“Recolonization Beyond Somalia” Revisited

“Recolonization Beyond Somalia” Revisisted


By S. Abdi Sheikh

In the book " Recolonization beyond Somalia", Mousa Sheikh Mohamed's central thesis was the eminent permanent UN presence in Somalia. His predictions have come to pass; today the UN is Somalia's de facto government. UNDP runs the economy, UNCHR runs the Social Services and UNPOS runs the politics. Recolonization beyond Somalia is complete.

The history of Somalia is replete with struggles among major powers. Somalia was colonized by three major powers with different styles and interests; Italians controlled Southern Somalia, The British colonized both North and South West Somalia, the French contented themselves with Djibouti. This scenario had created a tower of Babel barely able to hear each other. The failure of the Somalia State was given even before the state-building project began.

The British ceded parts of Somalia to Kenya and the Americans supported Ethiopia to annex parts of Somalia now known as the Fifth Region in Ethiopia. By the time Somalia was attaining independence, it looked like a body without arms or legs. The struggle for complete Somali territorial space consumed the Somali resources, intelligence and personnel and eventually the people of Somalia felt defeated, betrayed and frustrated. The dictatorship of Siyad Barre was not sufficiently prepared to guide the discontent into any meaningful patriotic enterprises. The situation was pregnant for civil strife by early 1978. Repression was Barre's answer to the defeat, frustration and dissent by the population.

The aim of the rebellion was to change the Somali Government to be responsive to its people's needs but the rebels could not agree on the mode of government and the personalities that would lead. The regional powers like Kenya and Ethiopia were always apprehensive of any strong government in Somalia. The intervention by UN and US added fuel to an already explosive situation. The foreign interventionists started dictating to the main rebel leaders on what to do but Aideed and his group rejected any orders from the UN or the US. What followed was the failure of the intervention, the warlordism and the near genocide of Somali civilians over the years.

Most attempts to bring peace to Somalia were more a lipservice to peace rather than actual peace-building; regional states were looking for a weak friendly regime that will exercise any influence upon Somalis living outside the Somalia State. It was like an experience in mediocrity. Each time a new leader was tested and discarded; Abdiqassim, Abdullahi Yusuf and Shariff Sheikh Ahmed. The only credible and hopeful regime lasted for six months and was created by a consortium of Islamic Courts; the ICU which became a clear and present danger to the regional powers. Currently, the TFG is the internationally backed show government which really has little chance of pacifying Somalia. Obviously the bogeyman is AlShabaab, a group of small arms carrying weak rebel group who's objective though not really defined is to impose Shariah on Somalia.

The greatest threat to Somalia's statehood is not really Islamist groups but the regional players and international organizations; like mad men they are doing the same thing since 1991 and expecting a totally different results. But then Somalia has become the burial ground of good ideas and good intentions. These good intentions have spawned piracy, corruption and terrorism. It has created a war economy, a war culture and a warring life. The interests of Ethiopia and Kenya will not let them refrain from interference in Somalia's affairs. They have little choice.

How then should an acceptable solution be procured? A Somali politician who felt pained by the drudgery and hopelessness of Somalia's situation once had a hilarious solution to Somalia's problems. He wanted to ask every group what they really want: those who want oil contracts give them! Those who want land, give them! Those who want money, give them livestock! All he wanted to buy from the UN, US, IGAD, Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea was non-interference. It would be ideal if Somalis were left to their own devices but that will never happen.

There is however nothing stopping Somalis from organizing an independent grassroots movement which is not armed and not protected by foreign forces to attempt to force every warring group to the negotiating table and finally procure a local solution for the Somali problems. Somalis need to start a piece caravan that will move all over Somalia to organize peace rallies and traditional conflict management techniques to create consent based state-building momentum. That approach may work better than the hammer and the anvil approach of the foreign interventionists. Meanwhile all foreign forces and organizations should be urged to withdraw their persistent meddling. This point is obviously naive but nothing better is on the table so far.

