The Kleptocracy That is Kenya

In a post I wrote about 11 months ago titled "Kenya: The African Mexico, its Stockholm Syndrome and What Somalis Can do to change their fortunes" I wrote this telling paragraph:

 Kenya is being over-run by drug cartels and narco-hitmen. Its unprofessional and untrained police officers are getting whacked Mafia style right in the heart of Nairobi while they are pre-occupied with explaining their bad fortunes on non existent 'terrorists' and burqa clad femme fatales.
The uptick in clashes between Police and drug traffickers is a sign that Kenya's long running drug problem is coming of age. We have now entered a new phase where drug barons feel powerful enough to take on the weak  and co-opted police force. Kenya's is fast morphing into a Mexico. Its now the equivalent of a Brazilian Favella. Traffickers have heavily embedded themselves deep into every level of society and  are virtually controlling law enforcement on this almost failed state.

That prognosis still holds true today and this is the actual war we should be fighting today.

Much of the hooblah surrounding Kenya's occupation of Southern Somalia has gone overboard now. Those of us opposed to the Somali war are opposing it on philosophical, humanitarian and economic grounds. We are not opposed to the war in Somalia because we are lily-livered weaklings. We understand declaring war is different from winning a war and Kenya has over the past 47 years shown that it is bad at fighting.

There is a temptation to take uncritical pride in your country when its defending you against enemies foreign even if that enemy is the imagination of a couple of brain-addled politicians.

The real war Kenya's security apparatus should be fighting is the one against narcotics. Our youths and children deserve to be protected from the evils of hard drugs. Our greatest enemy is the insidiousness of  drugs, the way it separates families and corrupts every lever of our society.

The video embedded below is a good indication.

Garissa Youth Rally Against Drug Abuse

   Hundreds of peaceful youth staged a protest against the proliferating use of drugs in Garissa- coinciding, fortuitously, with the Easter Weekend when a lot of non-muslim Garissians engage in heavy drinking. The procession marched through the streets of Garissa chanting anti-drug slogans and raising awareness on the detrimental effects of drugs on health.

Who better to adjudicate matters of youth morality, disputes and problems than the youth themselves. This effort also helps re-inforce the Ulamaa's stance on drugs since reaction to them has always swinged between hostility to downright mockery.

After the procession ended, groups of youth went back to their bachelor pads for a well-deserved 'miraa chewing session.'  [ I totally made this up]

To see my past rantings on drugs and drug-addled youth, go here and here

Generation Druggies

 Several years back, my father who usually spent most of his time outside Garissa, couldn't believe that most kids my age rarely engaged in drug abuse. He was bizarrely amused by the fact that young 'druggies' were referred to as "chokora', 'steam' , mainly so outside the mainstream they were the classic uncool kids of the 21st century.

 How things change! Now binge drinking, marathon miraa chewing and chain smoking are more common a sight than a stray cow in suq mugdi. More shockingly, this behaviour transcends gender. Its no longer unholy to see girls from NEP & UMU de-skinning miraa twigs.

Yesterday, an anonymous tipster informed me of a young girl who was admitted to Garissa general hospital for alcohol poisoning. The transformation is now complete. No longer is sobriety considered cool. Now its all about getting a temporary high from bhang (marijuana) puff and miraa juice. Immorality and  social decay are more pervasive than ever.

How did end up here and what are the consequences? I'll let you mull that while I try to figure out how to interact with the drunken fools that are too vegetative to use the internet. And by the way, next time someone asks you why NEP's KCPE & KCSE scores are down the toilet or why very few of our students matriculate in national universities, you know the answer.

Let me know what you guys think in the comments section.

What is wrong with our Youth?

 What is wrong with our youth? They seem to be happy with their position of irrelevance and actually seem to thrive on it. The lack of ambition on our streets is depressing and besmirching of our honour . Everyday more and more of our vaunted future leaders join the ranks of dropouts, drug addicts and live-at-home 25 year olds. The best of what Garissa produces are those who dream of leaving Kenya for 'greener pastures' elsewhere (read; Europe & North America).

This is a scathing indictment of a culture that does not place any value on academic success, celebrates mediocrity and is hopelessly divided by the most primordial of clan loyalties.While the dynamics at work in Garissa are similar to those in the broader region, our contentment with failure is peculiar and perilous. Improvisation, can-do-demeanour and  an aggressive entrepreneurial spirit used to be an integral part of the collective Somali psyche. One didn't need to have a fancy degree to start a successful business. Our parents did it without ever knowing how to balance a financial sheet. We have no excuse not to. Most of the claustrophobic stalls in "Suuq Mugdi" are owned by foreigners. The construction industry imports labour from elsewhere because we are too classy to do such menial work. Clerical jobs are all held by senile retirees and our political system is the preserve of a few families.

