It would be cruel for those who have visited Kenya to forget the beautiful landscape with all the different species of wild animals that once were a tourist attraction just because of the Dec 28 post-election violence. That election to mjority of Kenyans was certainly was a "mistake".

All this may change again- and for the better I guess. Now the two protagonists have begun to walk on the path of reconciliation and nation building inorder to address the post-conflict period that had brought so much shame and pain to the people of this beautiful country of nearly thrity eight million.

According to the latest figures released by Kenya's authorities, about 1200 people died in the conflict and 350,000 were internally displaced after the supporters of the Orange Democratic Movement of Raila Odinga and those of the Party of National Unity of Mwai Kibaki decided to face off after the Dec 28 disputed Presidential polls.

The people of Kenya must feel satisfied that their country is united once again and must do everything possible to preserve the social cohesion they have enjoyed since independence, no matter how fragile it may seem to be.

Kenya, like Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and a few others made Africa really look unmanageable disorientated and a lost cause. Senseless killings, genocide and massacres contributed to make Kenya a no-go country for holidays, let alone an investment destination for business. Things are different today and all attempts must be made by the government to restore confidence in the country again, especially confidence in the economy. "When killings and rape takes place, the international community should not shy away from its responsibility, it should take strong and immediate action including military action if need be.

In as much as one sees sense in what President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have done, the onus however lies on the people of Kenya to prove to the international community that they do respect each other and value life. They must show that they are ready for business and that the country is safe.

What happened in December in Kenya was not new to the country. In 1992, 1992 and 2002, at a time when a united front was expected to vote Moi out of power, there was ethnic cleansing. The majority Kikuyu and Kalenjin fought over land and over the next several years hundreds of Kikuyu's were killed and some 150,000 driven aways from their homes. The play back, under different circumstances after the desputed Dec 27 Presidential elections was worse and that is why it is crucial that unity is preserved at all costs.

The aphorism that a divided house shall not be able to stand is true. For Kenya, it translates into certain tough economic truths: reduced or no investment from abroad, no economic development or growth if the people find themselves engaged in another ethnically motivated war.

Today more than any other time in the country's history, they need investment and economic assistance.

The December violence decimated Kenya's fragile economic base and eroded the country's ability to attract private and external investment. Even though the country has made substantial progress in stabilising and rehabilitating its economy to pre-Dec 27, a lot more needs to be done. GDP is expected to rebound and inflation likely to be curbed but the poverty level is still rising, one of the lingering after effects of the such a conflict.

More than 80 per cent of the population are subsistence farmers. Being densely populated and land locked, attempts to diversify the economy have proven difficult since the infrastructure is just not there, with the little that was there destroyed during the Dec conflict. And both Raila and Kibaki have admitted that the country need a recovery strategy.

The perpetrators of the violence, not only murdered over 1200 people, they also destroyed our physical and social economic infrastructure, government, legal system, businesses and the whole economy.

They destroyed everything that supported human life and there is more pain than gain in any uncertain moments that the country has ever witnessed. Kenya must put its recent dark past behind and move forward in solidarity.

The new found coaliting muct start to walk towrads a recovery path and reconcile all the communities in Kenya and restore public confidence to the institutions of governance by promoting the rule of law and end the culture of impunity.