Benedict Wachira ,,,

Homage to Comrade Fidel Castro - Lessons for Us

2016-12-04T20:52:00.001+03:00

As Comandante Fidel Castro’s ashes are interred today (4th December 2016) in Santiago de Cuba, the place where the July 26th rebel movement began its journey to overthrow dictatorship and capitalism, there are many lessons that Kenyans and the whole of humanity can learn from the life of this great legend.

He remains a great inspiration to the young people of this country who are disturbed by the ever rising levels of poverty, greed and corruption. In his twenties, Fidel’s conviction for a just society led him into organising two attempts to overthrow the then military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and he was eventually successful at the young age of thirty-two.

Fidel disembarked from the Granma boat with a rebel army of 87 men and got to the Sierra Maestra mountains with less than twenty guerrillas. Through such actions, he continues to inspire those working for a better society but are few in numbers. He was never discouraged by the loss of combatants or the greater fire-power of Batista’s army, he understood that what he needed on his side was the support of the masses and not bigger guns.

Fidel teaches us to always be prepared. It was through preparation and working with the masses that Fidel Castro was able to defeat the U.S trained soldiers who invaded Cuba from the U.S in 1961 at the Bay of Pigs. It is this preparedness that has deterred the U.S from militarily invading Cuba since then.

Unlike the primitive accumulation tendencies that we see with our African leaders, Fidel Castro and his leadership never sought material riches for themselves. They worked hard to ensure that every Cuban had equal and unlimited opportunities to achieve what they humanly could. That is how Cuba was able to achieve unparalleled successes in the fields of education, preventive and curative health, sciences, gender and racial equality, housing and employment among other aspects of human development. All this was achieved in spite of the existence of the most brutal economic, commercial and financial blockade from the U.S that has been in place for over 50 years.

Through Fidel, a lesson on resilience and being true to self is learnt. Not many countries can survive a blockade such as the one that has been imposed on Cuba. through resilience, Cuba has not only survived that blockade, but has managed to mobilize the whole world into condemning this U.S aggression on Cuba. Every year at the UN General Assembly, virtually all countries except the U.S and Israel vote against the blockade. Fifty-four years into the blockade, the U.S President Barack Obama admitted that its policy had failed and he began the process of normalization of relationships between the two countries. However, the blockade still remains in force.

After the fall of the USSR, Cuba lost its closest trading partner and the Cuban economy was brought to its knees. Many countries abandoned Socialism, many Socialist Political Parties across the world dropped Marxism-Leninism as their ideology, and many Marxists intellectuals and politicians no longer wished to be identified with Socialism. However, Cuba’s Socialism did not fall with the fall of the wall. The country instead diversified and realigned its Socialist economy by moving towards green energy, popular organic farming, pharmaceutical and biomedical technology and other niches that are today the envy of many. Out of this resilience and inspiration, Socialist countries began to rise a decade later in Latin America, from Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua to Ecuador. Leftist governments also came into power in Argentina, Brazil and other Latin American countries. Throughout Africa, the old 'Marxist' intellectuals were replaced by young Marxist revolutionaries who’s understanding was/is not pegged on mother Russia but on the principles of equality and prosperity of humanity, just like Fidel Castro did.

Under the leadership of Fidel Castro, Cuba taught the world the most important lessons on giving and solidarity. Cuban Universities have awarded thousands of full scholarships to youth from developing countries who are now serving their countries as doctors and other professionals. Cuba does not award these scholarships because it is a rich country. In fact, Cuba’s GDP is smaller than that of many developing countries, including Kenya. Cuba gives because sharing is a human responsibility. This poses a challenge to countries like Kenya that are surrounded by worse off countries. How many scholarships does Kenya give to young people from Somalia, South Sudan or the DR Congo?

Cuban combatants have fought alongside their African compatriots in their struggles against colonialism and imperialism. Cubans assisted Algeria, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Ethiopia and South Africa either in their struggle for independence, or in their wars against external aggression, and as Raul Castro once said while in Angola, Cuba fought alongside Africans and left not with coffee or minerals, but with the body bags of their heroic soldiers. Cuba’s internationalist policy is unlike the U.S globalization policy; Cuba did not sacrifice its children so that they could exploit and dominate others, but it did so to fulfil its internationalist duty to humanity.

Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony continues to be up to this day. Are African countries waiting for Cubans to come and fight for the decolonization of the Saharawi? Do we think petitions and African Union commission reports will convince Morocco to leave Western Sahara? Haven’t we learnt anything from the sacrifices of the Cuban people?

Today, Cuba continues with this internationalist practice, but now by sending humanitarian ‘combatants’ wherever humanity needs them. From hurricane crises in Asia and the Americas, to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, Cuban doctors have always been on the frontlines of fighting and containing these disasters. While commenting on the Haitian earthquake, one Haitian expressed his gratitude to the Cuban doctors by stating that “After God, Fidel.”

Fidel gave us lessons on how to fight today's emerging crimes like terrorism. In the 80s and the 90’s, terrorists from Miami (supported by the CIA) tried to destroy Cuba’s tourism industry by bombing hotels, Cuban airplanes and other economic interests, even going to the extent of using bio-terrorism on innocent civilians. Rather than terrorise and alienate innocent civilians like the Kenyan government is doing today, Fidel sent his security personnel to infiltrate the enemy and unearth terror plans before they happened. That is how the world famous Cuban anti-terrorism heroes, popularly known as the Cuban 5 came to be (They were arrested in the U.S and given harsh/life sentences for espionage, but were freed by President Obama in December 2014).

Throughout his life, Fidel has survived assassination attempts on his life and worst still on his character, but this never dampened his resolve. They lied about his wealth but he continued living a simple life. They lied about human rights violations but he continued to provide the highest attainable human rights for his people. Even at his death, reactionary media continues to desecrate his name by publishing lies about this great revolutionary. Fidel has taught us to ignore the liars and detractors and instead soldier on and do what is right.

I therefore reiterate the homage that Carlos Aznárez paid to Fidel Castro where he wrote;

"So, when difficulties seem too much, and we believe we’re running out of strength, when we lack answers and when confusion makes us doubt about who the enemy is, when times are dark and without hope, let’s go back to Fidel, to his ideas, to his ethic, to his audacity, to his courage, to his revolutionary power, and let’s rise again to continue this wonderful adventure to take the skies.

A little heartbroken but never defeated, we salute you, dear Commander. We will turn back to you every now and then and ask you: “Are we doing well, Fidel?”

An avid reader, a sportsman, an arts enthusiast, a teacher, a great leader, a prolific writer, an environmentalist, an orator, a thinker, a fighter, and above all, a Communist.

Hasta Siempre Comandante,
Long Live Fidel Castro!
Long Live Socialism!
We shall be Victorious!

Benedict WACHIRA

Secretary General

Social Democratic Party of Kenya

December 4^th 2016

6:41am

Extra Judicial Killings in Kenya: Why the IGP Joseph Boinnet must Resign or be sacked

2016-07-04T15:12:00.000+03:00

In an interview with Larry Madowo last week, Mr. Charles Owino, the Kenya Police spokesperson asked why people were calling for the resignation of the IG of Police, yet rogue elements are found in every profession, including the one that the LSK belongs to.

But the case of the Mavoko 3 brings out several issues which demand that responsibility must be taken at the highest level if this country is to be prevented from falling into anarchy. These issues include:

1. Confirmed Incompetence
Through the murder of the three, the Police Service has shown us the extent to which it is incompetent. The lawyer and his client, a bodaboda rider were threatened with death by the same Policeman who was being prosecuted by the State for shooting the bodaboda rider. They reported the threat to the police. No action was taken.

Why was a Policeman who was accused, by the State itself, of shooting an unarmed man allowed to continue with his duties even as the matter was ongoing in court?
Why didn’t the Police take the death threat seriously, yet it had come from a man accused of what would qualify as an attempted murder?

After it became clear that the three had been disappeared, the IG of Police was informed, and lawyers even demonstrated at the IG’s office. Finally, the bodies of the three were found in a river, by ordinary citizens.
How difficult is it for the police to find culprits of a kidnapping when there is only one obvious suspect? One who is clearly not so bright? One whose full information they can easily find?

Isn’t it clear that if the villagers had not discover those bodies, or if the Killer police had disposed the bodies of differently, then we would still be talking of a "kidnapping" today?

2. Faith in the Police service and anarchy
The Mavoko 3 were arrested at a road-stop mounted by the Police, who went ahead and kidnapped them and tortured them to death.

Going forward, how should Taxi drivers and Kenyans in general behave when they see Police road blocks ahead? Should they stop? Should they run? Should they panic?
If the police stop you in the streets, should you stop? Should you run? Should you fight them? If they arrest you, what should you do? Resist arrest? Search for toilet papers to write on? Panic to death?

How else can we regain the little confidence (in being stopped or being arrested, safely) that we had, if the big bosses do not show responsibility by resigning?

If the big bosses had reacted to put an end to the illegal arrests that are committed by the Police all over the country on a daily basis (where you are released on giving a bribe, or you are charged with funny misdemeanors), wouldn’t the three, maybe, be alive today?

If you are a lawyer, would you involve yourself in cases of victims of Police brutality or illegal arrests?

If you are a victim of Police brutality or illegal arrest, will you find lawyers to represent you in court? Should you even risk your life by reporting or following up the matter in the first place?

3. Extra-Judicial killings and torture
The region where the three were kidnapped is said to be the area where extra-judicial killings victims are taken for torture and (complete) disappearance.
Is it some coincidence that the Killer police kidnapped, tortured, murdered and tried to disappear the bodies of the three in this very region? I think not.

Numerous reports of torture in Police stations across the country have been reported to the NPSC, IPOA and to the Police themselves and nothing happens. When it comes to torture, these Mavoko Police are not rogue Police. They are ordinary Police.

The fact that the car that the Mavoko 3 were arrested in was driven many kilometers from the kidnapping scene so as to cause confusion may confirm that the Police have a hand in the disappearances that we have heard of in the past. The script is the same.

Maybe the IG of Police knew that the three had already been executed by his own men & women, and most likely maybe he was trying to save face for the Police Service and that is why he did not address the lawyers when they visited his office. Unfortunately for him, the three victims had sent out an SOS from the cell, and some villagers had bothered to know what the bags in the river were carrying.

The fact that the Police Service failed to suspend the killer Policeman when he first shot the Bodaboda rider;
the fact that the Police Service failed to suspend the killer Policeman when they themselves charged him with shooting the Bodaboda rider;
the fact that the police failed to suspend the killer Policemen & women when they fabricated charges against their own victim so that he would not give testimony in court;
the fact that the Police failed to take action on a very clear death threat;
the fact that the IG either had no idea that the three had been murdered, or actually knew that they had been murdered but chose to shield the police;
the fact that Kenyans are now afraid, and they don’t know what to do when threatened, stopped or arrested by the Police;
the fact that the three were tortured before being murdered;
the fact that these killings were carried out in an extrajudicial killing zone, in extrajudicial fashion by known Police from the area,

means that someone high up must resign, or be sacked, if for nothing else, just so that Kenyans may regain the very little faith that they had in the Police Service.

The KDF soldiers who fought the Al Shabaab in El Adde Somalia were indeed Heroic: Al Shabaab Video Review

2016-04-25T08:47:00.000+03:00

A few weeks ago, the Al Shabaab, or the UGUS as they should be properly referred to, released a 50 minute video showing how they overran the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) camp in El Adde village, Gedo region of Somalia. The video has been referred to as an Al Shabaab propaganda video by some quarters, but I consider it an objective video, with the only element of propaganda being the fact that they do not show us their dead or injured.

This was the fourth major video in recent times that the UGUS have taken in combat. The first one was during their foiled attack on a Kenyan military base in Lamu, about 100 kilometres from Somalia border. They had over 100 fighters, where some of them were killed in the attack, and most of them in the pursuit that followed. Two KDF soldiers died in action. Sections of the video were posted by KDF after they got hold of the camera. This foiled attack was significant for two reasons; first it confirmed that the UGUS indeed had foreign combatants in their ranks, and secondly, it totally dismissed the idea that KDF’s withdrawal from Somalia would mean an end to UGUS attacks in Kenya.

The second video was released by the UGUS themselves after a Burundian camp was overran in Lego village in June 2015 leaving 50-80 Burundian soldiers dead. The attack was preceded by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) being driven into the base, backed up by over 200 fighters. The captured AMISOM survivors were beheaded.

The third video was released after the September 2015 Jalaale attack on a Ugandan camp where Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) lost between 20 and 50 soldiers. Again, this attack was preceded by a car bomb, followed by waves of UGUS attackers. The long video seems to mock President Yoweri Museveni by showing another video of him challenging the UGUS to attack soldiers rather than unnamed students. It also interviews a captured UPDF soldier. Through this video, we are able to see the impressive fighting spirit and capability of the Ugandan soldiers, as we can see many UGUS fighters being felled in the attack (including their first video man, before a second one takes over)

The fourth video was that of the Al Adde KDF camp attack where 60 to over 100 KDF soldiers were killed (both Al Shabaab estimates) and 12 taken hostage. This time round, the video is more detailed, with very gory images of the dead being shown, and it begins with an interview of the suicide bomber, and ends with interviews of several captured KDF soldiers. A voice-play of the slain Mombasa Sheikh Aboud Rogo mocking the KDF as inexperienced and weak fighters is included.

Apart from this mocking, and the fact that we are not shown any of their wounded (it is reported that they had three truck loads for their own), I dare say that the video was actually propaganda material for KDF. This is because of the following reasons:

1) Just like in the Jalaale UPDF attack video, this video showed that KDF soldiers are indeed strong, resilient, courageous and dedicated combatants. Other than the soldiers who were ripped off by the VBIED, all the soldiers shown died with their M4 and G3 rifles on their hands. Most of them had exit wounds on their heads meaning that they died fighting behind the trenches. We see that the KDF soldiers do not die easy. Most of them are shot several times but continue fighting, taking cover or crawling to safer places.

2) All the captured and interviewed soldiers (except one) had bullet or shrapnel wounds and were visibly in pain, and from the way they faced the camera, it was clear that they were psychologically prepared to die. Readiness to die is a very powerful mentality for any fighting force.

3) The withdrawal was an accurate on-field analysis. With no back up or air support coming through, and with the UGUS fire power increasing by the hour, standing ground would have meant a higher death toll. Also marching 100 kilometres to El Wak was a gallant of those who survived.

4) The video confirms that what the CDF Samson Mwathethe reported on the events at El Adde was true. In a country where we have previously been told about burning mattresses, it was difficult to believe Mwathethe’s account of events, until he was corroborated by the video months later.

The video also shows that the KDF knew that there was an impending attack. The commander of the nearby Somali National Army (SNA) base that withdrew before the attack told the Voice of America radio that on being informed of the imminent UGUS attack, the KDF base commander responded by saying that ‘we are ready for it.’ What the KDF commander expected was an ordinary UGUS attack. It is important to note that before then, the KDF had thwarted numerous UGUS attacks, including car bomb attacks, similar to the ones that had been used in Lego and Jalaale. The only difference that made the difference at El Adde came in the fact that unlike the previous bombs that were loaded on small cars, the El Adde bombs were loaded on an armored African Union vehicle that were taken from the overran Burundian base in Lego. The amount of explosives was similar to what the ISIS use in Iraq and Syria (Here is a video of an Iraqi explosion and shockwave similar to the one that happened in El Adde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIjyXBnBPTk, here is another one of Iraqi forces dealing with a moving ISIS VBIED https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7_Y4iA5rX8 )

The only way that a car bomb of such magnitude mounted in such a vehicle can be stopped is by knowing that it is coming. By expecting it. The fact that the UGUS heightened their attack to such a level demonstrated their tactical superiority in this particular situation. The fact that the KDF expected an attack similar to the previous attacks shows a great failure in intelligence gathering, and in their extrapolatory tactics.
This is because in both the Lego and Jalaale attacks, Anti-air guns, Tanks, Armored Personnel Carriers, Ammunition and other sophisticated weaponry fell into UGUS hands. Was it difficult to expect the UGUS to use these Materiel in subsequent attacks? Was it not logical to prepare for a better armed enemy? The first air support sent to El Adde had to be withdrawn on discovering that the UGUS had Anti-Air guns with them. Didn’t KDF expect them to have those weapons after they were captured from the Ugandan base? Isn’t it now obvious that the UGUS will try to use the Kenyan uniforms, vehicles and weapons that they took from El Adde in their future attacks most likely inside Kenya?
It is sad that those gallant soldiers died because of intelligence and tactics failure of the KDF and AMISOM command in general.

As I posted in January after the attack, I still maintain that “this is war, and fighters must die. The KDF soldiers can either die while fulfilling their AMISOM duties, or they can ensure that the Al Shabaab chaps die as they fulfil their Al shabaab duties.” However, any deaths of AMISOM soldiers must be out of reasonable circumstances and not through predictable errors. In recent days, two shiploads of weapons have been intercepted in the Indian Ocean on their way to the UGUS. It is possible that others have already been successfully delivered. AMISOM should prepare for such a possibility.

Also, the KDF should review their relations with foreign armies. It is believed that the shiploads of arms destined for the UGUS came from Turkey. It is believed that the UGUS are receiving support from ISIS, which in turn receives support from Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia. In the Middle East region, Iran is at the forefront of fighting ISIS (in Iraq and in Syria) and Saudi sponsored terrorism, and they have been successful all through. It is time that Kenya evaluated its relationships and chooses the correct allies. Kenya must cut off ties with countries that support terrorism, and join forces with those who fight terrorism.

I also reiterate that “this particular tactical victory by the UGUS doesn’t mean that the KDF is generally tactically inferior to the UGUS. On the contrary, the tactical and strategical capabilities of KDF in Somalia are indisputable as has been proven by their involvement so far. They have engaged in more actual battles than their Ethiopian, Ugandan, Djiboutian, Sierra Leonian and Burundian counterparts have. They have ventured into territories that were considered no-go-zones for intervening forces, the strongholds and economic centres for the Al Shabaab. They have gotten involved with the basic issues of the Somalian people more than any other force in Somalia.”

For instance, the UPDF contained itself in specific military, transport and political installations Mogadishu for a long time, and only dared to venture out after seeing the unexpected success of KDF in sector two region which was the main stronghold of the UGUS. Since then they have proved themselves as excellent fighters. The Ethiopian forces on the other hand have engaged in very limited combat with the UGUS, and they prefer withdrawing from their bases whenever there is an impending UGUS attack, something that is completely unprofessional and unsustainable. It seems that Ethiopia’s main interest is Geo-Political control, and not just regional security.
The Puntland forces have recently been inflicting heavy losses to the UGUS, and AMISOM should find ways of supporting them and working with them. The success of the Puntland forces shows that regional-forces approaches should complement the Somali National Army reconstruction efforts, if not take precedence.

Through the videos, the UGUS have not only exposed their ways of fighting, but more importantly they have shown themselves celebrating on empty roads, confirming that they do not have the support of the Somalian masses. That is critical information since the war in Somalia will eventually be won or lost depending on where the masses stand.
Every KDF recruit should be shown those three Somalia videos so that they can finally decide on whether they are still interested in joining the army, and also so that they can psychologically prepare themselves for the future.

We have in the past complained about the lack of information from KDF on the developments in Somalia, and they have responded by claiming that the information docket lies strictly with AMISOM. It looks like the El Adde attack forced them to turn around, and they have recently reactivated their twitter handle. They should also bring Major Chirchir back or introduce Colonel Oguna to twitter. I hope they will keep us posted like they used to during Operation Linda Nchi (which by the way, In terms of video propaganda, beyond the operation’s documentary by KDF, it would be great to watch some intelligent local movies based on KDF entry into Somalia, maybe circulating around Lieutenant-Colonel Jeff Nyaga or Maj Emmanuel Kaliakamur for a start?)

Lastly, the UGUS seem to be having many Kenyans in their ranks. The Kiswahili that they have been using in their videos in not the Kismayu or Barawe type. It is very Kenyan. In a video released about two months ago, a Kenyan UGUS leader originally from Majengo, Nairobi addresses Kenyans in Kiswahili, issuing a lot of threats, and displaying military uniforms, weapons, boots and IDs of the killed Kenyan soldiers. Before going to Somalia, this chap was under the radar of the Kenya police. Rather than allowing such people to disappear into Somalia, or executing them in the streets, can’t the Kenyan security agencies use technology on these people to get information on their organization in Kenya and in Somalia, and use the information to arrest their strategies and jail their members?

AMISOM is doing well in Somalia, and Kenyan security agencies have done well internally in as far as the terror incidences that were taking place every now and then are concerned, and they must be congratulated for that.

However, all these achievements are temporary. There cannot be long lasting National Security, without Human Security. The only political system that can ensure Human Security in our world today is Socialism. Young people do not have hope. That is why they are swayed by clerics who promise them hope in an imaginary afterlife. It is no wonder that throughout the recent history of the world, there has been an inverse relationship between religion-based terrorism, religious fundamentalism, tribalism, sexism etc and Socialism.

As Mwandawiro Mghanga, Chairperson of the Social Democratic Party once said, “Kenyan youths need radicalization now more than ever. They need to be radicalized against capitalism, against corruption, against tribalism, against marginalization, against religious fundamentalism and against all the system-caused evils that we see all around today.”

Indeed, the Kenyan media should introduce a noun before the word radicalization, or simply substitute the word ‘radicalization’ with ‘retardation’ when referring to those who believe in the afterlife goodies and similar ideas; retardation of hopeless youths.

Benedict WACHIRA

24^th April 2016

10:07pm

On tribalism, and the art of tribalism

2016-02-02T15:10:00.000+03:00

The day before yesterday, a facebook friend of mine posted that he ‘heard on Kameme FM that Nairobi belongs to the Kikuyu’ and that therefore the Governor should also be a Kikuyu. I have also seen chaps post that Inooro FM or other ethnic FM stations have said this and that.

On the other hand, I have seen and heard William Kabogo, the Governor of Kiambu and George Aladwa, the chairperson of ODM in Nairobi engage in cultural abuses and incitement to violence on mainstream television stations.

This made me reflect on tribalism and the art of tribalism in Kenya.

What exactly does one mean when they say that “Kameme FM said...”? At what point does a media station say? Applying the same reasoning, would it be correct if one claims that Citizen TV said that for “…Raila to become President, people must die…”? Would it also be correct to say that ODM Nairobi branch made that statement? Would it not be propaganda if I posted on facebook that “I heard on Radio Citizen that for Raila to become President, people must die”? I indeed heard it on Radio Citizen, so that is not a lie. But doesn’t it qualify as propaganda? Isn’t it skewed truth?

When Governor Kabogo spoke, it was generally taken as Governor Kabogo’s speech, irrespective of the media station that he was speaking on/aired the speech. And even though he is the Governor of Kiambu County, it was not claimed that “…Kiambu County has said…”

Indeed, Kiambu County can Say/declare/oppose. ODM Nairobi branch can also say/demand/request. Kenya can join/withdraw/refuse. Anyone objectively reporting on such knows how to differentiate the body and the individual.

Even though my facebook friend could have differently posted that “he heard a Mr X (or he heard a person say) on Kameme FM say that Nairobi belongs to…..” he consciously or unconsciously failed to attribute the statement to an individual oblivious or aware of the implications given that Kameme FM broadcasts in Kikuyu language.

The Art of Tribalism

Ethnic mobilization, just like National mobilization is an art that has been perfected over the years throughout the world, and in Kenya today, the social media tribalists have helped fine tune the art (of ethnic mobilization.) This is why tribalism is seen to be on the rise as elections near, then goes on the low after elections.

Most of the rich-people’s political leaders in Kenya today would not be where they are were it not for their ability to mobilize the ethnicities that they come from. Rich-people’s politics in Kenya is not about a competition of ideas, but a competition of ethnic mobilization. Indeed, if we withdraw tribalism, then most of them would be left naked and powerless.

Rather than the TNA and ODM social media chaps attacking each other on ideological grounds so as to gain support for their pay masters(which they can’t because there is no ideological difference), the art demands that they first attack the psychology and culture of the other ethnicity. For example, ‘the Luos are not circumcised, so they are ihiis. We cannot be led by ihiis.’ They then identify a particular stereotype or bizarre issue and generalize it on a whole ethnicity. For example, ‘Kikuyus are thieves or Kikuyus have sex with animals. We cannot be led by thieves’. They then generalize personal, group or class benefits/crimes to a whole ethnicity. For example, ‘Somalis are terrorists because some Somali terrorists were seen in Westgate or were killed in Garissa University. We cannot be led by terrorists.’

They make the other appear dangerous and may even blame them for all their problems. It then becomes an Us vs Them and eventually ends up as a Do or Die.

Meanwhile, there is that naïve Kikuyu, Luo, Somali etc chap who is generally not so interested in politics, and specifically doesn't support the rich-people’s politicians. If they were to vote, they’d vote for ideas. So when they see the hate on social media or at home, they try to reason. But as the hate keeps on getting stronger, they find themselves being compelled to defend their ethnicity more and more (eg by saying that it is Cabinet Secretary X that stole and not ethnicity X)…..they also begin to wonder why that other ethnicity hates them that much. With time they find themselves also abusing ethnicity Y (and not blogger Y), then they become proud of “their own” bloggers for having the courage to stand up to ethnicity Y, and eventually they “realise” that even though presidential candidate A has better ideas than the rest, if I do not vote for candidate X of my ethnicity, then ethnicity Y will win and “they” will finish us.

At the same time, none of the tribal leaders accept that they are tribal. They will claim that their butcher man is Kikuyu, their fish mama is Luo, their driver is Kamba and so on and so forth.
(If this was the defense against tribalism, then how would a peasant living deep in West Pokot defend herself?)

At the end of it all, it is the rich tribal politicians and their paid up tribalists who benefit, while the naïve citizen imagines that s/he has benefited yet they have not. No sooner are the elections done than the realities of their poverty hits them again.

Then there are those who are confused, and they think that by becoming tribal against their own ethnicity, then they have become nationalist, or they have risen above tribalism. What they do not understand it that tribalism against one’s own ethnicity is still tribalism. Primitive reasoning and mobilisation is the basis of tribalism.

We also have opportunists who are consciously tribal against their own ethnicity so that they can benefit from the other ethnicity. Some are paid to validate generalizations. Some know that if the other ethnicity form government, it will need a national look and they will be the first to be considered. Others are merely looking for followers on social media.

(This reminds me of a debate on why Africans should not use the world tribalism and should instead use the word ethnicism, since the word tribe connotes primitivity. My position is that whereas we should never use the word tribe while referring to an ethnicity, we should nevertheless use the word tribalism or tribalist to refer to those who perpetuate this primitive form of mobilization)

Tribalists are mentally ill. They need help

In my evolution and growth in consciousness, I have come to realize that tribalists, just like racists have a mental problem. It is therefore of no use to get angry or offended when my race or my ethnicity is abused, just in the same way that I would not get offended when a mad person abuses me. It is a mental condition that should be looked into as such. This doesn’t mean that they should be left to operate freely. They actually need help. The help needed is largely psychiatric, they should be taken to a doctor or a mental hospital, but once in a while, especially in the formative stages, it can be dealt through corrective education/bigger picture projection, or through some decent beating (not primitive or violent or that which is driven by anger, but just some good beating, like the one that you give to a child who abuses other children. Corrective beating.)

And here when I talk about tribalism, I am not only talking about the populous ethnicities but many others whose conflicts may not always be electoral. I am talking about the tribal killings that we see between the Pokot and the Turkana, the Borana and the Burji, the clan mobilization of Garre and the Degodia among many others. I am talking about the ethnicities that mobilize each other to form a block against another tribally mobilized block.

How can we overcome this?

Kenyans can only overcome tribalism, by embracing ideological politics. We should have a clear Left and a clear Right in this country. Most of the current rich-people’s political bigwigs fall in the Right wing spectrum. That is why before the 2013 elections, William Ruto could have been accepted as either Uhuru Kenyatta’s or Raila Odinga’s running mate. Musalia Mudavadi almost became a compromise candidate for the Jubilee coalition, while Kalonzo Musyoka with all his reactionary history ended up as Raila’s deputy.

Their (the rich-people’s politicians) answers to fundamental questions concerning the ownership and control of the principal means of production like land, big industry, financial systems etc ; the role of the State in directly providing basic and secondary needs like decent housing, transport, food, quality education and healthcare to the highest levels; the existence of the capitalist State itself; the question of worker control of the work places; etc will more or less be the same. This essentially means that if we were to have politics based on ideology, then all of them would belong to one Party, maximum two. Then on the other hand, we would have the Socialists whose position on everything is that the interests of the masses must come first. In Kenya today, the only home for Socialists is the Social Democratic Party of Kenya (www.sdpkenya.org)

In order for us to have such kind of politics, Kenyans must choose to disappoint these rich-people’s tribal politicians and their activists. They must chose to ignore the propaganda in the mainstream media that paints a picture that Kenyans can only chose between two capitalist formations. They must ignore the fake opinion polls that are meant engineer the voters into supporting the two capitalist options. Kenyans should embrace ethnicity and reject tribalism.

The Socialists and the progressives in general must also move and organise in the villages. Sometimes a voter in Kahuro or a voter in Mindhine will vote in a particular way not because they are tribal, but because they cannot see or hear of any other alternative. They are pumped with the same line day in, day out.

02 Feb 2016

2:15pm

On Intellectualism and our Universities

2016-02-01T14:10:00.000+03:00

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in the Programme for African Leadership forum (PfAL , hosted at the London School of Economics) in Kampala Uganda, where one of the Panel discussion topics was “Developing African Intellectualism, Research and Higher Education.” In that panel, there was a Ghanaian Dr. Ato Onoma whose presentation on the current state of African academia was on point. His views, which I will share later, were similar to what I have observed on the Kenyan academia.

Unlike in the past where most Kenyan academicians doubled up as intellectuals, today, many Kenyan academicians are no longer intellectuals. They fear to think; they run away from debates; their analysis on specific topics are upside down, amateurish, simplistic or simply absent; they endorse or question things without deeper interrogation; they do not enjoy reading and research-they were compelled to read so as to attain their degrees and they now read so that they can brag that they have read X and Y; they do not think of possible causes or solutions; they blindly and loyally follow tribal politicians instead of showing the way; they speak without putting a thought to what they say;……
One just needs to read the newspaper commentaries, watch TV debates or attend some conferences and forums to see the emptiness of these academics. They lack any form of intellectualism.
Some seek relevance by reminding people that they are ‘Dr/Prof so and so,’ or by using technical terms to hide their lack of knowledge. When you point out weaknesses in their arguments, they either run away (literally), or remind you that they are historians, political scientists, lawyers, economists etc without going further and substantiating those academic qualifications with more information on the topic at hand or with counter arguments. They cherish engaging less bright people, or those that do not challenge them.
At the end of it all, those who, actually think, tend to dismiss formal papers acquired, while those who do not think think that those views (of the academicians) are the ultimate and final views.

