Lost opportunity: Peace building initiatives in conflict prone areas

Abstract

Kenya has had ethnic conflict since the inception of multi-party democracy in 1992. In Molo Division in Nakuru County, a number of governmental and non-governmental reports underscore the social and economic ramifications of the violence. However, serious and sustained peace building efforts have been lacking in an effort to reconcile a society that has been fractured. This paper argues that there have been a number of opportunities that should have seized to reconcile citizens, but such opportunities were lost. The task of peace building has largely been reduced to mere calls for peaceful coexistence, without interrogating the fault lines that open the possibility of fresh ethnic outbreaks and violence. This paper critiques previous and current peace building initiatives in Molo Division. Data collection used focus group discussions, oral interviews, questionnaires and written documents, and analysis used the Coser Lewis conflict theory. The various peace initiatives have failed to address the issues that led to ethnic violence. Memorialization, restitution and restoration of land rights, creation of job opportunities for the youth and profiling of all victims of ethnic violence are critical ingredients for sustainable peace not only in Molo Division, but other parts of the country that have been affected by ethnic violence.