President Pierre Nkurunziza ran unopposed in the 28 July presidential poll. Photo: Siegfried Modola/IRIN

BUJUMBURA, Burundi – The political climate is growing increasingly antagonistic in Burundi, where many of today’s political parties were yesterday’s rebel groups. A spate of elections designed to entrench stability through pluralism has only made matters worse, say analysts, raising fears that a 10-year-old power-sharing deal is falling apart.

“Burundians should understand that our victory belongs to everyone, to those who voted for us and to those who did not,” re-elected President Pierre Nkurunziza said on 26 August at his swearing-in ceremony.

“What matters to us is to work with everybody for the good of everybody,” he said.

But Nkurunziza ran in the 28 July presidential poll unopposed because of a boycott called in protest at alleged rigging of earlier municipal elections. Most parties have now fully withdrawn from the political institutions including parliament.

“We are worried about politicians’ games,” said a resident of Bujumbura Rural, the province around the capital that experienced some of the worst fighting during the 1993-2005 civil war, which claimed 300,000 lives.

“Now that there is only one party, how can it bring us peace?” he added, asking not to be identified.

“In Bujumbura Rural, we really know what war means. We now fear for the future,” said another resident. “Some say new rebel movements are being formed, others say there are no such rebel movements. Opposition leaders have gone into hiding, we do not know what they are up to.”

Opposition in hiding

At least three opposition leaders have fled Burundi amid a government crackdown on the opposition and internal critics. According to Amnesty International, intelligence services tortured 12 people in late June and early July.

There were more than 100 grenade explosions in those months, mostly targeting the ruling party, the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD). Dozens of the party’s offices across the country were torched.

At the same time, opposition politicians were frequently arrested, sometimes on charges of threatening state security, or for holding “illegal” meetings.

“Burundi is at a dangerous crossroads and clearly ill-intentioned people on both sides of the political divide are seeking to exploit recent tensions,” Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in early July.

In the last week of August, two members of the National Liberation Forces (FNL), a former rebel group, and six members of another political party, were arrested in the west of the country. They were accused of taking food into Kibira forest, where some groups are reportedly receiving military training. Two other FNL members were detained in Kayanza, in the north, and accused of belonging to an armed group.

Power sharing

It wasn’t supposed to come to this. On 28 August 2000, parties to Burundi’s civil war capped six years of talks by signing a Peace and Reconciliation Agreement spelling out how power was to be shared between the politically dominant but numerically small Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority. It took another five years for the last Hutu rebel group to lay down its arms, but Arusha produced the constitutional framework for ending hostilities.

“We convened on a political system liable to take into account both the political and ethnic dimensions of Burundi’s problem,” recalled Jean-Baptiste Manwangari, one of the Tutsi negotiators who worked on the pact. “It was a democratic system functioning much on the basis of a consensus and dialogue instead of a system of majority [rule], which for Burundi was likely to bring forth dictatorship.”

Now, according to one civil servant, Burundi has “gone back to square one… a [new] political accord needs to be negotiated to bring the opposition back on board.”

The pre-Arusha winner-takes-all style of politics is dangerous because it “creates a kind of survival strategy for the losers”, explained Pacifique Nininahazwe, head of the Forum pour le Renforcement de la Societé Civile, a coalition of civil society organizations outlawed in 2009.

“If the ruling party behaves in the same way as other victorious parties did in the past, the losers will adopt the same survival mechanisms,” he added.

One-party warning

The more than two-thirds parliamentary majority won by the CNDD-FDD “will transform the state from a multiparty system to essentially one-party dominance”, Henri Boschoff and Ralph Ellermann warned in a paper for the Pretoria-based Institute of Security Studies – Elections without competition and no peace without participation: where might it go from here.

“Ultimately [this] could have a highly detrimental effect on peace and democracy in Burundi,” they wrote, arguing that “the reluctance of Nkurunziza and the CNDD-FDD to govern the country in the spirit of its power-sharing constitution … drove the political climate towards a hostile environment where trust between the parties and in the constitution dissolved.

“Burundi is at risk of civil disobedience… The worst-case scenario would be a rebellion [against] state institutions caused by opposition parties,” the paper warned.

“If the huge numbers of the population now disenchanted with the level of democracy would be willing to follow parties on a non-democratic path, this could eventually be the difference between a few random attacks and the full-scale mobilization of a disgruntled population,” the authors said.

Related Posts

Catching more than fish. Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN

ENTEBBE, Uganda – A study of HIV-positive people in fishing communities on the shores of Lake Victoria in central Uganda has found that more than a quarter have “recombinant” viruses that might threaten both treatment and prevention efforts.

Of the numerous sub-types of HIV circulating worldwide, A and D are the most common in Uganda and were found in most of the 117 men and women surveyed from five fishing communities in the two districts of Masaka and Wakiso. But the study also found that 29 percent had “recombinant” forms of HIV called A/D and D/A – evidence that re-infection has occurred.

Some of the recombinant strains may have been the result of “superinfection” which occurs when an HIV-positive person is re-infected with another strain of HIV and can increase the likelihood of drug resistance to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy if a resistant virus is transmitted and could also speed up disease progression.

Now researchers in Uganda are looking for interventions aimed at educating HIV-positive members of the fishing communities around Lake Victoria about safe sex.

“We are starting to see transmission of viruses that are resistant to some drugs and need to inform even those already infected not to engage in risky behaviour to avoid superinfection,” said Pontiano Kaleebu, Director and head of the Basic Sciences Programme at the Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute (MRC-UVRI) Research Unit on AIDS, which is conducting the three-year study.