There are many lecturers who are so insecure that they do not share notes and reading materials with their students in advance, they kill students’ interest by not marking their exams in time (ever wondered why the final exam sheets are never returned to students after marking?) and they award more marks for students who parrot the lecturer in their exams. These lecturers give considerable marks for things like handwriting and tidiness of the exam sheet. They look out for spelling mistakes than for the ideas there in. (I remember a friend proudly telling me how they required applicants for small-business loans to write their proposals in handwriting, so that they could reduce their selection workload by first disqualifying those with bad handwriting! Probably they learnt of the importance of concentrating on appearances rather than the content from their University lecturers...)

On the other hand, you will come across paperless politicians, journalists, government spies, artists, activists, and many ordinary people who are intellectuals. You may not agree with what they espouse, but you cannot disagree on their intellectualism.

Marxists rank even higher. Most of them will take you from history, to politics, to culture, to environment, to art, to literature and many other fields with incredible command, analysis and application.

According to Dr Onoma, we have people who have been made academicians not because of their thirst for knowledge and thinking, but because of unemployment. They graduate with their B.A, fail to find a job, graduate with their M.A, fail to find a job, and they finally graduate with their PhD and get a teaching job at the university, still with no thirst for knowledge and thinking.

Similar to this type are those that are professional academicians. They have nothing else to do other than to lecture at the university. They are trapped in academia since that is the only job that they can do.

The other problem that he noted is that many academicians in our Universities do not publish, and when they do, they bring no new knowledge in the field.

He observed that the minimal funding to universities and towards research has reduced the capacity of African academicians. He seriously joked that the CVs of most academicians will list the consultancies that they've done, rather than the papers that they have published. (This also reminds me of a recent exchange between Professor Makau Mutua and the editor of the Platform magazine, where the good professor listed his academic credentials which included several pages of general lightweight commentaries published in several newspapers)

On the question of brain drain, Ato reasoned that we should not concentrate our little resources on bringing back those intellectuals that have left (for example by transporting and hosting them for a two day lecture), but we should mobilized resources to create more, and maintain the few true intellectual academicians that have remained on the continent.

He wound up by stating that just because we (Africans) are poor, it doesn't mean that we should not have the luxury of thinking just for the sake of thinking.

In this light, I think that Kenyan universities should be compelled to allow the freedom to think and question. We currently have a situation where academicians are sacked or denied funding if they oppose the University administrators, or if they side with the students on particular issues. Universities should also bring an end to their fear of Leftist lecturers. In fact, Right wing and left thinking (and even those who, like goats, lack any ideological position) should be encouraged to teach in our universities. The universities should be at the forefront of organizing debates involving lecturers, students and the public. It is through debates that growth of intellectualism arises. Inter and intra-university peer review of academic works should be encouraged and all the works should be availed on University websites. The government should take research funding seriously and fund both lecturers and students irrespective of their loyalty affiliation.

Universities must encourage thinking, invest in research and offer practical training.

Kenya School of Law: A Den of Exploitation that should be done away with

2015-09-02T12:36:00.001+03:00

Today’s Daily Nation carries an announcement from the Kenya School of Law (KSL), inviting applicants for the 2015 Pre-Bar exam. The announcement further states that the three hour exam will test students on the areas of Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Law of Contract, Law of Tort and Legal Systems & Methods. Further, each applicant must pay ksh5, 000 for the exams.

The absurdity of these exams

The irrationality of having these Pre-Bar exams is that before anyone is allowed to sit for them, they must have in the first place done and passed those very units at the university. They are then required to re-do these same units and exams at KSL, after passing them at the Pre-bar level. This then means that by the time a student graduates from KSL, they will have sat for the same exams, three times, with nothing new added.

This is like asking a secondary school student to sit for a chemistry paper at KCSE level, and once they pass at the KCSE level and they are interested in pursuing a chemistry diploma, they will first be required to pay and sit for another chemistry exam, similar to the one that they had already done and passed at KCSE level, before they can finally pursue their diploma where they will again study the very same things that they studied in secondary school, and at the end of their diploma course they will be required to sit for another chemistry exam, similar to the one that they did at both KCSE and Pre-college exam level! As stupid as it sounds, this is what the Council for Legal Education (CLE) wants lawyers to go through.

But why introduce such unnecessary impediments? Some evil lawyers have always had the plan of limiting the number of Kenyans who can practice law, and word has it that they are finally about to succeed since only the top half of those who do these exams shall be allowed entry into KSL, therefore into practice.

The Kenya School of Law is an institution which should ideally offer certificate and diploma courses for clerks, court assistants etc, but has over the years imposed itself and created ‘relevance’ to law graduates in Kenya, through statutory means.

The director of KSL, Professor PLO Lumumba, explained, at an Engineers’ meeting, that the KSL is what has been keeping the legal standards in Kenya high, since most of the graduates from the numerous law schools are ‘half-baked’, and he went ahead to suggest that the Engineers should have a similar body for similar results.

What he forgot to tell the Engineers was that the lecturers who ‘half-baked’ these students at the universities, are the same lecturers who again teach these students at KSL.

It is indeed difficult to understand how, a lecturer who produces half-baked graduates after four years of engagement, will somehow (miraculously) transform the same graduates into fully baked lawyers in a period of less than one year at KSL. What is this magic that these lecturers perform at KSL that they couldn’t do at the university?

True purpose of KSL

KSL is not about quality improvement, no. In my opinion, KSL currently serves two purposes:

1. It serves to keep the number of practising advocates low by ensuring that the learning fees are unaffordable for graduates from poor backgrounds. This has now been further confirmed by the introduction of these Pre-Bar exams.

2. It also serves as a cash cow for a few people. It is a tool of legalised theft.

There are some successful lawyers in Kenya whose success is largely not attributed to their effort, but to the lack of serious competition. This lack of competition has ensured that they keep their professional fees high (and necessarily denying the ordinary citizen access to justice.) These lawyers feel that the only way to keep themselves at the top is by dismissing the young lawyers as half-baked, and also by preventing them from practising as advocates, by using the KSL sieve (high fees, and now the Pre-bar exam.)

(It is basic knowledge that one becomes a good lawyer, engineer, doctor, physicist, teacher, mechanic etc from practice, and not (just) from schooling. It is through Practical experience that the “baking” is finalised.)

A regular university graduate will have ordinarily spent around ksh100, 000 in four years, for both school fees and accommodation. Upon graduation, the same individual is expected to pay ksh 190, 000 for a less-than-one-year diploma course at KSL. The School determines the fees arbitrarily. This commodification of legal studies has forced many students from poor families to take long breaks before joining KSL, which is the sole institution mandated by law to train advocates in Kenya (…the school then throws around some crumbs by offering some scholarships here and there…)

KSL admits over 1, 700 students each year, meaning that it collects at least ksh325, 000, 000 in fees each year. This is aside from the ksh2, 000 non-refundable admission fees that each student pays on application, plus now the ksh5, 000 Pre-Bar exam fees.

Then the thievery continues

A chat with several KSL students further exposes the legalised theft in the institution. One students told me that “…more than 70% of students are failed in one or more units every year. This is despite the fact that most of the things that we are taught here are not new, since we had studied them at the university..”

An unsatisfied student has to pay ksh15, 000 for a re-mark, while a re-sit goes for ksh10, 000.

This means that if each of the failed students pays for at least one re-mark, then the institution will have raked in at least ksh17, 000, 000! (No teaching involved, no printing involved, no invigilation involved…just re-marking!)

If your paper is re-marked, and you score above the pass mark, the institution does not refund your ksh15, 000. This is in spite of the fact that it was not you, but the lecturer who failed to do his/her work diligently. I am told that a majority of those who pay for the re-marking actually pass after their papers are re-marked, meaning that there most likely is a deliberate and institutionalised scheme by the administration to rob the students by intentionally failing them.

This legalised thievery doesn’t end there. Any student having ‘missing marks’ once the exam results are released is required to pay ksh2, 000 as searching & entering fees, for each missing unit, yet the blame lies squarely on the lecturer/administration (I wonder what justification any sane person can give for this toll!)

Looking for relevance

Most of the units taught at KSL are the same units that the students were taught at the universities, meaning that most of what is taught there is mere repetition. To solve this, the Council for Legal Education has begun to completely remove some of these units from the universities, so that they can be exclusively offered at KSL. One of the units that has already been moved is Civil Procedure. Following this trend, it would not be surprising if they removed Evidence Law, Criminal Law and all other practical units from the university programme. The only reason for doing this is no other than trying to find some relevance for KSL; otherwise why should CLE deny students particular knowledge? It seems that those running legal education in Kenya are conscious of the uselessness of KSL to graduates, and they are now trying to resolve this by sabotaging the quality of undergraduate law studies.

Way forward for Legal Education in Kenya

Kenya has progressed greatly in the field of education. Today, there are numerous universities across the country offering various courses. A young chap from Mtwapa in Kilifi County does not need to travel to the capital Nairobi to study law. The University of Nairobi has a campus closer to him/her in Mombasa County. The same is the case for a student from Kisumu, Eldoret and other places.

Whereas the universities have gone closer to the people, the Kenya School of Law has remained centralised at its hidden location in Nairobi (perhaps this is in line with keeping low the number of advocates, by keeping away from Kenyans from regions far from the centre.)

The only way to end this legalised thievery and exploitation by KSL is to completely de-link it from the role of training advocates. KSL should retain the task of offering certificates and diplomas to clerks/paralegals/, and decentralise the responsibility of training advocates to the universities. Whatever is taught at KSL can be taught at the university with better skill, at much affordable rates, and at convenient locations. Students should undergo their pupillage as part of their undergraduate/Dip process, even if it means adding a few months before one graduates with a law degree, and is admitted into Bar as an advocate.

It is disappointing that Professor PLO Lumumba, who claims high morality with respect to corruption and other societal ills, can head this institution without raising an issue with how it operates and commodifies legal education.

Older advocates should have confidence in themselves, and they should not fear competition from the thousands that are graduating with law degrees every year. Every generation claims to be better the ones that follows it, but that is proved by actions, not by imposing useless bottlenecks.

The Council for Legal Education should be reconstituted, and must have several students’ representatives as Council members. It makes absolutely no sense to have the biggest stakeholders being excluded from this policy making body.

Law students in all universities must organise and rise up against KSL. They should do it now that they have the ‘Comrades Power’ with them, since after graduation, they will not be as powerful. They have every right to rise against this institution since they are the biggest stakeholders-in-waiting. They should organise protests and demonstrations against CLE/KSL and those behind it. History is waiting for them & their leaders to win this war.

#ToHellWithKSL

Benedict WACHIRA

2^nd September 2015

11:30am

My speech at the Launch of the National Campaign against Unemployment

2015-02-05T15:44:00.000+03:00

Party Cadres, members and supporters,

According to the government statistics, Kenya has over 15 million unemployed people out of a population of about 44 million. These are people who are of working age, and out of school. The fact that this is government statistics means that the situation is probably worse.

This means that Kenya has one of the highest unemployment rates on the continent. This means that we actually have an unemployment crisis which is worsening by the day.

Each year, half a million students graduate from high school, with most pursuing courses that will prepare them for the “job market.” This is besides the over two hundred thousand pupils who miss places in high schools, and therefore acquire some vocational training, or go straight into the “job market.”

Everyone graduates from high school and post high school institutions with high hopes, with many hosting graduation parties to mark their achievements. They then immediately embark to looking for employment, from job searching websites, newspaper vacancy advertisements, and job searching mobile phone platforms.

In the beginning, you selectively apply for all the jobs that you are qualified for, and wait for the response.

Six months later, you learn not to expect even acknowledgment of receipt of your application, and if you are lucky, you may be invited for an interview or two.

You continue applying for jobs, and you now apply in all the available places, dropping your CVs with your city relatives, your local Member of Parliament and every other person that you consider well placed, and the wait continues.

One year later, some frustration begins to creep in. Those in the rural areas keep themselves busy by doing farm work, while those in the city idle in the jobless corners, or idle in the house watching movies and series all day. It is of course worse for those who live in the slums without access to electricity – not to mention radio or television.

This frustration extends to your parents, given that they have invested a lot in your education yet you are not finding any work opportunities. You are tortured by living with the pain they feel for you. You also know that they make all sorts efforts to get you a job but all in vein.

For those living with relatives in towns, tensions that threaten blood or friend relations begin to rise, and arguments, mostly on trivial issues become a common occurrence. Soon, there is a mutual feeling that you can’t both live under the same roof, but ni lazima utii, since it is much more difficult to search for a job from the villages of Mukurwe-ini.

In the process, you begin applying for jobs that you are either underqualified for, overqualified for or not qualified for at all. For example, you have a diploma in Electrical Engineering, but you apply for a Veterinary assistant job. Or you have a degree in Mathematics, but you apply to be a watchman at a sugarcane farm. You basically apply for anything that comes your way.

Occasionally, you get those one-week jobs that keep you going.

The frustrations keep on rising, and unfortunately, some sink into alcoholism, depression and even some become suicidal.

Those who can acquire some capital start up some business venture, but as research done by Comrade Mwandawiro Mghanga[1] shows, these micro-small enterprises cannot even meet subsistence needs but have a very high mortality rate, which means that you will probably find yourself back to square one, sooner or later.

Those whose families can afford are taken back to school to further their studies. That is why we have so many Kenyans going back to study MBA degrees, not because they want to study it, but because they want to become more ‘Marketable.’

Others, in spite of the horror stories that we always hear, take the risk and apply for jobs in some of the Middle Eastern countries (and we cannot really blame them). Yet horror stories about Kenyan job seekers, particularly young women being subjected to slavery in the Middle East Countries such as South Arabia, are reported very often with the full knowledge of the Kenyan Government!

You remain dependent at an age when you should be having dependents. That is why many young people are still living with their parents, and the idea of becoming parents scares them.

Woe unto you if you ever get to suffer from those chronic illnesses.

Woe unto you if the person that you are depending upon is sacked, dies, or they just get tired of supporting you.

Woe unto you if you ever lost the few things that you own through burglary.

Woe unto you if you ever get wrongly arrested and you need that bail or bond…………

Of course, there are some exceptions, there are those who know people in the right places and get easily employed.

There are also those who are very lucky, and they apply for jobs and get them. There are others who are also lucky and they start businesses which succeed.

But we must refuse, to allow the future of the huge majority of Kenyans to be dependent on who you know, or luck. Lives cannot be pegged on luck!

The state and the government of Kenya have the responsibility of ensuring employment for all. The government must ensure that every woman and man is living independently, decently and with dignity. Formal employment should be the default option, while self-employment should be by choice, not by forced circumstance.

In every electioneering period, leaders from the various rich people parties in Kenya run around with the promise of employment being on top of their agenda.

They think that the solution to unemployment is simplistic short term projects like Kazi kwa Vijana and the Youth Fund, where they go ahead and sink billions of Kenya shillings, and they then highlight one or two success stories, just like Casinos and gamblers in general tell people,,,, not telling them of the huge majority of those who lost their money in the gambling.

How does a whole government pride itself in reducing its people to paupers and scavengers?

Incidentally, there are people who have been beaten by the system so much, that they have resigned to the situation or have forgotten that they are actually unemployed:

-If you are having an unpredictable job, of which you are not sure of whether it will be there the following day, then you are unemployed.

-If you are a hawker in the streets, and you are always running away from the authorities, you are unemployed.

-If you operate a small business that is unable to provide you with three good meals a day, decent clothes, housing, medical services and other basic needs, you are surely unemployed.

-If your response when you are asked what you do in life is “Nina-hustle tu,” then you are unemployed (……….or maybe a thief)

Comrade Feroze Manji told me the other day that what we refer to as informal sector in Kenya, is referred to as unemployment in Europe.

The unemployment question is fundamentally an ideological question. Unemployment is as a direct result of Capitalism, we must understand this.

That is why all the current rich peoples’ parties in this country have no idea on how to solve this problem. They have neither the will nor the ability to do so. Their ideological bankruptcy leads them to develop fire fighting “solutions” like Youth fund which only benefit the Banks that handle this money, and not the 15 Youths per group who are awarded ksh50, 000.

The coalition in government and the coalition in opposition both embrace neoliberalism as the driving idea for economic growth. They are all capitalists who embrace trickle-down economics that embody the idea that the rich should get richer, so that some few shillings may trickle down to the poor. The reality is that nothing really trickles down, the rich get richer, while the poor suffer more.

Immediately after the last elections, President Uhuru Kenyatta, in a predictable neoliberal fashion said that “...It is not the role of the government to create employment. The role of the government is to create conducive environment so that the private sector may create employment for the masses!” and this is precisely where the problem lies!

The position of SDP is that it is the government that should ensure the well-being of the people, and that includes ensuring that the citizens are in gainful employment. The argument that the government has no business engaging in business or economy, and therefore creating employment, is an argument of neoliberalism that is being implemented by the class of businesspersons based on primitive accumulation and bureaucratic capitalism controlling political and state power in Kenya today. We reject it. Otherwise what is the use of the government for the majority of us?

Based on neoliberal ideology, the government (both the Executive and Legislature) thinks that the private sector is the Alpha and Omega of development….it is not!

There are three major weaknesses of private capital in this regard:

· It is the biggest beneficiary to high unemployment rates. The SDP manifesto, paraphrasing Karl Marx, states that capitalism thrives in places where unemployment rates are high, so as to keep salaries low,,,,,and also to keep the workers ‘disciplined.’ Unless there are militant trade unions, it becomes very difficult for workers to demand for better pay or better conditions, since for every one employee, there are hundreds others who are unemployed and qualified for the same job.

· Even if, in a hypothetical situation, private capital was on a suicidal mission, and it wanted to employ everyone, it still doesn’t have the capacity/enough resources to establish enough industries and jobs opportunities to deal with the unemployment question.

· Private capital is not loyal. For instance, if today, Rwanda was to ban all trade union activities and promise slave labour for international investors, then Kenyan capitalists would demand for similar conditions locally, failure to which it would quickly relocate to Rwanda, hence worsening the situation locally. It is important to note here that whereas private capital respects no boundaries, states always ensure that workers are stopped by those boundaries.

It is this ideological bankruptcy that led most African leaders, with their developmental states, to accept IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) which destroyed the few industries that some countries on the continent had immediately after the end of classical colonialism.

For example, immediately after independence, many industries were established in Kenya that were geared towards the development and employment needs of the country. There were textile industries in Nairobi, Thika, Nanyuki, Kisumu and Eldoret that not only produced clothes for local needs and for export using cotton produced by Kenyan farmers but also produced thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly. There were also numerous import substitution industries in Mombasa, Nairobi and other Kenyan towns that created jobs, expanded the towns and triggered related economic activities that created more jobs. Besides providing employment in the civil service, the government also established numerous parastatals related to agriculture, trade, tourism, etc. that provide many jobs to Kenyans. Extension services in education, health, agriculture, industrial training, literacy, forestry, water, etc. also provided employment for Kenyans. Cooperative societies related to coffee, tea, cotton, pyrethrum, milk, horticulture and meat production and marketing created thousands of jobs for Kenyans in the rural and urban areas. During this time that lasted up to the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, the problem of unemployment as we know it today was not there. Many Kenyans, including young persons, had a predictable immediate and present life.

All this was destroyed by neoliberalism that imposed the structural adjustment programs (SAPs) through the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. This was done with the connivance of the successive Kenyan governments led by corrupt, greedy and unpatriotic elites that are in government for the main purpose of stealing and protecting the stolen loot for themselves and their families.

SAPs demanded that the government abdicate its role of intervening in the economy on behalf of all citizens by not participating directly in ownership, production and distribution. This led to the privatisation of state parastatals that destroyed thousands of existing jobs. Privatisation which is tantamount to the robbery of the property of all Kenyans is still continuing under the present government. Tens of thousands of Kenyans have lost their jobs through retrenchments in the civil service that includes the destruction of extension services. Through economic liberalisation, the local industry that was developing has also been destroyed together with the jobs it contained, leading to the present economic situation of import dependency described by comrade Mwandawiro Mghanga as mtumbaism. The present ruling elite that is only concerned about using its position to enhance its business and money-minting interests continues to destroy cooperative societies and movements in the country and thus also increasing unemployment.

Through this state of affairs the government has ran away from its responsibility, by claiming that people go to school so that they can become employers, and not employees.

Ever since we were kids, we were told to study hard so that we could get good jobs …then after 16 years of working hard in school, the fellow comes and tells you to employ yourself! Anybody who says that to you is a conman who should be in jail! S/he should not be a highly paid employee of government!

If we, for arguments sake, accept this change of reasoning, and somehow we all employ ourselves, who would teach in the schools? Who would treat in the hospitals? Wouldn’t all nurses and doctors have their own separate and unworkable clinics where they are self-employed? You’d have to separately pay at least 10 people so as to have a specialised medical operation for instance! Or you’d have to take your kid to seven different teachers so as to get wholesome learning!

Whenever this government is challenged, it always responds not by offering solutions, but by returning the challenge back to you, is as if they didn’t know what they were doing when they were asking for votes.

We all know that SDP will one day form a Socialist government, which will establish a Socialist State, and eventually, the Socialist state would be replaced by communism.

As I said before, unemployment is essentially a problem created by capitalism, and a problem that sustains capitalism.

Unfortunately, when this ‘reserve army’ of unemployed workers reaches high numbers, social order is destroyed. Crimes rates reach an all-time high, violence in marriages increase, the number of homeless people increases and all these other ills that we are all familiar about happen. Conditions for the replacement of this capitalist system are thus created, and only an organised vanguard Socialist Party, can lead the masses to the alternative: Socialism.

Under capitalism (which is the current way that the economy in Kenya and across the world is run), the role of production is the maximisation of profit. Under Socialism, production is planned to meet the needs of the masses and the country.

Under Capitalism, technology replaces workers (and that is why many workers are opposed to technology, since the bosses use new technology to reduce employment and make work more boring.) Under Socialism, technology means more family/education/recreation time for workers.

An SDP government would, in the medium term, build the economy with a very strong State sector, and also through some cooperative and some private sector.

The state would make serious production investments in agriculture, heavy industry and light industry, with a priority of meeting the needs of the masses.

For example, clothes are a basic need. Most of the clothes that we wear are either second hand clothes from Europe, or brand new clothes from Europe and Asia. This means that it is the European and the Asian farmers and industrial workers that benefit from the clothes that we wear.

If all Kenyans wore clothes that were made in Kenya, the cotton farmers would benefit, the researchers in cotton development would find work, the scientists in fertilizer manufacturing would find work, transporters of harvested cotton, yarn, cloth and clothes would find work, many workers would be employed in the ginning, spinning, weaving, and cloth making industries as they used to. The seller at Mr. Price and Gikomba would still be in employment, selling the final product. Engineers would be involved in manufacture of the machinery and building of these industries. Mechanics would be employed in maintenance. All these industries would employ accountants and many other supporting workers. These workers will need to eat, meaning that more farmers will be engaged in food production, and cooks will be employed in preparing the food. The workers who indulge over the weekends will have money to spend, meaning that they will drink more hence initiating more industry. The bankers too will benefit…etc etc

This is just one example of how dressing the people (in just cotton, not even wool & silk) would ignite the economy.

Another example is the state ensuring proper housing of the workers. The economic expansion that would be created by this is unimaginable. Right from the cement and stone quarries, to the iron mines and glass industry, to the construction workers, to the transporters and so on and so forth, including the administration and maintenance of the houses.

Under an SDP government, the dismantling of the neo-colonial nature of the state would begin, by ensuring total independence of the country in all aspects from security to trade. Before flowers are exported to Europe, Kenya must be self-sufficient in food. Why should we be importing all military clothes, vehicles and weapons, 50 years after independence? We must know that outsiders will never develop our continent for us! This means we have to develop and implement policies of nurturing and protecting local agriculture, industry, trade and culture.

Neo-liberalism would be rolled back immediately, by nationalising and deliberately socialising what was earlier privatised or earned from the gains of privatisation. This would translate to more job opportunities to the Kenyan masses.

With scientific economic planning for agricultural and industrial production with an intention of meeting local needs in a massively underdevelopment country like ours means that we would have to import extra labour to get to the level of development that a Socialist State envisions.

Only a Socialist led government can ultimately solve the unemployment problem in this country. This will happen when the Socialist Party captures state power. Until then, we need to campaign to ensure that the government creates more decent, secure and well paid jobs. We need to campaign with the trade unions to stop retrenchment. In the private sector, we need to demand that the government takes over companies that are reducing employment. We need to demand that the government creates more jobs, for teachers, nurses, textile workers etc.

If the mass of people were provide with their basic needs, then unemployment would be reduced as production would be for need and not for the profit of the few.

In the meantime, we ask all Kenyans, employed or unemployed, in college or graduated, educated or not, to visit the SDP website (www.sdpkenya.org)and the SDP Facebook page, and sign the petition to the Government, demanding for a detailed plan of how they are planning to solve the unemployment question. We also ask all Kenyan of goodwill to join SDP, and support the Party as it mobilises everyone else in this campaign, and in the struggle for Socialism.

Viva SDP Viva!

Benedict WACHIRA

Secretary General

Social Democratic Party of Kenya

01 February 2015

[1] Read Mghanga, Mwandawiro, “Baseline Research on Trade in Kenya” (Southern and East African Trade Information and Negotiation Institute (SEATINI KENYA), Nairobi, 2009. (39 pages)

KDF should leave Somalia only at the end of the AMISOM process, or at the Demand of the Somalian people.

2014-12-31T20:46:00.001+03:00

A few weeks ago, it was reported that the Ethiopia National Defence Forces (ENDF) would be replacing the Sierra Leonean AMISOM troops (RSLAF) that were operating alongside Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers in Sector 2 region of Somalia.
(The RSLAF had demanded working alongside KDF as a condition of their joining AMISOM….and they, to the credit of KDF, moved all the way to Kismayu via road, after landing in Wajir)

The withdrawal of the RSLAF was brought about by a standoff between the governments of S. Leone and Somalia, after the later rejected the former’s scheduled rotation due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The fact that it was the ENDF, and not the KDF that replaced the Battalion of S. Leonean Soldiers is a matter of concern for keen followers of the developments in Somalia, since in the first place, the S. Leone troops had relieved a battalion of KDF in Sector 2 and it should have been automatic that a battalion of KDF in turn replaces the departing RSLAF.

Secondly, the ENDF are already located in the vast region of Sector 3 (and Sub Sector 3), therefore stretching them further southwards doesn’t make a lot of sense.

This led me to make three assumptions:

1. KDF has begun a silent withdrawal from Somalia.

2. KDF may in turn replace ENDF in the parts of Sub Sector 3 region that border Kenya.

3. Ethiopia is winning the geo-political struggles (with Kenya) by roping in its last Somalian region where it has the least political influence.

The 3^rd assumption is not of importance to me since eventually, Somalians will run their country in the best way they know how.

The 2^nd assumption makes a lot of sense in terms of change of tactics, with the recent incursions by the Al Shabaab terrorists into Madera region. It makes absolutely no sense for the ENDF to operate on a region bordering Kenya.

The 1^st assumption, would be very unfortunate, if it were the case.

There has been rising political demands for the withdrawal of KDF from Somalia, in response to the rising terror attacks over the past two years.

The main opposition coalition in Parliament, CORD, has asked for an ‘exit plan’ from Somalia.

When Kenya intervened in Somalia, my position was that the success or failure of the operation was pegged on how popular or not, the Al Shabaab group was, amongst the Somalian masses.

Many were sceptical, given KDF’s lack of experience, the previous failure of ENDF, the fact that Ugandans Forces (UPDF) and their Burundian counterparts had for a long time been forced to operate in very limited parts of Mogadishu, the fact that Southern Somalia was a stronghold of Al Shabaab group,,,,,,,and of course, the glorious defeat of the U.S forces 20 years before.

(Information from Wikileaks showed that the U.S was also opposed to Kenya’s intervention, yet it had supported the 2006 Ethiopian invasion!)

The propaganda (and lies) battle was fought on twitter, with both sides claiming victories and denying defeat.

As the operation progressed, KDF proved their capability, by capturing one town after the other, working alongside the Somali National Army (SNA) & some local militias, building health facilities and schools etc, and ensuring that each region was secured before leaving for the next.

Unfortunately, for the past one and a half years, the KDF has stopped giving Kenyans any official updates of concrete significance. Their official twitter handle @KDFinfo is semi-dormant, Major E Chirchir no longer gives us fresh updates like he used to, and we no longer hear from the person who replaced Colonel Oguna as the Army Spokesperson. We now depend on independent journalists & analysts, and the slow updates from Amisom.
(Also gone are the days when the original Al Shabaab group twitter handle would give us reliable information from the other side.)

The following are some of the reasons that have been given, as to why KDF should withdraw from Somalia, and I disagree with them:

· Since the Al Shabaab group is attacking Kenya in revenge to KDF’s activities in Somalia, then KDF should withdraw, and Al Shabaab will, as they have promised, leave Kenya alone.
Of course, believing in such rubbish from a terrorist organisation that prides itself in butchering workers and peasants is foolish. In any case, what constitutes to a revenge attack by Al Shabaab is now widening in scope, and now includes the (backward and unnecessary) barricading of a mosque by Kenyan Police, the (inhuman) rounding up of Somalis in Nairobi….who knows what it might next include?

· Whatever is happening in Somalia is an internal issue. And we should leave Somalia alone.
The Al Shabaab situation is not a Somalian internal problem. They had launched attacks inside Kenya even before Kenya went into Somalia. It is therefore right for Kenya to work with Somalia to get rid of the terrorists. Also, some of the Al Shabaab top commanders and fighters are non-Somalians.
Kenya should only leave Somalia, at the demand of the Somalian Government and its people.
Some of the people who are asking for withdrawal on this basis, are the same people who criticise the African Union (AU) for doing nothing with relation to resolving conflicts and wars on the continent. AMISOM is indeed an AU success story in the making. It would be completely irresponsible for Kenya to sink its head in the sand, when all the Somalia neighbours are actively looking for a solution in Somalia under the auspices of the AU.