S. Abdi Sheikh, the author of "Blood on the Runway: The Wagalla Massacre of 1984" is a freelance writer who specializes on the Horn of Africa. Read the writer's blog at www.xudayi.wordpress.com. The author can be reached at xudayi@gmail.com

What Ails North Eastern Kenya?

What Ails NEP?
A Speech by Salah Abdi Sheikh to NEPUSA, Kenyatta University Chapter.


Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was invited to this forum by a young man, Ahmed Shekhey, who consulted me through Facebook. He informed me that the topic of discussion is “What Ails NEP”? Being an addicted Facebooker and Twitter subscriber, I put the question to my friends by posting it on my wall. 55 people responded. Their contributions form part of this speech tonight.

The problems facing Northern Kenya, according to the respondents are varied. The problems are too many for anybody to give coherent and decisive answer to that question. If we do a list of all the problems we know that afflict NEP, a general consensus will arise out of the following:

1. Lack of hospitals

2. Underperforming schools

3. Lack of proper markets for animals

4. Lack of water and Sanitation facilities

5. Unresolved historical injustices: Massacre and Genocide.

6. Poverty

7. Miraa Addiction

8. Poor Leadership

9. Tribalism, cronyism and nepotism

10. Corruption

11. Inefficiency of the civil service

12. Clan clashes and conflict

13. Lack of proper roads

14. Illiteracy

15. Harsh climatic conditions

16. Brain Drain

17. Dependence syndrome

These are too many issues not aggregated into any order and by the look of it they are discouraging. One will be hard-pressed to find a solution for a list of seventeen problems. But these issues are interrelated and can be disaggregated into a few broad categories.

1. Infrastructural problems

2. Cultural problems

3. Leadership problems

4. Natural Climatic Conditions

5. Law and Order issues

Infrastructural problems are very evident because of lack of hospitals, Roads, Schools, Sanitation problem, Lack of Sources of energy like electricity and lack of Social Halls. These are massive infrastructure components that the state provides for its people. Therefore the Kenya state has failed to provide infrastructure to its citizens. The question is why? Is it a general problem or was there a particular reason for the failure of the state to build infrastructure of in this region? Understanding this issue will require an understanding of history. I will come back to that point later.

Cultures are norms and customs of a society that has been adopted over a period of time. Cultural problem are evidenced by tribalism, nepotism, corruption, clan conflict, colonial borders, rigid sedentary or pastoralist lifestyle. The culture of our people favours chivalry, warfare, favouritism, corruption and disregard of authority. This is not a new idea I am bringing, all those who made it their business to study Somali culture came to the same conclusion. We lived in a lifestyle that was suited to cattle rustling and fighting over marriageable girls. I was born in reserve and I grew up there and so I came to realize very early the idea of “me against my brother, my brothers and I against our father, my clan against other clans, and my tribe and I against the world”. Our tribalism is the cause of many of our problems including the concretization of colonial borders in North Eastern Kenya. Other cultural problems that we have adopted include our view of girls’ education, the idea of collective responsibility for crime of one person and misapplication of Islam to suit our own whims. The last point is evidenced by several sayings including: Sheekh qabiilkiisa kama janataga (The Sheekh cannot choose paradise over his tribe). Cultural issues are a central cause of many of our problems.

Leadership or the lack of it is an all enveloping factor that is causing many of our problems. Poor leadership has cost us development and infrastructural improvement. Massive illiteracy is caused by poor leadership, extreme poverty is a symptom of poor leadership, brain drain is a caused by lack opportunities brought about by lack of creative leadership. In fact leadership is what causes state failure to provide proper infrastructure, is what impedes cultural change and is the worst form of affliction to have. Poor leadership resulted from cultural factors that insure that society does not choose the best for positions of leadership. Tribalism, nepotism and corruption insure the perpetuation of poor leadership. How do you know there is poor leadership? Few yardsticks will suffice; elected leaders who cannot speak for their people honestly and anticipate issues before they arise. Today there is an outbreak of Denge Fever in Mandera. I know it because I talked to someone in the Ministry of Health. There is also famine ravaging the region. The elected leaders are mum over these issues? Who do they expect to speak for their constituents? In a democracy where there are competing voices, the loudest voice is likely to be heard; there is no dignity in keeping quiet when everyone is jostling for a piece of the pie. Lack of leadership has also arisen out of the application of the available resources chiefly the devolved funds especially the famed CDF. Our elected leaders appointed their relatives and supporters to manage the funds and at least in all the constituencies I have visited created millionaires out of their friends. The impact of CDF is visible but is constrained by the abuse of authority and lack of selflessness in our leaders. Leadership also involves creating initiatives, thinking out of the box, leading people to a new direction. I put to you young men and women that without leadership nothing will change.

