A few days ago I had an argument with some fellows in town on the ongoing debate on whether or not Ministers whose juniors have been implicated in the now cancerous disease of corruption should resign or not. They were breathing fire and splitting the air with such sharp venomous words as they described the Ministers and Permanent Secretaries as being magnificently useless in their work and called for their sacking with no further ado. For me it was the best chance to air what I consider to be so dear to my heart and hence my argument.
As a reader of the Bible I will tell that the only thing that differentiates all Biblical prophets from Jeremiah was his ability to prophesy that in the end of days no son shall carry the sins of their fathers neither will a father be judged by the sins committed by his son. To me this was the foundation stone of what mutated into the concept of human rights today. Jesus Christ who I personally admire warned that in the day judgment every man will stand on his own before God and answer according to their actions.
Let me give you an interesting story of my local sub chief. A few days ago he was caught defecating in his neighbour's maize farm! The owner of the farm raised the alarm and you can imagine how many people rushed to the scene. The local NEMA office then united with some local detractors of the sub chief in demanding that the officer resigns for his unbecoming behaviour. A few days later the story died. But what has been bothering me since then has been this incessant calls for people to resign because their juniors have messed up. In this case the top most or the big fish as they called should resign because of the maize and FPE scandals. This is despite the fact that the so called big fish had nothing to do with the said scandals.
My humble submission is that the concept of Institutional or Political responsibility is a flawed one. If it were to hold water then it would mean George W. Bush was meant to resign after the 11/9/2001 bombing of the NewYork Twin Towers. It would also mean that if the failed bombing of the Boeing 777 from Detroit to Chicago (not sure of the destination) last Christmas had succeeded then Americans would have expected President Obama to resign. It would equally mean that President Kibaki should have resigned after the Mathira massacre on 21/04/2009. Or that President Kibaki whose office is in charge of the Police should resign because some rogue police officers have been collecting 100 shillings from the matatus on the roads. Or that the P.M Raila Odinga should resign now that Caroli Omondi decided to breach the Public Procurement Procedure.
Let me say the following. That each and every individual should be accountable to their actions. We all agree that Corruption is a social crime just as is anti social behaviours such as defecating in the open. How do we expect the President of a country to resign because a police officer was caught soliciting for a 50 shillings bribe? You may think this case is different from the Maize and FPE scandals but to me they are simply the same. Every institution has a structure. And the structures are such that different officers have different roles to play. There are rules that regulate their behaviour as they carry out their duties. The law is equally clear on what should be done in case an officer engages in unbecoming behaviour. In this case their is no law requiring the ministers or their permanent secretaries to resign or be sacked if their officers have been implicated in corruption. It is purely an issue of morality. And if it is morality then the best people to be pressured to resigned are the ones whose names have been mentioned and not their seniors. In this FPE I do not see what wrong Ongeri and Karega have committed. They should not resign. Even the P.M should not resign over the maize scam. If they resign then I need someone to put pressure on Saitoti to resign because of what his sub chief did in the neighbour's farm!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Why Kurians must return a strong No Vote!
When we were growing up in the villages of Nyamtiro and Nyaroha in the 1990s I used to think there is only one tribe in Kenya and that the tribe was Luo, Abakuria having been intruders. I remember vividly that when I reported to Nyaroha Primary School in class one in January 1991, one of the songs I was asked to sing was entitled ''Sondo Ulondo, maganga ma kawade'' or something similar to that. I also remember that at one particular moment the school choir performed for the then Nyanza Provincial Commissioner, Mr. Joseph Kaguthi in Dholuo language. Several are the times we were forced to perform Ramogi dance either at official functions or during Drama and Music Festivals.
The reason I am giving these accounts is not because I am good in remembering past things but it is because together these acts bordered on decimation of the Kuria culture. We were told that speaking in Kiswahili was bad in school, speaking in Dholuo was worse but speaking in Kuria was the worst thing and it carried a punishment of not only being given five strong strokes of the cane and uprooting of a tree stump but also it led to immediate suspension from school. Out of the nine teachers we had in our school there were only two Kisiis the rest being Luos.
Outside Nyaroha Primary a lot was happening. People used to travel from Ntimaru to Homa Bay, a distance of about 200 kilometres in order to huggle, negotiate and plead for an Identity Card (national I.D). If your son or daughter happened to be arrested the nearest police cell was in Homabay and most people never made it to see what became of their relatives after their arrest. But I think most Kurians will agree with me that the worst crime committed against us was the psychological alienation that the Luos perpetrated against Kurians. We were told in class that a Kuria child could solve certain mathematical problems! That in fact no Kuria child was expected to pass KCPE and go to a National School. Several of the teachers in whose hands we went through told us that Kurians were naturally cattle rustlers and bhang smokers! These made several bright people I know drop out of school in class four or class seven. Today I meet them and they all rue the missed opportunities. But they have the Luo teachers to blame.