Kaleebu said there was a danger they could be re-infected with a strain of the virus that was resistant to certain ARVs, making treatment very difficult, but Juliet Mpondwe from the MRC said that data on the prevalence of drug-resistant HIV strains would only be available once the study was finished in 2012.

Speaking at a workshop in Entebbe, the main city in Wakiso District, the researchers said they wanted to develop interventions aimed at the fishing communities, such as education on how to reduce HIV risk through abstinence, being faithful to one partner, condom use and male medical circumcision.

They also planned to conduct further studies to better understand why HIV prevalence in these communities was so high – at 28 percent, four times the national average of 6.4 percent.

“We want to work with these communities and learn more in order to see how we can intervene, but also prepare for future research in vaccines and microbicides [female-controlled HIV prevention products],” said Kaleebu.

The spread of recombinant forms of HIV could have implications for vaccines and microbicides developed to guard against only certain sub-types.

Related Posts

Dear Mr. Mukangu,
First, let me apologize for getting back to you less promptly than the urgency of the matter at hand calls for. I do so because just like justice delayed is justice denied, I consider this late response – a response denied. But I will still do it anyway.

Indeed in all human lives exist both a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde. These are the strongest forces in any instinctive thought. Learned decision-making, however, calls for considerable control of both. But for purposes of conformity and compliance to your self-acclaimed status as Bishop, and pretender to prophesy, I will call these forces evil and good. As for your case, I believe your evil relegated your good to the doldrums of subservience, long before I ever got in touch with you.

In your private correspondences to me, you curiously signed off as Bishop Peter Mukangu; of First Love Apostolic Church International in California, USA? You also projected yourself, albeit in half coherent mien, as very Godly. Yet in the very letter and spirit of your various emails, you defy the principle of piety – that calls for impartiality in all manner of judgments, making it the very bedrock of ethics and religion – with reckless abandon.

I subscribe to this because in your maiden communiqué, you referred to me as an apparent “foolish young man”, who does not know God. Or is it your god?

While defending an alleged conman, John Mbugua Mwangi a.k.a Pastor John M. Mwangi of Indianapolis, Indiana: hitherto John Maina Mwangi, who has a string of court cases to boot, both in Kenya and in the United States, you declared our writing reckless and careless. This does not fit the billing, for I am in receipt of copies of some of the court correspondences involving the said conman. Also, within our reach are verbatim communication between the conman, and his victims, where he pleaded for mercy and even made promises to make-good their losses.

Questioning my spiritual standing is extraneous to say the least. The case at hand is about one Maina or Mbugua, depending on who you talk to, and whether or not he conned a string of Kenyans and Americans, severally, of money amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, or if you like, millions of shillings.

I have posed to you the very question on your take, regarding the likely validity of these accusations, and your responses have been vulgar, arrogant and elusive, thus necessitating my change of approach. I now proceed to prosecute this case in the court of public opinion. And having volunteered as a willing witness without coercion or duress, and having demonstrated the willingness to take the heat on behalf of your brother-in-Christ, I believe you are a defender in good standing and a body double of sorts.

So how do you plead as regards these plaintiffs, namely, Esther, Terry and Martha, and yes, Cecilia too, for the loss of their hard-earned time and money?

In a manner out of character and no doubt diversionary, you advised me to go “circumcise my filthy tongue, and clean my dirty head before writing stupid things about a servant of God.” Needless to say, this is neither bishoply, nor godly. Your accusations of me were as false as they were unnecessary. The question is about the subject’s public nuisance and cunning, and criminal conduct, not his private relationship with his creator. But there is good news for you. All the matters raised by the blogger-whistle blower, have checked off against available documents.

In the ensuing exchanges, I told you that you cannot be trusted because of your vested interests in Mwangi’s business. In despicable fury, you refused to address specific matters and threatened me with deportation instead. This inadvertently tied you to the conman. As Indianapolis residents would attest, this is his big gun and game changer in any dealing, whenever he fails to honor his obligations.

As for me, be advised that my presence in the United States, or any country I have played guest to for that matter, is in good standing; unlike your benefactor who seemingly is wanted home and abroad. My spiritual, academic and career records in Kenya are spotless. So either way, your evil efforts will never come to bear.

I therefore challenge you to dispute the validity of available documents, copies of which I may choose to forward to you privately should you grant public consent.

You will need all the luck you can marshal to get a crook out of the hook. Good luck!

Related Posts

Hi. My name is Jessica but my friends (who are very few) call me Jezzie while my enemies –a constituency of them – call me Jezebel. I am 25 years old and HIV-positive. I am a mother of 5 -year –old twins – David (Didi) and Terry (Titi). This is my continuing story.

Week 9

Wednesday

I have to catch up with all my pending office work. My NGO to help the girls seems to have stalled, and I am also eager to get it going. I would like to detach myself completely from Mr. Kombo and be on my own. Abdul, Mariam and I have also not finalised the restaurant’s paperwork. The eatery seems to have rejuvenated Mariam, who has done a marvelous job turning it into one of the most sort after places in Mombasa. The money is rolling in, and the bank account is bursting. Mariam’s entrepreneurial skills have expanded to other areas that we had not anticipated: she has invested in a residence DJ, taxis, outside catering and home deliveries. The restaurant now boasts a large base of employees, which has not augured well with some people.

I place a call to Mariam, “Hi girl.”

“Hi, Jessica,” her voice pipes in. She sounds like a 10-year-old girl; such a smooth voice!

“What’s new?”

“Plenty, my girl. Plenty. Why don’t you drop by for lunch so that we can have a girlie talk?”

“Sure.” I hang up. I love positive-minded people, and Mariam is just one such person, who usually brings the best out of people.

Next on my list is the lost Abdul. One, two, three rings and no reply from his line. I need to talk to the OCPD.