· KDF achieved its goal by capturing Kismayu, and so they should come back home.
This is a Video-Game argument. Those who are advancing it do not understand the irregular nature of Al Shabaab as a fighting group. This intervention is not about capturing cities and planting flags. It is about building structures that will prevent a vacuum at the point of withdrawal.

· The Al Shabaab is an unconventional fighting force, and a regular army like KDF cannot defeat them.
Surprisingly, this comment is very popular with some “learned” commentators doing opinion pieces in major newspapers! If this statement was true, then there would be no need for regular armies! Warfare would have developed to something else!
Every organised criminal gang is an unconventional fighting force, and they are usually (always) defeated by the regular government Police Force or Army.
This is also why, after victory, the first task of any popular Guerilla Army is to convert itself into a Regular peoples army.
The question of who, during an irregular warfare, will emerge victorious, is primarily dependent on who has the support of the masses. If the Al Shabaab do not have the popular support, then they will be defeated and vice versa.

· We need those soldiers in Somalia to return to Kenya and protect Kenya from within.
This argument can only hold water if we had in the first place deployed all our Soldiers within. But the reality is, most of them are still doing whatever it is that they do, in their barracks. The imagination that we can deploy all our soldiers to the Kenya-Somalia border, where they will create this long wall that will prevent anyone from coming in remains just that, an imagination.
We do not need to deploy KDF internally to deal with Al Shabaab. In fact, if that is done, it may end up being a grave mistake. The Police are better trained, and even more experienced in dealing with criminal groups that operate like Al Shabaab. All they need is proper leadership at the higher echelons of both the Police and the intelligence Services.

The Al Shabaab attacks inside Kenya are successful not because of how efficient the terrorists are, but because of how inefficiently the current government handles our internal Security. For instance, the first Madera massacre was due to lack of seriousness on the side of our security agencies (They had information beforehand, this was not the first attack on that highway etc). The second Mandera massacre, just days later, was a mixture of stupidity and lack of seriousness (First, it was a textbook second-hit-attack, secondly, the government claimed that it had warned the victims to move out, but they refused?!….)

The truth is that AMISOM in general, and KDF in particular, have done extremely well in Somalia in as far as getting rid of the Al Shabaab terrorists is concerned. In fact, if i were a KDF soldier being forced to withdraw prematurely from Somalia, my first task on returning home would be to plot a coup d’etat against the government that forced me back. This is because the reality on the ground is that AMISOM has cleaned up huge regions of that country, AMISOM is winning, and withdrawing at this point will pose much greater risk to Kenya, since leaving without establishing working structures in Somalia will lead to a backlash that no one will be able to handle. The Al Shabaab will hit back with a morale of victory, and a spirit of revenge. No vacuum should be left once AMISOM leaves.(This was the mistake that the Ethiopians did in 2006)

AMISOM's efforts (in terms of security) will be tested in Somalia’s constitutional referendum voting and outcome next year, and their national elections thereafter.

AMISOM’s strategy of training thousands of Somalian soldiers and police is on point, and it clearly forms a critical part of the ‘exit plan.’
Currently, former Al Shabaab fighters are surrendering in their hundreds, including some of their top most commanders.

What we should probably ask is; what is the feeling of the Somalian masses towards the involvement of KDF in Somalia?

Internally, the Kenyan government should stop playing politics with Security. The fact that the President could not sack Cabinet Secretary Ole Lenku until he found a Maasai replacement for him, or the fact that he left the Inspector General’s position vacant until he found a Kalenjin replacement, tells a lot on his priorities. The ethnic arithmetic for 2017 is more important that the Security of Kenyans today.

The Security agencies must work closely with the masses, and ensure that the masses are on their side, when it comes to matters of security. They must change their mode of operation, for example, they should stop the unnecessary Barricading of Mosques, stop the collective punishment of Kenyan Somalis, improve on their investigative skills so as to ensure successful prosecutions, take information from the people seriously ,etc

The government must also come up with solutions to the unemployment crisis in the country. Even though being unemployed is not an excuse for crime, unemployment is a cause of crime.

Externally, the KDF must exhibit professionalism, and investigations on the sale of charcoal in Kismayu should be done, and everyone found responsible should be arrested and charged. The KDF continues to deny involvement in the business, without bothering to interpret for us the movements seen at the Kismayu Port from the satellite images.

The KDF must also update us on what is going on in Somalia, what progress have they made since the capture of Kismayu, what are the challenges that they are facing, and what their future plans are.

Benedict WACHIRA

31^st December 2014

7:42pm

Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and the African Union

2014-03-19T19:48:00.001+03:00

Other than the now seemingly permanent task of fire fighting and peacekeeping, the African Union (AU) is currently engaging in a historic task: Developing Africa’s Agenda 2063, along the vision of a united and strong Africa, through a process that seeks to involve the ordinary African Mwananchi.( Check http://agenda2063.au.int/ )

Having a fifty year Agenda for Africa is indeed very important, especially now that the AU’s agenda is mostly shaped by both long running and spontaneous/organised conflicts. What sets this process apart from past AU processes is that this one particularly seeks to involve the People directly, by opening up avenues through which they can contribute their views. It is only through the involvement of the African people in the AU processes that we can begin to move the organisation closer to the African masses.

However, this noble idea is not being promoted as vigorously as is expected, which means that the eventual aim of involving the masses directly will not be achieved. At the current pace, it is the same bureaucrats, NGOs etc that will get involved the most.....(at least ordinary Panafricanist Wananchis like me who independently follow the AU will have a chance to contribute!)

One would expect that the ‘Agenda 2063’ would receive enough publicity in every African country through the State owned media, at zero cost to the African Union, but this has not been the case.

Dlamini Zuma.

The leadership of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is what the AU has been lacking since its makeover from the OAU.

It will be remembered that in the run up to the elections for the AU chair two years ago, she earned a lot of respect and support from Progressive Panafricanists and Africans in general, with her statements about taking the AU to the people of Africa, about the paramount importance of African Unity and integration.....she spoke like a Nkurmah-Gaddafi reincarnate.

She cemented her support when she ended the “Anglophone-Francophone” debate by stating that she “was not Anglophone. She is Zulu.”

This Anglophone-Francophone” childish debate was the only argument that Jean Ping and his supporters had been left with, >>after overseeing the imperialist bombings and ouster of President Laurent Gbagbo and our Brother Leader, Muammar Gaddafi!<<

Dr Dlamini Zuma-African Union Commission Chair

Since her election into office, she has proven that she is not some opinion-less bureaucrat, or some poster girl for the African Union, but a decisive leader by her own right, who understand her tasks as the AUC chair.

Her analysis of conflict situations in Africa have been unconcealed and on point, and all her reports on these situations are made public through the AU website. This is something that never used to happen before...and when it accidentally happened, the reports would be too diplomatic to serve any helpful purpose.

Her understanding of external interference has seen her not shying away from expressing solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, Kenya, Egypt and other places. She did not falter when a decision was made to exclude the NGOs (mostly western based) and partners from the AU summit main sittings.

(These Partners felt that since they fund the AU programs, then they had a right to attend the closed sessions! Pure insanity! It is like a man paying the house rent for a couple, and then he insists that he will participate in the “bedroom action” by this couple, since in any case, he is the one who pays the rent!)

(The claim by the NGOs that they represent the African people is also absurd, since they are non-membership organisations. If it were Trade Unions, political Parties, Churches and other membership organisations then it would have been a different matter.)

Her creative letter from the future [Agenda 2063: an e-mail from the future Presentation by Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission... http://bit.ly/1b715cM ] captured the imagination of uncountable African Youth in a great way, as was seen by the way it went viral on social networking sites. Through such, she is consciously combating the notion that Panafricanism is some old idea that belongs to History books.

The role of the African Union today

Many commentators have over the years described the AU as a club for the Heads of States (and now a trade union for the heads of states) and others have even called for its disbandment. It is true, that the AU has not achieved much in the last 30 years (especially on the question of African Unity and anti-imperialism), but it would be unfair to blame the AU for the numerous wars that have been erupting on the continent.

This is because the AU is not a government in itself, but is rather an organisation of states. The AUC Chair also lacks executing powers in internal matters affecting the member states, in spite of him/her being nominated and elected by those who are (mostly) elected by the African masses. (Though this does not justify the inefficiency of people like Jean Ping)

The relevance of the AU today has not been in bringing progression, but in preventing deterioration. This is manifested through AMISOM, MISCA or UNAMID, MINUSMA and other peacekeeping missions whose origins were the AU.

The AU is always resolving conflicts (both diplomatically and militarily) yet there is no space for it to prevent these conflicts.

If we take the Situation in South Sudan for instance, Dlamini Zuma gave a very good report on what led to the conflict [AUC Chairperson Report on South Sudan http://bit.ly/1mh7P0U ].

So at what point was the AU supposed to intervene?

The report indicates that in July and August, President Salva Kiir dissolved, restructured and reconstituted his government where he sacked Dr Riek Machar as the Vice President, and suspended Pagan Amum, the Secretary General of SPLM, dismissed two state governors and sacked anyone who contested within the SPLM structures.

Should the AU have intervened at this point?

In September, Salva Kiir severally postponed a National Liberation Council meeting that could have dealt with matters that had not been approved by the Party’s political Bureau.

Should the AU have intervened at that point?

In November, Salva Kiir unconstitutionally dissolved all the structures of SPLM, save for the position of the Chair (his position), a matter that was highly contested.

Should the AU have intervened at this point?

In December, fighting broke out between the Dinka and the Nuer soldiers in the Presidential guard, leading to a nightlong fight. The following day, Salva Kiir stated that there was an attempted coup, and went ahead to arrest and detain several SPLM leaders.

Should the AU have intervened at this point?

Both IGAD, the AU and all the people involved could not even force Salva Kiir to release the detained SPLM leaders, a move that could have greatly weakened Riek Machar’s weight at the talks, and make it easier to find a solution that would actually have favoured Salva Kiir! Salva Kiir only agreed to the demand after thousands of civilians were killed. It is as if that was his intention!

Today, Rwanda looks quiet, but remains a potential hotspot for war. This is because the country is ruled over by a fascist dictator with a tribal regime. We all know that in Africa, most dictators don’t last forever, and where nature refuses to solve the problem, the people will rise up in arms, just like Mr. Paul Kagame himself and the Rwanda Patriotic Front did in the past.

So the questions come up again. Should the AU intervene in Rwanda during this period of repression? Should the AU intervene at the break out stage? Should it intervene, as usual, after an all out war break out?

And when it intervenes, does it just intervene to bring peace, or also to bring justice? ... Who decides when and how to intervene? Shouldn't the AU take sides in clear cut conflicts?

Western Sahara

Unlike in most situations where the lines are blurred, the African Union has not only been a big failure but also a big embarrassment when it comes to the case of Morocco’s colonisation of Western Sahara.

Even though the OAU admitted Western Sahara as a member in 1981; and even though Western Sahara Republic was a founding member of the AU in 2002, the people of Western Sahara are still living under the terror of the Moroccan colonialism, or are living in refugee camps outside their country. A referendum that was supposed to be held over 20 years ago is still being delayed thanks to Morocco’s campaigns at the UNSC.

The AU has been reduced to writing resolutions and reports (just like some small organisation) in a matter where diplomacy and waiting has failed, while repression and exploitation prevails.

Can’t the AU give a timed ultimatum for the referendum?

Can’t the AU send a ‘referendum enforcing’ Intervention Brigade Forces to Western Sahara?

Is the AU saying that it cannot contain one African country?

Tasks for Dr. Dlamini Zuma

Other than the immediate and most important task of pushing for the end of colonisation and occupation in Western Sahara by all necessary means (especially by use of force),

the AU chair should intensify her calls for the Unity of the African people, and the integration of Africa.

She should speak directly to the Workers, Peasants and African masses on the need for them to unite, and reject imperialism. She should intensify the planting of Panafricanism in the hearts of the Youth and children of Africa.

What she lacks in mandate, she should recover with direct propaganda to the African masses.

She must refuse to be a bureaucrat and be the politician and progressive that she is.

Benedict Wachira

19^th March 2014

6:32pm

Our Visits to Upcountry Back in the Days....and why we need to sue some people.

2013-12-29T16:03:00.000+03:00

The little rascals are all over, they’ve descended like an undisciplined army. Everything has all of a sudden become fragile, delicate or at risk of being destroyed. They just seem not to care, their energy is endless, and they are full of laughter and screams as they go about their rampage.

I tried to resist them, but eventually gave in to their terror. So instead of telling them not to touch anything, I just kept everything away. As for the screaming, the running all over and the laughing (by the way I seem to always miss the joke..), I chose to ignore, and instead kept aside the work that I was finishing up, and joined the other adults in doing some errands and drinking some Muratina.

The festive season is here, and people are visiting their folks, their relatives, others have gone down to the coast, and many others have travelled upcountry (except those guys who are stranded at Country Bus station because the fares have been doubled...I don’t know how long it will take them to learn that the PSVs always do that during this period)

So these nieces and nephews of mine have also been taken to visit their Shosho (who happens to be my mother) for their Christmas holidays, which then technically means that they have gone to Ocha.

Watching them arrive with small backpacks, and watching DvDs all evening made me reminisce our visits to our Grandmothers back then. Those days, our uncles didn’t have any phones that needed to be unlocked so that we guys could play games (yah, they have downloaded a million games on my phone...you should have seen my evil smile when i unlocked my phone for them, knowing very well that it didn’t have any games in it, thinking that they would return it disappointedly!)

Back in the day, a visit to Ocha began with my mother packing two huge bags which our clothes and some shopping that included things like Unga ya Chapati, our soaps, our toothpaste etc(we did not need to pack our toothbrushes, there were some which were permanently stationed at both our grandmothers’—though they had to be boiled in water before we used them)

My brother and I would then carry one of the bags, while my mother carried the other one and an umbrella (I think that either Umbrellas used to be very expensive those days, or this particular umbrella used to be very special for my mum. This is because there are several occasions where she forgot it in those Upcountry Matatus, and somehow it had to be look for and be returned to her). Our sister used to walk behind us.

Four sections of the Safari

The Safari had four sections. Section one was taking a KBS bus to town. This was the easiest part. The second section involved taking a Nissan Matatu from town to some town nearest to the Grandmother that we were visiting first.(our visits used to be divided into two, a visit to my mother’s mother and another to my father’s mother, the stay used to be for 3-4 weeks, not this 2-4 day visit that I saw the other day). This second section had its own characteristics. First, there were these fellows who would sit in the Matatu is as if they are travellers, but leave one by one as the real travellers get in. Secondly, there were these hawkers who’d shove the handkerchiefs, sweets (Tropicals,Patcos,Orbits,Big Gs) and biscuits that they were selling at our faces, asking us (the kids) to pick one, then ask for the money from my mother (along the years, we stopped taking the sweets since we knew very well that the hawker would be tongue-lashed by my mother for asking her to pay for the sweets and we’d be told to give them back).The only luck we had was the fact that I used to vomit when travelling in KBS’s, or for long journeys,,,so we would get a tropical sweet or two, to counter the vomiting.(by the way my throwing up always had a domino effect on other travellers, so it was wise to just buy the sweets). The third characteristic was a preacher man praying for “journey mercies,” and ask for tithe, and the last characteristic was someone always holding the Matatu back when it was ready to go, by either wanting to go and pee, or waiting for some change due to last minute buying(yet the hawkers were hovering around all that time!).

The third section was the worst. It mostly involved getting into a tired “face me” pickup Matatu. Here, the bags would be thrown onto the carriers, and we would get into the ~~Matatu~~ thing, where my mother would sit and carry my sister on her laps and we would stand, since sitting on the wooden benches was for adults. Passengers would then begin filling in, and we would be thoroughly squeezed in between people’s armpits, thighs and buttocks. Every time this “Face me” stopped, I would hope that we had arrived only for mother to say “Baaado” in a manner that suggested I should just get used to the squeezing.

You can imagine us holding up somewhere in there!
Photo from twicsy.com

The fourth and the last section was us leaving our bags at one of the shops at the shopping centre, and walking for some distance so as to reach my Shosho’s homestead, our older cousins (on my Father’s Mother side) would then go pick the bags. But things were a bit different on our Mother’s Mother side, since the Matatu would drop downhill the tarmac road, cruise past the valley where we were supposed to alight, use the momentum climb the next hill and drop us at the top of that hill. We would then walk back to the valley with our bags, then climb another long hill off the tarmac road. There were no shops here, so we had to carry the bags up to our Shosho’s home. The other option was to alight at the hill before the valley, and walk down to the valley, then climb the hill off the tarmac road. (Today, Matatus drop people off at that very valley. I think the PSV’s those days used to have very weak engines. Or maybe they used to carry too many people. Or maybe it was just because of the habit of those drivers of switching off the vehicle’s engines when going downhill so as to use the momentum to save fuel on the uphill. Whatever was the case, those people should posthumously know that i did not like being dropped off two kilometres from where i was supposed to be alight.)

The return trip used to be much better, since it never had “face me” Matatu section. It would always be replaced by an exciting lift on the back of a pickup. These lifts used to be from people known to our family, and strangers alike. You just waved at any vehicle coming your way. At times, we could get a relative going back to Nairobi, and we would hike a free ride all the way (with my mother insisting on adding something for the fuel)

**It is only in order that at this point I request the guy who adds charcoal to the fire in hell to reduce the fire for John Michuki when he arrives there. They guy could have been a home guard, land grabber and all that, but what he did for the public transport sector was exceptional...a revolution in that sector. I sometimes wonder how people used to be productive at work after being packed like potato bags in PSVs. We now even have internet in public transport!

Life in the Village

On arrival to the homestead, we would immediately change into some shorts and t-shirts, drop the shoes and walk barefoot, and begin playing around with my cousins (in my Father’s Mother homestead) or begin climbing fruit trees(on my Mother’s Mother Shamba, she still has so many fruit trees). I never liked the idea of walking barefoot since it was always uncomfortable for the first few days, but we had to do it, maybe to fit in. Back then, children in our rural areas were not allowed to go even to school with shoes. Not that they didn’t have them, they actually wore shoes to church, but just because of some colonial mentality in the schooling system. So kids would outgrow their shoes, leaving the shoes still in very new condition, to be passed down to the younger kids.

Whoever did away with that no-shoes-to-school rule should also receive some preferential treatment if he lands in Jehanam, or get the whitest cloak from the angels if he goes to heaven. If he believes in reincarnation, he should then come back as a Mara River Crocodile.(those things just spend the whole day swimming, basking in the sun, mating, and I hear that they can go for months without eating, just waiting for the annual wildebeests’ migration!)

Back in the village, we would spend the days cutting Napier grass for the cows, picking coffee(Tea needed some skills, so it was picked by the adults), taking the Coffee to the factory, splitting firewood(i used to be spared this job, the axe never landed at the same place twice), sometimes we would take the cows to the cattle dip, the milk to the KCC collection point, being sent to the far away shops to buy cigarettes(despite the distance, i used to like this since we would always buy sweets with the change), spend the rest of the day racing, climbing trees, stealing fruits from neighbours' trees, throwing stones(most of the times at birds), weighing ourselves after weighing the coffee, visiting neighbour’s homes, visiting other relatives (some whose connection i have up to date not grasped, since the explanation always began with something like “so and so’s mother’s father had two wives, one of the children of his other wife got married to so and so, who was related to our grandfather through.....; but we were nevertheless very close to those relatives). If it was Christmas day, we would go to the shopping centre to solicit for “Christmas” from our older relatives who came back from Nairobi.

The evenings would be spend around the fire (mostly smoke) in Shosho’s kitchen, with her cooking on the three stones, and us constantly blowing the fire to reduce the smoke. Looking back, i now pity the goats that used to live at a corner in the Kitchen. They must have suffered a lot from the smoke. I don’t know why the goats used to live in the kitchen though. Maybe it was to serve as a constant reminder to the cook that we should not go for very long without some meat protein.

Both my Shoshos were never the story telling type, so we just told each other stories, pushing each other on the wooden seats....

The only similarity that I can draw between my Shosho’s visit back then, and the Shosho’s visit that i saw from my nephews and nieces, is the giggles, accusations and counter accusations that were brought about by some loud fart from anonymous. But even in this similarity there was still a difference. Today, these kids leave the matter unresolved. Back in our day, if the suspect denied responsibility, then the smoke from the cooking fire would follow the offender and hence settle the matter. If this did not still solve the matter, a song would be sung by the least suspected person, and s/he would, with every word, point at the next person, and whoever is pointed last is the guilty one. It went something like;

Nuu wathuria,(who’s farted?)

Ni gitarariki,(It’s a python)

Kiauma mutitu,(coming from the forest)

Kwenja marima(to dig holes)

Maguthika nyina(to bury its mother).....etc etc,,.

At the end of it all, Shosho or one of the mothers present would serve the food and we would go to sleep, with our cousins leading the way, since we could not see in the night, but they could. (They could even see the Red Ants tracks).

The food was always too much, that the only meal that i used to finish was a special one, made for me only, which was a mixture of either white rice with milk, or Ugali and milk. One of my aunt’s still makes fun at me about how i used to demand for that mixture.

Back into the future

Now that i had decide to “let myself go” even with the serious happenings in the Central African Republic (C.A.R) and South Sudan, i decided to get to know these little relatives of mine a little better.

So i called them around, and asked for any volunteer to tell us a story......none came forward, so i decided to do it myself.

I began with one Gikuyu folklore, then, due to public demand, told them another Dawida folklore that i had once heard from my friend Mwandawiro Mghanga (who has a huge collection of these folklores!). The demand for these stories soared, and that’s when i realised that i had landed myself into a new problem: They would not stop nagging me for another story, yet i could not remember any other!

As i tried to remember some other folklore, i also flexed my new found power, by demanding that they, from now on, add the title Uncle before my name, and i was immediately obeyed.

After some time, i remembered some famous story from my childhood days, and i decided to tell it to them, only if they agreed to go sleep immediately the story ended, and we had a deal.

Guys must have very been idle to come up with such stories

Unlike the traditional oral narratives which have a moral lesson, the story that i told them next had no lesson whatsoever. These stories, unlike the folklores, use real places and events. This is why the guy who created those stories should be sued for the crimes of causing fear to children (i re-told the story under duress, so i am not culpable.)

Given my salt adding skills, plus a few remixes whereby i made myself appear in the story, i could see the kids flowing with me through the suspense and the fear.

Coming to think of it, these stories were usually said by born again people, to scare us into further submitting to God and get saved......and they story tellers really knew how to narrate them!

Below are samples of these stories;

The lady that i sat next to in the bus to Mombasa (it always had to be Mombasa!)

"I got into the bus to Mombasa and sat in the back seat. Next to me sat a middle aged woman wearing a Buibui. We were travelling at night, and in the middle of the travel, in the middle of nowhere, the lady called out at the driver, and told him that he should stop the bus because she had reached. The driver responded by telling her that he could not stop there, since we were in the middle of the National park, and that lions would appear and eat her up.

The woman continued to insist that she wanted to get off the bus since she had reached. The driver also insisted that he would drop her off at the next town centre, since he could not allow the woman to be eaten by lions.

After a few minutes of silence, the driver felt a hand tapping his left shoulder, with the woman telling him to stop the bus. When the driver looked back to see who was tapping his shoulder, he realised that it was the same woman, still seated at the back seat, but had elongated her arm up to the front, where the driver sat and tapped his shoulder!!(Ramayan style!)

At this point, the driver stopped the bus, and as the woman alighted from the bus, she told the driver that she is going to meet her family, since belongs to the lions’ clan."

(In order to make the story sound real, the guy telling it would insist that it is true, since he was seating next to the lady, and s/he saw it all)

The homeless woman at night

So there was this man driving home at night, and he was stopped by an unclothed woman, and he stopped to help her out. She told him that she was lost, and she had been robbed off everything, and she needed somewhere to sleep. So, the good guy decided to help her, and drove to a nearby hotel, where he gave the woman some money to pay for her accommodation, and buy some clothes.

The woman refused and instead said that she wanted to sleep at the man’s home. The man gave it a thought and decided to go with the woman home.

In the middle of the night, the man decided to go to his kitchen, and just when he stepped out of the bed, he saw two legs of a goat, standing next to the bed!! He got scared, and rushed back to his bed, and began to pray quietly.

In the morning, he woke up and found the woman in the kitchen, and the goat legs were not there.

He told the woman what he had seen, and the woman told him that he was lucky that he prayed that whole night. The guy asked the woman how she knew that he had prayed that night, and the woman responded, “we always know”, and left the house.

The Jacket story (this’ the one i told the kids)

It was raining heavily, and this man was standing at a bus stop with a woman (it looks like the woman had to be the Jini) who was feeling very cold because she had dressed lightly. So the man offered the woman his black leather jacket, and the woman gave the man her home address, so that he could go for the jacket the following day.

As agreed, the man went to address the following day, found the house and made a knock. An old woman opened the door, and the guy introduced himself, and asked for the woman that he had helped.

The old lady was shocked, and she told him that the woman he is asking for died ten years ago. The man could not believe it, and the old woman asked that they go to the backyard, so that she could show him her grave.

When they went to the back, the man was shocked to see his Jacket lying on top of the grave! He went and picked it up, and confirmed that it was indeed his jacket.

The girl who causes accidents

There is this very beautiful girl, who if you are driving on the highway, she will appear right in the middle of the road and if you try to avoid hitting her, you will swerve off the road, roll off, and all the occupants will die, except one Pastor who emerges from the wreckage unscratched. If you instead decide to knock her off, the car will still roll and everyone will die, except, again, the Pastor.

When the police arrive at the scene, they’ll find dead bodies with no blood. Kumbe what happens is that the girl transforms herself into a housefly, and drinks off all the blood of her victims!

Only the Pastor sees the girl, people around the place just see a car swerving and rolling.

The Goats of Kongoweya (at least this one has a moral lesson)

There was this truck driver and his Makanga who used to deliver weekly vegetable consignments to Mombasa’s Kongoweya Market, from upcountry.

One day as they were leaving Kongoweya, they saw these three goats, that they kept seeing whenever they delivered the vegetables. These goats seemed to have no owner, and they would eat fruits and vegetables on sale, without the vendors shooing them away.

So the two decided that since the goats had no owners, and since these goats were a big nuisance to the vendors, they would load them into the trucks, and go back with them to upcountry (Bara).

They loaded these goats into the back of the truck, and locked it with the padlocks. As they were heading back, they decided to make a stop at Mutitu Andei so as to eat something and continue with their journey. But as they were coming back to the truck, they heard some noises at the back and decided to have a look. When they opened, they saw that the three goats had turned into three very old women, and they were saying “turudishe kwetu!!”

They guys freaked out, turned the car and went straight to Kongoweya, but to their surprise, when they opened the back, they didn't see the women, but the three goats!!

May those in support of suing the people who created these stories say aye!

Happy New Year good people!

Benedict Wachira

29^th December 2013

2:16pm

On The East African Community, and the Coalition of the Willing

2013-12-15T17:35:00.001+03:00

During Kenya’s 50^th anniversary celebrations of independence from classical colonialism at the Kasarani Stadium, there were three interesting things that happened with relation to the East African Community (EAC) and by extension the Coalition of the Willing (CoW).

First, both Presidents Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda addressed the gathering in Kiswahili. For the Wapenzi wa Kiswahili, this was an extremely important step towards promoting Kiswahili as the lingua franca of the region. They could have chosen to speak in English (just like President Uhuru Kenyatta did), and hence reach out to everyone, including the foreign guests, but they did not. This is because their messages were focused at the hearts of the Kenyan masses.

Secondly, President Kikwete spoke very well of Kenya’s economy, he spoke about the tensions within the EAC, and more importantly, he acknowledged the fact that the peoples of Tanzania and Kenya were very close to each other, and that Tanzania was firmly in the EAC.

The third interesting thing was that all the Presidents in the EAC were present, except President Paul Kagame, who instead chose to send his Prime Minister and a few traditional dancers to represent him. President Joseph Kabila was also in attendance. This was interesting because Kagame rarely misses any chance to come to Kenya, and it raised eyebrows given the recent developments in the EAC.

The problems within the EAC (and the CoW)

In the recent past, there have been serious tensions between Tanzania and Rwanda, over the constant interference of DRC’s internal matters by Rwanda. Tanzania took a progressive stand, and together with other SADC forces (including Congolese forces) moved into DRC and kicked the Kigali backed M23 rebels out.

There were also rumours that Kagame wanted to start a civil conflict in Western Tanzania, and this led to the kicking out of Rwandan Nationals living in that region.

The other major tension within the EAC was with the formation of the CoW (Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda), where Tanzania cried foul and even threatened to withdraw from the EAC. In a counter move, Tanzania formed its own coalition with Burundi and the DRC. Economically speaking, this was a great counter, given the immense wealth of the DRC vis-a-vis that of the CoW countries.

Frantic efforts were made by both Kenya and Tanzania to lessen the tensions, with Tanzania’s FM stating that they “had now agreed to work together”, and said something to the effect that they have now learnt that “some people (Kagame and Museveni) wanted to take advantage of Kenya’s young leadership to advance their personal interests in the region.”

What happened after those meetings was even more interesting. It seems that what we were not told about those talks was that Tanzania may have demanded that Paul Kagame does not succeed Museveni as the rotational Chair of the EAC, and Kenya must have agreed to that demand, and so as to save Kagame’s face, Rwanda had to create excuses of Kagame’s “busy schedule next year since it was the 20^th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.” This could explain Kagame’s skipping of the Kenya @50 celebrations, and further explains Kikwete’s conciliatory tone at the same event. (this Rwanda-Tanzania tension within the EAC is not new; 14 years ago, it is Tanzania that opposed Rwanda’s membership into the EAC, keeping it in the cold for 10 years)

Tanzania should rescind its backward stand

But even with the progress made in terms of mending fences, Tanzania must revoke its backward stand, if the EAC is to become a reality.

Tanzania’s approach on the EAC has been that of fear and mistrust. They fear that their land will be taken away, their businesspeople will lose to their Kenyan counterparts, they fear that they will lose jobs to the other EAC partners etc,,and they have therefore used every opportunity to halt/slowdown the integration of the EAC countries. Tanzania seems to be hostile to the idea of Political Unity, and it is instead pushing for slow economic unity first. This is in great contrast to its position in the EAC of 1967-1977 where Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was at the forefront of pushing for Political Unity of the three countries.

Earlier, Mwalimu Nyerere had pushed for the delay of Tanzania’s and Uganda’s independence, so that the three countries could gain their independence on the same date.

