Raila & The KKK Don't Care About NEP: They're Political Opportunists

  Raila came to Garissa today and as usual offered nothing more than the typical vitriolic bluster that he spews everywhere he goes. What was supposed to be a political rally soon devolved into partisan bickering, ad hominem attacks and subpar vitendawilis. I think he didn't get the memo on our disregard for vapid hollow statements that are not followed by tangible action.

 Any individual with a triple digit IQ knows that neither Raila nor The KKK care about the legitimate needs and interests of Somali Kenyans (Nepians). Both are self serving political vampires mainly interested in gaining political leverage in our city and region through proxies (our MPs). Our lives have been made all the more miserable by a Government that is propped  up by ODM as the price for 'peace'. They did not deliver half the change they promised us in 2007. The fake under funded ministry they setup has failed to alleviate the human tragedy that is gripping Northern Kenya today. In short, they are all double faced liars and snake oil salesmen.

Raila like Uhuru, Kalonzo & Ruto presided over the arrest, rendition and torture of innocent Muslims. His partly owned government still refuses to buy our livestock while it buys bad maize grown in Central and Trans-Nzoia to save their tribesmen from losses. Its only in Garissa where policemen can, in broad daylight, rob you of your hard earned wealth and usurp your business. Its only in NEP where you can be arrested and beaten for not carrying your ID with you as was the case during the colonial era. Raila just like the rest of them stands for the continuation of these racist policies. His duplicity and  inconsistency with regards to the rights of Somali-Kenyans is well documented.

 What was missing from the Rally? For one there was no substantiative policy discussion, there were no overtures made to our region and none of our complaints (ID issuance, police harrassment, systemic marginalization) were addressed. We only saw our MPs capitulating to a Luo overlord who offered no vision just vile personal attacks. Now don't get me wrong, I despise Ruto and all those who agree with his ethnocentric politics equally, I just don't see how telling us that 'Uhuru is a bhang addict'solves any of our problems.

 All those who attended today's rally to applaud Raila's prejudices and listened while he fanned the flames of hatred are not any better than those trained seals that beat the drums for the flip-side of this coin, The KKK.
Finally, any of you retarded tribalists that may think I have a vested interest in any of the issues discussed above, I do not. I just want to see my people wake up from this coma.

Its time Dualle, Farah Maalim and the rest of our political class stopped being subservient to vivisectional foreign interests. They should form their very own political movement and prudently chose who to support in the General election, if they do not wish to field their own Presidential candidate. The current divisions will lead to another tribal bloodshed in Garissa. The government has had its Jackboot on our throats for 47 years, time to vote for our own president!

Oh, those who jeered and heckled speakers were just classless goons-for- hire deployed by our so called MPs.
Here is a video of their visit to Marsabit on Monday;

The Achievement Test

On Jan. 2008,  the four men we elected based on what tribe they were born into took an oath to represent us  in the national assembly. Three years on, what have they done for us? As I launch this critique of the imbeciles we elected, I'm sure some of the tribalist among us are already rushing to the barricades to defend the clowns that continue to undermine NEP.

 Our MPs are consumed with protecting their seats and making sure they've stashed away enough wealth in their bank accounts. Some of that money will of course be used to bribe a few old, illiterate, self appointed clan leaders to deliver the votes of their clansmen once another inconvenient election cycle comes around. Three years ago, we were all complaining about Police harassment, unreliable electricity, poor service at public offices and youth unemployment. Today, all those problem remain and collectively, we haven't improved one bit.

 The lack of intergenerational equity has brought to surface a whole lot of social problems. Drug addiction among our youth is rendering a whole generation unproductive. Teen pregnancies are on the rise and school drop out rates are sky high. This has resulted in very ugly incidents such as the widely reported youth homicides.  Over 5 young adults were recently knifed to death in bizarre incidents. Local leaders are blaming it on high cellphone use,internet addiction and immigrants from Somalia ..Really??
 
Police Thuggery
 North Eastern has been turned into a virtual police state. Citizens of this godforsaken province are subjected to daily humiliation by the policies of a fascistic government . The new constitution and realities on the ground in NEP are disjointed. I understand the government has a reason to be concerned about security given its almost paranoid fear of Alshabab but to put police barricades in every village in this expansive region deserves a lot of scrutiny especially when these men are famous for corruption rather than protecting citizens. Travel is a nightmare not only because of the poor road network in our province but also because of constant police stops and harassment. Trade is almost about to grind to a halt. Recently, I talked to a friend of mine, a Zafanana conductor, who confirmed my aforementioned assertions but I believe everyone is aware of this. Just that we cannot protest about it and our local media is too busy playing 70's music to cover any issue of social importance.