“Jessica, my girl!” the OCPD literally shouts on the phone. His excitement brings a smile on my face.

“Yes, your girl. I am looking for Abdul,” I am blunt with my request.

“Still in hiding for another month or two, though a lot of undercurrents and shifting of plates are going on.” He is referring to the Cell Five, which was heavily involved with Abdul’s dad.

“Any news on the control of the property and routes?” I ask, referring to the vast property and lucrative transport business that Abdul’s dad left behind.

“There can never be a shortage of news,” he replies philosophically.

“Please keep me posted of any new developments, especially on Abdul.”

Hussein walks into the office. He is an example of an HIV-positive person, who is enjoying his life the fullest. Hussein exudes confidence and a deep throaty laughter that belies the fact that he is positive.

“Working too hard?” he asks as he breezes into Mr. Kombo’s inner office that I have been occupying.

I stand up and give him a hug. Tight and warm, and he somehow does not want to let go. I feel him rising and getting hard.

“Shikamoo,” I tease him with a slight salute to signify that I am aware of his rising feelings.

He smiles and replies cheekily, “Mshike.”
I burst out into laughter as his wit and speed seem to brighten the day. I disengage myself from the hug and take a seat.

“I need to complete these transactions, or else things will fall apart,” I tell him. One of the reasons that make me love Hussein is his respect for job and authority.

“You know where to find me,” he replies as he plants a wet kiss on my lips. Instinctively, I open my mouth and what follows is beyond my expectations and wildest dreams.

Hussein is a gentleman and pulls out of the madness that I surely don’t want to end. It’s been a long time since I enjoyed a good fresh kiss.

“You are something,” I mutter as my mouth remains open like a fish sucking in more and more oxygen. Hussein kisses me on the forehead and makes an exit leaving my body in turmoil. I cannot just settle down, and I really want to go after that boy and make love to him. Damn you Hussein, what game is this you are playing?

I summon all my will power to get back on track and complete what I had started. I need to tie up my NGO. My young girls are also looking up to me to alleviate them from the shackles of poverty. So far I have managed to get their teacher, Mr. Mambo, charged in court with sexual harassment. He is also not allowed to have any physical contact with the girls.

The next call that comes jolts me from my train of thought. “You need to come to the hospital. Mr. Kombo has gone into a coma.” It is one of his house girls.

Now that gets my system into overdrive. Mr. Kombo is one person I feel close to. He is the one who yanked me from the pits of despair and set me into this path of high life. I owe him a lot and of late, he has become a figure of despair more than of inspiration.

I pack my stuff and get out of the office in a huff. Teresia and Juma are there to greet me. They seem worried.

“Is all okay with Mr. Kombo,” Teresia asks me and for a moment, I wonder how she is ahead of me in news. I then recall that one of Mr. Kombo’s house girls is related to her.

“Good morning Teresia,” I reply. “I am on my way to the hospital now and will let you know when I come back.”

Hussein is waiting for me at the car park. He shuttles between my office and the restaurant and of late has proven quite helpful in running the transport side of the restaurant.

“To the hospital; the boss is unwell,” I tell him. He notices the sadness in my voice.

“Is it serious?”

“He is in a coma.”

We drive quietly to the hospital. I am glad that Hussein is there with me. We make it to the wards, and I slip my hands into his. He feels my grip, and he reciprocates by giving a gentle squeeze. I hate hospitals.

The ICU is one of the most depressing places to visit. Those sullen faces, beeping machines, and the unexpected makes it just one place of gloom.

To be continued.

Related Posts

As wisdom of yore would have it, there is time for everything. For Kenya, it is without a doubt, the time to move on. Buoyed by the strong wings of hope, and powered by the sure winds of canon, Kenya promulgates the new constitution.

Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 will be just another ordinary day for most of the world, but not so for Kenya. As the world marks the day with TGIF – Thank God it is Friday, Kenya will be marking it with TGIN – Thank God I am new!

Even more important than the symbolism with which the day will be celebrated, will be the pivotal significance of the moment. Kenya will be moving into a new era that hopefully guarantees all citizens the equal shot at the pursuit of happiness. For the first time ever, Kenya sprouts two branches of government as opposed to the past structure, whereby the judiciary and the legislature were mere offshoots of the executive. Our history is awash with actions by the legislature, that rubberstamped the will of the executive and a judiciary that has served the powerful, and the privileged, by trampling justice for the downtrodden. Everyone who admires the principle of separation of powers and independent jurisdictional operation will appreciate that indeed, we are a new Nation.

President Mwai Kibaki’s promulgation of the new constitution will be significant. As the second republic is born, focus will be on substance – the very essence of application of the new set of laws, as opposed to sheer form and pomp. Kenyans are weary about empty harp and superfluous smokescreens from our politicians and yet, there is that burning faith in the working of time- it is now. This new document must be implemented to the letter, if the collective will of a majority of Kenya will for once be respected.

Upon its proclamation, this constitution must be implemented as is. Negotiation, as fronted by the naysayers and the watermelons of the run-up to the Aug. 4 plebiscite, is both redundant and diversionary. Here is why.

The constitution had been negotiated for close to two decades. It has been a long walk. In 2005, Kenyans experimented with what had been agreed upon by the final drafters. In that vote, Kenyans ruled that what was presented was not up to step. In the ensuing five years to 2010, more thought and ink went back and forth on the proposed constitution. After the window of negotiation shut, a second experiment turned Kenya green, and just like in traffic code, Kenya must now drive forward.