In an interview with Ikaweba Bunting for the New Internationalist Magazine in 1999, Nyerere said: “I respected Jomo (Kenyatta) immensely. It has probably never happened before in history. Two heads of state, Milton Obote [Uganda's leader] and I, went to Jomo and said to him: `let's unite our countries and you be our head of state'. He said no. I think he said no because it would have put him out of his element as a Kikuyu Elder.”

That was how much Tanzania supported political Unity, back then.

During the CoW debate, President Kikwete gave an address to the Tanzanian Parliament, where he said that Tanzania was committed to a Political Union, but before that, Tanzania would have to gain economically since according to him, a political union would be baseless without economic gain. He further used the example of the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the oldest political union in Africa, to prove just how committed Tanzania is to Political Unity.

These are two things that Kikwete grasps in an upside down manner. First, the union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar was Political from the start. If it were to take the economic route first, then Tanganyika would have no basis of forming any union with Zanzibar. The fact the Kiwete used the Tanganyika-Zanzibar example shows that he was deep asleep when Mwalimu Nyerere was teaching us about Unity.

Secondly, economic unity does not bring Political unity, neither is it the basis of Political unity. The tribulations in the European Union have proved that economic union is a risk, if political decisions are made separately.

If economics alone is what brings countries together, then Kenya and Uganda would have been one country by now.

What unites a Garba herder in Moyale and a Kisii peasant in Nyamira is the ‘Kenya Political Union’. In fact, there is very little economic union between that Moyale herder and that Nyamira Peasant. It is because of this Political Union that the Nyamira peasant will be more saddened and angered when the Moyale herder is attacked by militias from Ethiopia, than he would be when the same militia attacks Ethiopian Garba herders in the Ethiopian side of Moyale.

Africa/African Regions should first be united politically, and then the other struggles follow. The EAC should allow its citizens to move, work, live and own property wherever they want within the EAC. The streamlining of language, education, laws, governance systems, transport and communication etc should then follow.

What we have now is aloof

The present EAC arrangement is out of touch with the common Mwananchi. Other than these wrangles, the common Mwananchi is never aware of what goes on at the EAC summit meetings, Council meetings, EALA sittings, EACJ rulings etc.

Even Richard Sezibera, the EAC Secretary General is a little known individual outside Rwanda. (Maybe in the short term, the EAC treaty should be amended to change the way the Secretary General is appointed, and give more power to that office. It would be better if the Secretary General went through some form of elections while maintaining the country rotations, rather than present system of presidential appointments.)

Today, the EAC matters belong to Governments, big business, foreign interests, and interested citizens, in that order.

The progressive Common Markets Protocol signed three years ago is deliberately being sabotaged; Good on paper, non-existent on the ground.

Some quarters blame the media for the black out, but each of these member countries have their own state owned media outlets.

Unity will still be achieved in the whole of Africa, not just in the EAC

Some of our leaders think that they can divide the people just because they are in power, but there is more that unites the African people, than the imaginary lines and ideas that are used to divide them. In the long term, African integration is inevitable.

Even here in East Africa, countries have in the past gone to war against each other, borders have been closed, stereotypes have been promoted, but still the integration talk has refused to leave. The Maasais, the Kurias, the Tesos, the Taitas and many other peoples along the borders still visit/receive their relatives and friends without giving any considerations to the colonial borders and the existing restrictions. Kenyan Youths will continue occupying Dar es Salaam for their holidays, Kenyan students are a permanent feature in Ugandan colleges, Chaga traders run Gikomba clothes market, Ugandan workers are running South Sudan, Tanzanian musicians are household names in Kenya, East Africa Radio and TV have followers throughout the region and Kiswahili is growing in the region, uniting the People.

Panafricanists should continue to intensify their work towards African Unity and integration, including regional Unity and Integration.

*******************************************************************************

But even as the integration of the EAC continues, serious efforts should be made to change that thing that they call East Africa Community National Anthem. First, the tune is so boring that it sounds unAfrican, and the lyrics are uninspiring. Who approved that thing?

********************************************************************************

There were many other interesting things that happened during the #KenyaAt50 celebrations, and one of them was the Presence of President Mohamed Abdelaziz of Western Sahara.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government has been getting it very wrong on internal matters, but when it comes to external affairs, he has been on the very correct path.

Kenya is set to host a PLO embassy; The embassy of Western Sahara will be reopened soon; Kenya will open embassies in Cuba, Algeria, Ghana, Angola and Djibouti; Visas for Africans will be processed at the point of entry (though he should get rid of the term” based on reciprocity”), Kenya will contribute thousands of troops to the yet to be formed African stand-by Brigade, Kenya has managed to mobilise Africans against the West’s imperial interests............we are truly living in interesting times.

President Mohamed Abdelaziz of Western Sahara with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya
at the Kenya @50 Celebrations in Nairobi Kenya

Benedict Wachira

15^th December 2013

4:57pm

Africans should not search for Justice at The International Criminal Court, Solutions must come from within.

2013-10-24T14:42:00.002+03:00

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has now become a permanent news item in Kenya, and a major issue across all of Africa.

Ever since Kofi Anan and the Chair of the commission investigating the Post Elections Violence Justice Phillip Waki introduced the possibility of the masterminds of the Post Elections Violence (PEV) being tried by the ICC, the Court has indeed become a player in the local Kenyan politics.

I have written on this blog before, and the fact remains that the ICC is an imperialist court. Some members of Parliament, the President, his Deputy and some African heads of state seem to have come to this realization just a year or a few months ago.

It is true that this court targets and is pleased to try Africans, right from the African Presidents to small time rebels. This is despite the fact that other than the Democratic Republic of Congo, the worst war crimes in the recent years have taken place outside of Africa.

It is also not just any other criminal African President/rebel that the ICC targets. Some can actually survive their dragnet if they have good relations with the western powers. In Libya for instance, armed rebels toppled and murdered Muammar Gaddafi with the support of the imperialist countries. In the process, they killed thousands of dark skinned Africans Workers who were operating in the different economic sectors in Libya. Today, it is Gaddafi’s son, Saif who is standing trial at the ICC and not the racist Al Qaeda linked rebels. (Nobody is telling us who is currently mining Libya’s oil). In the case of Ivory Coast, a rebel leader, Allasane Ouattara violently ousted President Laurent Gbagbo from power, with direct combat involvement of the French Army. While Ouattara had destabilized the north for many years, causing uncountable deaths and untold suffering to the people of Ivory Coast, it is Laurent Gbagbo who is sitting at the ICC, and not Ouattara. The biggest culprit in the DRC conflict which has claimed over 6 million lives is Rwanda’s Paul kagame, who at this moment a darling of imperialism hence untouchable by the ICC.

These few examples show the imperialist nature of the ICC.

Whenever the ICC debate arises, questions are always asked as to why former U.S president George Bush and the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair have never been tried by the ICC for their international war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have lost their lives, and the future of several generations destroyed by the acts of these two mortals. Some people misapprehend this question and counter it by arguing that just because killer A was not tried and jailed, then it doesn’t mean that killer B should not be tried and jailed.

They do not understand the essence of this argument. This argument exposes the Imperialist nature of the ICC, since if the International Criminal Court was anchored on justice alone, and not on any other interests, then there should be nothing stopping them from trying and charging George bush and Tony Blair for their international war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some argue that the United States of America has never ratified the ICC treaty hence the George Bush is out of the question. Then why not try Tony Blair? If the ICC cannot try Bush for killing hundreds of thousands because the USA did not ratify the treaty, then why did it accept the referral against Sudan, yet Sudan has also never ratified the treaty?

Indeed, if the ICC was an independent court outside the influence of the imperialist countries, then the United Nations Security council (UNSC) would not have the powers to refer situations (individuals) to the ICC. Worse still, the UNSC would not have the powers to suspend investigations/prosecutions that are already under the ICC.

This conduct and modes of operation of the ICC are just a few examples that expose the political nature of the ICC, its lack of independence, and the fact that it is a tool of imperialism concentrating its eyes on the richest yet most vulnerable continent, Africa.

The Kenyan cases

Kenya, just like many African countries has had its foreign policies not informed by its own internal needs, but informed by external forces and blind followership of their former colonial masters.

In 2005, during the 9^th Parliament’s debate on the ratification of the Rome Statute, only MPs Mwandawiro Mghanga (chairperson Social Democratic Party) and Paul Muite (Safina Party leader) debated against the ICC bill. The rest of the MPs, including Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, then KANU opposition MPs supported the bill.

In 2009, Kofi Annan in his capacity as the chief negotiator of the 2008 Peace Deal, gave the government two options; That it either establishes a local tribunal or he refers the Kenyan cases to the ICC. Two (or three if we count Gitobu Imanyara’s bill which still gave the ICC some space) attempts to set up a local tribunal failed. Politicians allied to William Ruto, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta voted down the bill. Raila Odinga supported and campaigned for the bill though a good number of MPs loyal to him voted it down. Uhuru Kenyatta, though he ‘voted’ for the bills, almost all the MPs then loyal to him voted against them. William Ruto openly opposed the bills and campaigned against them saying that we ‘should not be Vague, we should go to the Hague.’ The then President Mwai Kibaki supported the local tribunal option.

By the MPs rejecting the local tribunal option, William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta had chosen the ICC option. It is possible that thought that since the ICC would prosecute those with the highest responsibility for the Post Elections Violence (PEV), then Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki were the ones going to the Hague (and possibly the reason as to why they were supporting the local tribunal). This would have resulted in the two of them(Uhuru and Ruto) becoming the top contenders in the elections that followed.

Well, that was not how it happened and the then ICC prosecutor Moreno Ocampo instead went for the second and lower tires of suspected responsibility for the PEV, with both Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto topping the list.

According to Ocampo, the list had more names but he zeroed down to the six who bore the ‘highest responsibility’ (somehow excluding the likes of Najib Balala and including Journalist Joshua Sang!) and the court reduced them further to three (with Sang still hanging in there). Nobody seems to be now bothered about the other suspects on the Waki Commission list, neither are people bothered about the lower echelons of those responsible for the PEV.

Is President Uhuru Kenyatta an Anti-Imperialist and an Anti-Neocolonialist?

The ICC had three major effects in the Kenya’s 2013 national elections. First, it helped consolidate Uhuru’s grip of the largest voting bloc in the country, which is the Kikuyu-Meru-Embu votes. Whereas public opinion especially in Mount Kenya region was Pro-ICC, and remained the same even after Uhuru was named on the list, Ocampo’s arguments during the Pre-trial chamber hearings changed the public opinion in this region and Uhuru Kenyatta’s involvement in the PEV was now seen as that of a savior who led revenge attacks that that played a role in ending the PEV. Uhuru, taking advantage of this development, launch a series of “prayer rallies“ around the Mount Kenya region making sure that he was the De Facto leader in the region.

The second effect of the indictments is that it brought William Ruto (leading the second largest voting bloc) and Uhuru Kenyatta together.

The third result was that the first two developments sealed Raila Odinga’s fate on his quest for Presidency, and the Uhuru-Ruto coalition won the elections with a deciding majority in Parliament.

For some reason, powerful western countries were opposed to the Uhuru-Ruto candidature and even made statements to that regard. They preferred Raila Odinga who had proven to be an envoy of imperialism in Africa as could be seen with his positions on Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and Libya. What was difficult to understand was why the Western governments decided to make their bias known to the Kenyan public rather than just support Raila financially from behind the scenes. Their threats only served to strengthen Uhuru-Ruto’s grasp on their supporters.

Then Uhuru Kenyatta threw in a few surprises.

· He revealed that the greatest person he has ever met was Nelson Mandela, while the person he admired the most and would like to meet was Fidel Castro. Comrade Fidel Castro is undoubtedly the world’s greatest political figure alive, a true revolutionary with a great love for humanity and a man who’s contribution to this world is not rivaled by many……but the shocker was the fact the Uhuru too, with his background, admired him and wanted to meet him!

· The second surprise was the Pan-African themed swearing-in ceremony held at Kasarani where even the last anthem played was the first verse of Mungu Ibariki Africa.

· The last surprise was his speech at the AU Special Summit held just over a week ago. It generated a lot of discussion within Africa’s progressive circles. It was so powerful that it is impossible to think that it was written by uhuru Kenyatta or anyone in his inner circles.

But do these and similar developments make Uhuru Kenyatta an anti-imperialist? Do they show that he understand how imperialism works? A look at a few examples paints a different picture.

Uhuru Kenyatta, during his tenure as the finance minister managed to take Kenya back into International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) claws, by borrowing money from them and making many agreements with them.(Kenya had consciously turned its back on it for 8 years.)

Recently, the Uhuru Kenyatta government has signed for more loans (totaling 60 B, I think) from the IMF. The IMF and the World Bank have been used as tools of imperialism and Kenya across all of Africa, and many African countries have never really risen above the damaging effects of the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the 80’s and 90’s.

Going by Uhuru’s appointments to his government, he has shown just how much he admires neo-liberalism, since majority of his appointees had IMF and WB backgrounds. No wonder one of the first activities of this government was to introduce VAT tax on basic food stuff, and even books!

The Kenya government and some politicians have said that Kenya now has an independent and reformed Judiciary, thus there is no longer the need for ICC in the Kenyan cases. I personally believe that the Judiciary is slowly reforming, and that we now have some very independent Judges in the Judiciary, but does Uhuru himself, also believe this?

Whereas he has been castigating the ICC as a foreign, neo-colonial and imperialist court, he has never raised a word against the Kenyan citizens that are illegally being detained in the US prison in Guantanamo Bay (possibly the worst prison in the world) and he has never said anything against the torture and detention without trial of Kenyans (terror suspects) in Uganda. There was even a time when the investigative journalist John Allan Namu asked him whether his government would intervene on behalf of the Kenyans being denied justice in foreign lands, and his response was about how Kenya will not allow terrorism etc etc. nothing about Justice for those who like him, are suspects, not confirmed criminals.

The Kenya Parliament voted to withdraw from the Rome statute, and the leaders of majority in both houses gave some good arguments explaining that move. But a candid Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs-Amb. Amina Mohammed, contradicted Parliament’s arguments and confirmed that Uhuru’s government does not care what happens to “the other Kenyan” at The Hague, since that was his “personal matter.” This shows us what Uhuru’s true position on foreign domination is. His message to imperialism could be that “you can do whatever you want to ordinary Kenyans and Kenya in general, as long as you do not touch me…..imperialism to the people, not to the President.”

Since independence, the British Army has continued to use Kenya as one of their most valued training grounds, yet Uhuru, who should be an anti-imperialist/anti-neocolonialist has not even threatened to evict them, even if the threat was just for his own selfish gains.

What come out of these few examples is that Uhuru is not an anti-imperialist, but some reasons, the imperialists are anti-Uhuru.

Clearly, President Uhuru Kenyatta will need a lot of lessons from the man he admires most, if he were to convert himself into a progressive individual.

Why we should support African Union’s onslaught against the ICC

Some confused Pan Africanists and Pseudo-Progressives have chosen to condemn AU’s en masse withdrawal from the ICC and have strongly come into the defense of, and support for the ICC. Some of the more petty ones claim that since the ICC has an African Judge, with an African Prosecutor, with African foot soldiers, then we should support it. (Just like saying that because colonialism had African administrators, then our forefathers should have supported it)

But we need to answer a few questions so as to know where progressives should really stand.

1.) Is the main reason behind AU’s threat to withdraw from the ICC good? The answer is No.

2.) Should we then support this main reason? The answer again is No. We should instead condemn the selfish interests that the Presidents have.

3.) If the AU countries quit the ICC, will that be good or bad? The answer is that that will be very good thing.

4.) Should we then support AU’s threat and possible withdrawal from the ICC? The answer again is yes.

We must differentiate between the cause, and the effect, what to support and what not to support. Just because one does not support AU’s reason, does not mean that one should then support ICC's domination.

*The positions that different countries took at AU special Summit with relation to withdrawing from the ICC can in fact be used as a yard stick of measuring the level of independence of the different African Presidents.

The question of Peace, Reconciliation and Justice

During the PEV of 2007/8, many lives were lost and the future of many families shattered.

The PEV was based on tribes, and not on any ideology. The campaigns then, just like the campaigns towards the 2013 elections were just tribal contests with each side heightening tribal animosity for their own benefit. There was no progressive ideological basis whatsoever. I do not support unprincipled Peace, but I’d rather we have Peace than have unprincipled violence. (Even Raila Odinga, with all his past, decided to put aside his principals and join in the tribal contest,,,,,,and then came out crying that the elections were rigged or that the Supreme court’s ruling on the tribal contest was unprincipled!)

It is true, that the Kalenjins and the Kikuyus, the two most involved ethnicities in the civilian-on-civillian PEV in 2007/8, campaigned together, voted together and celebrated their victory together in the 2013 elections.

Dr. Dlamini-Zuma, the AUC chair is also correct when she says that in as much as we need justice in Africa, Peace and Reconciliation are of paramount importance in Africa today.

During Ruto’s Pre-Trail chamber hearings, most Kikuyus and most Kalenjins were on opposite sides. Today they are united in supporting Ruto in his Trials. Even the chilling witness recounts that some had predicted would raise emotions have been ignored by a majority by these two ethnicities.

Does this then mean that Peace and reconciliation has been achieved?

Reconciliation between people cannot be achieved when no one has owned up to the crimes that they committed. Some people are still holding on to property that they violently stole during the PEV, others have assumed that nothing ever happened hence no apologies given, some IDPs had to be resettled elsewhere, some of those who butchered others are still walking free……

True reconciliation means people opening up and addressing the underlying issues, it means people facing those that they wronged, apologizing and asking for forgiveness, people returning what they stole, while those who committed heinous crimes being prosecuted and jailed. This should include not only the North Rift region, but all the places where PEV was experienced. This is an exercise that government should lead from the front.

Whatever exists now in the North Rift is temporary Peace, with the Uhuru-Ruto political ties acting as the guarantors.

Will the ICC give Kenyans, the victims and the accused Justice?

The ICC is an imperialist institution. Its decisions will not be based on evidence or truth. Its decisions will be based on the interests of the Western Powers.

That is why as Kenyans we must be very vigilant on the discussions that are going on between our government and Western Powers, and the agreements that might come out of it. If for instance Uhuru Kenyatta’s government agrees to host the US AFRICOM base on Kenyan soil, then their cases at the ICC will “crumble” and the two will be declared not guilty.

If imperialism wants to set an example of the two, then they will be found guilty, irrespective of how weak or strong the prosecution’s case is.

The way forward

Kenyans and Africans should wake up and be masters of their own destiny. We should end this notion that external dependency is the alpha and omega of development and progress. It is foolish to think that the forces that enslaved the African people, destroyed our history, colonialized our past, propped up dictators and assassinated revolutionary African leaders, destroyed our young economies in the name of loans/aid and views us as inferior due to the color of our skins will today become our saviors.

We must struggle and rise up against our own retrogressive systems here in Africa and overthrow the greed, rot, inequality and injustice, replacing it with justice, equality and humanity.

If our justice system does not work, then we should make it work, we should not run to the ICC for bogus fixes. Those Old powers and rising powers did not run elsewhere so as to strengthen their systems, it was the people themselves who rose up through numerous revolts and even revolutions in struggles towards improving their lives.

Africans should not sit pretty and expect solutions from the UNSC and foreign countries.

In the medium term, the AU should strengthen its institutions and show real commitment to ending impunity in Africa. The African Court of Justice and Human Rights should have the mandate to try all crimes beyond a certain magnitude. The idea that Presidents (and the powerful) cannot stand trial must be discarded completely since it is extremely backward and is part of what brings violence and instability in Africa.

Benedict Wachira

2:01pm

The Mo Ibrahim foundation should stop taking us for ride.

2013-10-16T13:03:00.001+03:00

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) report was released this week, receiving different reactions from different interests.

I would normally not bother with an Index which gives the least priority to Human Development Index (HDI) in its ranking criteria, were it not for the fact that I found that Kenya’s ranking, especially in the areas of personal security and rule of law were completely off when compared to some of the countries ranked higher or closer to Kenya.

I thus had a look at the foundation’s website www.moibrahimfoundation.org , and found that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to these rankings. Although the IIAG claims to be the “most comprehensive collection of quantitative data on governance in Africa,” they also should openly declare their ideological leanings rather than leaving it to subtly appear in their rankings.

In fact, I have in the past listened to Mo Ibrahim praising former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano for his role in the liberalization of the Mozambican economy and how this was beneficial to business in that country.

Western Sahara Republic, Sudan and South Sudan not ranked

This year’s report ranked Mauritius number 1/52 with an index of 82.9 points, while it ranked Somalia last (52/52) with 8 points.

No reason was given as to why three African countries, that is Western Sahara, Sudan and South Sudan were not ranked. This raises eyebrows on the legitimacy and independence of these rankings given the politics behind Western Sahara Republic vis-a-vis Morocco, and possible relations between Mo Ibrahim and his country of origin, Sudan(s).

Western Sahara Republic, which is a founder member of the African Union, has since its independence in the 70’s had a lot of tensions with neighboring Kingdom of Morocco, which continues to occupy and colonize parts of Western Sahara to this date. Either, the Mo Ibrahim foundation decided to rank Western Sahara under Morocco, or decided not to rank Western Sahara due to influences from Morocco.

By the Mo Ibrahim foundation not recognizing Western Sahara in their report, they have not only shown their open bias for the Colonial Kingdom of Morocco against the Saharawi people, but have also shown where the foundation stands when it comes to (in)justice, independence of nations and equality of states. To any self respecting African, this single omission is reason enough to trash the whole report since it is impossible to have respect for anything that is inspired by injustice.

This is further worsened by the fact that overally, Morocco is ranked number 14, while Algeria, which is more advanced in all the criteria used, is ranked at number 25.

The fact that Salim Ahmed Salim, a former long serving Secretary General the O.A.U and a distinguished African is a member of the foundation’s board and chairs its prize committee and is therefore party to this violation of Western Sahara’s independence is extremely disappointing.

When it comes to Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, we are again left to speculate. Given the fact that Mo Ibrahim is a Sudanese born British citizen, it could be that he personally influenced his foundation not to rank the two Sudans for his own personal reasons. The reasons could be that he was so angered by the division of the two Sudans three years ago, that he felt that South Sudan should never be recognized in his institutions; But since this would raise questions, he made a compromise and decided that both the Sudans would not be ranked in the IIAG. This speculation is strengthened by the fact that Sudan has in the past been included in the IIAG reports.

If this is the case, then it is just too unfortunate. Just for the records, I also did not agree with the separation of the two countries, and I hope that they will unite in the future, but bringing personal feelings to a governance index that claims to be “a tool with which to govern, highlighting continental, regional, national and thematic governance results” shows how pedestrian this IIAG is.

Of course, they cannot claim that they had difficulty in accessing information in these three countries since if that was the case, then Somalia would not have been ranked at all. It would also have been more difficult for The Democratic Republic Congo(DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) to find their way into the report if these three countries could not.

A look into the general and specific categories under which the data is classified shows that the IIAG serves as a propaganda and lies tool for Western interests, and the interests of certain specific African countries.

A few examples of the propaganda, biases and lies

Under the “Safety and rule of law” category, we have Mali and Libya being ranked higher than Zimbabwe. In fact, Zimbabwe, with a score of 29.7 ranks just five points above the CAR and the DRC which have scores of 24.9 and 24.5 respectively! How is this even possible?

Under Personal safety (a sub-category of Safety and rule of law), Libya ranks number 43/52 with 29.7, while Zimbabwe is number 48/52 with an index of 18.9! This keeping in mind the developments in Libya since the violent invasion of Libya by the imperialist countries just two years ago!

The lowest score in terms of personal safety is Somalia, which has a score of 0.0. We know that Somalia is not a very safe place to live in, but giving it a score of 0.0 just shows laziness on the side of the person who was doing the ranking.

In the sub-category of Rule of Law, Eritrea scores 3.3 and is number 51/52, while Rwanda scores 48.7 and is number 25/52, just two points below Kenya which has a score of 51.5! This is in a country(Rwanda) where a there are thousands of political prisoners, a country where all opposition Parties that oppose the ruling Party are operating from exile, and where Victoire Ingabire was imprisoned by a Rwandese court in fabricated charges, but for the real reason of posing a winning threat against Paul Kagame’s leadership in the last presidential elections.

In the category of “Participation and Human Rights” Uganda is ranked at 18/52 with 56 points, Kenya is ranked at 23/52 with 50.7 and Rwanda is ranked at 29/52 with 44.6 points. So Uganda, a country where President Museveni violently clamped down Kizza Besigye and anyone who wanted to walk-to-work in opposition to rising fuel prices in Uganda, ranks higher than Kenya? A country where torture is openly used to extract information from suspects and a country where the media is not at all free ranks higher than Kenya in the category of Participation and Human Rights?

Zimbabwe here is ranked at position 45, below Ivory Coast, which is ranked 43 and below Cameroon and Morocco which are ranked position 39 and 40 respectively!

On the sub-category of Rights, Morocco surprisingly ranks at number 24, while Algeria ranks at number 34!

In the sub-category of gender, it is evident that whoever was mandated to do the ranking concentrated on representation in Parliament and chose to ignore all the other indicators. Clear propaganda.

These biases and lies continue in almost all the other categories, where even in the obvious categories like Education, Zimbabwe is ranked a distant 24.

It is clear that Countries like Algeria, Ethiopia and Angola ranked at number 25, 33 and 39 were unfairly ranked lower than they deserve.

These incongruities only confirm that the Mo Ibrahim foundation serves right wing, west-leaning interests in Africa, while veiling their rankings as scientific and impartial under the cover of untrue figures. The lies also confirm that the IIAG should not be used as “a framework for citizens, governments, institutions and business to assess the delivery of public goods and services, and policy outcomes, across Africa” as they would want it to be used.

Benedict Wachira

16^th October 2013

12:57pm

The Westgate Mall Terrorist attack: Could it have been carried out by the CIA? From whom should we learn from? and why IG Kimaiyo should just go

2013-09-26T23:25:00.002+03:00

The Westgate Mall terrorist attack was the worst of the continued Terrorist attacks in the country since the birth of Al Shabaab organisation.

What sets terrorism apart from all the other deadly crimes that Kenyans encounter on a daily basis, is the fact that it causes fear, curtails our free movement, its objective is to kill, and it is impossible to negotiate with it.

For instance, in the case of armed robbers, they are interested in their loot, with all the intention of enjoying it later, so if you cooperate with them, they will most likely spare your life (that is why most of the survivors said that they thought it was a ‘normal robbery’). In the case of ethnic clashes, it is easy to prevent, and talks between communities will usually solve matters. If it organized criminal gangs, it just takes the government to deal with them since most of these mafia-like groups operate openly.

Terrorism tends to cause a lot of fear, whether we like it or not. Kenyans will fear(albeit temporary) going to churches when churches become targets, they’ll fear going to clubs when clubs become targets, they’ll fear taking public transport to Eastleigh when they become targets, they’ll fear going to the mosque when mosques become targets, and they will now have a subconscious fear when going into any of the big malls and even supermarkets.

Reforms needed

Now that the blame game has begun, all eyes are rightly focused on National Intelligence Service(NIS), for the failure to unearth the Westgate Mall attack beforehand.

This is not the first time that the NIS has been blamed for laxity, with the highest blame coming in the 2007/8 PEV. Of course, this criticism reduced when during the commission of inquiry on the PEV it became evident that the NIS had the information, and they passed it on to the Police who then failed to act adequately.(I wonder what will happen if the NIS informs us that they had already informed the Police, again)

The question that was however left unanswered after the PEV inquiry was, since it’s clear that the NIS cannot act on what it gathers, what reforms should have then been made? This problem, in my opinion, can be solved by making the Inspector General of National Police Service answerable to the Director General of NIS, in addition to the president.

Nevertheless, the NIS, whatever they tell us this time round, must reorganize its priorities. The NIS is known for doing very good work on spying on politicians and patriots, but not the same work when it comes to prevention of crime.

The best way that I can describe the NIS in terms of its capabilities is that “it can do an excellent job towards preventing the toppling of the President by progressive civilian uprisings like the ones that we see in Tunisia and Egypt, but will do a terrible job in preventing gunmen from shooting the President at a political rally.”

David Kimaiyo should just go

I have always asked for the removal of the IG Kimaiyo, and with good reasons for that matter. We’ve tried to engage the National Police Service Commission to this end without any success.

On comparison, Kimaiyo is the worst of the three Police heads that we’ve had since 2004. Major General Hussein Ali was intelligent, confident and did well in TRYING to reform the Police force (save for the PEV blot). Mathew Iteere did not improve things at the Police Service, he rather maintained what Hussein Ali had began. But David Kimaiyo!! This IG still lives in the Nyayo Era days, and in my opinion, he is far less intelligent than his two predecessors. He seems not to have the slightest understanding of civil rights, it is as if he does not understand that we now have a Police service and not a police force, and he appears more proud when stating that they have arrested 20 prostitutes in Mombasa, than he does when explaining more important security matters. He is also “untouchable” since he gets all the protection he needs from another Nyayo era dictatorship mentality fellow, Francis Kimemia (and his wing man Mutea Iringo).

Actually, two events happened last week, which just shows how incompetent the man is;

1. Dealing with Hawkers.

Last week, some ‘activist’ friends of mine were working with a group of Hawkers, and they had organized a demonstration against the Police/Council Askaris constant wars. Then on the day of the Demo, the OCPD central called the activists and told them to call off the Demo, since he had intelligence information that a criminal gang wanted to join in the demo and cause havoc in the City, and he instead offered to organize for a meeting between him, the Governor and the Hawkers later that day. After long deliberations, the activists agreed to the OCPD’s request since this was the first time that he was cancelling a demonstration, but on condition that they would go and address the hawkers together, which they did. The Police intel was accurate, in that even after calling off the demo, a group moved out and went ahead to cause a lot of chaos and destruction in the City.

Two days later, the IG tweeted that he had created a special force of 450, yes, FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY Anti-Hawkers Police squad, drawn from the RP and the AP, to deal with the hawkers. If that is not a joke, then I do not know what is. The questions that we should ask are; Why use 450 Policemen to deal with Hawkers? What is the mandate of these policemen?? If we need 450 Policemen to deal with hawkers, then how many do we need to deal with crime in this country???

As for the talks, it was declared that there would be no negotiations with the Hawkers.