Our chief complaint is that God in his wisdom did not bless us with a good climate. We live in an arid region with unreliable rainfall and very high temperatures. So we say the famine is caused by the climate and we are just innocent victims. The world has different climatic conditions and North Eastern is not the worst. In fact the worst climatic conditions are not the hottest climate but the coldest. People living in Greenland have something to complain about but not those living in North Eastern Kenya. While the climate is harsh no doubt, it is not as harsh as the deserts of the world. In NEP we are trying to save pastoralism as a method of livestock production in the 21st century. We seem to be stuck in time; running after dwindling herds in the era of the Ipad. It is not the climate that is the problem but our insistence on not adapting to our environment which brings me back to the issue of leadership.

Lawlessness is a problem in NEP. We have absolutely no law operative in that region and this is not by accident. This takes me back to my first point; was infrastructural neglect intended? The lack of infrastructure is intended. It has a long history. Before we were born, Somali was just a tribe living between the Gulf of Trafura (Eden) and Tana River; a vast piece of real estate. They were a tribe of a million clans chasing their camels and one another across this vast land. The Europeans came and partitioned the land among themselves. The French took over Djibouti, Italians grabbed Southern Somalia, the British grabbed both NFD (South West Somalia) and Northern Somalia and finally in the 1930s Ethiopia grabbed the Ogaden Region and parts of Southern Somalia I will not bore you with various struggles but when in 1960s Kenya became independent the British incorporated NFD into Kenya despite the inhabitants’ protestations. Jomo Kenyatta said that he would allow the Somalis and their herds to leave Kenya but he won’t cede one Kilometre of the NFD. This led to the so called Shifa War that lasted from 1963 to 1967. Somalia despite encouraging the initial insurrection dropped its entire claim to the NFD in 1967. That brought the Shifta War to an abrupt end.

Kenya never forgave the Somalis for that insurrection. What followed was decades of genocide; particularly, Malka Mari Massacre of 1978, The Burning of Garissa in 1980, Wagalla Massacre of 1984 and the Kenyan Somali Screening of 1989. Kenyan government suspended the rule of law and the rights of the Somalis. The Somalia crisis also contributed to the problems facing Somalis of Kenya. In the past the excuse for marginalization was Shifta, I am afraid the excuse is now mutating into terrorism and Al-shabaab. The Kenya government has never been serious in integrating the Somalis into the general population; it only uses the region as a buffer zone against Somalia. And even the current democratic environment has not changed anything; the problems of infrastructural neglect have not changed and the historical genocide has not been addressed.

Lawlessness on our part is related to our culture. We aid and abet crime; we pay blood money for crimes committed by serial killers and rapists. We give protection to criminals and we do not allow individuals to take responsibility for their own crimes. That is one problem that is also related to poor leadership; it is leadership that institute cultural change.

I am sure you did not invite me to talk about problems only. You also think that I have some solutions somewhere. Last month I posted a set of 10 points on my blog on how we can fight the famine. We are faced by famine at all levels. My solution to NEP’s problems revolves round these ten points:

1. Abolish the colonial borders: This will involve changing administrative units to cut across clans so that clans are forced into cosmopolitan enclaves.

2. Stem the brain drain: Reverse the extensive lack of manpower facing NEP. Last month I was informed that Ministry of Northern Region and Other Arid Lands have come up with a report saying NEP has no capacity to handle the new devolution units and should have the bare minimum of powers devolved to their Counties. We need to invite back the best among us to take up jobs in the region.

