Quick Hits: Youths Storm Municipal Council Offices & Nurses Assaulted in Sakuri

 This morning, my inbox was stuffed with e-mails from readers informing me about what some of them termed 'a revolutionary fervor' bubbling in our city.

Yesterday, about 8-10 youths from the Northern forum for Democracy(?) were arrested and arraigned in court after they  stormed the Garissa Municipal Council offices. All of the accused youths were released on free bail and will have allegation against them heard by a judge at a later date.

Does this represent a break with our passive past? No one can conclusively say so but we hope this heralds a  change in the fear pyramid where citizens move to the top of the hierarchy.


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In an eerily similar circumstance, a bunch of youth were arrested in Sankuri and are now facing charges of aggravated assault causing bodily harm and forcible confinement after they severely beat up two nurses at a dispensary in the village and locked up a third in a room.

The nurses have been brought to Garissa General Hospital for treatment. Its not clear what led to this act of random violence. Sources I've spoken to claim that some one who was claiming to be sick played a major a role.

In any case this was highly unnecessary and avoidable. Attacking healthcare workers for no reason is not part our culture.
We wish both ladies a quick recovery.

Revolution in Egypt

 For the past couple days, Egypt, the Arab world's heartbeat revolted against an entrenched kleptocratic dictatorial regime that had suppressed all sorts of dissent for over half a century. Masses of young men, women and children erupted and took to the streets to demand justice, freedom and dignity. The government and its infamously efficient apparatus of secret service failed to silence an energized citizenry, fed up with the hopelessness that has defined their lives. Friends, what we witnessed unfold in front of us for the past couple days, is a revolution  live on TV. This represent the end of the status quo in much of the Arab and Islamic world. Despots can no longer rule with terror and violence. They can no longer continue to treat their citizens like slaves while they indulge themselves in the filthiest of western decadence.

The complaints that are pushing all these people to the streets is no different from our grievances here in Garissa. Unemployment, hopelessness and police brutality are rampant in our own streets. Here is what I wrote about the Jasmine revolution in Tunia a fortnight ago and what lessons it represented for Garissa. It's still very relevant today and events in Egypt just raise its profile all the more.

To follow events in Egypt from your mobile web browser, http://aje.me 

Please don't forget to say a prayer for our Muslim brothers as they seek greater freedoms. Free Egypt! Free Gaza!

Have a revolutionary Sunday!

Lessons From Tunisia

 You can imagine conversations around dinner tables in the Middle East and much of Sub-Saharan Africa are rife with speculation on what the revolution in Tunisia means for the strongmen that have had an unrelenting hold on power for decades. The hallmarks of a great revolutions is that once the masses rise up against repression, what formerly seemed like insurmountable peaks turn to pedestrian plateaus. Revolutions normally have a domino effect in surrounding areas once people get to see their collective power. Whatever delusions African 'supermen' have had of endless elitist rule is surely bust and now capitals from Cairo to San'aa are certainly bracing themselves for similar events should reform not materialize.

 The parallels between NEP and Tunis is sufficiently impressing. Our educated, unemployed youth should learn that rising up against the existing entrenched political aristocracy is winnable. I hope we all take away the important lesson that no amount of marginalization and political repression can suppress our desire for a more meritocratic and equitable government.

 More than anything else, the young men and women of NEP, Kenya and Somalia need to vigorously question authority and not accept their position at the bottom of the heap as part of the natural order of life. It maybe hard to live in Garissa and Mandera today but it shouldn't be acceptable to live life without learning the enduring value of human dignity and the rights of people pursue their dreams. If it takes protests, civil disobedience, elections or community organizing to overthrow the decadent current system then we should agitate for that sooner rather than later.