The Low Price of Life
January 14, 2008
According to one Kenyan human rights group, one life has a price tag of about $16 USD right now. That's the price of a nice lunch in the United States or a CD's worth of downloads from iTunes.
(Click here to read more about the price list.)
The respected and independent Kenyan Human Rights Commission claims that both political parties may be paying mercenaries to fuel the violence in the country. If this is true AND can be proved in a court of law, winning an election would be the least of the politicians problems.
Correct me if I am wrong, but don't you think paying to kill people would be in violation of all sorts of international laws; let alone in violation of Kenya's own law? Just ask former Liberian President Charles Taylor, currently on trial for war crimes, what may happen to politicians who have any part in violence.
The Daily Nation newspaper quotes the Roads and Public Works Minister John Michuki as saying that current President Kibaki's government may stop doing business with any country that doesn't recognize his administration as legitimate. Michuki said...
"We are just turning a blind eye, but we can just one day wake up and tell them to leave the country. We do not need any foreigners to tell us what to do."
That seems like a pretty brazen/prideful thing to say! Strategically, this would be a big mistake. There is a high number of foreign missionaries and aid workers in Kenya. To do anything to jeopardize international aid and development would cripple what has up to this point been one of the most promising countries in Africa.
Proverbs 16:18 in the Bible says, "pride comes before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction."
I am not a Biblical scholar, but one Bible commentary puts it this way: pride can be translated as a self-confidence which produces carelessness and hence a fall -- literally "a sliding, stumbling, crushing, breaking of a dream."
The only problem is that, common man and leader alike, will normally take many innocents down with them as they fall.
The Bible also says that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Politicians are calling for demonstrations later this week throughout Kenya. Pray that the leaders on both sides will not give in to pride and "break the dream" of a united Kenya, and that a peaceful solution may yet be found.
What do you think? E-mail me your comments...
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