3. Ban Miraa: Miraa is to the Somalis as illicit alcohol is to the Kikuyu; it is killing us. We need to ban miraa completely and insure that it is not sold or consumed in the region once the counties are established. Such a simple action would free a lot of cash and manpower.

4. Undertake a massive literacy campaign. Illiteracy is a source of all problems in Northeastern Kenya. The illiterate person who cannot read or write any language; Arabic, English or Somali, has no place in modern society. Illiteracy is a severe inability worse than any physical impediment. The illiterate person cannot communicate effectively with others, cannot take advantage of the available free knowledge in the world and is easily deceived by hype about clan allegiance, political tomfoolery and settlers for less than his or her worth. It is because of the debilitating illiteracy that the people of Northeastern Kenya have become dependent in handouts from all sources; politicians well-meaning elites and humanitarian organizations. A 10 year massive literacy campaign targeting all sectors of society; children, pastoralists, women and men should be undertaken as a matter of urgency. The mission should be to make education and literacy accessible to people of all ages and make it mandatory for everyone to learn how to read and write effectively. If literacy penetrates into the society then poverty will decrease tremendously and the need for food aid will reduce.

5. Provide water: Water is the most essential ingredient missing in North Eastern Kenya. It is plenty and flows in to the Indian Ocean through Tana River every year, yet the whole of Garissa County suffers acute lack of water. Water should be available every five kilometers in each of the counties. Solving the problem of water eliminates the whole idea of pastrolism and opens up the land for settlement, ownership and reclamation for farming and industry. Water trucking is a waste of public resources, a short term drought alleviation measure and very expensive. There has to be an engineering solution to the problem of water; piping and pumping. The idea is to provide piped water over enormous distances and in a complex network.

6. Change of Diet: Expensive meat and milk based eating habits interspersed with every poor diet of maize grain is the mainstay of people of Northeastern Kenya. It is no longer possible to raise enough camel to produce meat. Milk has now become a luxury in many homes. The low quality maize provided by humanitarian agencies is a stop gap measure. The solution is to rear an animal that can be raised cheaply, grows to maturity within months, produces a lot and which can withstand the harsh climate . The camel; being the largest domestic animal can only be raised for commercial, aesthetic reasons. They can be used for Derby, for expensive branded and exported milk and generally can be raised as a fixed asset. The cows are not able to withstand the harsh climate and there are too few sheep and goats left. Research points to two animals that can be raised in large scale; rabbit and chicken. That is a revolutionary change of diet. Will Somalis eat rabbit? Will they eat chicken? There is really little choice as to the eating habits. There is need to have grilled rabbit and moofa for breakfast and chicken drumsticks for lunch. Massive change of diet means less conflict over space and increased availability of food.

7. Build Feeder Roads (And other infrastructure): The increased accessibility of the region will open up commerce among the Counties of Wajir, Garissa and Mandera. It is not so much as connection with the rest of Kenya but ability to move goods and people within the counties. The building of all weather roads to important settlements will aid all the other points in the plan. Accessibility is important for literacy to penetrate, for the brain drain to reverse, for massive change in diet, for water networks to be built and for information to be distributed easily. In Northeastern Kenya in 2011 there is only seven (7) kilometer of tarmacked roads which is within Garissa town. The rest of the region has only footpaths. This is enough to cause discontent and civil disobedience; it is enough to bring back irredentism and is enough to affect the peace of the whole region. Neglect by successive government has lead to closed region accessible only to the most daring. Building roads will open up the rest opportunities in this region. A 5 year infrastructural development plan to improve all the roads in the region is vital in tackling poverty.