Back to the OCPD central meeting, one question that he could not answer was, if they knew that a criminal gang was planning to interfere with the peaceful demo, why didn’t they just go ahead and arrest them before the demo? In any case, they are criminals, meaning that there are other crimes that they have committed before and they can be arrested for those crimes.

I have had a chance to engage with the hawkers too, and these hawkers have proposed solutions (which are of course temporary, given the unemployment rates in this country..) which include opening up of back streets like the late Karisa Maitha had done 10 years ago, letting them operate on certain streets on certain days, and specific times; re-evaluating those operating at Muthurwa Market, so that anyone with an investment of above, say sh20, 000 may move to proper shops in town since their investment is above that of a hawker and many other good proposals. Why Kimaiyo prefers to use force and not a mixture of talks and if need be, force, is something that is incomprehensible.

The second thing that I have come to learn is that there is a group that charges the hawkers monies between sh50 and sh100 daily as protection fees. This group spies on the City Askaris and alerts the hawkers of their presence. This is the group that also fights out with the Police/Askaris in River road and Ngara, as the hawkers take cover. The group collects a minimum of sh75, 000 daily. I believe that this is the criminal gang that the OCPD was talking about, and if it’s the one, then the Police should be able to deal with them with ease, unless they want the status quo to remain, because I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that senior policemen get a share of the over sh75, 000.

2. How he dealt with the Westgate Mall saga

The second event of last week that confirmed to me that we have the wrong person at the helm of the Police Service was how IG Kimaiyo appeared at Westgate during the siege.

The fellow was fully aware that he was dealing with a terrorist attack/hostage situation, and then he appears at the scene with a helmet and an AK47 leaves behind his officers who are better equipped and wants to single handedly walk into the Mall and kill all the terrorists! And it had to take pleading from his juniors so as to bring him back into sense!! If this is not utmost carelessness, incompetence, a joke or a mixture of the three, then I do not know what is. Up until now, I am still trying to understand his motivation that day, and I zeroed down on four postulations;

· Either he was so angry with the terrorists that he wanted to deal with the matter himself, in direct combat (which epitomizes his incompetence)

· He has watched too many Commando and Rambo movies and wanted to implement what he had watched (going by his preferred Police Hat, the beret, this could be a high possibility)

· He was intentionally doing that for the TV and cameras (The fact that he can perform such a show when hundreds of lives are at risk is a huge disappointment)

· Or maybe he has emotional-mental problems (which should be taken seriously)

Whichever reason he had, if that is how he is leading the Police Service then I think the man should just go, since in command institutions, the leader really matters. Great commanders lead from the front, but not Kimaiyo style.

Who should Kenya learn from?

The Kenyan media seems to be infatuated with the Israeli and the American forces. Even when the President says that there were no foreign forces involved in the final assault, the media (especially the Nation media) still insisted that these foreign forces were involved. Kenyan government also holds the American and Israeli forces in high regard in relation to military stuff, and even the GSU’s Reece squad trains in Israel.

Not that we should not learn from foreign security forces, on the contrary, we should. However, we should learn from those in similar circumstances first.

If Kenya’s intention is to occupy other people’s lands, practice apartheid and to terrorize innocent people in other countries, then the best teachers will be the Zionists in Israel. If the intention is to dominate other people, kill innocent civilians in countries abroad, topple governments, host and train terrorist groups so that they can cause havoc against perceived enemies etc, then we can best learn from the Americans.

Kenyans cannot allow such colonial-imperialistic habits, nor can Kenya afford such.

Terrorism is not a new thing. If we want to learn how to effectively deal with it, now that we expect more of it, then we should learn from countries like Tunisia, Algeria and such. These two countries have had long experiences in dealing with Islamist terrorists and all their tactics, from suicide bombings, to taking of hostages, hijackings etc …… and here we are talking about 20-30 years experience.

I happened to visit Algeria earlier this year, and I could see the vigilance right from the airport. I interacted with a few Kenyan students on scholarship in Algeria, and they were full of praise of the Algerian Police, how helpful they are, how if you are lost or need anything, they will go to great lengths to help you, and also how firm they are. Nevertheless, what further impressed me was when one of them told me that Algerians “ni wambenye” and if you happen to be new in a neighbourhood, the neighbours will “Snitch” on you to the police. The civilians themselves do not joke with their security. The people are the first line of intelligence.

Then I flew to Tindouf, Southern Algeria, so that we could attend the 40^th Anniversary of Western Sahara’s Polisario Front, in the refugee camps (the reason our stay was in the refugee tents was because the Moroccan Kingdom, with the support of France, has been illegally occupying half of Western Sahara Republic since 1975.)

So when coming back, at the airport at Tindouf, I somehow forgot to remove some things from my pocket, and the Security officer moved his hands all over my body, and began feeling my pocket, and he asked me; “flashdisk?” I said yes. “Keys?” I said yes…then he amazed me when he asked me “lapel pin?” I responded yes….and finally, there was something that he could not decipher, so he asked me “what else?” I said nothing, just that. Then he said “no no, there is something else, please empty your pockets,” and kumbe what he could not decode was the Key holder, which is a metallic Whistle! I then passed through the metallic sensor really impressed. All this checks were being done despite the fact that I was using the government VIP facilities.

Early this year, Algeria dealt with terrible hostage situation at one of its natural Gas complexes, where 37 multinational hostages were killed, 29 Islamist terrorists killed and 3 arrested alive, at a complex with over 700 workers. The US and other western countries had offered to send their Soldiers, but the Algerian government, which is very critical of the west, turned down the offers and successfully dealt with the situation, keeping in mind that it borders Libya, Mali and Niger.

I think these are the people that we should learn from. Countries where Security forces are well trained can be trusted in matters of Security, and countries where people know that they have a role in their own Security.

HSM Press and My Conspiracy Theory

I am not a fan of conspiracy theories, but some questions are leading me to this believe that there is one here.

When the Kenya Defence Forces rolled into Somalia, there was, alongside the war at the front, a ferocious propaganda and lies war on the media and specifically on Twitter, where KDF’s Major Emmanuel Chirchir was battling it out with whoever runs Al Shabaab’s HSM Press. I was following both of them, though I believed more on what KDF’s spokesperson Colonel Cyrus Oguna and Major Chirchir told us.

But all this changed when in September last year, some KDF soldiers were captured at the battle front, and after some days, KDF claimed that they had rescued some. This raised two contentions; firstly, KDF had said that those captured were five, and secondly, that they had rescued two soldiers. Al Shabaab on the other hand claimed that they had captured more, and none had been rescued.

So as to end the argument, Al Shabaab posted photos that killed my appetite for that day. They were photos of bodies of young Kenyan soldiers, some with their KDF ID cards and ATM cards placed on their chests. Kenya responded by condemning the showing of photos of the dead (no longer denying).

From that point on, I begun taking the HSM Press tweets seriously. Eventually, when KDF made the final and impressive amphibious attack and captured Kismayu, I did not fully believe the triumph, until the HSM Press confirmed it. The HSM Press had claimed that they were still holding on, but a few hours later, they admitted that they had been defeated and had closed operations from Kismayu……and the tweets that followed were angry tweets against Somalians who had betrayed them and worked with the “Kuffars”.

What I appreciate about the HSM Press is the fact that their updates are very genuine and honest. For instance, when police stations along the border were attacked or a bar in Nairobi was bombed, they would celebrate the killing of the policemen/civilians, but admit that they were not responsible, and when they were responsible, they did not hesitate to proudly tell us so, and they would also correct themselves when they gave wrong information. Secondly, they give information as it happens, hours before other media stations relay it, eg the attack of the Somali UN complex, the attack of Somalia President Sheikh Mohamud’s armored convoy among many others.

Anybody who was following the Al Shabaab on twitter will agree with me that the person who used to update that handle was extremely intelligent, composed and with a very good command of English. S/he could always fit sensible information within 140 characters.

But just a few weeks before the Westgate Mall attack, the “official” Al Shabaab handle was suspended. This was a strange move, and I couldn’t understand why it was suspended at this time. I remember that at the time of KDF’s incursion in Somalia, there were calls to close down their account, since their propaganda was demoralizing Kenyans, and the US government (without being asked) said that it supported the closure. KDF’s spokespeople however, in a show of confidence, opposed the idea of closing the account, saying that they(Al Shabaab) should be allowed to say whatever they wanted, since whatever they updated did not interfere with the battle on the ground, and in any case, their updates were just lies. The HSM Press therefore continued to operate.

Fast forward: A few days after the closure of this “official” account, another account was opened and closed, and another one opened, with others that were already there running parallel to the original one becoming more active than they were before.

During the Westgate Mall attack, we had the newest HSM Press account throwing in updates after every while. What was clear was that the person updating this new account was not the person who used to update the old account. The present manager of the account is erratic, makes too many grammatical errors and is extremely inconsistent when compared with the “official” updater. The present manager knows the Westgate Mall very well, and s/he can even throw a few Swahili sentences (which means that his message was to Kenyans and not Kenya government.) At some point, it felt as if the guy was updating the account in between sips of beer and w*#king in Nairobi.

The big question is: Why was the ‘official’ Al Shabaab twitter handle suspended in September 2013 when it was very harmless? Was the US government behind the suspension? Why would they push for its suspension now?

The other thing that leads to the idea that this attack was not an Al Shabaab attack was President Uhuru Kenyatta’s reaction to the matter. He kept on insisting that no foreign forces were involved in the main operation, and that even though foreign governments had offered to intervene, only the Kenyan forces under Kimaiyo (and Gen Julius Karangi) would deal with the matter. This insistence for me appeared strange. Unlike the Algerian government which is known for being wary of imperialism and which has a lot pride in itself, the Kenyan Government would ordinarily welcome support from Israeli and American forces in this kind of rescue operation.

Why did Uhuru and his CS vehemently deny the involvement of external forces, even when Mossad and SAS soldiers had been involved in the foremost rescue attempts at the mall? Why didn’t they continue working with them alongside the KDF Special Ops force? What is it that Uhuru Kenyatta knew about the Israeli, British and the US forces that he did not want their continued involvement? Why did CS Amina Mohamed point out that some of the terrorists were US citizens in an interview with Al Jazeera even before the Mall was secured by KDF?

Wikileaks info tells us that the US government was strongly against KDF’s entry into Somalia. We know that what aggravated the situation in Somalia was US support for some militants and Warlords in Somalia, an act that most conflict analysts viewed as sabotage by the US government on the Peace efforts that were being hosted by Kenya. We also know that the US government has been reaping billions in terms of protection fees against piracy off the Somali Coast. We also know of some multi-national companies being in the process of exploring Oil and natural gas in Somalia, in cahoots with a few warlords. Definitely the CIA has made some infiltration into Al Qaeda and its affiliate organisations.

Does Peace in Somalia mean losses for the Empire, and hence the efforts to sabotage the efforts in Somalia?

Some individuals will begin demanding for the withdrawal of Kenyan troops from Somalia, since that is what the new “unofficial” Al Shabaab kept on demanding.

But how will the withdrawal of Kenyan forces from Somalia ensure Security for Kenyans? If these terrorist began attacking even before KDF’s entry, what will they do with KDF’s exit? What if the terrorist continue with the attacks and demand that Kenya withdraws from the former North Eastern Province, will we withdraw for the sake of Peace? How far back will we go? Kitui? Eastleigh?

I have in an older post on this blog said that the KDF was invited into Somalia by the Somalia government, which was a legitimate government since it was born out of the Islamic Courts Union of Somalia. If the present Somali government says that we should withdraw, then Kenya must withdraw, but such withdrawal should not be because of the terrorist attacks in Kenya, or because of foreign funded NGOs push, or even because the US feels that Kenya should withdraw. As a Pan-Africanist, I know what Peace in Somalia means for Africa and the region.

On the other hand, the KDF should not retaliate and punish Somalians for this terrorist attack, that will be against their objective. They should continue with their operations under AMISOM in collaboration with the Somalian government as they had planned. I am saying this because we have before seen backward generalized retaliation against the population by the Police in Eastleigh, and by the Military in Garissa in reaction to terrorist attacks.

Benedict Wachira

26 September 2013

4:33pm

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The MPs should stop this stupid talk of giving watchmen guns. That move will only endanger the lives of innocent Kenyans and that of the guards themselves even when it comes to ordinary crimes like robbery…….and please, they should stop giving examples of Kampala guards…they look so helpless with their funny looking guns.

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It is so sad that those terrorists took the lives of so many Kenyans, including that of the brilliant Peter Simani, Chairperson of the Political Parties disputes Tribunal. I remember first, and severally thereafter engaging him in the tribunal when we filed a case against Peter Ndwiga, Mutahi Kagwe, Mutua Katuku and the registrar of political Parties for hijacking our Party, the Social Democratic Party of Kenya. We were then in the Youth League of the Party, and we could not afford legal representation, so we represented ourselves. The other side was represented by well known lawyers, and the three hijackers were all serving in the Mwai Kibaki government. Most people told us that even though the facts were on our side, we would lose the case with costs, since we were going up against powerful Kibaki people. But the tribunal, under the leadership of Peter Simani, Chacha Odera and Jessie Mutura listened to the case, and gave us our rightful victory. He appeared as a man with arrogant intelligence, but very fair when listening to cases. So sad that he, and many other compatriots are gone.

As the bullets fly in Goma, the end of Kagame looms,and maybe there shall be Peace in the Congo

2013-09-08T21:01:00.002+03:00

“We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and free and liberated people from every corner of the world will always be found at the side of the Congolese. They will not abandon the light until the day comes when there are no more colonizers and their mercenaries in our country.”

Wrote Patrice Lumumba in his last letter, December 1960.

Four years later, at the UN General Assembly of 1964, Ernesto Che Guevara said;

“I would like to refer specifically to the painful case of the Congo, unique in the history of the modern world, which shows how, with absolute impunity, with the most insolent cynicism, the rights of peoples can be flouted. The direct reason for all this is the enormous wealth of the Congo, which the imperialist countries want to keep under their control. In the speech he made during his first visit to the United Nations, compañero Fidel Castro observed that the whole problem of coexistence among peoples boils down to the wrongful appropriation of other peoples' wealth. He made the following statement: ‘End the philosophy of plunder and the philosophy of war will be ended as well.’”

Che continued; “All free men of the world must be prepared to avenge the crime of the Congo.”

Then there is the famous statement attributed to Julius Nyerere at the installation ceremony of Laurent Kabila in 1997; That-“There are no uncles any more for Congo, do not wait for them to come and help you – the country is yours and you must take the responsibility for it and for your people”

The Political Map of DRC

Congo’s depressing History

Much has been said about the Congo, mostly about its tribulations. In fact, if anyone wanted to make a study of why Africa, 50 years after independence from colonial rule is still struggling, then one needs to look no further than the Democratic Republic of Congo.

If it is about assassinations of progressive and visionary leaders and replacing them with puppets controlled by foreigners, then you will find one of the earliest in the Congo, in the form of Patrice Lumumba, and Mobutu Sese Seko.

If it is western countries arming and supporting rebels to create war and destabilize African nations through demands for secession, then you will find one of the earliest examples will be found in the DRC, with Moise Tshombe and the mineral rich Katanga cessation attempt.

If it is about dictatorships in Africa, lack of democracy, puppet regimes, leaders enriching themselves & looting their countries dry, despicably corrupt leadership, political prisoners, forcing personality cult worship of leaders, nepotism,,,,anything & everything bad about African leaders and leadership, you will find the best example in the DRC, through Joseph Desire Mobutu, aka Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga ( the cock that spares no hen).

If it about UN interventions that worsen matters in world conflicts, then the UN Congo intervention in the 60's is one of them.

If it is about deadly ethnic superstition, you will find it in DRC.

If it is about exploitation of African resources by foreign countries and corporations with extremely little or no benefits to the African people, then look no further.

Slavery, King Leopold II, the Belgians and resistance

Even before the tragedies of the last half of the last century, the people in and around Congo had experienced the unspeakable brutality of the slave trade for several centuries, from both its Eastern and western sides, where millions of the strongest and the fittest were captured and taken as slaves to the Americas, Europe and the Arab world; an atrocity whose negative effects were felt for many generations that followed. (we can only imagine how far the African would be today, if millions of its strongest youth were not taken to slave elsewhere or die in the slave ships, or we can instead imagine, how stagnated Africa could remain, if for the next 100 years, millions of its most able youth are taken out of it, never to come back again)

Then came King Leopold II of Belgium, (whose claim to the Congo he supported by his ‘wanting to end slavery’) who brutalized the people, killed over 10 million Congolese in just 20 years, and left tens of millions of women and children with their hands chopped off and genitals mutilated either because their husbands had not worked had enough to produce enough rubber, or just because it was not possible to produce enough rubber for Leopold.(Most of Leopold's wealth that he had gotten from Congo was taken up by Belgium after his death)

Then Belgium moved in and continued with the murder and plunder (Belgium has the world’s best diamond cutters, and exports a lot of natural diamonds, yet it does not produce any!) until the nationalists managed to gain their independence from their colonizers,,,,,,and the rest of the story is recent history.

[Below are the more known internet photos of the way things were during Leopold's colonization]

A young girl and her sister with cut off hands

Women who's hands were cut off because the husbands did not 'work hard enough'

Some Congolese men holding some of the cut hands

A father, looking in disbelief and sadness at the hands that belonged to his five year old daughter

On the other hand, the story of DRC has been that of resilience of the people, people rebuilding their lives after each of the numerous manmade calamities that have been imposed on them. A people whose scars are hidden in their happy faces and their welcoming hearts. A people who have refused to be put down by their sad history and an uncertain future. A people who in them resides a deep sense of Utu.

Armed Conflicts and wars

Over the past two decades, the DRC has been through deadly conflicts, and wars that sound more fiction than real. The two Main recent Congo wars left over 6 million people dead and tens of millions devastated.

First came what was seen as a progressive struggle against the backward regime of Mobutu, when the rebels from the East, led by among others Laurent-Desire Kabila, and primarily supported by Paul Kagame’s RPF soldiers, and also directly by the Uganda army (and later by Angola) and they managed to quickly take over town after town reaching Kinshasa with no much struggle from the Zairean Armed forces, whose Commander in Chief had already fled into exile in Morocco.

The main reason that Kagame gave for their entry into Congo was that the Hutu Interahamwe rebels were reorganizing themselves in Eastern Congo(including within the refugee camps) with the intention of invading Rwanda for the purposes of retaking power and continuing with the genocide that they had began earlier, and so they had to move into Congo and fight them off from within Congo……but later they realised that they also had to remove Mobutu from power, since he was supporting the Hutu rebels, and so they did remove him from power.

As expected, Laurent Kabila became the President of the then Zaire, which he renamed Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but even before he could settle down, trouble started again.

His government and his Military was dominated by the Rwandan Tutsis, and they were creating trouble for him concerning agreements that Kabila had made with Rwanda and Uganda “while in the Bush.” (It is alleged that they (Kabila, Museveni and Kagame) had agreed that after toppling Mobutu, the mineral rich Kivu would be left under total administration of Rwanda.)

Due to the tensions in his government, he ordered all the Tutsi Rwandan elements in his government out of DRC, and he replaced them with some Congolese nationals.

Rwanda and Uganda immediately began aiding and funding rebels in the East of Congo, and another war began in Congo. Later, Rwanda, Uganda and to some extent Burundi openly joined the War, and began repeating what they had done earlier, taking over town after town with so much ease, with the intention of toppling Laurent Kabila, and this time round replacing him with a person that they could trust, a Rwandese Tutsi.

Intervention of Zimbabwe, Angola and Zambia

Kabila’s young government could not stop what Mobutu’s old government could not stop. He was facing two armies that had toppled three presidents in less than 15 years (Kagame had fought under Yoweri Museveni when NRM/A toppled General Tito Okello from power(just seven months after Okello had removed Milton Obote from Power), Kagame was aided by Museveni when he launched his RPF rebel army from Uganda and removed the Habyarimana regime from Power…..and both Kagame and Museveni armed forces had participated in the overthrow of Mobutu (for Museveni, it was sweet revenge against Mobutu who had earlier supported Okello militarily against the rebels))

Kabila called for help from everywhere, and finally under the strong influence and leadership of Robert Mugabe, some SADC countries, Angola, Zambia and Mugabe’s Zimbabwe agreed at a summit in Harare to move into DRC in support of Kabila. That is when the Rwandan and Ugandan Armed forces met the wrath of Zimbabwe’s armed forces, supported by Angola and Zambia.

By the time Zimbambwe’s Army (born out of the experienced Anti-Colonial Guerrilla Army) moved into DRC, the Rwandan and the Ugandans were at ‘the gates’ of Kinshasa. But after a few battles between the allied forces and the invading armies, the invading army had to run with their dead back to Rwanda(and Eastern Congo)….and then some sort of peace deal was later brokered, which required that Rwanda withdraws all its forces from the DRC, but as expected, this was never to be.

**I regard RG Mugabe highly for this. Many people in DRC do so too.**

Even though another peace deal was brokered in 2002, the Government of Rwanda continued to fund rebels in Eastern Congo, and continued mining the high-value minerals in Eastern Congo.

The Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) would continue openly entering into DRC, with their usual excuse of fighting the Interehamwe who were organized as Democratic Forces for the Liberation Rwanda (FDLR), but they would continue with their mining business and causing terror to the people of Eastern Congo.

Massacre of 200, 000 Hutus

The lowest point of all the RDF invasions was when, with the logistical support of the United States of America, RDF murdered an estimated 200, 000 innocent Hutu refugees in the DRC, having branded all Hutus in DRC as FDLR.

Peace talks and Inclusion of rebels into DRC Government

The DRC would later, in an effort to end all this violence in the east, engage in talks with the rebel armies fighting against it, and most of the rebel groups agreed to the peace process, and joined the government and the army, with their leaders getting senior positions in the military.

By the time these talks (with Kagame and later with the rebels) were being carried out, Laurent Kabila had been assassinated, and his son, Joseph Kabila (through the influence of RG Mugabe) was appointed the President of DRC by the Congolese army.

(At the time of his assassination, Laurent Kabila, who had several decades before fought alongside Che Guevara, had been moving consistently to the left, and some of his advisers were people like Comrade Ludo Marteens, a brilliant thinker and member of the Belgian Workers Party, alongside other Socialists.)

To cut the long sad story short, Kagame continued/continues to support and armed rebel groups in the East of DRC; and the killings, deaths and devastation continued/continues. Kagame also continued/continues to deny the he had any links with these mostly Tusti-led rebel groups, (just as he had at first denied-but later accepted, that there were any Rwandan forces fighting alongside Laurent Kabila to overthrow Mobutu).

All rebel leaders seek refuge in Rwanda

But even to most gullible supporters of Kagame couldn’t help but notice that whenever these rebel groups are destabilized either by the Armed Forces of DRC (FARDC) or through their own internal wrangles, the losing rebel leaders have always found safe refuge in Rwanda, under the facilitation of the Rwandan government. The likes of Colonel Jules Mutebutsi, General Laurent Nkunda, Colonel Baudouin Ngaruye, Eric Badege, Colonel Innocent Zimurinda, Bishop Runinga Rugerero and many others lead open and comfortable lives in Rwanda. This is despite the many warrants of arrests issued by the DRC government.

It is only General Bosco Ntaganda who did not have a good time in Rwanda since he had refuse to respect the leadership of Sultani Makenga in the M23 as approved by Kigali. He had to seek refuge at the US embassy in Kigali and asked that he be extradited to the Hague.

Kagame’s eternal excuse, FDLR, ends

Kagame’s excuse for invading DRC had always been that he needed to exterminate the FDLR rebels operating from the DRC. He has always used the early 90’s Rwandan genocide to blackmail the world, so that he could do whatever he wanted to do to avoid ‘another genocide’ in Rwanda.

Tired of this excuse, the DRC government agreed with the Kagame government that the FARDC conduct joint operations with the Rwandese Defense Forces (RDF) in eastern Congo to weed out all the FDLR rebels in eastern Congo.

The joint military operations, which began in 2009 were named operations Kimia, Kimia II, and Umoja Wetu. The operations were successful and they weeded out almost all the FDLR (Interehamwe) rebels, with hundreds of them having been killed in combat, and over 12, 000 Rwandese repatriated back to Rwanda.

Below is one of the videos taken at the end of the operation in Eastern DRC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ehK-jdQve4

Coming to birth of M23

Left with no other excuse of directly invading the DRC, the only other option that Rwanda was left with was to increase its support to its rebel movements in the DRC, who were consolidated into the M23 movement. (Kagame’s open support for the M23 led to the temporary withdrawal of military funding to Rwanda by some western countries)

(It is observed that Kagame’s mentor, Museveni, has always used a similar strategy but in different circumstances. Even after fighting and exterminating Joseph Kony’s LRA rebel group in Northern Uganda, Kony would always reappear as the election periods in Uganda neared, and Museveni’s soldiers would fight Kony so bravely that his support at the ballots would increase. Joseph Kony also seems to operate where Museveni has interests. If Museveni needs to interfere with the Sudanese government/support the SPLM/A, then Kony will go and hide in Sudan. If Museveni wants to do some joint military operations with the US army in Central African Republic, then Joseph Kony will go and hide in CAR, if he needs minerals from the DRC, then Kony will flee and hide in the DRC……)

Some hope

After the quick takeover of Goma by the M23/RDF towards the end of last year as the FARDC ran away, while the UN peace keeping forces just stood by the side as the M23/RDF violently took over Goma, Ban Ki Moon gave the rebels an ultimatum to disarm and withdraw, but the rebels ignored the ultimatum and instead demanded for talks.

The process of searching for a permanent solution for Eastern Congo was thus initiated (again)

At about the same time, Ugandan soldiers were also operating in the DRC, with their usual claim that they are after some LRA rebels.

With M23/RDF taking over Goma, and Ugandan military operating in DRC, It was clear that a script from the past was about to be replayed.

This made Kabila look for help within SADC, and Angola announced that it would be sending its elite forces into DRC’s eastern front, a move that had already been consented to by the DRC government.

Of course, if the Angolans were to deal with M23, then it meant dealing with the RDF and in essence dealing with Kagame. Zimbabwe and Tanzania also promised to volunteer troops to the region.

Temporary diversion from hope

Museveni and his wing-man, Kagame, sensed the danger, and instead, they did four critical things;

· Museveni hastily withdrew his armed forces from the DRC.

· Museveni called for an ICGLR (International Conference on Great Lakes Region) led peace talks meeting between the M23 and the DRC government.

· Kagame and his western allies (US & Britain) expanded the mandate of the UN neutralization brigade, transforming it into an Intervention brigade that could engage M23/RDF in open battle. Meaning that the justification for the Angolan/Zimbabwean/Tanzanian direct intervention was no longer there.

· Museveni quickly ran to Luanda, and begged Eduardo Dos Santos not to sent any troops, since the peace talks were about to begin, and since the mandate of the UN forces had been expanded.

Those ICGLR talks began and failed because the M23 stuck to their demands which included that:

· The government of DRC should share power with M23, and they should be appointed as ambassadors, that they should be allowed to head some of the government parastatals and institutions and that there leaders should also be appointed as provincial heads.

· The M23 soldiers should be integrated into the FARDC and given high ranks.

· Amnesty should be given to all rebels who have engaged in Eastern DRC from 2009.

· The M23 should be given total administrative and military control of the region of Rutshuru for a renewable period of 5 years.

Also, SADC seemed to agree to the UN plans, and so Tanzania and South Africa contributed troops for the UN Intervention Brigade. (The idea of an Intervention Brigade is good, but not better than the idea of direct intervention against M23/RDF)

M23 and Kagame react

The M23 responded by threatening both Tanzania and South Africa, with a stern warning letter to Jacob Zuma that ‘should he send SA troops into the DRC, then they should prepare for more body bags than they had gotten from Central African Republic’ a few months earlier.

Then there were allegations of Rwanda’s plan to cause destabilization in Western Tanzania, by infiltrating the region with rebels so as to keep Tanzania busy with some internal affairs, since Jakaya Kikwete was openly becoming more critical with Kagame’s activities in the DRC.

Kikwete followed up with a warning to Kagame that “Anyone who dares invade or provoke us will face dire consequences” and a few weeks later, thousands of Rwandese national who had entered western Tanzania illegally were expelled from Tanzania.

Recapture of Goma and new ICGLR talks

As for the better part of last month, the MONUSCO(FIB)-FARDC forces have been battling the M23, with a lot of success, as was expected.

They quickly recaptured Goma, and they are still trailing the M23/RDF into the hills of Eastern RDC/Western Rwanda.(where the geography of the area makes it difficult to further battle the M23/RDF, unless they get into Rwandan territory)

Kagame has claimed that the FARDC has shelled its territory, and has send thousands of RDF soldiers along its borderline and some of these RDF soldiers openly engaged in combat alongside the M23 during their retreat from Goma (and Ban Ki Moon’s best reaction to this brazen involvement of RDF was to ‘strongly condemn Rwanda’ for its involvement!).

Kagame is also claiming that the FARDC & the UN forces are being aided by the FDLR (interehamwe), which ironically they had almost completely wiped off during the Kimia I, Kimia II and Umoja wetu joint operations.

The just ended ICGLR peace talks meeting in Uganda (whose resolutions were actually overshadowed by photos of Kikwete and Kagame shaking hands) demanded for the halting of all hostilities and also demanded for new talks between M23 and DRC, which must begin and end within the next 14 days. This for me appears to be just another plan to buy time, and help M23/RDF reorganize.

The Congolese armed forces

as a way forward, Joseph Kabila needs to reorganize his Army and all his security apparatus. For a country like the DRC, security should be more important than everything else. The DRC should be one of the biggest military spenders in Africa.

A question that comes to anyone hearing about the Congo conflicts usually is; How comes a big country like the DRC, is always troubled by smaller countries like Rwanda and Uganda?

In as much as this question may sound too simplistic, it still holds a lot of water. Joseph Kabila has been given legitimacy through two elections in the past, and he should take proper charge of the DRC. He should not encourage war, but he should not fear engaging in it when it has been imposed on him. Most importantly, he must prepare for war. It doesn’t make sense having a big and beautiful capital while you are living in constant fear that it might be destroyed anytime.

African countries that have experienced Wars, both external and internal, or are situated in unstable regions do not joke around with their military expenditure. Algeria, which has been invaded in the past by Morocco; has had a bloody civil war; and continues experiencing threats from the imperialist countries and Islamist terrorists, has an annual military budget of over ksh 800 Billion.

Angola, having been faced by civil wars that were imposed on them spends over ksh 300Billion. Sudan and Nigeria, having faced civil wars in the past, and still facing constant internal threats spend annually over 160Billion and 140Billion respectively.