The reason I am talking these things out is not because I am a tribalist but it is because I a bitter man and I know Kurians are. Why not when we suffered from 1963 to 1993 without our own District. When men like the late Hon. Benjamin C. Maisori Itumbo led delegation after delegation to State House imploring upon Daniel Arap Moi to grant Kuria District status it was not for fun. They knew what they were doing. The District Focus For Rural Development Policy meant that if you had a District you stood to benefit directly from the National government. Today the devolution policy being adopted has been proposed to end at the County. We are once again being asked to go back to the HomaBay County! What a circus!
The proposed Draft Constitution has recognized 47 Counties Kuria being out. The reasons given by the PSC in Naivasha were among others the viability of these Counties. One wonders what it is that HomaBay and Migori would do without Kuria. Kuria is known world wide for production of Tobacco, Coffee, quality cattle products and Maize. The Isibania Boarder generates income to the government that is commensurate to the total revenue collected from fish and sugarcane farming. combined. We have some of the best fantastic climates patterns under the solar system! Kehancha Municipal Council generates revenue equivalent to Migori, Uriri and HomaBay combined. We may not be superior culturally but it is my strongest belief that ours is one of the most conserved cultures in Kenya today. When Iritungu dancers perform at national ceremonies the country goes wild! And with a population of more than 400,000 people now no one must take Kuria for a ride. What we must support is the creation of a second Constituency just as the bigger Kuria District was divided into two. We have come of age. We must demand that should Homabay be named a County the Kehancha must be the Headquarters failing which Kurians will wake up on the voting day in their hundreds of thousands to vote No. We are considering lobbying further than that. Should all our plans fail then we will take a more radical stance against the government of Kenya and people who do not wish Kurians the best.
This is the message Kuria Youth Forum for Democracy (KYFD) will be going out with to meet the electorate.
The reason I am giving these accounts is not because I am good in remembering past things but it is because together these acts bordered on decimation of the Kuria culture. We were told that speaking in Kiswahili was bad in school, speaking in Dholuo was worse but speaking in Kuria was the worst thing and it carried a punishment of not only being given five strong strokes of the cane and uprooting of a tree stump but also it led to immediate suspension from school. Out of the nine teachers we had in our school there were only two Kisiis the rest being Luos.
Outside Nyaroha Primary a lot was happening. People used to travel from Ntimaru to Homa Bay, a distance of about 200 kilometres in order to huggle, negotiate and plead for an Identity Card (national I.D). If your son or daughter happened to be arrested the nearest police cell was in Homabay and most people never made it to see what became of their relatives after their arrest. But I think most Kurians will agree with me that the worst crime committed against us was the psychological alienation that the Luos perpetrated against Kurians. We were told in class that a Kuria child could solve certain mathematical problems! That in fact no Kuria child was expected to pass KCPE and go to a National School. Several of the teachers in whose hands we went through told us that Kurians were naturally cattle rustlers and bhang smokers! These made several bright people I know drop out of school in class four or class seven. Today I meet them and they all rue the missed opportunities. But they have the Luo teachers to blame.
The reason I am talking these things out is not because I am a tribalist but it is because I a bitter man and I know Kurians are. Why not when we suffered from 1963 to 1993 without our own District. When men like the late Hon. Benjamin C. Maisori Itumbo led delegation after delegation to State House imploring upon Daniel Arap Moi to grant Kuria District status it was not for fun. They knew what they were doing. The District Focus For Rural Development Policy meant that if you had a District you stood to benefit directly from the National government. Today the devolution policy being adopted has been proposed to end at the County. We are once again being asked to go back to the HomaBay County! What a circus!
The proposed Draft Constitution has recognized 47 Counties Kuria being out. The reasons given by the PSC in Naivasha were among others the viability of these Counties. One wonders what it is that HomaBay and Migori would do without Kuria. Kuria is known world wide for production of Tobacco, Coffee, quality cattle products and Maize. The Isibania Boarder generates income to the government that is commensurate to the total revenue collected from fish and sugarcane farming. combined. We have some of the best fantastic climates patterns under the solar system! Kehancha Municipal Council generates revenue equivalent to Migori, Uriri and HomaBay combined. We may not be superior culturally but it is my strongest belief that ours is one of the most conserved cultures in Kenya today. When Iritungu dancers perform at national ceremonies the country goes wild! And with a population of more than 400,000 people now no one must take Kuria for a ride. What we must support is the creation of a second Constituency just as the bigger Kuria District was divided into two. We have come of age. We must demand that should Homabay be named a County the Kehancha must be the Headquarters failing which Kurians will wake up on the voting day in their hundreds of thousands to vote No. We are considering lobbying further than that. Should all our plans fail then we will take a more radical stance against the government of Kenya and people who do not wish Kurians the best.
This is the message Kuria Youth Forum for Democracy (KYFD) will be going out with to meet the electorate.
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