In September of 1993, there was considerable tension in Kenya amid ethnic violence in the famous Rift Valley area. At the time, a group of nine dissident Kenyan musicians and human rights activists produced a tape of songs condemning the violence. The musicians were on the run from police after defying a government order barring visits by outsiders to clash areas. They went there to gather information for their songs. Using Kenya contacts, I arranged a secret meeting with members of the music group. The original broadcast script began with a wailing song:
The song is about the plight of Kenya's ethnic clash victims -- and it is highly critical of the government of President Daniel Arap Moi, accusing his administration of standing idly by while bloodshed has claimed hundreds of lives in the Rift Valley area over the past two years.
It is one of nine compositions produced by a group of Nairobi-based musicians and human rights activists, who earlier this month eluded police checkpoints to visit the town of Molo -- one of the clash areas sealed off by Kenyan authorities in what has been acclaimed by officials as a successful move to restore peace there.
The nine are now sought by security officials who have been trying to pinpoint the location where the musicians have been making copies of their tape, which they want to sell to raise money to assist the victims of the ethnic fighting.
Hampered by a lack of blank cassettes, they say they are denied access to state-controlled broadcast media and must now move about furtively in order to avoid arrest.
But four members of the group who agreed to be interviewed by VOA appeared unconcerned about the difficulties they face as they pursue their project.
Nancy Wanja, one of the musicians, says they were outraged by evidence of hunger and homelessness that she claims they saw.
“Those people, they are innocent and they're fellow Kenyans. If they're going to die like that, we are very bitter because they're fellow Kenyans and they're suffering.”
The clashes have pitted members of one ethnic group, the small Kalenjin group, against another, the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest ethnic grouping. President Moi is a Kalenjin, while his main political opponents are Kikuyu.
The musicians who were interviewed, acknowledge they, too, are Kikuyu but say they are non-partisan and harbor no tribal hatreds. They maintain as well that Kikuyus and Kalenjins in the Rift Valley have been able to live side-by-side in peace.
But they accuse the Moi government of instigating the violence for political reasons. It's a charge others have made but which Kenyan officials have repeatedly denied. Those officials also say conditions are improving in Molo since the closed security zones were declared. But the musicians remain skeptical.
Nancy Wanja says if it is true that peace has been restored, then the group should be given permission to return.
“They should give us another chance. We go there and see for ourselves -- not hear from the newspapers. We want to go there again and see by ourselves so that we can say that there are no more clashes.”
The authorities say the government has nothing to hide in Molo and that reporters are now free to travel there as long as they inform local officials first -- a measure they say is necessitated by security considerations.
(An amusing sidenote to this story was that I and my colleagues in our Nairobi office were so concerned about a possible police raid, we made copies of the musicians’ bootleg tape, transmitted excerpts to Washington immediately, and hid others --- just in case there was a raid and the tapes were confiscated. In the end, nothing happened.)
The song is about the plight of Kenya's ethnic clash victims -- and it is highly critical of the government of President Daniel Arap Moi, accusing his administration of standing idly by while bloodshed has claimed hundreds of lives in the Rift Valley area over the past two years.
It is one of nine compositions produced by a group of Nairobi-based musicians and human rights activists, who earlier this month eluded police checkpoints to visit the town of Molo -- one of the clash areas sealed off by Kenyan authorities in what has been acclaimed by officials as a successful move to restore peace there.
The nine are now sought by security officials who have been trying to pinpoint the location where the musicians have been making copies of their tape, which they want to sell to raise money to assist the victims of the ethnic fighting.
Hampered by a lack of blank cassettes, they say they are denied access to state-controlled broadcast media and must now move about furtively in order to avoid arrest.
But four members of the group who agreed to be interviewed by VOA appeared unconcerned about the difficulties they face as they pursue their project.
Nancy Wanja, one of the musicians, says they were outraged by evidence of hunger and homelessness that she claims they saw.
“Those people, they are innocent and they're fellow Kenyans. If they're going to die like that, we are very bitter because they're fellow Kenyans and they're suffering.”
The clashes have pitted members of one ethnic group, the small Kalenjin group, against another, the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest ethnic grouping. President Moi is a Kalenjin, while his main political opponents are Kikuyu.
The musicians who were interviewed, acknowledge they, too, are Kikuyu but say they are non-partisan and harbor no tribal hatreds. They maintain as well that Kikuyus and Kalenjins in the Rift Valley have been able to live side-by-side in peace.
But they accuse the Moi government of instigating the violence for political reasons. It's a charge others have made but which Kenyan officials have repeatedly denied. Those officials also say conditions are improving in Molo since the closed security zones were declared. But the musicians remain skeptical.
Nancy Wanja says if it is true that peace has been restored, then the group should be given permission to return.
“They should give us another chance. We go there and see for ourselves -- not hear from the newspapers. We want to go there again and see by ourselves so that we can say that there are no more clashes.”
The authorities say the government has nothing to hide in Molo and that reporters are now free to travel there as long as they inform local officials first -- a measure they say is necessitated by security considerations.
(An amusing sidenote to this story was that I and my colleagues in our Nairobi office were so concerned about a possible police raid, we made copies of the musicians’ bootleg tape, transmitted excerpts to Washington immediately, and hid others --- just in case there was a raid and the tapes were confiscated. In the end, nothing happened.)
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