By vetoing a bill that would have increased retirement bonuses for Kenyan lawmakers, President Mwai Kibaki may have redeemed himself and paved way for Kenyans to forgive him for his role in the 2007 post-election violence.
The violence began after the head of the Electoral Commission of Kenya declared incumbent Kibaki the winner over Raila Odinga, in an election observers said was severely flawed. Kibaki was sworn in on the same day.
Almost immediately, Odinga’s supporters began to attack people thought to have voted for Kibaki. Unfortunately, because of the ethnic nature of Kenyan politics, it was widely believed that all Kikuyus (Kibaki’s ethnic group, and Kenya’s largest) voted for him. That’s whom Odinga’s supporters began to attack. The violence continued for several weeks and ended only after former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan brokered a power-sharing agreement. By Feb. 28, the day the two rivals signed the deal, the ethnic clashes had claimed the lives of an estimated 1,200 people, and left more than a quarter a million displaced.