Morocco, spends over ksh300Billion on its military, which has in the past been used to invade Algeria, and has been illegally occupying/colonizing Western Sahara Republic since 1975(keeping in mind that its economy is dependent on Tourism, Sale of drugs like Hashish& Heroine and minerals stolen from Western Sahara)

Military spending alone will also not be enough. Brother Leader Muammar Gaddafi went down without any real fight, despite spending heavily on his army. (They never even tried to bomb France which is not far off!)

He will need to instill Patriotism, courage and boost the morale of his soldiers. His soldiers need to be loyal to the DRC and her people. He will need to mobilize the whole country to itself.

The stories of the DRC soldiers fleeing like cowards should be stories of the past. Che Guevara wrote about that problem during his engagement in the Congo in the 60’s. Mobutu’s forces did the same in the 90’s. Laurent Kabila’s forces continued with the habit, so have Joseph’s forces as was even seen last year during the M23 takeover of Goma.

The worst thing about the FARDC is that whereas they used to be biggest cowards when faced with foreign invaders, they are also known to be very brutal and undisciplined when dealing with its own population. This means that Kabila will need to work on the discipline and order in his Army.

Over the past few months though, the FARDC has engaged the M23/RDF very courageously and with utmost discipline, which not only shocked the M23/RDF, but also surprised people like us who support DRC’s sovereignty. Even though the intervention brigade has really helped in beating off the M23/RDF rebels, The FARDC also managed to recapture strategic positions from M23/RDF all alone! This is an extremely positive turn for the FARDC.

This is because all indications show that, just like Kagame needed to get into DRC territory to weed out the Interehamwe rebels, the FARDC will need to get into the Rwandan territory to weed out the M23 rebels and other rebels.

It also follows the same logic that just as it was necessary to remove dictator Mubutu Sese Seko from power in 1997 so as to reduce the possibilities of war in Rwanda, it is now, more than ever before, extremely necessary to remove dictator Paul kagame from power, so as to reduce the possibility of further wars in the Congo.

Photo of a FARDC Soldier being cheered by the population after the re-capture of Goma from M23 rebels (Photo from the FARDC facebook page)

At least dealing with Yoweri Museveni is much easier. He is more pragmatic than Kagame, and he is also a coward. A call from a few African heads of states is enough to tame him. He seems also to be brighter than Kagame; It is easier to deal with bright people, than it is with the opposite.

Imperialism will not rest.

Even with the extermination of M23, even with the removal or death of Paul Kagame, imperialism will not rest, nor will it allow the DRC to rest. Instability and interference in the DRC were there even before Kagame came to power.

There is a common saying among some people that war in the Congo will only end after all its resources are depleted.

The Americans have never abandoned their plans to divide the DRC into several countries.

The Americans, the British, the Israelis, the Belgians, the French, the Japanese and many others are still mining Coltan, Uranium, Platinum, Diamonds, Gold, Timber, and many other natural resources in the DRC.

The DRC leadership needs to learn from its history, and also from the experiences of how other mineral rich countries like Angola saved themselves from its past wars. Only they themselves can solve their own problems as they move forward.

In the meantime, all progressive people in the world, and especially in Africa must speak up, show solidarity and work hard to support the sovereignty of DRC and the prosperity of Bana ba Congo.

8^th September 2013

5:01pm

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The DRC is, and has been Africa’s Superpower in terms of Music for a long time. Right from the days of Franco and his TPOK Jazz, Madilu, Papa Wemba, Pepe Kalle, Tabu Ley, Tshal Mwana, Mbilia Bel, Kanda Bongoman, Awilo Longomba to the invigorating bands of the early 90’s. Great musicians like Koffi olomide, JB Mpiana, Werrason, General Defao. Beautiful voices of people like Lokua Kanza and Barbara Kanam…..to the current sensations like Ferra Gola and Fally Ipupa among many others.

Maybe the DRC government should work with these artists to promote unity among the people of DRC, and also to act as Peace/Sovereignty ambassadors for the DRC. If for instance Fally Ipupa stood up and told M23/RDF off, it would be more powerful than when the same is done by DRC’s foreign affairs minister Raymond Tshibanda. Koffi Olomide’s word will have much more impact across Africa than that of Louise Mushikabwo (Rwanda’s minister of foreign Affairs)

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After President Uhuru Kenyatta’s inauguration, President Joseph Kabila stayed around a little bit longer than the rest of the visitors, and he held several talks with Uhuru Kenyatta.

Even though we do not know about the content of their discussions, Uhuru should definitely play an active role in resolving the never ending DRC conflicts. He is at a good position to influence both Museveni and Kagame (even in the midst of the supremacy battles with Tanzania in the EAC).

His predecessor Mwai Kibaki did very well with Somalia. Under him, Kenya hosted peace talks after peace talks, eventually sending her Defense Forces into Somalia, and it looks like Somalia’s future will improve.

I do not see why Kenya should not work closely with the DRC, so as to end her never ending conflicts, and possibly engage with her and others in the Intra-Africa trade that Uhuru keeps talking about. Supporting the DRC is first as a matter of principal, and secondly as a way of promoting Africa’s interests right from its heart.

To Reduce Road Accidents, We Need To rein in Carelessness.

2013-09-02T21:54:00.000+03:00

Last Thursday, the country woke up to shocking news of the gruesome road accident in Narok that left 41 people dead, and many others sustaining permanent injuries.

The President himself gave his condolences, and the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Roads and Transport, Engineer Kamau, went to Narok to personally inspect the scene of the accident, and to console the survivors at the hospital. The same C.S later declared a ban on night travels by the long distance public buses as one of the solutions to the road carnages.

The government has in the past come up with different ways of curbing the road deaths; from introducing the alco-blow, use of speed guns on some highways, increasing the number of police checks on the roads, to media campaigns on road safety....

But when it is all said and done, we will all need to deal with the main problem: Carelessness on the roads.

A view on some of the major roads

During the just ended elections campaign period, I traveled quite a lot along the Major roads and below are some of the general trends that I saw with vehicles that were travelling to/from:

Central Kenya region;- Careless driving by personal car drivers and Miraa Pickups

Nyanza region;- Careless driving by PSV buses travelling along Mai Mahiu road, with the main culprits being buses from Kisii.

Coast region;- Careless driving by PSV buses& heavy trucks.

Mai Mahiu-Narok road

There were occasions when we would be moving by night from Kisumu at those not-so-interesting speeds of 140kmph/150kmph using some Prados (whose stability makes one feel like they are moving at 110/120kmph on a smaller car).. and then out of nowhere, a Nyamira express bus would swish past you and disappear in to the horizon, meaning that they could be doing anything between 160kmph and 170kmph! anyone who has ever used those long distance buses knows very well that there is usually a sense of lack of stability even at 80kmph, especially when overtaking, or passing over an uneven section of the road. I wouldn't refer to such driving as over-speeding,it is instead just speeding carelessly.

What is interesting is that some of my friends who use these buses are usually very happy about this carelessness. They will tell you that “Siku hizi kuenda Kisii ni 4 hours tu!” or “Siku hizi tunakulanga breakfast na familia asubuhi, sio kama kitambo.” Another friend of mine wondered why I would travel using the Easy Coach buses from kisumu to Nairobi, instead of using the very fast (meaning no speed govenor)and smaller Shuttles.

Highway to Mombasa

While this careless-speeding will make you cross your fingers while in a bus to Homa Bay, what will make you hold tightly onto your seat in buses travelling to Mombasa is how they overtake. In fact, when travelling to Mombasa by bus, I always prefer travelling at night when there are a few heavy trucks, hence less overtaking. You will find a bus that is travelling at 80kmph, trying to overtake a tanker that is moving at 70kmph, while there is an oncoming SUV possibly moving at 100kmph.

Now, me being the type that does not easily fall asleep while travelling, the only choice i am usually left with is stepping on some imaginary breaks whenever such ‘overtakings’ occur(which is quite often)

The other careless thing that these Mombasa bus drivers do is what I can call “communal overtaking.” This usually happens when there are say three slow trucks closely trailing each other, and about four buses behind them, then the driver in the leading bus sees the opportunity to overtake and goes for it, then the rest of the buses blindly follow suit. It is usually not so bad if you are in the first bus, but your hair will definitely stand if you are in the third or fourth bus.

Vehicles to central Kenya

When it comes to vehicles going to/from Central Kenya, it is not the PSV Matatus but some private car drivers and Miraa vehicles that will send you to an early grave.

These roads have very many private cars especially from Friday to Sunday, all of them in some hurry to go wherever. When driving to/from those sides, you will find yourself flashing your headlights many times, just to remind/warn an oncoming overtaking car that you are also on the road. In many occasions, you will be forced to slow down to avoid a head on collision. There are also situations where there are persons overtaking from opposite sides at the same time, again forcing you to slow down to avoid a bad accident, and also so that the fellow can just go where they want.

Some of the drivers on those roads seem to over-estimate the acceleration power of their fielders and Primeos.

There are also these old lorries ferrying food stuff, charcoal, timber etc. where just like the heavy trucks on the Mombasa highway, you’ll find them creating long queues of vehicles behind them, each moving in a zigzag motion, peeping to see whether they can shoot forward and overtake the slow moving lorry (especially headed to Nairobi) which is usually a difficult process given the number of vehicles on the opposite side. Some Macho drivers will nevertheless overtake, and dangerously force themselves in front of you to evade an oncoming vehicle.

Then there are the Miraa pickups. They are always brand new, well maintained Toyota Hiluxes, with a huge Miraa load at the back, and two spare tyres. The speed and recklessness of these pickups makes that of the Kisii buses look like some joke. They will overtake dangerously, and if there is an oncoming vehicle, then it will be up to that oncoming vehicle to get out of the road, or slow down completely so as to allow the Miraa Pickup time to overtake. The Miraa Pickups drivers are the ones who will actually flash their headlights at you, to warn you that they are overtaking, not the other way round. I hear that the drivers walk around with some huge “petty cash” so that when they hit you, they just give you the money to sort your repairs as they go on with their journey.

Even the police do not bother to stop them, they just won’t stop.

Interestingly, the public transport vehicles on these roads are much disciplined. Most of the vehicles move at maximum speed of 80kmph, and the few that have tampered with the speed governors rarely do over 100kmph. If it takes two and a half hours from Nairobi to Karatina, you will most likely take two and a half hours,or slightly more, not less. The drivers never seem to be in any hurry. The passengers are also very vigilant (especially the women) and they will complain and warn the driver to drive carefully whenever he makes any mistake (since the Matatus are smaller, it is easier to complain directly to the driver). They will also start complaining and verbally expressing their shock if another motorist drives dangerously. You will normally get into these Matatus and everybody sits quietly, minding their own. But if any motorist drives badly, or if they go past an accident scene, then everybody will begin talking to everyone, and they can sometimes stay on the topic of accidents/careless driving for over 30 minutes.

But Maybe the reason as to the why PSVs on these routes are more sober is because they used to be the complete opposite some years ago. When we were younger, my brother and I would always be on the lookout for Matatu accidents every time we traveled upcountry for the holidays. We would never miss two or three fatal ones. In fact, as Alfred Mutua once joked, back then, before commencing a journey, some street pastor would turn up just after all the passengers are fully seated, and make a prayer that believers refer to as “journey mercies” and get some small collections for his prayers.

Superstition.

Just as some people believe that if they pray they will arrive safely, others believe in other forms of superstition.

Just yesterday, I was seated in a 4W Matatu, and the topic of Narok accident came up. Everyone was agreeing that those accidents are not “normal”, and it is the owners of those buses who are “giving sacrifices to the devil” so as to increase their wealth. It was alleged that the politicians also are sacrificing their people after winning the elections, as a sign of gratitude to the devil. Statements like “the season for offering sacrifices has arrived” were repeated. Apparently, the season begins in August, peaking and ending in December. All my counter-arguments fell onto deaf ears.

The problem with such superstition is that the drivers will continue to be reckless, and the passengers will just pray that God saves them from being sacrificed.

There is also the philosophy that “kama siku yako imefika, hata undeshe polepole aje utakufa tu.”

There was a time when my good friend Booker Ngesa complained that a Matatu which we were in was being driven badly and instead of the driver listening and driving carefully, he stopped the vehicle in the middle of nowhere and insisted that we get off the Matatu since we had brought “Swara”(bad omen) into the Matatu by complaining. The other passengers supported the Matatu crew through agreeing that we were bringing bad omen and others through their silence. Of course, we had to calm down (though a fist fight did later occur between the Matatu crew members and ourselves immediately we arrived where we were going…)

Sleeping,Madharau and stray dogs

Then there are some long distance drivers who sleep on the wheel. These drivers claim that they know the road so well, that they can actually close their eyes intermittently along some stretches. There is a time we were going to Kisumu on a Friday, not knowing that it is difficult to get buses to Kisumu on Fridays. We found all buses booked, and we were advised to wait for the buses that travel from Mombasa to Kisumu and chance on getting some space. Just as they said, one of the buses arrived but it only had two spaces left, yet we were four of us. We were then told that two would get their seats, and the remaining two would lie on a mattress that is reserved for the Makanga near the driver, only if we assured the bus crew that these two wouldn't sleep, and that they would do the makanga’s job, which is to “pigisha dereva mastori ndio asilale!”

Then there are other drivers who assume that motorcycles and bicycles do not have the right to use the road, and they will just hoot at them, zoom close to them in high speed, or just knock them off and drive away. (I think that before people get their driver’s license, people should first be made to ride a bicycle along one of the major highways, and maybe the experience will help them follow the law and respect cyclists once they get to drive their vehicles.)

There are also some dog (and occasionally donkey) owners who let their animals lose near the highways. Motorists will either hit them and continue with their journey; hit them and lose control therefore an accident; or they try to evade knocking these animals down, and instead they themselves end up dead in some ditch.

Some solutions.

Regulation of long distance buses/Matatus-The idea of having speed governors on long distance buses should be thoroughly followed. There should be a limit on the number of trips a driver can make in a day, and also a limit on the number of trips a bus can make in 24 hours (if the minimum time that a bus moving at 80kmph can take from point A to point B is 10 hours, then the bus can make a maximum of two trips only). Self regulation should be encouraged, though there should be government inspectors who follow up on these matters. If these two limits are broken, then it is the bus owners who should be held responsible.
Have surveillance cameras where possible(like they do in Sudan), and mobile police (I heard that they will now be riding in Subarus) replacing the useless road blocks.
Have proper lighting and signage on our roads. The government should also care to paint the roads so that they can be clear at night. The marks should include road reflectors on the yellow line.
Introduce a hotline specifically for reporting those who are driving carelessly. (so that those mobile police may follow up where possible)
Increase the upper speed limit on the highways (except for PSVs), and also introduce lower speed limit on these highways (to deal will those trucks that move at 40kmph on the highways)
Combine Insurance renewal with vehicle inspection.
The government should have a serious campaign against careless driving (the same way they’ve done against careless sex in relation to HIV spread)
And finally find ways of getting rid of those stray dogs (and Donkeys)………I hear that there was a time when town councils would poison those stray dogs?

That Tummy

2013-06-12T22:08:00.001+03:00

The Tummy.

Clear it in two weeks! So they claim.

I do not like how it looks, she and he says.

I work the gym but it never disappears, she complains.

Some men love the hips,

Others ogle the behind,

Most will say it’s the face,

Yet for others, it’s her chest.

I do agree with all them.

But listen to me and dare look,

There is so much to admire,

In that tummy.

So intriguing it is,

More so with the double bump

Or when it’s almost a 360

And yes, when it flows down and up.

For when she lies there

It just disappears

And you are saved from seeing

The ribs and their cage

The best part though,

Is when it is all done,

Laying there, fantasizing your common future.

Where else to lay your arms,

Other than on that intriguing tummy?

Benedict Wachira

12 June 2013

10:00pm

Nairobi Demonstrations; A few Basics To Know

2013-06-10T04:24:00.001+03:00

Now that the ‘Occupy Parliament reloaded’ is a day away, I have been thinking about the past Nairobi demonstrations that I have attended, which are quite a few.

I happened to miss out on the last ‘Occupy Parliament’ demo, and it looks like I missed quite some action.

For some reason, Nairobians just do not attend demonstrations, even when the issues being addressed affect most of them in a very personal way, for instance the demonstrations against high food prices and high fuel prices. They prefer complaining about it, blame the cartels, the politicians and the government and so on, but they never come out to express their frustrations when called upon to do so. Maybe a study should be conducted to explain why this happens, but below are some of the more known reasons:

· “Facilitation”

Many Nairobians will support the idea, and then ask for a fee to attend the demo, this fee is usually referred to as ‘facilitation’:- Which is a phenomenon that the NGOs-CSOs- Popularised especially in the low income areas and is now an almost permanent trend(The name ‘facilitation’ came up because every time some NGO would organize a community meeting to address real issues affecting the community, you’d hear at the end of the meeting the organizers going like “…We do not pay people to attend our forums, since these forums are for your own benefit as a community. But we will give you some facilitation because we know that you left your affairs today, and you need to eat at the end of the day”.) In fact, these days if you do not intend to give “facilitation” in these forums, you have to be very clear about it right from the beginning, otherwise you might land yourself in very big problems thereafter.

The same phenomenon was exported to demonstrations, hence one of the explanations to the usually low turnout even when the issues being addressed are pertinent to the masses.

(ION//if you ever thought that these NGOs do this by default and not by design, then it will be important that you read James Petras’ NGOs in Latin America)

· The idea that others will attend

Then there is this idea especially among the middle-class that they can hype the demo on twitter and facebook, and then because of the hype, other people will attend.

They find it easier to seek leave from office to attend trivial matters, but never a demo. That is why you will have 3, 000 people attending the demo on facebook, then 200 attending the actual demo.

· Fear of Police violence

This is a bit understandable; Pictures such as those of Reverend Timothy Njoya being clobbered by state machinery during some demo back in the 90’s tend to instill some fear into potential participants. Others fear the teargas, water cannons….

Still, a research needs to be done, so that the solutions can be found. From my experience, the average number of demonstrators in a small demo is usually between 20 and 40 people. The average number in a big demo is usually between 300 and 400 people. The smallest demo I have participated in had 5 participants while the biggest and the most successful that I ever attended was the one that was organized by Kenyan Muslims 4 years ago, after the atrocious Israeli bombardments in Gaza that left close to 1000 Palestinians dead. The demo attracted several thousands.

Post-Moi demonstrations

The first years of the Mwai Kibaki regime did not see a lot of street action, I think there was one by journalists against a “media censure bill,” and two by University students. This was until Okoiti Omtatah came into the scene with a series of demos, and I credit him with differentiating between getting a police permit for demonstrations, and notifying the police of the intention to hold a demo (he once even pinned a notification on Central police station’s OCS’s door after the guy kept on hiding so as not to approve the demos)

In this era, it became rare for police to beat up protesters like they used to do in the 90’s…..just some tear gas here and here, water cannons, illegal arrests…… and things got even better with the promulgation of the current constitution in 2010.

Article 37 gives Kenyans the right to peaceably and armed to assemble, demonstrate, picket and to present petitions to public authorities. This means that one can demonstrate at any time, without notifying anybody. Unfortunately, some people still insist on notifying the police even when they do not need police protection in those demonstrations.

Things to know

The fact that Kenyans have this right, and that ‘it belongs to them and is not granted by the state’, then it will be important that they exercise it whenever necessary. From the few experiences that I have had, these are some of the things that one should know as they attend a demo:

You should eat well before the demo

This especially applies to demos that are scheduled to begin early. Eating some Ugali and sukuma wiki before the demo is important due to the unpredictability of Nairobi demos. You never know when they will end. You may have the intention to present a petition to Parliament by noon, but then you find it being received at 4pm in the evening. The problem is that all the chanting and the singing tends to make you hungry, and the bigger problem is that it will not be in order if you leave before the intention of the demo is fulfilled.

Do not take fluids

One is usually tempted to drink a lot of water with the reasoning that the sun might burn too much. The problem comes when you need to take a leak…….i am yet to discover where the Parliament, High Court or Office of the President’s toilets are!

Make sure that you can sing the National Anthem

There are a few songs that are sung in demonstrations, most of them from the NCEC and RPP days. It is understandable when you can’t sing along to those, but it is extremely embarrassing when you cannot sing the National anthem. And here I don’t mean singing the first verse like we do in the stadiums, no, I mean all the three verses. Rarely will a demo start off without the national anthem…and it is usually re-sung severally during the demo.

I hope that Juliani’s Utawala chorus will in the future be included in the list of these demo songs.

Carry a jacket or some warm clothing

This is obvious. Reason is that the weatherman in Kenya is usually wrong.

The second reason which my friend Mulialia Okumu, who is a veteran in the Post-Moi era demonstrations jokingly shared with me once is that, should you end up in a police cell, the warm clothing comes in very handy.

Handling violent policemen

Though this is rare in peaceful protests these days, there are some policemen who still have the animalistic Moi era mentality, who tend to violently disrupt peaceful protests.

Just before the teargas and the batons, a senior policeman will approach the demonstrators and give them the orders to disperse, after which he gives orders to the anti-riot squad to charge.

The demonstrators will always refuse to disperse, and three scenarios always occur:

1. The demonstrators will hold hands and stand their ground. The police will charge at them but there is nothing that they will do. They will just threaten the people with the batons or push them away using their shields. If any of them lands the baton on you, hold his hand firmly and tell him that you have a right to demonstrate and he has no right to beat you. This ‘rights’ thing always works magic.

This is the best scenario, but it needs quite some courage.

2. The second scenario is when the demonstrators run away either out of fear or because of the teargas and the sound of rubber bullets being shot in the air. The best scenario as stated above is to stay put and in solidarity stand your ground, but when everyone else is running away, then run away also. If you don’t, you will be beaten up. I have seen it happen many times, but the one that I have never forgotten is when my friend Gacheke Gachihi, another veteran, continued sitting at Harambee Avenue even after everyone else had run away. They almost broke his leg.

3. The third scenario is that some people will run away, some will stand their ground. The right thing to do here is to be part of those that stand their ground.

In case in the teargas confusion, you get cornered by one or two policemen, never kneel down (I have seen many people do this, I think it comes about automatically, where you lift your hands and kneel, begging for mercy.) These policemen go for the easiest and most vulnerable situations. I remember during that huge anti-Israel demo, the police had laid an ambush near Pan-Afrique hotel, but before I explain how I was beaten up, I’ll first describe this demo;

As I had indicated, it is the biggest and best organized demo that I have ever attended. I think it was Al-Amin Kimathi who addressed us first after the Muslims came from their prayers, then a young man took over the mic of the PA system(not a megaphone)with one hand, and held a shoe with the other (just like the Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush)and began the chants. The chants were the most passionate that I have ever experienced. He would lead in chants like “down down Israil” and we would respond the same……”down down bush”…..”Takbir---Allahu Akbar”….”la ilaha ilalah”…and so on and so forth. Others were distributing pamphlets and placards and off we left for the Israeli embassy. The women were militant, the men were energetic.

We then found GSU trucks having blocked the road at the traffic lights just before Pan-Afrique, we sat down and continued with the chants as more demonstrators arrived. We then stood up and demanded that we be allowed to go through. After some push and shove, one of the trucks opened up the way, and thinking that we were now victorious, we excitedly ran through, only to find that more trucks had barricaded the road a few meters ahead on the other side. As we were demanding for the second barricade to be opened, the one behind us was closed again (I think they had gotten enough people within the two barricades) and that is when all hell broke loose. Teargas and batons with nowhere to run. I tried running in all directions but the ambush was well prepared. Some three policemen descended on me and I made the mistake of going down and pleading thinking that they would have some sympathy, none came through. Just when I began to think that they might kill me, woman came running and stumbled down not far from me. two of the policemen that were on me decided to shift their attention to her, and that is when I found an opening and ran towards the NSSF building where like others, I stepped on the sharp pointed metallic fence and jumped onto the other side, a process that left both soles of my new shoes pierced. There still were tens of policemen on the other side of the road that leads to community, who just threatened us but did not act on us. It was decided that we go back to the mosque and re-organise, but I found myself going back to my campus room, still holding on to my placard (pictured below)

End The Occupation!

I didn’t share the ordeal with anyone, until a year-mate of mine who had attended the demo after their prayers told me of how he was beaten, and since he was very light-skinned, the marks were still there, and we laughed a lot as we exchanged our experiences……….apparently, he did not see the opening on the NSSF side, so his story was much different…

The only flaw in that demo was that the organizers (or maybe it was the media?) had packaged the protest as a Muslim demo, rather than an all-Kenyan demo against the Murder, occupation and apartheid being perpetrated by the Israeli fascist regime.

Going back to violent policemen, there are two occasions when they came with dogs. Not running away is again, the solution.

But people should not fear, the beatings and dogs are rare these days, especially in this constitutional dispensation, that is why I was shocked to watch on TV some policemen beating up a protester (Joseph Kimani) like a sack of maize. That is why we must rein in or better still, do away with this incompetent I.G of police Mr.Kimaiyo or he will take us back to the Moi days.

In related news, i was also happy to read in today’s newspaper that Justice Mumbi Ngugi had ruled that Policemen should also take personal responsibility when it comes to matters of them using violence illegally. She deserves a Nobel award.

For the organizers

There are some things that organizers need also to do.

Reconnaissance visits- The organizers need to make reconnaissance visits to the route and venue of action, so that they can take the best positions. I remember we had once planned to raise the food prices issue directly to the president during a Madaraka day celebrations at Nyayo stadium. Unfortunately, we sat at a non-strategic place, and what we did not know was that the gates are usually closed such that one cannot move from one area to the other.

Taking control- At times some demonstrators can get excited and begin to harass other people, or even come up with ideas that may not be useful for the demo. The organizers need to deal firmly with such.

Agent provocateurs- These are the most dangerous people, and most difficult to deal with. They pretend to be with you but they are actually state agents. Their characteristics include; Charging at the Police for no reason, changing the agenda/program of the demo in a manner that belittles the cause, they become unnecessarily violent, and may even begin to throw stones at the peaceful demo, in case of arrests, they are taken to different locations away from the rest, and so on. There is one perennial demonstrator that I believe is an agent provocateur. The best way to deal with such is to set the people against them.

Gathering point- My brother Emmanuel noted that in the Nairobi demos that we participated in, we never had gathering points in case of forced dispersal. It is important to have a re-gathering point, just in case.

Legal contacts- Should there be arrests, there is always need for legal intervention. Since demonstrating is a constitutional right, these days the police might arrest you and leave you free outside the police station, but should they take you in, a lawyer will come in handy. Paul Muite has always assisted demonstrators-Pro bono.

Back up batteries- There is nothing as disappointing as having to send someone to the supermarket to buy some Megaphone batteries because the ones that you were using have run out of power.

One of the best demo organizers that I have seen in action, and probably the best there is, is CD Otieno. Ever since he became the President of bunge la Wananchi Movement, he has led uncountable demonstrations in the city, and he continues to learn from the failures and successes of each manifestation.

But all in all, Kenyans need to understand the role of demonstrations, so as to appreciate them, and conduct them responsibly.

Benedict Wachira

10^th June 2013

4:06am

Of campus politicians and National politics

2013-04-03T13:01:00.000+03:00

After several months off my blog, I have decided to re-engage it with a piece, which was supposed to be titled “Of Campus politics and National Politicians,” but I changed it to “Of campus politicians and National Politics.”

A good number of the people who have shaped Main stream politics in Kenya are those who were also part of University student leadership back in their days. From the ‘greats’ like James Orengo, Mwandawiro Mghanga, Wafula Buke, Kabando wa Kabando, Oduor Ong’wen among others who in their days opposed the KANU dictatorship, to the likes of Isaac Ruto who supported (and were supported) by the dictatorship then….…to the younger entrants led by the likes of Omar Hassan who have been on the progressive side.

But perhaps a more interesting development is shaping itself, quietly, as if ushering a new epoch in the mainstream politics of this country. What I would call my university generation is now playing a mainstream role in the National Politics barely five years after graduating.

Unlike in the recent past where former student politicians became Personal Assistants of ordinary politicians, or when they became youth wingers in Political Parties where they did not have any major say;

This time round, a few of these around-thirty-and-below are now playing non-periphery roles in the Kenya’s mainstream politics. Not that their intentions are necessarily good, but, they are still there.

I know that there could be more out there (especially from the other institutions), but I thought I’d highlight a few of them, those whom I had some interactions with in Campus, how my interactions with them back were then, and what they are doing now.

.(This is more of a journalistic piece, with a short conclusion that foresees bringing out and sharpening contradictions in Kenya’s political sphere)

Lydia Mathia-

A performing poet, Mathia had worked with the Youth Agenda for some time, before she was later unveiled at Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA Party launch at KICC, as the Secretary for Gender. She was my year-mate at the UoN, where she began her politics at the Hall representative level, latter vying unsuccessfully for the position of Vice Chair SONU. She finally vied for and became the Secretary General of Women Students Welfare Association (WOSWA)

In the ups and downs of fate, she was nominated by TNA for the Senate, her name appearing in the top five positions on TNA’s list, meaning that she was quite sure that she would be part of the next Senate. This was not to be. The IEBC strangely(and illicitly) decided to nominate and gazette other people whose names were lower in the list.

Dann Mwangi

We had heard about each other when we were both in our freshman year: -

He had heard about a first year who had declared intentions of vying for SONU chair, later changing to Secretary Health, and eventually being disqualified by the then overseer of the elections, Professor Peter Wanyande (an action that ended up violently and with some arrests.)

I had heard about this student who had led his fellow first year students in a demonstration outside the Vice chancellor’s office, demanding for a congress position for law students staying in Lower Kabete Campus, which had been scrapped by those overseeing the elections (leading such a demo was extremely courageous, given that the Vice Chancellor, Prof. George Magoha, was a feared man)………of course, the VC never gave them a hearing, he just sent an employee who told the students to go back to their college and even offered them a bus, failure to which they would all be expelled from the university. They complied.

We would meet for the first time the following year, when he was vying for Secretary legal affairs and I for the OS position. The elections were badly rigged, and most of the winners, including myself were rigged out. Dann Mwangi earned our respect for fighting alongside us against the injustice in a fight that brought about a lot of tension in the university; this was in spite of him having won the Legal Affairs seat.

He would later vie and clinch the SONU chair’s seat, where he led one of the biggest students’ Demonstrations in recent history, against the assassinations of Oulu GPO and Oscar King’ara.

