving in Kenya and Sudan.

Learn more about John's Ministry              John's Biography

Maryknollers in Nairobi, Kenya