Negotiation is essentially to say that the verdict by more than six million Kenyans against another nearly three million, must be thrown out, and the final law be entrusted to the cunning minds and hearts of Members of Parliament – bad idea. The only sensible thing is to subject the constitution to another referendum in the event of any change. Implementation, therefore, has to be free of amendments. When you purchase a new garment, the first business is never to patch it; the wear and tear will dictate that. If Kenyans wanted a constitution with contentious issues, they would have voted NO-they did not and time should never be wasted listening to bad losers. The wear and tear from time, application, and mandate will naturally present the need to review our laws, but of now there is no such excuse.

The new constitution is likely to create increased opportunities in both public and private sectors, but enforcement is the key determinant. The creation of counties will create jobs through engagement of administrative staff. The right to emergency treatment will see private and public hospitals lobby insurance firms to increase coverage, so as to reduce losses. Insurance industry is likely to increase hiring. The idea of guaranteed government support for the aged will also increase private sector activities by providing hitherto unavailable markets. Effectively, life expectancy will go up. If one wants to think life, this is a new lease of it. This was what Kenya craved for at independence, but was cheated on it. Daniel Moi’s “Siasa mbaya maisha mbaya” (negative politics means negative living) type of politics has breathed its last!

One very tall order is the challenge to eradicate grand corruption. This new law will not come with the automatic fiscal discipline Kenya has moaned about, for near eternity. There will need to be a complete overhaul in the general Kenyan attitude from the lowest, to the highest in the economic order. Corruption and corrupt practices have never been exhaustively defined, and those engaging in it at times hardly recognize it. Take the example of a passenger pleading to board a packed vehicle- this is one iota of how corruption stands at our door steps while we are oblivious to it. The need to preserve our hard won set of laws will be enshrined in the jealousy with which we will cherish and uphold it. Every good thing comes with the responsibility to sustain and embellish what we hold dear.

All other things remaining constant, the new constitution will ensure progress, justice and opportunity for the less fortunate. The empty banter by our leaders every five years will be a thing of the past, now that Kenyans will effectively recall those whose performances will reflect retrogression and stagnation. Everyone who will earn the privilege to serve, will zealously do just that, or bite the ballot bullet. Hail all Kenya, the new dawn; it is a strange new dawn unlike other dawns known to us. This will be a grand dawn with a magic awakening from a long deathly slumber.

Related Posts

It’s baby Kenya! That would have been the cry of a midwife heralding the birth of a new nation, well more than 45 years ago. However, the true birth has belatedly, but pleasantly so, eventually come. When the nation converges at Uhuru Park on Friday Aug. 27, it will be a confluence of a whole generation of misfired clarion calls, to pseudo independence from the colonial regime. Kenyans have been tutored to imagine that there have been liberation in our country, people have sung themselves hoarse about the first, second, third and the devil knows which other liberation. When you sell a cow and let it go with the rope, you have nothing but shifted circumstances.

The British who sat on our country did not really let go, they transferred the circumstances to those whom we innocently heralded as our liberators. The term independence was misconstrued to mean the physical absence of the union jack, and the white man designated by that power symbolism. Little did we appreciate the dearth of actual, tangible independence, freedom and development. Today, we have the pride to make the journey back to a new beginning; the journey to true independence, freedom and self-determination, yes, it will begin anew and it is never too late.

When Jomo Kenyatta formed the first government, it was believed by the greater masses in Kenya, to be the beginning of the eradication of subjugation, discrimination, poverty, ignorance and poor governance. However, the manner in which Kenyatta assumed the presidency, smacked of a game of compromise, which was akin to surrendering several tenets in which Kenyans believed, for the sake of granted leadership, privilege and aggrandizement. It has been conjectured that Kenya did not really fight for and wrestle independence, but that having been a non-economically viable colony, the masters shifted gears as a face saving withdrawal strategy; while holding onto the chains of reigns – the constitution that Kenyans boldly voted to trash early this month.

Those who cherish linguistic summersaults have been heard to whisper at the efficacy of ever referring to the (Con) situation without the denotation of a negative. Someone would wonder if at independence Kenyans bargained for a barrage of cons as opposed to the pros, but that is now history. The independence constitution was the mother of coalition mentality in Kenya. When President Mwai kibaki and Prime Minister Raila odinga agreed to share power after the bungled 2007 election, it was dubbed and almost deemed as the genesis of coalition in Kenya. Nay, the Lancaster conference was the foundation stone that hitherto haunted Kenya’s politics to-date.

The first and second Lancaster conferences deliberated the sharing of power along racial lines. The stratification of the whites, Asians, Arabs and eventually Africans in that order, was a form of crude coalition, which brokered sentiments reigning high at the Lancaster conference. Predictably, this coalition mentality mutated into two differing political party desires (KANU and KADU) through which the idea of tribes evolved, never mind that this dichotomy was a colonial strategy of divide and conquer, that permeated British rule the world over. In retrospect, we have lived to see KANU mutate from the coalition between the big tribes – the Luo and the Kikuyu – into a phenomenon akin to the slithering python, swallowing the coalition of all the other (read small tribes) concerns in KADU, right before the demise of Kenyatta. Never mind that when Daniel Moi took over as second president of Kenya, he masqueraded as a KANU diehard for the entirety of his reign. From how Moi trudged the expanse of the referendum period recently, the pseudo KANU in him glaringly emerged. Who wants to forget that when the call for pluralism was neigh, and the first multi party elections were held, Moi governed through a coalition of the so called small tribes (KADU), leaving the Luo and Kikuyu (KANU) in to political limbo. It had to take another coalition of parties championed by a conglomerate bleeding KANU, to wrest power from a KADU pretender – Moi, fronting a KANU-Uhuru Kenyatta! Call this jargon, but we have grappled with coalition politics for the lack of a definite guiding light, which the new constitution will provide tomorrow.

