The crazy Kenyans

I normally do not like the theatrics of Makadara Member of Parliament Mike Sonko, but now with the drought situations and the happenings, I agree with one of his statement “Serikali ni kichwa maji” (The Government is a thick head). The Government has been blamed for years for not solving the situation, house speaker also said yesterday someone has been sleeping on his job and by the way congratulations to our MPs and Parliament for contributing over 8m for drought.

Incidents that happened recently that confirms the Government to be “kichwa maji” is the statement of Government spokesperson Alfred Mutua saying the Government has no statistics of Kenyans who have died of starvation, I will not dwell on that because I have written about it in a previous post below. Then he was contradicted by a Chief in Kalapata in Turkana South who shows a news reporter his book were he registered five deaths and shown graves of his people who died of starvation. Then someone in the Government gets mad at the chief for spilling beans and sends warning letters and gave him 21 days to explain his action. The chief of Kalapata is not the only one who has been asked to explain his actions, another chief who talked to media about the difficulty of reaching Turkana people in the remote areas due to logistics was also given a letter. The media has also been criticized for the way they reported the hunger situation and giving Kenya a wrong image. If the media and the government representatives did not report the situation the way it is, how many more would have died? Would the response be positive like the one by Kenyans for Kenyans and other donors?

I tell you without a free media, terrible things can happen in a country. Yesterday I watched on NTV a cereals businessman in Kawangware being arrested for offloading at NIGHT bags of relief maize and beans (packed in sacks labeled GOK NOT FOR SALE) from a lorry into his shop, it is the public that tipped that authorities about the incident. This are goods meant for starving Kenyans, that were diverted by a corrupt Government official and sold to a Greedy businessman, this are the crazy Kenyans who do not fret or shade a tear when they watch pictures of hungry babies feeding on the breast of hungry mothers, old people who are so frail to walk because of the many days they have had no food and those that died. While some Kenyans, Corporate and other donors contributed from as little as 10 bob to millions for the hungry, for the Greedy Kenyans it is business as usual and a time to take advantage of the situation. There were other incidents of stolen relief food found food found in homes of people and many more that have not been reported. SHAME ON THEM!

If there are people in the Government with “vichwa maji” then the Government should clean its house to improve its image.

What an irony

While Kenyans in Turkana have had no rain for a long while resulting in the worst drought in years; there is rain in Western Kenya and other parts of the Rift Valley.

While they are waiting and scrambling for a share of relief food mainly maize; people in Transmara county have a bumper harvest of maize and those in Kinangop are harvesting a lot of potatoes that some are rotting before they sell. We have also seen on news that Turkana central, Naoros Scheme are able to produce food through irrigation started by World Vision Kenya they have plantations of Sorghum and is green compared to the other parts of Turkana that is very dry. This shows that the country is able to produce enough food through irrigation and rain water harvesting during rainy season.

Maize in Transmara is sold at Kshs 2300 but when it gets to Nairobi the same bag is sold at Kshs 4000 a difference of Kshs1700. One just needs to get 1000 bags of maize and sell in Nairobi at around Kshs 4000 to become a millionaire. This is why the government should also control price of maize to stop traders from exploiting citizens in these hard times.

Saving image can be costly

Last week Dr. Alfred Mutua Government Spokesman nicknamed Spin doctor/master annoyed Kenyans by saying the Government does not have statistics of anyone who has died of starvation. By this statement he meant the local and international media coverage of the starving Kenyans in Northern Kenya was nothing to worry about. It was not a question of whether they had died or not, it was about getting them help before we lost many. I was so annoyed with this comment from a man who has been on the bad books of Kenyans since he was appointed on June 22nd 2004.

Yesterday we were told he spent 2.5m to save his image by placing full page colored ads on local dailies, this at a time when Kenyans for Kenyans are raising funds to save Kenyans from starvation. This could have bought over 700 (90kg bags) of maize if sold at 3500/bag. This time he has added injury to the wound we have in the Country. He has ashamed himself locally and internationally and no matter how much he spends to save his image, it will not change anything. I believe it is time this man just quit his job or gets a sack. I think activist Okiya Omtata (a very aggressive Civil Society Activist) and 30 others who participated in demanding resignation of Minister of Education for corruption in his Ministry are still in remand. Otherwise they would have demanded the spin master’s to resignation for his silly remarks.

Tribulations of the Turkana people

Every time when drought affects Kenya, Turkana County in the Northwestern part of the Country is amongst the most affected region together with Northeastern part. Now with Kenya and the Horn of Africa going through the worst drought in years, everyday we see images on TV and newspapers of the Turkana people’s suffering.

One amazing thing that I have noted is the people are very different from other Kenyans, most of them especially those living in the very remote parts are still backward in development. Most of them are half naked and the children are completely naked, the structures they live in are sticks joined together to make something like the Maasai Manyata, they are not safe at all. It is not like they are in Kenya where even the Maasai communities who wore their shukas for a long time and were considered backward are now very developed. Even though some still wear the shukas, they wear them covering most of their body and do it as a tradition wearing the latest designs.

The case of the Turkana people is very sad yesterday after watching Citizen TV news I was shocked and said OH MY GOD! There was a newscast on people walking over 10 km to get food from the “nearest” local authority, after trekking nearly the whole day they go back home with only one 2kg tin (gorogoro) of maize, those lucky to get more go home with 3 tins. Some even end up going home empty handed. One person at the office said there are people who are 25 kms away who have not been reached. Imagine what will happen before the message gets to them that there is relief maize at the local authority 25 kms away, if the others took nearly a whole day to walk around 10 - 11kms, they will have to spend a night or two, too and from the chief/district office where they get the maize. The worst is there is no guarantee they will get the maize and may collapse going back home.

This is shocking for us Kenyans to see there are people in our country who leave like they are in their own world. This is a real Food for Thought for the Government to work on because there is no way life in Turkana will improve with poor infrastructures. On this news a messenger was sent on foot to announce to the villagers to collect maize from the authorities’ office 10 - 11kms away. This means even the local authority does not have the capacity like Government vehicles to distribute the relief food or the roads are bad. Therefore apart from thinking of Agricultural methods to improve food security, they have also to put in place proper infrastructure in Turkana County. We have seen trucks of relief food stuck for days on the way to deliver food some have also been attacked. The Government is now using the military aircraft and the military to deliver food in Turkana.

Thank God for initiative Kenyans for Kenya, God bless us Kenyans, many local and international organizations for willingly contributing towards saving lives. It is also good the Government took up their duty to distribute food to the affected areas using the military. The Military should also now be deployed in such affected regions to work on infrastructure and security because the aircraft can only offload the food at an airstrip.

Lastly as I looked at the half naked Kenyans and the naked children I just thought may be after the drought, people should also donate clothes.