This society will not change until its youth wake up from this prolonged sleep. Garissa's youth can do better, NEP's youth can achieve much more. The real challenge we face today is how to revitalise and empower our youth. Hope, self reliance, private enterprise and pursuit of happiness should be the new paradigm that predominates in Somali Kenya. Waiting for others to uplift us out of our current predicament will never materialize. So to you, the youth of Garissa, being apolitical, sitting around waiting for Dualle to get you a job or a ticket to Europe is delusional. Think of how you can replace him or hold his feet to  fire.

Good Luck.

Kenya; The African Mexico, Its Stockholm syndrome and what Somalis can do to change their fortunes

 Kenya is being over-run by drug cartels and narco-hitmen. Its unprofessional and untrained police officers are getting whacked Mafia style right in the heart of Nairobi while they are pre-occupied with explaining their bad fortunes on non existent 'terrorists' and burqa clad femme fatales.

The uptick in clashes between Police and drug traffickers is a sign that Kenya's long running drug problem is coming of age. We have now entered a new phase where drug barons feel powerful enough to take on the weak  and co-opted police force. Kenya's is fast morphing into a Mexico. Its now the equivalent of a Brazilian Favella. Traffickers have heavily embedded themselves deep into every level of society and  are virtually controlling law enforcement on this almost failed state.

Thursday's police killings in Eastleigh and Roysambu was a show of force by the God fathers. Expect a new wave of assassinations carried out by commando-style hitmen. On Thursday, the Police's, or shall we say kenya's ragtag militia's weaknesses were layed out bare for all to see. Instead of cordoning off the place, collecting evidence and re-assuring the public, they went on to allege that  terrorists were behind the heinous act. How could they know in such a short time? They heard it from someone, who heard from someone that saw something. This engagement in rumour mill village policing only heightened the media's hysteria and vilification of Somalis.

To decipher this inexplicable obsession with Somalis, you don't have to look any further than Kenya's two biggest Media houses that are both beholden to their Indian owners and benefactors. These Indians and their allies in Parliament are engaged in wanton destruction of the country's future by plundering its wealth, selling narcotics to its youth and corrupting every public office in the land.

If I may paraphrase Frank Rich in a different context, to understand Kenya's subservience to Indian businesses and their interests, all you have to do is consult Wikipedia's article on "Understanding Stockholm syndrome"." It explains that hostage takers are mostly successful in winning the loyalty of their subjects if they temper their brutality with a bogus show of kindness. Before you know it, the victim will start concentrating on his captor's 'good side' and develop psychological characteristics to please them. 'Dependency,lack of initiative and an inability to think, act or decide."
Kenya's people and media have been under Indian hegemony for so long now that they are fully under spell of Stockholm syndrome. Ever since Somali merchants started to break this foreign strangle hold on business and finance, pro status quo forces have been agitating for a return to the old days of Indian ownership of half Kenya's GDP.
Somalis have to counter this concerted racial attack through a number of means:
(i)   Bleed the media houses financially by suing them through legal apparatus. Forming a legal body that sues them for defamation every time they write a fake story will waste a huge chunk of their profits  on legal fees.
(ii) A blanket boycott on products that are advertised on KTN and NTV. No Somali businesses and affiliates should also advertise on any of these media houses either.
(iii) Buy the services of journalists and columnists. These guys are even more corrupt than the police. A small fee will go a long way in getting you a lot of positive coverage.
(iv) If the media is not giving you a fair shake, start your own media. Frame your own agenda and don't let others brand you names. Aljazeera's success in shaping how the world sees the middle east is prove that it can be done. There must be a few Somali millionaires with the resources and  the will to do so.
(v) Somalis should form lobby groups whose purpose is to forward Somali interests in the legislature. This corrupt Godforsaken place is ruled through the checkbook.
(vi) Somali businesses and companies should also be a force for common good. Giving a little back to the slums that surround Eastleigh and South C will go a long way in dispelling the myths that are propagated by KTN and NTV.
(vii) Our brain dead representatives in Parliament should make some noise about this continued racism on the floor of the house. This might instigate some media self flagellation and reduce the intensity of this sustained racial defamation. To solve this, bellicose reprisals will be necessary but they have to be grounded on pragmatism.
(viii) Finally, as youths we should  take to social media such as Facebook and twitter to defend our brethren. I'll summarize by quoting Edmund Burke, "All that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."