Kenya Post Election Dialogue

Den­ver-Sat­ur­day Feb. 9, 2008, 2:30–4:30 pm in the Com­mu­ni­ty Room of Auro­ra Cen­tral Library (14949 E. Alame­da Pkwy, Auro­ra, CO 80012)

Africa Agen­da will host a his­tor­i­cal, post-elec­tion forum and com­mu­ni­ty dia­logue on the elec­tion dis­putes in Kenya, cur­rent peace efforts, and work toward rec­on­cil­i­a­tion between Kenyan cit­i­zens and their government.

Long con­sid­ered one of the more sta­ble places in Africa, Kenya was plunged into vio­lence and may­hem on Decem­ber 29, 2007, after pres­i­den­tial elec­tions in which both the gov­ern­ment and the main oppo­si­tion par­ty claimed they won.

To date, both sides con­tin­ue to accuse each oth­er of elec­tion fraud and intim­i­da­tion while efforts to restore peace con­tin­ue. An esti­mat­ed 800 peo­ple have been killed. Mil­lions of dol­lars have been lost in busi­ness, tourism, and property.

Kofi Annan, for­mer U.N. Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al; John Kufour, Pres­i­dent of Ghana and Jen­dayi Fra­zier, U.S. Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of State for African affairs, among oth­ers, have made trips to Kenya to help bring peace.

Raila Odin­ga, the oppo­si­tion leader involved in this dis­pute was in Col­orado last Sep­tem­ber where he met with Kenyan cit­i­zens and local busi­ness lead­ers and encour­aged them to invest in Kenya.

While a shaky sit­u­a­tion pre­vails in Kenya and despite eco­nom­ic growth and gains in peace and secu­ri­ty, this tur­moil has cast some doubts about the goal of facil­i­tat­ing sus­tain­able peace and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment through­out the continent.

This forum will gath­er Col­orado com­mu­ni­ties togeth­er to brain­storm ways that African-Amer­i­cans, Africans, and their allies liv­ing in Amer­i­ca can sup­port a peace­ful res­o­lu­tion in Kenya. Par­tic­i­pants will learn about what com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers in Den­ver are doing to sup­port the end of the dis­pute in Kenya and how Africa Agen­da sup­ports this vision.

Pan­elists Include:
-Lucas Shamala, Pro­fes­sor-Metro State Col­lege of Denver
‑James Ainsworth-Free­lance Journalist
‑Ifalade Ta’Shia Asan­ti-Exec­u­tive Direc­tor-Nation­al Insti­tute for Indige­nous Cul­tur­al Studies
‑Joseph Oyu­gi-Founder, Friends for Lead­er­ship Devel­op­ment and Governance.
‑George Bamu-founder/­Founder-Africa Agenda

Mar­sha Mal­lo­ry Ben­nett-For­mer Chair, Den­ver Nairo­bi Sis­ter Cities committee.
With the Dis­tin­guished Tama­ra Banks as Pan­el Moderator.