8. Provide Social Welfare: A massive cash back scheme targeting families is more important than humanitarian food-based relief. Cash back schemes where families receive token of cash for child support, unemployment benefits and pension for old age is vital to provide economic stimulus in the who region. The cash advanced to families will be spent within their locality; improving business opportunities and increasing production. The government and the County authorities should develop a plan that targets the most vulnerable members of society, the poorest families and the aged to provide basic social welfare support. This in addition to free education up to secondary level and a 20-year program for free subsidized tertiary education. Each county should put in its budget a scholarship program that targets bright students from poor families which automatically kicks in once a student reaches a certain pre-determined grade and shows need for assistance. There is a potential for mismanagement and corruption in social welfare programs but the potential good that it can do outweighs any administrative bottlenecks that may be experienced.

9. Initiate individual and community reparation programs: The state of Northeastern Kenya is a product of the abusive regimes of Moi and Kenyatta. The Shifta war ceasefire agreement included a provision for massive development, integration and reparations. This provision has never been discussed or implemented. The abusive practices of Kenyatta regime led to the exodus the Somalis call “John ka carar” (Escaping John) where Somalis left Kenya literally with only their clothes on their backs. This was an imposed poverty. The abuses of Moi regime in Malka Mari, Garissa and Wagalla amounted to genocide. Reports say that for women of 30-45 years among Somalis of Kenya up to 20% have been exposed to sexual violence or rape by security forces. It is the shame Somalis rarely expose of themselves. These abuses were coupled with economic sabotage and neglect. It is this cauldron of abuses, sabotage and neglect that has fanned the ballooning poverty. The Kenya government has little choice but to address these issues. A gigantic program of reparations for individual victims and communities should be initiated. This should include acknowledgement, apology and significant compensation to individuals and development of schools, hospitals, boreholes and universities in the worst hit areas. A Marshall plan of some sort should be undertaken over 5 year duration to lift this community left behind and subjugated by successive governments.

10. Develop a tax regime : Tax is a source of revenue for the government. This is what makes government function and pay its bureaucracy as well build infrastructures. Any region that does not pay its share of tax to the government is a parasite region that is not vital to the economy of the country. The nine points in the plan can only be initiated if there is sufficient revenue expected from the counties in North Eastern Kenya. It is not in the interest of the inhabitant of these Counties to be net consumers of government revenue without contributing to the common coffers. An appropriate taxation regime for both County and National tax should be developed. Each county should set itself a target of 15 years to build up its own revenue to a level of self- sufficiency. After this period Central Government funds can only be used for massive infrastructure projects like highways bridges, alternative power installations and projects of long term nature. The county must be able to finance its recurrent expenditure, its social welfare programs and maintain its local development projects. The initiation of a tax regime at an early stage will set the tone for self sufficiency and local autonomy.

The ten points above are not exhaustive and may not be original. Each of these ten points has been elucidated somewhere else before. The idea is to have a plan and an eventual objective of tackling the poverty in the region. The plan requires leadership; motivated leadership. Implementation of such a plan is not a Central Government problem; it is the people who can demand that such a plan be created and implemented. It is the responsibility of the County governments once they are created.

Thank You.