 Ruined Education
 Our public schools are no longer institutions that educate, they probably have never been. They have always lagged behind their peers in other parts of the country. If as people we do not see the moral argument for 'better education', we should at least see its productive value. Our clansmen in Parliament have faltered in delivering any results on this front.

 Public officers are demi-gods in our province. They are not there to serve us, rather, we are supposed to be slaves in need of their mercy. Routine things like getting a birth certificate for 20 month old child born in a hospital turn into an experience at humiliation and servitude. Never mind the fact that the  person frustrating you is a clerk with just high school or college education imported from another place while thousands of our capable youth remain unemployed. Getting an ID or a passport has long ago turned into an exercise in futility. There are about 10 inspection spots between Nairobi and Garissa and 20 more between Garissa-Wajir.

 Ask yourself, what has your MP done over the past three years? Maybe, he built a toilet (at inflated price) in your constituency to vindicate himself but has any of his actions led to any tangible improvements to your quality of life? At least Mandera and Wajir have men of who are at the forefront of the silent revolution taking place in Government. How many times have you stopped to ask yourself if your kids will go to better schools than you went to before you referred to these morons as "Mheshimiwa."  Adan Dualle, Yusuf Haji, Farah Maalim and Sugow are the worst politicians in the national assembly. At least three of those men are not intellectually at par with their peers in parliament. Yusuf Haji is almost senile and incapable of making a coherent statement in Swahili, maybe english too. Sugow, aaah...don't even get me started on him.

Youth activism
  As individuals, we need to bring prudence and reason to these matters instead of regurgitating widely known facts. What North Eastern needs is nothing short of a revolution, a mindset revolution. We, as people, have turned into captives to (partly) our own failures. Nepusa and other student bodies need to educate the public on the evils of tribalism. Sheikhs will have to declare war on our unaccountable representation. Every youth movement in the province has to take on the responsibility of educating the public and protecting their elders from abusive government policies. My entire argument is predicated on the assumption that private and individual industry has the biggest societal benefit. We have the capacity to collectively change our lives if we free ourselves from the shackles tribalism. Young university graduates should challenged the old guard for positions of leadership at the national and municipal level.
The hallmark of human achievement is to learn from the past and build a future that is better than the present. As of now, we are failing on this front but we can surely turn the tide to our favour should we rise up to the challenge. What we need is an engaged active youth that will shake up how things are done in this County and in the entire province.

Rejoinder to Clerics Vs Young Guns

Greetings to all my blog readers and well wishers,
This is not an entry I was planning on writing but I have been forced to after several unflattering e-mails and the numerous "need-to-talk-to-you" calls I have received since writing the previous one.
First, let it be understood that I'm not writing these things to offend anyone. On the contrary, I do it so that we  can all help each other make sense of what the priorities for our city are. Would you prefer that no one challenge authority and our incipient civil discourse. Would you prefer that clanism and its role in the Pre-2012 political posturing be left 'undebated'?

There is no need to take an opponent's ideas to the very extreme and debate them as though they were the equivalent of "Colonial Northern Frontier District Policy" re-incarnate. Don't let your passions cloud your sense of good judgement and bar you from participating in a civil exchange of ideas grounded on respect and mutual want for our Garissa to be the Kenyan City of the 21st century.

Occasionally I came across some positive reaction to the now infamous entry that make me think as Garissians, we are on the right track. The circus that is the current debate on what the devolution of power (actually devolution of corruption) to local counties means for not only Garissa but the larger Nep is a definite reminder that we Kenyan Somalis have a long way to go. But things are starting to look better. For one, our inchoate civic movements and community activists are getting into the polemic clanism debate more vigorously and the youth are getting inundated with anti-clanism messages so that they don't get pulled into a vortex of political supremacy battles.

The Ulamaa need to use their bully pulpits to promote these implacable advances in eradicating clanism in our region. I am not an Ulamaa basher, never been, never will be but I'll point out when their priorities are misplaced. I want our religious leaders to be more proactive when it comes to holding our elected leaders to account. I'll stand by those who stick their necks out to defend the common person's interest. Lets remember in 2007, Farah Maalim rode to power because of the endorsement (rightly or wrongly) of Eastleigh's Sheikhs. Certainly, the public has a right to demand that the same sheikhs hold Mr. Farah accountable for his actions or inactions. Religious leaders can be a force for far greater good if they choose to use their power and deploy it in areas such as the eradication of drug abuse, clanism and corruption. We Somalis are a religious lot and our ulamaa can root out these problems if they pay attention to them.
Finally on the issue of vices; Clubs, Khat and other hard or soft drugs are bigger evils and pose a bigger threat to our culture and religion that any "un-Islamic" comedy sketches from teenage comics.

PS: For those that had a beef with the picture on the previous post, it was just too charming to not use.

Peace & Love all.