His political opinion pieces frequently appear on the major National Newspapers, and he is slowly becoming heavy weight in the Political commentary circle,,,even though his commentaries during the campaign period became clearly pro-Uhuru.

Aol Paul

Aol was a very bright law student and the sharpest student leader that I interacted with during my campus days. His understanding of legal processes, still while in campus was deep, and he knew how to present his opinion in a powerful manner. He also served as a legal affairs Secretary, and I interacted with him more during a review process for the SONU constitution (where surprisingly, the VC himself had asked that I be included in the process, despite myself not holding any official political position and despite our opinions having clashed severally in the past)

He now works with Evans Kidero, the Governor of Nairobi, where he holds the gate-pass to the access of the Nairobi Governor. He worked as Kidero’s Personal Assistant, and later led the Evans Kidero’s Campaign team as the team’s Secretary, where they emerged victorious in the murky, tribal and expensive Nairobi Governor politics.

He also managed to pull in James ‘Woodboy’ Mwangi-who served with him in the same SONU as the Secretary Sports and Entertainment- into Kidero’s team. Woodboy was in charge of Youth and Sports in the Campaign team, and he also did most of the design works for Kidero’s Campaigns. The name Woodboy stuck when we were in first year and he had vied for the main campus’ wooden Prefabs halls. During his campaigns, he had promised to organize an inter-prefabs football tournament, and i got to know him better when I helped him organize the tournament, a period when he would first publicly express his interests in the field of Sports.

Nixon Korir

Nixon Korir was two years behind me in college, where he pursued a degree in Law. He later became the Secretary General of SONU, where I briefly worked with him and his Chair-David Osiany when we were demanding for the reinstatement of Kenyatta University student leaders who had been expelled for protesting and organizing demos against their Varsity administration. He is now the Executive-Director of the United Republican Party (URP). He vied for Lang’ata parliamentary position, but he was not successful.

His influence within the Party was seen when Lang’ata constituency was initially zoned-off for URP within the Jubilee coalition in a move that would have almost confirmed his winning of the seat. The idea was later abandoned.

The fact that he was not nominated into parliament probably signals a top government posting in the Uhuru-Ruto government.

Martha Wangari

Martha was two years ahead of me, and my first interaction with her was on a wrong footing. She was vying for the Vice Chairperson SONU position, and I supported her opponent from Kikuyu campus, despite the fact that she and I came from same campus, Chiromo. She went ahead to win the elections, which meant that she would automatically become a commissioner in the next elections (a very absurd rule it was!), an election where I became a candidate. I knew I was in trouble when I learnt that she still remembered my not supporting her, given that I had fallen off with most of the would be commissioners, and more so given the fact that I had witnessed brazen rigging by the commissioners in the previous elections (where I was an agent for

Adhiambo Adhiambo-Secretary General and Joseph Adinda-Secretary Sports----both of whom cut off their contact with me immediately they won. Typical Kenyan politicians!), but we would later find some truce.

From that year when she won the position, beating other male opponents, the seat of Vice Chair-Academic Affairs has been held by female students ever since. In fact, some future students would come to believe that the seat was constitutionally reserved for women.

She is now a Nominated Senator, and her weight was became evident when she was nominated for the only senate seat awarded to her Party, the United Democratic Front (UDF), where she holds the position of UDF Party Treasurer.

Dr. Boniface Chitayi

Dr. Chitayi is one of the few people whose politics I’ve always considered progressive among the crop of student leaders of my generation; I have respected his politics a great deal. Though he served in a SONU characterized by kick backs, tribalism and corruption, I was never aware of him engaging in such.

He may not be the greatest orator, but when it comes to organizing people, coming up with ideas and implementing them, creating and maintaining networks, taking bold stands, and obeying the rule of democratic centralism in an organization, he is one of the best.

Despite being a Luhya, which meant fewer numbers in the highly tribal campus politics, Chitayi had always won with landslide margins from the time he vied to be a Campus representative to when he vied for Secretary Health position in SONU. Even though he never won in his last try when he vied against Dann Mwangi for the Chairman’s position, he still retained a lot of respect especially among the medic students. During the campaigns, I would on a few occasions meet him in his SR room where we would discuss the future of student politics (all student leaders and highly political students used to stay in these SR&QR rooms; I had always turned down offers for those rooms since I felt that they were too big and too lonely) and even though I had boycotted the elections following our call of No Reforms No Elections, I towards the end asked those who still insisted on voting that they’d rather vote for Boniface Chitayi for the chairmanship of the Union. I knew that he was genuine.

Chitayi’s organizational skills would be seen two years later, when he, together with other Medics formed the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), a militant and parallel doctors’ Union which is credited with inspiring young workers from other sectors to either be active in Union politics, form Unions where there were none, or form parallel but genuine Unions to fight for their rights.

Under Chitayi’s leadership, the Union’s first major campaign was not just to demand for a pay rise, but also for radical improvement of government health facilities throughout the country, and the progressive realization of the African Union’s Abuja Declaration on Health. The Union would later organize one of the most successful doctors’ strikes in the country, which ended with the government coming up with a paper on how it would improve its health facilities, and the young doctors winning a 100% pay rise, the highest awarded to any Union in Kenya’s recent History, but that was after being conned, threatened and cajoled by ironically, the then Minister Professor Anyang’ Nyong’o, a former Marxist who now claims to be a Social Democrat (was in fact a former Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party!)

With this first experience, the Union would continue to successfully keep the Government on its toes, threatening further strikes and at times making good their threats.

But Chitayi’s role as the Secretary General of the Union would come to an end, after he was approached by TNA party to come up with a health policy that would be included in the party’s manifesto, and was unveiled as TNA Party’s Secretary for Health, indicating that, should TNA win, then he would be made the Cabinet Secretary for health. The social media was awash with demands for his resignation on one side and congratulatory messages on the other, with those demonizing the move seeming to have taken the day.

In as much as I personally didn’t agree at all with the Party that he had chosen, I totally disagreed with those who bayed for his blood for openly participating in politics (which was their main reason). I would have preferred that the debate revolved around which Party the Union should support, rather than the COTU-style stand where Trade Unions and Unionists do not participate in mainstream politics, and just leaving their members to vote for whomever, irrespective of their policies on Workers, working conditions etc.

In order to avoid further internal conflicts within the Union, Chitayi chose to step aside as the Secretary General of the Union.

In as much as KMPDU’s Chairperson and Treasurer are both excellent speakers, I still felt that the young Union had lost the best Secretary General who could organize and lead the Union especially at their formative stage, though I understand that he still served in its National Executive Council as a member.

It will be interesting to see how TNA will treat him now that they are forming the government.

Johnson Sakaja

Campus politics is pretty expensive. One has to chuck posters, move between the seven campuses….and it is at that point that aspiring student leaders organize along their tribes so as to fundraise amongst their tribes men, and also so as to ensure that each tribe(or a combination of tribes) produces one candidate so as to beat the other candidates from other tribes. The worst culprits were the Kikuyu and the Luo. Classical tribalism.

But in Chiromo campus, things were organized along the same idea, but in a different way. Aspirants from the campus would meet, so as to produce a single candidate for any of the executive positions, so as to beat candidates from other campuses, and also so as to trade empty positions with aspirants from other campuses in exchange for their support. An equivalent for regionalism.

So I remember attending the first Chiromo meeting, where I first met Sakaja, who was introduced to the meeting as a “…person with big connections out there, who, once we agreed on a line up, would mobilize enough funds for the final lineup..” He was vying to become the first Module two representative, which was a newly created executive position. I never got to see the funds, leave alone the “enough funds,” but he went ahead and won, and just like Dann Mwangi, he also showed a lot of solidarity with those who had been rigged out in those elections.

We then encountered each other was during the 2007 Kibaki campaigns where we were on opposing sides.

Two years later, I would meet his name in the list of individuals who had connived with the registrar of Political Parties to illegally impose themselves as leaders of the Social Democratic Party. They were led by Kibaki men who included Mutahi Kagwe, Njeru Ndwiga and Mutua Katuku. His name was appearing alongside the three in the National Executive Committee.

Of course, they had invaded the wrong Party with ‘tough-skinned, clear-headed Communists’………and they eventually had to run, run very fast.

It seems like they all ran in different directions, with Kagwe running to Ngilu’s NARC, Katuku to WDM-K, and him coming out as the Chairman of Uhuru’s TNA.

As we neared the elections, I knew that ODM Party, which was the biggest and the most popular Party would face their toughest race, given that the young sharp Sakaja (now with Uhuru’s Billions at his disposal) was going ahead and including young people in the top leadership of their campaign team, while ODM’s Henry Kosgei and his team preferred working with the likes of Franklin Bett, with the young maintained mostly in the rank and file positions.

It was incredible watching the two Right Wing Parties (and later coalitions), with budgets running into Billions, the capitalist media fully behind them and the tribal and regional mathematics carefully calculated, fighting for Wanjiku’s votes. It seemed like the CORD coalition team was caught flat foot, as if thinking that they were campaign against President Kibaki (whose 07’ campaign team was lousy and heavily bureaucratic). While ODM chose to re-use propaganda and lies from the past about prophecies and such, Jubilee’s propaganda and lies attacked everything, not even sparing the PM’s wife. While CORD was majoring on Citizen TV and radio stations, Jubilee was not only using its newly bought Mediamax outlets, but had a much stronger multi facetted presence on the internet and Social media. It wasn’t until later when CORD created the youthful CORD-effect team, that their propaganda and lies began equaling that of Jubilee, finally and ineffectively surpassing that of the Jubilee team after the elections (during the petition.)

Sakaja is now a nominated Member of the National Assembly, though many had thought he’d be given a cabinet Secretary position------an indication that Uhuru Kenyatta doesn’t want to lose him as the Chairperson of TNA, probably saving him for some future fight.

Booker Ngesa

I met Booker Ngesa in my second year, but began working with him more closely in my final year after forming the Liberator movement, which included Oscar King’ara and Oulu GPO, who were both assassinated after Alfred Mutua, the then government spokesman had claimed something to the effect that Oscar’s organisation (Oscar foundation) was a conduit for Mungiki’s external funding. We had formed the movement to help the masses access information, educate themselves from the information, and liberate themselves with the information. After the killings, the movement came to an end, after some of the leaders sought refuge outside the country, leaving only Booker and myself.

Our last activity with the movement was when we were called in to assist the Kenyatta University Student leaders who had been suspended after their twin protests and riots against the Professor Olive Mugenda administration. We facilitated their meeting with other student leaders, and also progressives whose contacts they had, Bonny Khalwale was of greatest assistance, but it was Mwandawiro Mghanga who would impact on Booker the most.

After working with the students and Mwandawiro Mghanga, we joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) where Mwandawiro was the Chairperson. The coincidence here was that we had always wanted to join the SDP, a Party that was financially weak, but with a rich history and considered In the political circles as the only ideological Party. Joining it came with some prestige, but we didn’t know how to go about it……..then we unexpectedly met the Chairperson!

Booker (I have done a lot alongside him, so I now edit myself off) became a member of the Young Social Democrats (SDP’s youth league), where he began cultivating his revolutionary growth, later rising to become the Young Social Democrats’ National Secretary. This was at a time when there were a lot of Party struggles in the top leadership. The wrangles would later escalate to a point where there were two parallel leaderships of the Party. One was led by Mwandawiro and was considered ideological with a history of action, the other led by Mutahi Kagwe and was considered as illegal and had a huge financial muscle with the backing of the state.

Booker supported the legitimate Mwandawiro faction, and he played a critical role in the long arbitration processes, which finally ended at the courts, where the Young Social Democrats defended the Party, representing themselves (couldn’t afford lawyers) while the other side was represented with two well established and experienced lawyers. The other side lost the case. The Registrar of political Parties still refused to abide by the court ruling, and demonstrations followed…..and the demonstrations worked.

Booker was a few months later elected by the National Congress into the Central Committee of the Party as the Organising Secretary of the Party, where he immediately and successfully embarked in the difficult and expensive process of making the Party comply with the election act 2011, whose main intention was to reduce the number of Parties from forty seven to less than five.(the intentions of the law didn’t work, since the number of parties initially went down, but many new parties were later created as the elections neared)

The Party would later field Booker to vie in Gem, Siaya County, where he was to vie against Raila Odinga’s first cousin, Jakoyo Midiwo. Many people thought that Booker would lose badly, since Siaya was an ODM zone, Jakoyo was Raila’s handiman, and SDP did not later join CORD coalition.

Before Booker’s entry in the race, Jakoyo was so sure of his re-election due to lack of competition, that he was constantly interfering with the Senatorial and Gubernatorial politics of Siaya county. Jakoyo would later be forced to confine himself in Gem constituency, after meeting real and stiff opposition from the young Booker Ngesa.

Jakoyo, a politician known for his foul mouth towards women, and better known for employing violence in his campaigns (his campaign t-shirts were printed “Otada x3”, loosely translating to War x3), would meet Booker on the ground, and after clashing severally-Booker would earn the name “Baby Nyahunyo”-one that disciplines but doesn’t injure!

The Gem campaigns were just too dirty and bloody. With cars being smashed, houses being burnt, pangas being used and gun shots ringing in the air.

It was so clear that Booker was going to win, and I even argued with my good friend and President of Bunge la Mwananchi, comrade CD Otieno, when he told me that Raila Odinga would go to the region two days to the elections and the politics would change overnight.

I never doubted Raila’s influence in the region, especially Siaya, what I doubted him going to Siaya in the last days of the campaigns. I was wrong.

Whereas Booker’s strategy had taken care of Raila’s earlier visits, nobody in his campaign team had anticipated that Raila would go to campaign for Jakoyo and Cornel Rasanga in Gem on the second last day of his campaigns. Three days later Booker would call me and tell me that we had lost by about five thousand votes to Jakoyo. William Oduol also lost to Rasanga.

I feel that those behind Raila’s campaigns were either extremely poor in strategy, or they were so overconfident, that they saw it wise for Raila to spend the last campaign days in Kisumu and Siaya (before coming to Nairobi’s final rally), rather than in Kisii and Narok(then going to Nairobi). I believe that if he had campaigned in the 50-50 zones, then there would have been a clear runoff, without trying to sneak it in through their “Shocking evidence” in the Supreme Court.

It will be interesting to see how the future politics in Kenya will be shaped, with almost all of those appearing above being consciously or unconsciously right wing, versus a whole lot of others from the same generation and slightly below, consciously studying Marx, Lenin, Che, Mao and Kwame Nkurmah, while silently and slowly coming out of their study circles ready for revolutionary practice, inspired by Samora Machel, Fidel Castro, Thomas Sankara and hugo Chavez.

Benedict Wachira

3^rd April 2013

12:33am

We Are Watching You

2012-04-01T21:50:00.001+03:00

We were not there when you enslaved our forefathers
We were not there when you showed us your brutality through colonization
We were not there when you forcefully stole our resources

We know what you did to Kimathi, Kwame, Lumumba,Modibo, Barka, Samora, Sankara, Hani and all those who opposed your interests on our continent
But that was in the past

Today we were born, we have grown and we are watching you
We are watching you as you continue plundering the Congo
We are watching you as you steal our minerals through force when corruption fails
We are watching you as you put up your AFRICOM bases in Djibouti, and your Lilly-pads all over
We are watching you as you dump nuclear waste on Somali coast, and as you support their terrorists from behind the scenes
We are watching you as you suppress our economies every time they threaten your hegemony
We are watching you as you continue to corrupt and to compromise the leaders that your system imposes on us
We are watching you as you succeed in brainwashing some of us with your powerful global media

We were painfully watching you, as you negated the rule of law in Ivory Coast, through the gun
We were painfully watching you, as you murdered our Brother leader, through the gun
We were painfully watching you, as you attempted your failed coup against Zimbabwe’s economy

Today, your killing instincts are leading you into CAR, in the guise of following some Kony fellow
Today, your killing instincts are taking you into Mali, in the guise of restoring ‘democracy’
Today maybe, Niger, Nigeria or Algeria will be where you will sent your religious crap heads and divisive empty heads

But what you may not know is that
Today we were born, we have grown and we are watching you

The Sankaras are in their thousands
The Kimathis are in their thousands
The Kwames are in their thousands
The Samoras are in their thousands
The Hanis are in their thousands
The Gaddafis are in their hundreds of thousands

Maybe you cannot see us
Because the only avenues we have are the demonstrations, the blogs and the never aired press conferences
Continue thinking that we are asleep, or that we are some ‘lazy intellectual African scums’
Yes, we are few in numbers, but what we lack in numbers, we compliment with our energy and zeal

Our forefathers foresaw this age
An age where you would view us as some backward people
An age when some of us would view us as a lesser people
That was why they left for us the magnificent Pyramids all along the Nile
Pyramids that you once claimed were built by you, Pyramids that you today claim were not built by humans
That is why they left for us the Great Zimbabwe
So developed they were, that you once claimed that the builders came from elsewhere
That is why the left for us the complicated underground structures all over
Structures that make a child’s play of your subways and skyscrapers
That is why they left for us the arts and cultures
With rhythms that you cannot understand

All these are a reminder, So that when we see them, we may hold our heads up high, we may be proud of what we achieved, and we may remind ourselves that we need to regain our lost glory, and bring humanity back into the world

Just like the phoenix, our continent is burning, and the heat is preparing us, preparing us to rise
Just like the lion, we will soon roar, and we will care for nothing, but our freedom and dignity

We have studied your ways
You use your military superiority to rule on us
You take advantage of our goodness to splash your wrath on us

You may not hear our voices, neither do we care
We are organizing
We have learnt from our past
But most importantly
We are learning from your past and present

And when we rise
And when the fire starts to burn
You will realize that the generation has arrived
And we shall not forgive, we shall have no mercy, we shall keep our Utu aside
We shall use your methods to instill humanity into you
The same fate will meet your local stooges and puppets
For we have seen that love can’t work for you

And we shall end all this
Once and for all
Because we are tired of watching you

Benedict Wachira
1st April 2012
9:36pm

Heroes, Population, Al Shabaab, Inflation, Elections, IMF, ICC, IDPs and my frustrations

2011-11-06T00:02:00.007+03:00

At times, analyzing how things in Kenya function can be frustrating, at other times, doing something about it is even more frustrating. To pick just a few;

IDPs

It is now four years since thousands of innocent people were killed, raped, maimed, and displaced from their homes, for the crime of voting for the ‘wrong’ presidential candidate (belonging to the ‘wrong’ tribe, to be more exact)

Four years later, we still have Internally Displaced People living in tented camps. Four years later, we have culprits, some of whom are well known to the victims walking free as if nothing ever happened. Some of the victims’ homes are still occupied (the homes which were not burnt to the ground), and some of the victims’ properties are still in the hands of the killers.

Internally Displaced People's Camps

So everyone is focusing on the ‘Ocampo Six’ and no talk is made of the culprits who implemented the actual crimes. We have government officials running around politicizing the IDPs issue, with billions of shillings going into maintenance (not so good food, some medicine here and there) of these IDPs instead of dealing with the issue once and for all….(some of these IDPs used to produce tons of food on their farms, yet they are now forced to live as beggars of food)

What frustrates me is that politics (or plain stupidity) is preventing these government people from solving this non-complex issue.

It is a right for any Kenyan to own property and to live anywhere they want. It is the duty of the government to protect all Kenyans anywhere in Kenya.

So here we have these government ministers very busy looking for land to settle these IDPS, yet that is not the solution.

I believe that those living in the IDP camps can still remember where their farms and houses are.

Solution

1. Ensure that there is enough security in the regions that these IDPs came from and assure them of their security.

2. Take them back to their houses for those whose houses are still there. Give reconstruction money to those whose houses were burnt, while giving them alternative accommodation as they rebuild their houses.

3. Give them some little start up money, for businesses or farming.

4. Conduct justice, then reconciliation campaigns in these regions.

5. For those who had homes but fear going back, for whatever reason, they should just be compensated in cash: Valuate their property, and give them the money so that they can go to wherever they want, after which the government should then take over the ownership of the property.

6. Flat compensation should then be given to those who didn’t own permanent property but still lost what they owned.

This would be simpler than the government giving them 50K today, buying land (from Njenga Karume) tomorrow or Uhuru Kenyatta promising to resettle them in Taita Taveta (the land that his father stole from Kenyans.)

>>>One thing that the IDP issue has clearly shown is the class nature of our politics. If our politics was just tribal, then Kibaki would have used that tribalism and dealt conclusively with the IDP issue<<<

I.C.C

I consider The International Criminal Court as a tool of Imperialism, and that is what it is. That is why it has majored its activities in Africa, the continent with abundance of resources, greedy and cowardly leaders and the continent that is very weak militarily (oh how I wish Gaddafi would have developed those W.M.Ds-Weapons of Maximum Defense)

Every time the face of Moreno Ocampo or his utterances-(which just like Arap Sang,,,I strain to comprehend) appear, it will always be about some African rebel, some African President, some African.… and the qualification for this African criminal is that he must first be an enemy of the U.S, France or Britain. That is why a warrant of arrest will be given to El Bashir and not to Kagame, to Gaddafi (and his family) and not to Ben Ali/Mubarak (and their families), to Gbagbo and not to Ouattara, to the leaders of LRA rebels and not to leaders of NTC rebels etc.

People have always asked why, even after what has gone down in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are no cases or warrants of arrest for Bush and Blair.(….some wonder why there is no warrant of arrest for Mugabe…..for the crime of NOT allowing 7,000 white farmers to own 85% of all land in Zimbabwe…)

The above comparisons are just for clearing up the imperialist nature of the ICC, i.e, even if it arrested Bush, Blair, Kagame and the rest, that wouldn’t make it good. Europeans can have their own court if they so wish, and as Africans we can strengthen our own courts and the African Court of Justice.

Luis Moreno Ocampo with PM Raila Odinga and President Kibaki

Back to Kenya now. Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto have been going round blaming Raila for their woes at the ICC. They do not have the slightest shame while they blatantly lie to Kenyans, and this is where the frustrations continue.

Some Kenyans have bought this clear lie yet they witnessed the truth themselves. Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki went to parliament twice, asking parliament to pass a law to create a local tribunal to deal with the Post Elections Violence, and Uhuru and Ruto lead parliamentarians in shooting down the bills. Even Kofi Anan came in person and pleaded with these people but they couldn’t listen. They thought that Ocampo would have picked Raila and Kibaki instead (who are the ones that bear the greatest responsibility, in real sense)

Now, here we have Uhuru and Ruto wanting to be presidents of this country, yet they were not bright enough to see the ICC for what it is! Very frustrating in deed. I wish that that court can arrest them (and the MPs who support the ICC) so that they may probably become brighter while serving their sentences in those Hague jails.

Elections Date

We passed our new constitution last year. Our constitution clearly states that the elections will be held on the 2^nd Tuesday of August, after every five years. We then have our new attorney general, PROFFESSOR Githu Muigai claiming that there is an issue of interpretation of this section of the constitution! The same is repeated by other experts and our MPs!!

It is clear that those in power today are unhappy that the new constitution denies them some four extra months of hefty salaries and influence. It was frustrating when Isaac Hassan during the final grilling for his IEBC job bowed to the PSC on elections and claimed that the elections could not be held in August.

Those people who settled on August did so for logical reasons:

1. First, there are usually too many activities in December, and Kenyans wanted a break,

2. secondly, many regions in Kenya experience heavy rains thus interfering with the election process

3. and lastly, August is a school holiday month, and so the classrooms can easily be used as polling stations.

In my opinion (an opinion which strangely enough, these law makers cannot see) the elections date should actually be split, so that we can have two elections dates in the month of August, or else we should just prepare for another PEV.

Imagine a situation where a single individual votes for six or seven different individuals on one single day. Imagine further how long it will take to count these votes….isn’t this a recipe for disaster? where a candidate can easily claim that the reason as to why the results are delaying is because they are being stolen? The same argument (of delays) was used to incite people in 2007.

Also imagine a situation where an old Mzee in Nyeri is given a ballot paper for the Presidential, Senator, Governor, Parliamentary, County Representative and Women’s representative and is required to vote for one person in each. The situation will be worsened since we expect to have more candidates now that we shall have independents. This will be chaotic not just for the old, but even for the young and literate Kenyans.

Given that votes are always counted beginning with the smallest representative units, I foresee a situation where the presidential results shall be announced late, a situation which will be unconstitutional, and which will be a good breeding ground for incitement.

P.E.V

I hate to sound like a prophet of doom, but if things remain as they are, then we should expect some more post elections violence come 2012. Some of the reasons I have stated above: First, the election results will delay, giving good ground for incitement due to the anxiety created. Secondly, those who participated in the PEV of 2007 are still walking free, and they probably view themselves as heroes of some sorts.

In 1992, there was a bloody pre-election violence in the Rift Valley, which was organised by Moi and his KANU dictatorship so as to secure a win in the region. The same thing happened in 1997, and in 2002(though in a smaller scale.)In 2007, there was pre-election tension, which was created by Kikuyu-bashing by the ODM guys, and further propagated by the PNU guys so as to polarize all the Kikuyu votes to their side.

Some people claim that the violence was spontaneous, but for many regions, that was not true. I remember immediately after the elections results were announced, some youths (mostly Kikuyu) in our neighborhood went to a neighbor’s house, who was also a Kikuyu and a staunch Raila supporter, and started laughing at him while celebrating their victory: Then he asked them one question “Now that Kibaki has been declared the winner, what do you think will happen to Kikuyus in Kibera and Eldoret?” and the seemingly obvious answer was given, “Some Kikuyus will be killed in those regions” and then a debate in the lines of “but Kibaki will not allow killings in those regions, he will protect his voters…” ensued. This was within minutes of announcement of the elections results, and this was an analysis done by very ordinary Kenyans. The analysis was not based on prediction of spontaneity, but from the kind of campaigns that took place prior to the elections.

Panga Wielding Youth During the PEV

The victims of PEV expected protection from the government, especially then that they perceived the government as being on their side, unlike in the previous election years, but that was not the case. Four years later, many of them are still living in the camps.

There is now a feeling of hopelessness among these people. Some of those who went back have made plans to relocate from the violence areas until after the elections process is over. Others, especially the youth, have decided that they will no longer wait for the government, and that they will take matters into their own hands-Rather than dying as victims, they will die fighting-since either way, the likelihood of dying is pretty high. The danger is that they may launch preemptive attacks and this will create a situation worse than what was there in 2007.

I made a visit to Likoni at the coast sometime in July, and I met a group of women, who seemed organised, as if they were coming from a church meeting. What I later learnt was shocking. These women were women from ‘Bara’(highlands), and they were coming from a strategy meeting so that they may counter any elections violence that might occur in 2012. I also learnt (from Matatu talk) that they had resolved that they would prepare themselves and they would no longer become innocent victims like in the previous years. In the preparations, they would replace their wooden doors with metallic ones, they would send their school children to live with their relatives outside coast during the August holidays, and that each house would arm itself with a Panga, a Spear or arrows………..and these were women!

Again, if things remain as they are, the 2012 will be a close call between Raila on one side, and the G7 outfit on the other side. Raila on his own, even without the likes of Ruto and Balala is still a heavyweight. It is highly unlikely that any of them will garner the (50+1) % required, and the ground for violence will thus be prepared, especially now that precedent has shown that violence will ensure that all the strong candidates form a government, irrespective of what the constitution says.

Inflation

The cost of living in Kenya has been increasing steadily since the PNU-ODM coalition government came to power. Some say that it is because the PNU-ODM guys each want a piece of the ‘National Cake.’ Back in 2008, Nairobians protested against the food price increases, and after some time, the government duped the people by bringing in two types of Unga. Expensive Unga for ‘rich’ Kenyans and Cheap Unga for slum dwellers. After a month or so, the cheap Unga disappeared.

The price of Energy, Transport and Food has continued to rise. The government even created a board to regulate the fuel prices, but this board only regulates the prices upwards-even when the international oil prices go down.

Demonstrations were called for mid this year, and frustratingly, very few Kenyans attended these demos. (I have met people who blame us for not pursuing on with the demonstrations, yet these never attended a single demo for the several days that we camped outside the president’s and prime minister’s office!)

When one wonders how poor Nairobians manage to survive through these hard times, say for a household that earns sh6000 a month, money that should cater for transport, rent, food, bills etc, one realizes that we are living in very dangerous times.

I.M.F

This inflation has seen the shilling weaken badly against the dollar, and the government has decided to save the situation by borrowing from the International Monetary Fund. This might be the most frustrating thing that that the ministry of finance has done in the 9 years that Kibaki has been in power.

It is obvious that the IMF loan will be escorted with conditions. The government will be asked to retrench it workers, privatize its national assets, and to open up the economy to investors without any checks. Then the economy will continue to shrink, and life will get harder.

Al Shabaab

Very little information is available about Al Shabaab. They have been branded by the Kenyan media as Somalia’s Mungiki, whose intentions are to cause terror to the people of Somalia, while the international media ranks them together with Al Qaeda.

Reports from Kenya say that they have been responsible for the kidnapping of some white fellows, killing Kenyan police and members of the Kenya Army in the last three years.

Info on Wikipedia states that one of the achievements of Al Shabaab has been to bring about food security in the regions that they operate in.

They have also been collecting ransom on ships that use the Somalia waters without paying (which is not necessarily a bad thing since the U.S, French and other naval ships charge protections fees on other ships crossing through these waters……..and why should ships take advantage of these waters anyway?)

When the Union of Islamic Courts took over almost all of Somalia some four years ago, I viewed it as a very positive step-finally the people of Somalia were getting organised under one entity which seemed to get lots of support from the ordinary people. When the Ethiopian forces, with the direct and overt support of the U.S invaded Somalia so as to kick out the UIC and strengthen the ITFG, I was saddened. this is because the ITFG, after being form in Kenya, had failed to get the support of the people of Somalia, and it even had to set up base in Baidoa rather than Mogadishu.

The Ethiopian forces showed their tactical might and managed to push the UIC to small regions of Afmardow and Kismayu, which was a surprising thing since we expected them to get serious beatings from the Somalis in Somalia. Through this, the TFG was able to set base in Mogadishu, but it still didn’t have the support of the people.

The Ethiopians managed to push the UIC away, but it could not occupy Somalia for long, and after a few years, they had to leave…and no sooner had they left than the UIC reconquered most regions in Somalia, and eventually managed to take over the structures of the TFG where some of its leaders became leaders of the TFG, and its chairman, Sharif Ahmed became the head of TFG, and current president of Somalia….hence the current government is not the former imported government, but a more legitimate one.