Fighting the Famine: A 10-Point Plan

NORTHEASTERN KENYA

Fighting Back the Famine: A 10 point plan

By Salah Abdi Sheikh

The response of people of goodwill to the famine in Northeastern Kenya and parts of Rift Valley has been phenomenal. The Kenya Red Cross and the organizers of “Kenyans for Kenyans” initiative must be lauded for their effort. The sheikh Umal led relief drive, Eastleigh Business Association initiative and the general efforts being made to combat the famine through massive famine relief is an indication of the way the society has become awake to its own challenges. This efforts are vital albeit short term and unsustainable. The relief food will save lives now and that is the focus but the long term implications of dependence on food aid are dire.
Since 1985, there has been steady increase of the need for relief food annually. Every year of the last 27 years has seen intervention from humanitarian organizations in Garissa, Wajir and Mandera. This means famine and drought have rarely let up. Poverty is pervasive and has increased to a level that cannot be mitigated easily by grain relief. There has to be a new way of thinking to bring to an end the humanitarian intervention and focus on development, economics, growth and prosperity.
The famine and drought are natural occurrences that result from lack of rain. The climate of Northeastern Kenya is naturally harsh. If rain fails in the two normal seasons, drought is surely to follow. The inhabitants of this region who are nomads are vulnerable to seasonal changes. Their livestock cannot survive without pasture or water. The intervention thus far has in form of been relief food which created permanent dependence on the goodwill of its donors. The people of this region no longer take responsibility for their own lives. Even those with enough skills to survive do not put much effort in surviving; the creativity and human instinct to do something about the deplorable standard of life in the region has been replaced by dependence on food aid.
There has to be a permanent solution to the famine, drought and general underdevelopment of the region. The causes of the poverty can be summarized into illiteracy, harsh climatic conditions, poor local leadership, brain drain and negligence by the government. The solution therefore has to tackle the causes of the poverty and underdevelopment but not just the symptoms which are starvation, listlessness and human suffering. In order to provide a solution to the massive poverty level in North Eastern Kenya, the following 10 point plan is proposed.
1. Lift the colonial borders and promote integration
In Northern Kenya the curse of the “colonial border” left by the British still haunt the residents. These colonial borders have led to restriction in movement of people, goods and ideas. They have also created a “them” and “us” attitude which inimical to community cooperation. These colonial borders also fan clan hatred, provide politicians with ammunition to “divide and rule” and generally encourage wastage of resources. The first point in the plan is to openly declare that there are no clan lands or colonial borders or “seer” and nobody should be bound by them. There should be freedom of movement and settlement for nomads and settlers. This will release massive amount of resources from security in to development.
2. Stem the Brain Drain
Northern Kenya is suffering massive brain drain . Many of its towns are inhabited by illiterates, NGO field officers and civil servants. Any young person completing the KCSE leaves the town for Nairobi immediately he or she hands in his last examination paper. This is because there are no opportunities for higher education or jobs. This has created large towns without any literate persons. In some places the highest educated individuals has neither formal secular education nor formal religion education. With the exception of the primary school teachers, many villages have absolutely no literate residents. This means many of the university educated elites now living comfortable lives in Nairobi and other major towns are just sending handouts home and nothing more. They are contributing to the culture of dependence promoted by the humanitarian agencies. There is need to stem the flow of the educated class into major towns and create opportunities for them to stay and develop the towns and villages in Northeastern Kenya. There is need to promote the movement back to rural areas by highly educated doctors, lawyer, accountants, development experts and political scientists so that a level of educated intelligence can cross-pollinate with the nomads and village inhabitants and bring new ideas for survival.
3. Undertake a massive literacy campaign.
Illiteracy is a source of all problems in Northeastern Kenya. The illiterate person who cannot read or write any language; Arabic, English or Somali, has no place in modern society. Illiteracy is a severe inability worse than any physical impediment. The illiterate person cannot communicate effectively with others, cannot take advantage of the available free knowledge in the world and is easily deceived by hype about clan allegiance, political tomfoolery and settlers for less than his or her worth. It is because of the debilitating illiteracy that the people of Northeastern Kenya have become dependent in handouts from all sources; politicians well-meaning elites and humanitarian organizations. A 10 year massive literacy campaign targeting all sectors of society; children, pastoralists, women and men should be undertaken as a matter of urgency. The mission should be to make education and literacy accessible to people of all ages and make it mandatory for everyone to learn how to read and write effectively. If literacy penetrates into the society then poverty will decrease tremendously and the need for food aid will reduce.