With the cry of joy tomorrow, comes a great package, a package that cries shame to the imperial constitution we are bidding bye. This document housed clauses such as the preservation of public order act, a colonial relic and device perpetuated by President Kenyatta, Moi and to a negligible degree-Kibaki. Detention without trial, arbitrary arrests, official state violence in the hands of police and the GSU, will respond to this curtain call. Political assassinations, lope sided, tribal and nepotism-based distribution of resources will kiss the grave tomorrow. Land grabbing, economic rape, scandals and marginalization of those considered politically incorrect, will since die! When Kenyans voted “Yes” on Aug. 4, they took the valiant step into the world of change, it requires a horde of courage, faith and determination, to whistle in the dark alley of the past and dance into the hope of a progressive future. What with the prophets of doom traversing the expanse of Kenya, misrepresenting nascent dreams as nightmares, through the peddling of fear, in a bid to camouflage their hegemony.

A keen observer of the referendum voting process must have been appalled by the dire squalid and brutal face of deprivation that truly reflects the image of Kenya. The picture of dilapidated classrooms, where voting was conducted, and the heaps of rags that brought their votes to bear, must forever have cursed the spirit of the promise to eradicate poverty, and the alleviation of ignorance 40 years down the line. One can imagine what level of education gets imparted in such deplorable and squalid conditions and how this would fight ignorance, poverty and pave way for a developed Kenya. Yes, wananchi watukufu, it’s baby Kenya hoyeeeee!

Related Posts

Camels are well adapted to Kenya's arid North Eastern Province.Photo: Ann Weru/IRIN

DADACHABULLA, Kenya – Mohamed Barre Ali lives in Dadachabulla, in the northeastern Kenya area of Wajir South. Ali, an elder and chairman of the local peace committee, told IRIN how years of instability in neighbouring Somalia are affecting his village, about 10km from the border.

“I am an old man, more than 65 years old. I was born here in Dadachabulla and spent most of my life herding, moving with livestock in search of pasture and water and engaged in a small family business.

“In the past, Dadachabulla, shared by Kenya and Somalia, was popular with livestock owners because of the availability of water and pasture – it was an active trading post, a stop-over for traders and travellers from Somalia.

“Big business deals were made here; people got wealthy selling livestock, food, animal drugs and other goods.

“Communities in Dadachabulla lived as one, the border made no difference until Somali [President] Siad Barre’s government was toppled in 1991. This marked a new life for the community.

“Some of our friends and family who lived across the border migrated but they were now required to register as refugees, unlike in the past.

“Dadachabulla changed and became a transit point for thousands of Somalis fleeing fighting.

“People [on the Kenyan side] persevered … business went on and traders continued purchasing goods and livestock – young girls and women still took milk to the market, but for a while.

“Families that have been living in trading centres, makeshift settlements and grazing areas for more than four decades in Dadachabulla and Diff [in Wajir] and Harhar, Harhache, Kolbio and Liboi [in neighboring Garissa] areas are leaving.

“Some [people] have been attacked, injured and killed in intense fighting between [Somalia's] Al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam militia as they grazed their animals along the border.

“It is risky to pursue stolen animals in a stateless country and traders have stopped engaging in cross-border business after being robbed.

“The migration of livestock owners away from the border has also led to a shortage of milk; food prices have increased.

“This is the saddest time for the community in Dadachabulla – mourning the death of a friend or relative on the other side of border is common these days.

“Since April, it has become clear that our centre is dying and it all started when a group of armed men attacked us, fired [their guns] all over the place and held us hostage for hours.

“In another attack on a hotel in June, they injured four people and shot a young girl. Three people were kidnapped but later released. Several other attacks have been intercepted by army officers on patrol.

“Our land has become a warzone.

“Al-Shabab accuses us of harbouring Hisbul Islam militia, but we are innocent.

“Some families are disguising themselves as Somali refugees to get food and medical assistance, not because they are corrupt but because they are desperate. NGOs that could assist are afraid of working here.

“Civil servants are also not willing to work here and our sons and daughters are unable to secure jobs as they cannot travel due to the risk of being mistaken for aliens and getting arrested.

“This situation should be declared a disaster and peacekeepers sent here to protect civilians on both sides of the border.”

Related Posts

Elections in April 2010 were the first milestone; the second will be the referendum in 2011. Photo: Timothy Mckulka/UNMIS

JUBA, Sudan – Humanitarian needs in Southern Sudan, where some 4.3m people already need food assistance and fewer than one in 10 earns more than US$1 a day, are likely to escalate after next year’s referendum on secession, says a government minister.

“Southern Sudan is at a major historical turning point. Years of civil war have been followed by relative peace in the last five years,” said the Southern Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, James Kok.

“I urge the international community to also prepare for the upcoming referendum and be ready to respond with us to a potential increase in humanitarian needs,” he said.

If the South votes for separation from the North and secession happens peacefully, “it’s going to be more challenging because there will be excitement and euphoria of being in a new state”, Kok said. “The people of Sudan will be just moving in a very unorganized way.

“We will be faced [with an influx of] refugees … There are 1.5 million Southern Sudanese living in the northern states. If [the South] becomes a country, what do you think [will happen]?” the minister asked high-level representatives from UN agencies, NGOs and government officials in Juba, the Southern capital. “They are going to rush and they will be coming so there will be an immense [pressure].”

In addition, he highlighted the tens of thousands of refugees in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda who had yet to return home to the South five years after a landmark peace accord was signed.

While acknowledging the responsibility of the Southern government to help its people, the minister said: “The needs will be enormous so we will need your support, you have to prepare for that.”

Earlier at the same event, Lise Grande, the UN Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Southern Sudan, said: “The donors have been uniquely generous in the case of Sudan.

