Having Driven Out Business, Kenyan Town Faces Consequences

KISUMU, Kenya -- Three weeks after burning down the old Kimwa Grand Hotel here, many of the admitted arsonists returned to its charred remains, scavenging sheets of scrap metal, doors and wires.

Many did so proudly, even triumphantly, offering an explanation now familiar in this city of broken windows and flowering trees: The business was owned by a supporter of President Mwai Kibaki, whom many here accuse of stealing the Dec. 27 election.

"We have to resort to this to send a message to Kibaki!" said Humphries Odongo, hauling off a share of metal.

But there was another reason he was picking through the ruins.

With his city half-wrecked and food prices skyrocketing, Odongo said he hoped to sell the scraps so he could eat.

"Unemployment is a problem," he said last week. "All these kiosks and businesses were burned, so now not even those jobs are there."

It took just a few days of window-smashing, rock-throwing, car-burning fury to drive most members of Kibaki's tribe, the Kikuyu, out of this opposition stronghold on the edge of Lake Victoria in western Kenya.

The riots and looting were part of a wave of violence that followed the disputed election, plunging Kenya into possibly its worst political crisis since independence.

But people in Kisumu say they were also venting frustrations with what they consider to be an economic imbalance between themselves and their Kikuyu neighbors, widely perceived across Kenya to be part of a privileged political class.

To emphasize that their motives were economic as well as ethnic, Odongo and some of the other looters pointed out that they had also torched several Indian-owned businesses, including a supermarket that was one of the largest employers in Kisumu but whose owner was accused of paying substandard wages.

Now, however, people are facing the consequences of driving out the neighbors and business owners they resented: rising unemployment, food shortages and skyrocketing prices. The local chamber of commerce estimates that 5,000 jobs have been lost so far.

The damage reflects the larger story across much of Kenya, whose promising economy has been devastated by the post-election crisis. Often responsible for the damage were supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who campaigned on a promise to distribute wealth more equitably.