But before he(Sharif Ahmed) knew it, the new government was facing fierce opposition from a familiar source-the Al Shabaab-Which was once UICs youth wing.

Al Shabaab(Standing)-UIC(Seated)

We have seen women from coast province going on demonstrations complaining that certain mosques were being used as recruiting grounds for Al Shabaab, where their sons are promised a good monthly pay as they fight alongside the militia in Somalia.

When the Minister for internal security made the announcement of the Army going into Somalia, I first viewed it as an invasion of Somalia, which was not acceptable at all. Ahmed Sharif then came out a day later and stated the Somalia had welcomed Kenya’s intervention to deal with the Al Shabaab, which I then viewed it as an intervention, which in this case is acceptable…….then Sharif said that Kenya was not welcomed…..then he later said that it was welcomed……then it was not…… a very shifty President I must say-but his Prime Minister came and said that the Somalia government is fully behind the joint operation to weed out Al Shabaab.

Some Kenyans claim that the Kenya Army will be defeated just because it (the Kenya Army) is a Conventional force fighting against an asymmetrical militia. But that is never the case, if it were, then there would be no need for armies in the world. An unconventional army can only defeat a symmetrical army if the former has the support of the people. In my opinion, Al Shabaab might not be having the support of Somalian people, otherwise it would not have to recruit from Kenya, and it would not have to force people into their ranks-People would either volunteer to join in, or they would just give other forms of support. The Army will need to help build the TFG structures in the zones that they have succeeded, so as to ensure no vacuum is left behind.

But woe unto our army if the Al Shabaab has the support of the masses! Body bags and more body bags are what we shall receive till they leave Somalia.
>>>>One thing that is surely disturbing me is the fact that the French and the Americans want to be involved alongside the Kenyan Forces. The involvement of these murderous states kills any good intentions(if any) that might be in this whole intervention. The U.S assassination drones have been pounding Somalia for many months now, and they do so arbitrarily. The other day, they killed over 50 Somalian civilians, including children. We also saw the indiscriminate bombing of a Somalian coastal town by a French naval ship.The do their bombing without coordinating with the Somali government, and without any intelligence from the ground---Can't they just Keep off?!<<<<

Heroes

It is hence too early to say whether the Kenyan Soldiers are heroes or not, with time, we shall get more information about the Al Shabaab, and the motivation behind the intervention.

It is never good to give heroehood or vallainship before getting the whole picture, and that is what the Kenya government did on 20^th October, Mashujaa day. The government, both PNU and ODM sides were quiet when Muammar Gaddafi, the African Shujaa was murdered by a coalition of over 20 countries. On the same day, they unveiled a statue of Tom Mboya, right in the middle of the City, and declared him our “national hero.”

It is no doubt that Mboya was a brilliant orator and a smart politician-But that doesn’t make him a hero. It must be remembered that as European Colonialism was dwindling in Africa (thanks to the struggles of our real heroes), US imperialism was on the rise, and Tom Mboya was its representative in Kenya. It must also be remembered that while the likes of Makhan Singh, Bildad Kaggia, Chege Kabacia and many others heroes had suffered a lot while building the trade unions movement in Kenya and in the region, Tom Mboya fought their efforts, and the efforts of the Workers, and killed the true Workers’ movement-And his bad fruits are still seen today in the scarecrow called COTU.

What is frustrating is that they have placed his statue right in the middle of the city, where hundreds of thousands of people pass trough daily. It would have been better if they had hidden him at Tom Mboya Social hall in Buruburu.

Kenya has true heroes. Kibaki could have given us a statue of the many women heroes that we’ve had. The statue of Mekatilili Wa Menza would be a good replacement (The statue has to be replaced-once we take over the state) for the current joke. They could have erected a statue of Field Marshal Muthoni (still alive), who was the only woman to take the highest military rank in the MauMau, and one of the very few female officers in the Anti-Colonial guerillas of the 50s. It would be a great honor to her, to the hundreds of thousands of women who participated in the freedom struggles, and to the many who are still continuing with the fight.

If I were to choose between Tom Mboya and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, I would choose Jaramogi a million times more. Jaramogi never left the struggle, he never surrendered, even in his old age.

Oginga Odinga

Of course, most of his students like James Orengo, Raila Odinga and many others have failed terribly, but his mantle shines on still.

Population

With the world population hitting 7 billion the other day, we surely need more heroes to fight for the environment that we are living in. we need people who will stand up against the capitalistic greed that disrespects and destroys the environment for profits.

As ecologist Barry Commoner once said, "Pollution begins not in the family bedroom, but in the corporate boardroom."

It is expected that some “activists” will rise against the rise in population, and they will mostly pitch tent in Africa, under the guise that Africans are too many, they procreate a lot, and that our resources are little. Throughout this year, there has been a huge campaign against couples having children, as private companies advertise pills in the name of “family planning.”

What we must understand is that African is one of the most under populated continents in the world. Africa is the second largest continent, yet we only contribute 1 billion people to the 7 billion on earth. China alone contributes around 1.5 billion, while India contributes over 1 billion souls. It is well known that India, China, U.S.A, Europe, and several other countries COMBINED are LESS in size as compared to Africa. It is also a fact that Africa is an extremely rich continent in terms of resources; from Sunshine to Rain, from Oil to Forests, From Fish to Herbs…..the only resource that we desperately lack is a huge human resource-people. Where there are no people, there is usually no development.(http://mamluks.blogspot.com/2010/05/emancipate-yourselves-from-mental.html)

Of course we remember that one of the strategies that the colonialists used when they began invading Africa was to de-populate the black man through diseases, actual killings etc. they did the same when they were conquering America, now they will try the same by using the “We are too many in the world today” card.

If anyone feels that there are too many people in the world, let them pitch tent elsewhere, and not in our under populated Africa.

Genocidaire Paul Kagame

>>>>Rwanda President Paul Kagame has already taken the “too many people” excuse too far. It is reported that in Rwanda, a law was passed early this year, which legalised the castration of poor Rwandese people. Kagame believes that the population of Rwanda is too high, and the only way to deal with the situation is to castrate between 700, 000 and 1 million poor people, because it is the poor people who give birth to many children. Castration is permanent. He prefers to castrate them and leave them in poverty, rather than to remove them from the poverty.

What worsens the situation is that most poor people in Rwanda are Hutu and it is the government which decides who is to be castrated—So what this guy is really doing is genocide on another front. The fellow who was the minister of health in Rwanda during the tabling and passing of this bill is now the current Secretary General for the East African Community, Mr.Richard Sezibera. Could they be testing a new depopulation technique for Africa? Sad! <<<<

Benedict Wachira

3^rd November 2011

23:31pm

Mujahid Muammar Gaddafi Last formal Speech

2011-10-27T10:30:00.001+03:00

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful...

For 40 years, or was it longer, I can't remember, I did all I could to give people houses, hospitals, schools, and when they were hungry, I gave them food. I even made Benghazi into farmland from the desert, I stood up to attacks from that cowboy Ronald Reagan, when he killed my adopted orphaned daughter, he was trying to kill me, instead he killed that poor innocent child. Then I helped my brothers and sisters from Africa with money for the African Union.

I did all I could to help people Understand the concept of real democracy, where people's committees ran our country. But that was never enough, as some told me, even people who had 10 room homes, new suits and furniture, were never satisfied, as selfish as they were they wanted more. They told Americans and other visitors, that they needed "democracy" and "freedom" never realizing it was a cut throat system, where the biggest dog eats the rest, but they were enchanted with those words, never realizing that in America, there was no free medicine, no free hospitals, no free housing, no free education and no free food, except when people had to beg or go to long lines to get soup.

No, no matter what I did, it was never enough for some, but for others, they knew I was the son of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the only true Arab and Muslim leader we've had since Salah-al-Deen, when he claimed the Suez Canal for his people, as I claimed Libya, for my people, it was his footsteps I tried to follow, to keep my people free from colonial domination - from thieves who would steal from us.

Now, I am under attack by the biggest force in military history, my little African son, Obama wants to kill me, to take away the freedom of our country, to take away our free housing, our free medicine, our free education, our free food, and replace it with American style thievery, called "capitalism" ,but all of us in the Third World know what that means, it means corporations run the countries, run the world, and the people suffer.

So, there is no alternative for me, I must make my stand, and if Allah wishes, I shall die by following His path, the path that has made our country rich with farmland, with food and health, and even allowed us to help our African and Arab brothers and sisters.

I do not wish to die, but if it comes to that, to save this land, my people, all the thousands who are all my children, then so be it.

Let this testament be my voice to the world, that I stood up to crusader attacks of NATO, stood up to cruelty, stoop up to betrayal, stood up to the West and its colonialist ambitions, and that I stood with my African brothers, my true Arab and Muslim brothers, as a beacon of light.

When others were building castles, I lived in a modest house, and in a tent. I never forgot my youth in Sirte, I did not spend our national treasury foolishly, and like Salah-al-Deen, our great Muslim leader, who rescued Jerusalem for Islam, I took little for myself...

In the West, some have called me "mad", "crazy", but they know the truth yet continue to lie, they know that our land is independent and free, not in the colonial grip, that my vision, my path, is, and has been clear and for my people and that I will fight to my last breath to keep us free, may Allah almighty help us to remain faithful and free.

-- Mu'ummar Qaddafi.

Africa Must Unite

Don't Tell Me

2011-09-04T21:57:00.000+03:00

Don’t tell me about democracy

When all it defends is exploitation

When it defends subordination by money

For how many peasants succeed in it?

For how many workers lead within it?

Don’t tell me about equality

When lip service is all you give it

When all you do is select an individual

When will all of us be selected?

When will we share in the results of our sweat?

Don’t tell me about human rights

When I live and sleep without food

When I live and sleep in the shackles without proper clothes

What rights do I enjoy on an empty stomach?

What rights can I enjoy in the single room shackle?

Don’t tell me about freedom

When I cannot afford to study to the limits of my brains

When I cannot afford healthcare to cure my pains

Why should you deny me the freedom to know?

Why should you deny me freedom from sickness?

For I am tired of the Mickey Mouse freedom

I am tired of the talk that is human rights

I am tire of paper equality

I am tired of the bourgeoisie democracy!

Benedict Wachira

4^th September 2011

21:03

The Nobel Peace Prize and Africans

2011-07-22T15:26:00.006+03:00

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the most respected awards in the world today. According to the Nobel Peace Prize website, It is given to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

As a Kenyan, it came as a very pleasant surprise when Prof. Wangari Maathai won the 2004 Peace Prize-A classical case of a hero not being recognized at home, yet she has sacrificed a lot in the fields searching for democratic space and in the fight for human rights. Such is the aura that comes with the prize, that she is now the most famous Kenyan in the world.

As an African, I’ve been curious to know how many Africans have been awarded this prize in the past, especially because the recent African history is a negative history of colonization, neo-colonization and imperialism, which has brought out necessary and positive resistance in the African. In this resistance, societies have risen, and are still rising against the brutes of colonization, neo-colonization, imperialism and other manifestations of capitalism.

As the African societies rebel, certain individuals within the societies are brought forth to the frontlines of these struggles, struggles that at times become bloody, with the intention of putting an end to the further spilling of blood. These individuals become the beacons of hope, they become the symbol of peace, they become the African heroes.

So if for the past 100 years (since the inception of the Nobel Peace Prize) Africa has faced a lot misery, probably the worst misery in the world, then Africa should also produce a lot, and probably the most candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was in this search that I happened to discuss with a friend of mine about the essence of these awards, the politics of these awards, the missing names in the Nobel Peace prize list (the friend was actually furious that the likes of Fidel Castro- http://mamluks.blogspot.com/2011/05/why-africa-should-commemorate-50th.html- and Julius Nyerere were never given the Prize, in spite of their enormous contributions to peace in the world-Africa) and we also discussed the Lenin peace prize, which, in the then clear bi-polar era, was awarded from the USSR.

On comparing the two awards with respect to the recognition of the African contributions to peace, this is what I sieved from Wikipedia:

Nobel Peace Prize	Lenin Peace Prize
1. Albert Luthuli-South Africa	Sekou Toure-Guinea
1. Anwar Sadat-Egypt	Kwame Nkurmah-Ghana
2. Desmond Tutu-South Africa	Modibo Keita-Mali
3. Nelson Mandela-South Africa-1993	Peter Ayodele-Nigeria
4. FW De Klerk-South Africa	Bram Fischer-South Africa
5. Koffi Anaan -Ghana	Shafie Ahmed El Sheikh-Sudan
6. Wangari Maathai-Kenya	Hikmat Abu Zayd-Egypt
7. Mohammed Elbaradei-Egpyt	Jeanne Martin-Cisse-Guinea
8.	Samora Machel-Mozambique
9.	Aghostino Neto-Angola
10.	Abdal Rahman Al Sharqawi-Egypt
11.	Julius Nyerere-Tanzania
12.	Nelson Mandela-South Africa-1990

South Africa dominates the two lists, with Nelson Mandela appearing on both lists.

Two of the South Africans are white; F.W de Klerk (Nobel Peace Prize) and Bram Fischer (Lenin Peace Prize). While FW de Klerk dedicated the better part of his life discriminating against the Blacks in South Africa and building the apartheid system, Bram Fischer dedicated his life fighting oppression and the Racist Apartheid regime of South Africa, and fighting for the emancipation of the South African workers and peasants. It was the likes of Bram Fischer, Joe Slovo, Ruth First and other whites (mostly members of the South African Communist Party) who saved South Africa from the blanket classification of the whites with apartheid and fascism.

Here is Mandela’s speech on receiving the Lenin Peace Prize award 12 years later:

“It is a rare occasion to finally be able to accept an award that had been made long ago under circumstances and from institutions that have since changed quite radically.

We are deeply moved by this occasion where we can at last receive in person the Lenin Prize.

Much has changed in the world since that award was given to us, but the world's need for the human solidarity, which that generous gesture demonstrated, remains as much as ever. It is in that spirit that we receive this award and that it honours us so much to accept it.

It reminds us again of the international dimension of our struggle against apartheid. Like few other liberation struggles ours enjoyed the support if virtually all political persuasions in all parts of the world. The world's abhorrence at the indignity and inhumanity of racial oppression was such that it identified with our struggle as one of all humankind.

Within that international support for our struggle the Soviet Union and other socialist countries stood out. The governments and peoples of the socialist bloc gave material, moral and political support to our struggle in a manner and on a scale that we will never be able to repay.

The world has changed since then and the Soviet Union and the other then existing socialist states of Eastern Europe have disappeared. It is not for us to lament developments that the people of those countries wished for and welcomed. Neither is it for us, however, to deny the value of the support we received from those countries or to mask the immense appreciation we had for those countries.

That we receive the Lenin Prize in such radically changed circumstances may in fact be symbolic of the revolutionary spirit in which it was intended. It may very well inspire us in the spirit of Lenin to radically adapt our methods to the changed circumstances and to seek what is best for the masses of the people rather than holding desperately to preconceived receipes.

As we remember the support from the Soviet Union and the socialist states, it is fitting that we also pay tribute to our historic partnership with the South African Communist Party.

We remember how South African communists came to the material support of the ANC at a time when the police were raiding our offices almost on a daily basis, depleting us of our resources to pay our full-time officials. We can never forget those concrete acts of solidarity.

The SACP has been trustworthy and dependable allies over decades as part of our movement in all its formations. Our relationship with the Soviet Union and the socialist world had much to do with their presence in our ranks.

As we receive the Lenin Prize today we do so in celebration of human solidarity. In a world where the poor seem to be getting poorer and the divide between the have's and have-not's is widening, we need global commitment to the value of human solidarity.

The methods and approaches to achieve a more equitable world might have changed. The problems of gross inequality and of poverty remain. Let us all recommit ourselves to building a world where there will be a better life for all.

I thank you for the honour of awarding me a prize in the name of a revolutionary that history will never be able to forget.

I thank you.”

It is interesting that Hikmat Abu Zayd(Lenin Peace Prize,1970) was forced into exile by Anwar Sadat (Nobel Peace Prize, 1978).

Anwar Sadat was assassinated because of signing a treaty with Israel.

Julius Nyerere, who contributed immensely (and at a great risk) to the freedom of the South African countries, and who later became a pivotal peace facilitator in the great lakes region was recognized and awarded the Lenin Peace Price in 1986. Fidel Castro was also awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1961.

As for the African abroad, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Ralph Bunche, Martin Luther King and Barrack Obama. The Lenin Peace Prize has WEB Du Bois, Paul Robenson and Nicolas Guillen.

It is important to note here that the Lenin Peace Prize wound up with the fall of the USSR, and the last award was Mandela’s in 1990. As at 1990, the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to three Africans only, while the Lenin Peace Prize had been awarded to 12 Africans.

Barrack Obama was awarded the prize in 2009, for reasons which even he himself could not understand.

From the comparison above, it is clear that the USSR, even in the state of revisionism, was far far much ahead of the Western/Capitalist world, in terms of Respecting the African people and identifying the true African Peace makers.

But we as Africans should come up with our own continental-wide method of recognizing those who contribute the most in liberating our motherland from wars and misery that are brought about by the system that we are living in today, and moreso those who are working to uproot that system and build a new free and truly democratic Africa.

Benedict Wachira

22 July 2011

2:49pm

Set The Refugees Free

2011-07-15T15:47:00.004+03:00

John was a short, dark, sturdy and very bright student in a then below average secondary school in central Kenya. I was a new form two student in that school, and I had one big problem.

Because of my brand new uniform, most of the form four, from three and form one students thought that I was in form one, a ‘mono’ as they used to be insultingly referred to. Being a mono in this school meant being bullied, being intimidated, doing errands for senior students and even being beaten up by those in higher classes...but the bullying was not the problem for me; being a very moody fellow back then, I found myself in several serious (retaliatory) fights, such that by the end of the first week, everyone in the school knew that I was not in form one, and everybody knew better than messing around with me. The big problem was that out of the twelve subjects that we studied, I was several chapters behind in almost half of them, and I had to update my notes and grasp chapters. The CATs were ‘just around the corner,’ and that’s how I met John, the brightest fellow in that class. John, gave me his notes, and occasionally helped me solve some mathematical questions, and that was how we became very close friends. I soon came to learn that John was a Rwandese refugee, who had been in Kenya for over three years, and during our free times I would ask him about the Rwandese genocide, about how he landed in Kenya, and his story was indeed sad, very sad.

He would tell me about how they narrowly escaped death in Rwanda, just to settle in an equally dangerous region on the shores of Lake Kivu. He would tell me of how, on several occasions, members of his family would go missing, he narrated the story of how they (together with other refugees) came to Kenya through Uganda, and the tribulations that they faced as they tried to settle in Nairobi’s Kayole estate (this is where most of the Rwandese refugees in Nairobi settled). He would specifically tell and re-tell a story of how his Primary School English teacher would call him a stone, and would tell the other pupils not to behave like the stone, reason being that he could neither write, communicate nor understand English, which was/is the language of instruction in Kenyan Schools. But he was fluent in Kinyarwanda, French, and could speak some Kiswahili. But in less than two years, he had mastered English and Kiswahili, and went ahead to score high marks in his KCPE examinations.

One year after i joined that school, he was suspended, for refusing to be canned, for a wrong that he had not committed (just a few weeks before the incident, the government had banned corporal punishment in schools.) That was the last time I saw him. Over the next holidays I visited their house, where I found his sisters who told me that John had relocated to Zambia.

Refugees Camps in Kenya

John considered himself lucky not to have lived in the refugee camps. The refugee camps in Kenya are situated (somehow by default) in some of the driest and hottest regions of this country. These regions are inhabited by poisonous snakes, scorpions, spiders, lots of mosquitoes, etc.

Since it is assumed that a refugee situation is a temporary one, refugees are accommodated in tents and other makeshift structures, receive unpredictable food rations, and almost every other thing, including security in the camps is of temporary nature, therefore many crimes, including rape and defilement are reported. The quality and conditions of healthcare and education would make those in the slums of Nairobi admirable. So in as much as these refugees escape death in their countries, what they get in these camps is survival, not life.

Receiving the refugee status itself is also a long process that might take many months to acquire from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and getting necessary documents from the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA) takes a long period too. These long durations make it inconceivable for refugees to even think of going back to their countries, since going back means losing their refugee status, a move that would make it even more difficult to acquire another status, should the need arise.

In 2007, Kenya passed the refugee act with the intention of streamlining the refugee affairs in the country. But for a country that hosts close to half a million Refugees, with Dadaab refugee camp being the biggest in the world with over 380, 000 refugees, a lot more needs to be done, other than just a fourteen page law that merely outlines the administrative system of dealing with the refugees.

A section of Kakuma Refugee Camp

A School in Dadaab Refugee Camp

A Section of Dadaab Refugee Camp

What Kenya need is a serious, humane, progressive and comprehensive Refugee Policy.

There are many organisations that are doing a great job both in these camps and in the overall handling of the refugees. Organisations such as the UNHCR, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), World Food Program (WFP), CARE, Doctors Without Borders, ICRC, International Rescue Committee, Lutheran World Federation (LWF), NCCK, Selasians of Don Bosco, Refugees International, Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS), the Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK), Windle Trust Kenya and many others continue to alleviate the suffering and preventing deaths in these camps.

But it is not right for Kenya, even in our unfortunate economic conditions, to treat the handling of these African refugees as of secondary priority( if of priority at all), and leave the humanitarian work to NGOs. In as much as many refugees are always grateful of the ‘hosting’ that Kenya gives them, Kenyans and the Kenyan government must come up with methods of handling and hosting these innocent Africans not as some international obligation, but as a natural obligation of Africans and African governments to innocent African victims.

Wasteful

Keeping people in camps even for one year, let alone 20-something years is un-human, un-African, and extremely wasteful. A population of over 300, 000 people would be of more use in the economy and in nation building, than being kept in some desert camps. How does Kenya benefit in Keeping these Africans idle? Some backward people argue that our population is too big and our resources are too little. But this not true. Most African countries are under populated, and furthermore, we need more of the most important resource; The human resource. ..and even if the conditions in the Camps were to be comfortable, integrating the refugees into the general Kenyan society would be more human and would make more economic sense than the ‘hosting’ that our government gives to these refugees.

Class nature of Refugees

What is perhaps the most disheartening fact is the class nature of the refugees.

Most of those living in the refugee camps are people who were Workers and Peasants in their own countries. The refugee camps are filled with poor people’s children who were supposed to be schooling. Most of these refugees carry along with them cheap old clothes, Sufurias and occasionally a hen or two: All which are possessions of the poor and oppressed.

In all these cases, the wars that these refugees run from are political. Political wars that are instigated and propagated by the oppressing elite. In all these cases, those who flee into these camps are the innocent poor. In our Post Elections Violence of 2007, we saw how innocent people died because of politics, which they probably did not understand. A minority took up crude arms, the majority hoped for peace, while the political elites fanned the fire so as to get/retain power. The same happened in Somalia 20 years ago. The workers and peasants who were lucky were able to reach the refugee camps, the majority could not escape and hence either died or fell into the control of the armed and organised militias.

On the other hand, during these Politically instigated wars, the elite class always manage to get asylums in Europe, the U.S and in other African capitals. The few that remain behind have enough money to buy respect, and control the militias. Today,most of the Somali and Sudanese elites own houses in the most expensive neighbourhoods in Nairobi. Their children cruise in Range Rovers and BMWs. Their kids attend the most expensive private schools, attend expensive Private Universities, or study in big European Universities. other rich refugees live in upper middle class estates. Eastleigh estate is now owned by the rich Somali refugees. Thanks to them (and lack of government control), the property prices in Eastleigh is now unaffordable for most locals (including local Somalis), since the Rich Somali 'refugees' offer up to 10 times the value(and usually pay in cash). It is the same case for the rich Sudanese, Rwandese, Congolese, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Burundian refugees. They receive annual stipend that comes in thousands of dollars, while the peasants and the poor workers are either dying in their country, suffering in the refugee camps, or are trying to make ends meet in the streets of Nairobi.

Conscious Kenyans, most of whom criticize these borders that were imposed on us by the colonialists, should make it a habit to speak up against the further oppression of these oppressed Africans.

Internal security, a lame excuse

It is claimed, that in the current era of global terrorism, (just as we saw recently in Libya and Ivory Coast by the ‘international community’?)and the recent bombings in Uganda and Kenya by some Somali terrorists, the terror threats from Al Qaeda/El Shabaab, and the problem of smuggling small arms into the country are the main reasons that make Kenya not to allow for the integration of the refugees into the larger society. That they are a security threat. This is a very backward and very lame excuse. Rather than wholesomely keeping all the poor refugees in the camps, the government should strengthen its security system so as to arrest the specific culprits. condemning half a million innocent people because of a few criminals doesn't make sense.

For instance, can the government deny people in Kayole their rights, just because a few Mungiki fellows living there are extorting, killing and terrorizing other residents in Nairobi? Can the government restrict movements in Dandora, just because some carjackers, robbers and killers have made it their safe haven?

The camps are necessary

But again, for the sake of planning, order, transit and orientation, refugee camps could be necessary. There are times when the reasons for seeking asylum last just for a few weeks. There are times when we have huge influxes of refugees, and special holding grounds are needed for them, but these holding grounds must be humane, should be comfortable. The camps should act as holding and transit areas.

Now that recent history has shown us that refugee situations might be more than temporary, these holding grounds should be used to orientate the refugees into the Kenyan society’s way of life. Things like Basic Kiswahili, what to carry where and when, the security situation in the Kenyan streets, where to get help if in need, and even simple things like how to cross the Kenyan roads...

Refugees-Locals Tensions

This orientation would help prevent unnecessary tensions caused by small misunderstandings, cultural differences and certain attitudes. These differences tend to create animosity which is usually not there. Kenyans love and respect visitors, including the refugees, even more than they respect themselves. Kenyans are very welcoming and accommodating. It is easier for a typical Kenyan street mugger to forcefully steal from another Kenyan, that they would from a Sudanese, Somali, Eritrean or an Ethiopian (interestingly, the physical characteristics of these four peoples are quite distinct,)

But tensions, especially class tensions continue to exist, and are unfortunately blamed on a whole people. When the Rwandese refugees began arriving in the late 90s, it was reported in the dailies that some of the rich Rwandese would get into the front seat of a Matatu, and pay double fare so that they could sit alone. Some time ago, I attended a demonstration in Eastleigh(which has many Kenyan and Somalian Somalis) which was organised by women who wash clothes for some very little pay(commonly known as mama dobi, or mama nguo) most of who live in the neighbouring Mathare slums. These women were demonstrating against the mistreatment that they face from their bosses who are Somalis. Some of them spoke of how they would be raped after washing the clothes, others would tell of very grotesque stories of how they are forced to clean dead bodies, others complained of being denied even the meager wages that they’ve worked for, among many other sad stories. Such stories tend to be generalized on a whole people, thus creating tensions.

Other tensions come about when the refugees in Nairobi segregate themselves from the rest of the Kenyan society. They even do not bother to learn Kiswahili, the language of the common man. At times, cultural/religious issues also breeds tensions, for example, dating/marrying Somali, Sudanese and Ethiopian women is discouraged, if not completely forbidden (especially by their men)yet the Somali men, Sudanese men and the Ethiopian men can date and marry Kenyan women. These petty cultural/religious issues breed quiet tensions.

of exception is the Congolese refugees. Most refugees from Congo interact with Kenyans in a smoothest manner. In as much as the dress distinctively, and in as much as they speak Congolese Swahili, they still mix easily with Kenyans, and they do not have any extreme potentially conflicting cultural-social-religious issues.

‘legalising’ refugees and putting up Strong labour laws

The class nature of the refugees is very evident even among the urban refugees. Whereas the rich urban refugees display their excesses and negative attitudes that are characteristic of their class, the poor refugees who somehow find their way to the city encounter double oppression, the ordinary oppression because there are poor, and further oppression because they are in the cities/towns illegally. Because they have to survive, they tend to take up jobs on extremely low wages, mostly as house helps and menial workers, where their employers take advantage of their illegal nature to exploit them as they wish (they cannot run away, they cannot report their cases to the police for fear of arrest,,,their future is very uncertain). Some (women) get into prostitution, where they still have to work under local prostitution kings and queens, for protection and marketing.

The police also take advantage of their illegality to extort money from them.

To prevent all this, the camp idea as earlier said should be scrapped off, and the refugees should be absorbed into the economy. This will automatically deal with the idea of illegality, which will further boost their sense of security and confidence. Strict national labour laws should be enacted, setting minimum wages, salary scales and working conditions in all fields so that space for extra-exploitation of the refugees is reduced.

Kenyans, Kenya and the African Union

In the meantime, volunteerism should be encouraged and promoted among the ordinary and qualified Kenyans, so that they may assist in these refugee camps, as the government of Kenya works towards becoming more serious, humane and logical in handling the whole refugee issue, by working towards setting them free. It was great news when a few years ago Tanzania Naturalized over 160, 000 refugees (..In as much as they had been refugees since 1972, this was still a very very positive move)

Currently, there are no structures that can facilitate free volunteer-ship in these camps. A visit to the websites of the few NGO’s that work in these camps shows that these NGO’s are more interested in monetary donations: Volunteer-ship is not in their priority list. Since our government treats the refugees not as Africans, but as foreigners, and all the management, save for the processing of papers, Is left to the UNHCR and the NGO’s, let alone coming up with volunteering structures.

The African governments and the AU must come up with real solutions to the problems in places like Somalia and the other unstable regions. They must also come up with methods of preventing such situations from occurring, and when they occur, they should be nipped them in the bud. (Of course, the ultimate solution is Africa Unity under Socialism)

Today, high tensions have been building up in Burundi since their national elections last year, where the ruling CNDD-FDD party’s candidate went in unopposed after all the opposition parties in this fragile country boycotted the elections due to massive pre-elections irregularities. As history has shown, what happens in Burundi tends to flow over to Rwanda, and vice-versa.

Things in Rwanda are seemingly quiet, but trouble is also brewing from within. Dictatorships have never lasted forever, and the people of Rwanda might soon rise up against the oppressive regime, a situation that might create another Rwandese refugee situation.

Tensions have also been building up in Sudan, over the Abyei, Kordofan and other new border regions. Our regional governmental bodies should come up with ways of dealing with these issues before they blow up into a never ending crisis like we have seen in the past.

**********************************************************************************

This year, I received a friend request on facebook. The friend request was from a guy who called himself an old friend of mine.……this old friend was John, and this was nine years since I last heard from him! He’s now married and settled in the United States.

Benedict Wachira

14^th July 2011

3:00pm