“For years, they have provided more than a billion dollars of assistance [per year]; in some years it’s been more than two billion dollars of assistance for Sudan,” she added. “There is no other country in the world that has benefited from such generous donations.”

Related Posts

EVE: How Eve deals with a breakup

Cry me a river!
Of course, Eve knows that crying will not bring him back but she does it anyway. It makes her feel better; the pain seems to flow out of the system through the tears. Thereafter, she feels lighter, it still might hurt but it becomes bearable.

Talk-Oprah is listening!
Interactive radio and TV is popular with ladies for this reason. They call to vent, even when they know that Maina Kageni or whoever is running the show will not help them one bit! When we hurt, we need to talk about it, to let it out, even if to a total stranger who could care less about our personal affairs. That’s just how we deal.

Shop-till you drop!
Buy them all, even the stuff that you might not need. Those shoes, that exquisite dress, the handbag-anything to make you feel better. If only these things would erase all memories of that heartless good for nothing Adam!

Lash out!
You must have seen that woman who causes a scene by going after another woman’s throat; maybe she suspects that the other woman is responsible for the relationship’s downfall. This might not be the most orthodox way to deal with a break up, but some women would rather find someone else to blame-a punching bag, than face the reality of being dumped.

Self neglect
We call it ‘kujiachilia’. She won’t go to the hair dresser on a weekly basis like she usually does. Won’t dress up presentably, and it takes a lot of motivation for her to take a shower! All this seems useless, now that Adam dearest is out of her life. She might look awful for a couple of weeks, but understand that she is trying to deal with it all, her appearance notwithstanding.

Paranoia-No one will ever love me!
Once bitten, twice shy. For a while, some Eves will have this feeling that Adam is not to be trusted, and will steer clear of any potential relationship. Trust becomes an issue as they reason that all men are dogs, heart breakers, and are out to crush her fragile heart into tiny pieces.

Get even-Two can play this game!
While some Eves would never look at Adams again for a long time, some will want to hook up with one ASAP! This is in a bid to feel desirable, and to spite the stupid lover who dared think that she is not good enough for him, just to prove to the ex that he is the loser, not her.

Cling to memories
Songs that you both loved, movies that you watched together, or places that you visited become sacred memoirs to cling to for seemingly, dear life! This is not healthy, but Eve needs anything to bring back the lovely feelings when she dated her ‘special’ Adam. Sleeping in his shirt makes her feel so close to him, until tears flow in torrents…

Over indulge
She might party hard, drink a lot and eat junk food without a care in the world. This is where ‘drowning’ one’s sorrow makes sense the most. You want to fill every void inside you, but unfortunately the one void that bothers you the most remains so empty-your heart.

Seclusion
The most important person is no longer in Eve’s life, so all of you might as well disappear! She attempts to cut herself out of the world, because according to her ‘You just don’t get it!’ She feels like life is really over. So until she is ready to come round and face life again, you might as well leave her alone. Time will heal her wounds.

ADAM: How do guys handle breakups?

So Adam has a heart that can be broken, or should we say it is a beer bottle that has been cracked and he needs to fix it. Since Adam will not fill up buckets upon buckets crying (me a river) over Eve, then this is how he will go about it:

Back to the boys
The beauty of hanging out with the boys is that they will always be there at the drop on a coin. But boys being boys, will not talk about this break up or this Eve who walked out of Adam. So he will laugh hard, crack more jokes, and generally wash down the evil spirits brought about by Eve.

Party hard
From the boys, Adam will move to any party that is available. “Let the music play” so goes one of those oldies that will surely make Adam gyrate until the floor is full of holes. And the following day, Adam will nurse his hangover and go back to more partying.

Rebound dates
This is a really bad move, but Adam has been known to sometimes go back to the dating scene, so as to compensate for the break up with Eve. In most cases, these rebound dates do not work out as well as they should, and despite mob warnings from other cavemen, Adam seems to prefer this form of (mis)therapy. Haisuru.

Flirt crazily
Of course, Adam needs to feel he is a man, and more than capable of attracting interest from other Eves, and that he is capable of marking a mark on Eve. So here we go with all those original and well rehearsed one li(e)ners: “Lovely weave, Eve.”

All days work
As long as there is work to be done, or stuff to be created, Adam will surely channel his megajoules towards ensuring that more and more is done in the office. And that explains why some of the greatest love songs are products of broken hearted Adams. “Sorry, is all that you can’t say…”

Watch action packed movies
“La Tormenta”, or any silly soap opera is the last thing that Adam really wants to watch. So bring in “24″, “Prison Break”, “Cobra Squad”, or any Wang Yu, Chuck Norris and Fu Sheng movies, where one does not need to follow the plot to know what is happening. Any stupid grunting of ‘Aiyee, Thwack!’ will do.

Adopt an obsession
Since the whole idea is to nurse Adam’s heart back to wholeness, any obsession will do: trim the fence, burn the leaves, tidy up the closet of any skeletons, start cooking, overhaul the car engine. Adam invariably asks himself, ‘You mean Eve was keeping me away from such lovely things in life?’

Take to physical workouts
From the gym where the treadmill is set at two hours, and the speed to a punishing uphill of almost maximum, to the engagement of active sports (read football and basketball), Adam knows how much physical exertion can get his mind off Eve. The the satisfaction at the end of the exercise is worth more than those tense afternoons, with Eve watching “Wedding Show.”

Hit the Road Jack
Of course, moving away from the scene of horror, is one way of making Adam recover fast. The flora and fauna of our motherland, just goes to show how much Adam was missing when he was blindfolded by Eve. So he hits the road and pays attention to all the little little details that make this land beautiful.

Virtuality
The person who invented the device where people can ‘talk’ without meeting,- ‘skype’, date online, play mega games – deserves kudos for saving Adam the pains of Eve. In the end, Adam wonders why he really needs the hustles of Eve. Why?

Related Posts

Beatrice Tamaska Kae lives with her seven children in a tent at the Teldet primary school in Saboti, Trans Nzoia West district. Photo: Jane Some/IRIN

KISSAWAI, Kenya – Since March 2008, Beatrice Tamaska Kae has lived under a tarpaulin with her seven children in a camp after their eviction from a government forest in Trans Nzoia West district in western Kenya.

“It is hard to get used to life in a camp when you had a lot of space before; during the dry season life is slightly better because it is not cold but now with the heavy rains and the cold, it is pure misery, however closely we sit or sleep, we cannot get warm in this weather,” Kae said on 29 July at Teldet primary school, in Kissawai location of Saboti Division.

Kae’s is one of 383 families (2,750 people), comprising mostly ethnic Sabaot, evicted from a forest at the foot of Mt Elgon in March 2008.

Local officials estimate that tens of thousands of Sabaot were evicted from forests, with some moving in with relatives and others seeking alternative land but those who ended up on the government-owned field next to Teldet school had nowhere else to go.

“I broke my foot as I sought payment for work I had done [harvesting a farmer's potato crop] when a sack of potatoes fell on my ankle; since then survival has been difficult; we only eat when my children go out to do manual labour in other people’s farms and homes,” Kae said. “It has been months since we got any food donations; I do not like being dependent on others, I just wish the government would show us alternative land where we can grow our own food.”

Kae said two of her children who go to school often missed class when she failed to raise the money to pay teachers employed by the Parents-Teachers’ Association (PTA) to supplement government-hired teachers.

Eviction

According to Daniel Sambrumo, chairman of the forest evictees’ camp at Teldet primary school, forest guards and other government officials took advantage of the post-election violence in early 2008 to throw out people who had been living on government trust land or in the forest.

“In the midst of the post-election violence and the clashes over land between the Soi and Ndorobo [Sabaot clans], people fled their homes in fear. It was then that askaris came to those homes and burnt houses, crops in the fields and other property,” Sambrumo said. “In fact in some cases they carried away iron sheets that had been used for roofing.”

He said the families at Teldet opted to pitch camp near the school so their children could continue going to class.

“Life here is hard but we had no alternative; we have received aid from Handicap [International] who helped build two five-door toilets and we have also benefited from medical aid from MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières] and the Samaritan’s Purse,” Sambrumo said. The government, through the Kenya Red Cross Society, he said, had also distributed food among the forest evictees – the last time in April.

Most of the families survived by selling firewood, Sambrumo said.

Some 283 families, or 2,750 people, evicted from a forest (in the background) live in this camp at Teldet primary school. Photo: Jane Some/IRIN

The women walk long distances in search of firewood; once they collect a sizeable amount, the men help ferry it on bicycles or donkey carts to shopping centres and other urban areas for sale,” he said.

Compensation

Asked why they stayed in the camp for more than two years, Sambrumo said: “The government does not consider us displaced like other IDPs; we are referred to as forest evictees because we were removed from government land. This status has caused us problems because it is not clear whether or not we are entitled to compensation.

“But government officials who have visited the camp have told us we will get the 35,000 shillings [US$440] that other IDPs have been paid in other parts of the country; we are hopeful we will get this money. If not, we hope the government will find us alternative land.”

Wilfred Kinyua, the district commissioner for Trans Nzoia West, told IRIN on 30 July that the Teldet forest evictees had been brought to the attention of the Ministry of Special Programmes, which is charged with handling IDP affairs.

Kinyua said he was aware of plans to either buy alternative land for the evictees or pay them so they could buy their own land.

“The government has not forgotten these people, we have informed the concerned officials of their presence in Teldet and I know that something is being done about them,” Kinyua said.

Too many pupils

The school, established to cater for about 800 pupils, has 1,147, more than 300 from the families of forest evictees.

“Right now we have a serious case of congestion in the classes and we have had to employ more teachers to cope with the numbers,” Isaac Saima, deputy head teacher, said.

“We have 13 teachers deployed by the government and we have employed seven at the PTA level whom we pay 1,000 shillings each per month [$12.50] but it is sometimes hard to raise the money because most of the pupils from the evicted families cannot raise any money. What the school needs is more teachers and support to keep all pupils in class.”

Related Posts

At a time when anti-establishment sentiments are high in the United States, many Americans are searching for answers in their constitution, in an effort to turn back the clock to the way things once were. More than 7,000 miles away in Kenya, the mood has been markedly different in the past couple of months. There, they’re rewriting the constitution with an eye towards the future.

Considered to be a huge leap forward from what was left by colonial powers, more than 45 years ago, Kenyans have finally approved their own constitution, after riding a wave of reform. Kenya’s lawmakers finished drafting the new law in April, for a “yes” or “no” referendum vote on Aug. 4.

Most of the key changes proposed in the new constitution focus on the main branches of power: the executive, legislative and judiciary. The changes are concerned with devolving power to the greater mass of citizens, instead of the few holding power at any given time. Africa’s image around the world is largely seen through the lens of problems such as poverty, corruption, illiteracy and tribalism. For decades, the perception and the underlying reality of these problems, has weighed down the continent’s growth.

Before the vote, the new law grabbed the attention of conservative Christian groups in the U.S. In fact, it was reported by major newspapers such as the New York Times that before Kenyans had even finished rewriting the draft of the new constitution, Christian groups organized petition drives in Kenya against it, objecting to two major provisions regarded as threats to Christianity. The first provision will recognize the Islamic courts in handling nuptials and land disputes relating only to Muslims. The second provision strongly opposed by Christians will legalize abortion if the life of the mother is in danger. It is also important to keep in mind that Christian fundamentalism is a strong bloc in Africa. According to a report by the Economist, 17 million Africans described themselves as born-again Christians in 1970, whereas today, the number has risen to more than 400 million, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia.

Kenya, a place where money has purchased influence and power for decades, was not immune to this flow of funds in the name of religion, to support the interest of a small group. A brutal by-product of this battle for votes occurred in June, when someone detonated three grenades in a crowd of people, who had gathered for worship, rallying for a “no” vote at Uhuru Park. Speculations followed the bombing, accusing governmental and other groups, who supported the new law. But this scar didn’t halt the process. In fact, amid all the chaos and fear, polls still showed that 60 percent of Kenyans supported the new constitution before the vote.

Despite these birthing pains earlier this month, a peaceful plebiscite was held and 69 percent of Kenyans backed the new constitution.

The whole world has been following Kenya’s progress towards democratization, including African totalitarian leaders. As the wave and fever for local, regional and national elections takes over Africa, elections have proven to be poor indicators of democracy and civil liberties. In this domino effect of the democratization process of Africa, dictators resisting democracy have used Kenya’s 2007 election as a cautionary tale of why they refuse to hold elections in their own countries. The aftermath of the last national election in Kenya claimed 1,300 lives during ethnically fueled clashes.

Many parts of Africa are now looking to the process as a glimmering example of peaceful democracy. The manner in which the successful referendum has been conducted, proved skeptics wrong. Nonetheless, the main challenge lies on the implementation of the new constitution for Kenya’s bright future. After all, thoughts put on paper don’t have rights, people do.

Related Posts

There comes a time in life, when one sits down to ponder on some momentous happenings and pose the question above. At a time when Kenya has made its own brand of history, I will not be left behind by all pundits, without a word or two about this moment.

There have been other moments in the life of Jamhuri, where I have reminisced to ask you the same question, and I will limit myself to the period after 1978. For you see, I happen to be a maziwa ya Nyayo son.

Where were you when Jomo Kenyatta died? I was a 5-year-old lad walking barefooted, wearing only a long khaki shirt with no short, and playing kati with my siblings in the village path, when my mother and a neighbor came home running to get us into the house because a very sad thing had happened. “The eyes of the nation have been closed,” I can remember my mother repeating these words over and over.

All I wanted was to go back and play, but my mother could hear none of it. I also remember no lunch was served that day, as all the villagers huddled in small groups discussing the passing of the “Muthamaki wa andu airu” (King of the black people). For missing my kati game and lunch, I will never forget Aug. 22, 1978.

Where were you on Aug 1, 1982? I was nine years old on that Sunday morning. As usual, my mother would wake us up at cock crow for several reasons. Reason one was to make sure those who had irrigated their beds took out their bedding, to be dried by the early morning sun. Reason two was to visit the village stream and fetch some water, to prepare breakfast and spare some to take a bath, in preparation for Sunday school.

But that Sunday morning was different. When I woke up I was wet as usual, having done the necessary the previous night. I was surprised to find my parents and a neighbor in the living room in a somber mood.

Then I heard Leonard Mambo Mbotela’s booming voice, “Narudia tangazo hili; serikali ya Kenya imo mikononi mwa wanajeshi.” (I repeat this announcement; the government of Kenya is in the hands of the military). I could not fathom the weight of those words, because I always thought the army was the government.

You see, our village is a few miles from the Lanet Barracks. Occasionally we would make forays into the barracks to see the military do their thing. The image they created was etched into my mind as the all powerful guys, who would not be defeated at anything.

It was later when we failed to attend school the following Monday, that the activities of the previous day in Nairobi started to drown on me. It took me many years to understand that Kenya was at the precipice of a long drawn out military dictatorship that Sunday morning.

Where were you on Feb. 13, 1990? It was the day Dr. Robert Ouko was reported missing. His charred remains were found at approximately 1 p.m. by a local herdsboy, Joseph Shikuku, at the foot of nearby Got Alila Hill, 2.8 km from Ouko’s country home.

I was 17 years old and in high school; full of youthful vigor and hoping for the best in my academic life. The murder of Dr. Robert Ouko and the subsequent inquiries into his life, remained in the media for many years afterwards. As we speak, no one has been successfully prosecuted for the brutal murder of a great son of Kenya.

Where were you on July 7, 1990? It was the beginning of the long and tortuous road that eventually ended on Aug. 4, 2010. On July 7, 1990, Kenyans responded to a call by politicians Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia, and went to Kamukunji Stadium in Nairobi to press for constitutional, political-legal, social and economic reforms. Their rallying call was the demand for Kenya’s return to political pluralism, transparency, and accountability in the management of public affairs.

More than 20 people died during the first Saba Saba day, and a few days later Matiba, Rubia, Raila Odinga and their lawyers John Khaminwa, Mohammed Ibrahim and Gitobu Imanyara were detained. The then ruling KANU regime had emasculated the civil and political rights of the ordinary people, denied press freedoms, and failed to embrace social and economic reforms.

It was as a result of the sweeping wind of change, that the KANU regime acceded to the call of repealing section 2A of the constitution, and Kenya returned to political pluralism.

And so the events of the last few days have found me an adult of sound mind, husband of one and father of three. Happy to be a member of a country that has just been born again. Even though I was not present to cast my vote, kudos goes to all patriotic Kenyans who have lost a limb, or their lives in the struggle for a new constitution.

I can now stand in the mountain and proclaim that I am proudly Kenyan. O God of all creation, bless this our land and nation. Amen.

Related Posts