4. Provide water
Water is the most essential ingredient missing in North Eastern Kenya. It is plenty and flows in to the Indian Ocean through Tana River every year, yet the whole of Garissa County suffers acute lack of water. Water should be available every five kilometers in each of the counties. Solving the problem of water eliminates the whole idea of pastrolism and opens up the land for settlement, ownership and reclamation for farming and industry. Water trucking is a waste of public resources, a short term drought alleviation measure and very expensive. There has to be an engineering solution to the problem of water; piping and pumping. The idea is to provide piped water over enormous distances and in a complex network.
5. Banning of Miraa
This may look unusual but it is the single most destructive habit of the Somalis living in Kenya. Just like gambling and alcohol have destroyed the aborigines of Australia and Kumi Kumi and changaa are destroying the Kikuyu community, this narcotic has taken over the lives of promising young teachers, civil servants and businessmen and reduced them to wrecks. Miraa brings in little or no profit while it takes an equivalent of 5-10 million shillings every week from Wajir County’s economy. This is exacerbated by the fact that it takes away the very energy to work, is addictive and has created a society of single parent families led by women. It’s a disaster of unimaginable proportion. Miraa also contributed to the corruption, conflict and general lack of good leadership in the communities. Banning Miraa completely will free the energy of the remaining literate manpower in the Counties into productive use, raise standards of education and increase the standards of living of many families.
6. Change of Diet
Expensive meat and milk based eating habits interspersed with every poor diet of maize grain is the mainstay of people of Northeastern Kenya. It is no longer possible to raise enough camel to produce meat. Milk has now become a luxury in many homes. The low quality maize provided by humanitarian agencies is a stop gap measure. The solution is to rear an animal that can be raised cheaply, grows to maturity within months, produces a lot and which can withstand the harsh climate . The camel; being the largest domestic animal can only be raised for commercial, aesthetic reasons. They can be used for Derby, for expensive branded and exported milk and generally can be raised as a fixed asset. The cows are not able to withstand the harsh climate and there are too few sheep and goats left. Research points to two animals that can be raised in large scale; rabbit and chicken. That is a revolutionary change of diet. Will Somalis eat rabbit? Will they eat chicken? There is really little choice as to the eating habits. There is need to have grilled rabbit and moofa for breakfast and chicken drumsticks for lunch. Massive change of diet means less conflict over space and increased availability of food.
7. Build Feeder Roads
The increased accessibility of the region will open up commerce among the Counties of Wajir, Garissa and Mandera. It is not so much as connection with the rest of Kenya but ability to move goods and people within the counties. The building of all weather roads to important settlements will aid all the other points in the plan. Accessibility is important for literacy to penetrate, for the brain drain to reverse, for massive change in diet, for water networks to be built and for information to be distributed easily. In Northeastern Kenya in 2011 there is only seven (7) kilometer of tarmacked roads which is within Garissa town. The rest of the region has only footpaths. This is enough to cause discontent and civil disobedience; it is enough to bring back irredentism and is enough to affect the peace of the whole region. Neglect by successive government has lead to closed region accessible only to the most daring. Building roads will open up the rest opportunities in this region. A 5 year infrastructural development plan to improve all the roads in the region is vital in tackling poverty.
8. Provide Social Welfare:
A massive cash back scheme targeting families is more important than humanitarian food-based relief. Cash back schemes where families receive token of cash for child support, unemployment benefits and pension for old age is vital to provide economic stimulus in the who region. The cash advanced to families will be spent within their locality; improving business opportunities and increasing production. The government and the County authorities should develop a plan that targets the most vulnerable members of society, the poorest families and the aged to provide basic social welfare support. This in addition to free education up to secondary level and a 20-year program for free subsidized tertiary education. Each county should put in its budget a scholarship program that targets bright students from poor families which automatically kicks in once a student reaches a certain pre-determined grade and shows need for assistance. There is a potential for mismanagement and corruption in social welfare programs but the potential good that it can do outweighs any administrative bottlenecks that may be experienced.
9. Initiate individual and community reparation programs
The state of Northeastern Kenya is a product of the abusive regimes of Moi and Kenyatta. The Shifta war ceasefire agreement included a provision for massive development, integration and reparations. This provision has never been discussed or implemented. The abusive practices of Kenyatta regime led to the exodus the Somalis call “John ka carar” (Escaping John) where Somalis left Kenya literally with only their clothes on their backs. This was an imposed poverty. The abuses of Moi regime in Malka Mari, Garissa and Wagalla amounted to genocide. Reports say that for women of 30-45 years among Somalis of Kenya up to 20% have been exposed to sexual violence or rape by security forces. It is the shame Somalis rarely expose of themselves. These abuses were coupled with economic sabotage and neglect. It is this cauldron of abuses, sabotage and neglect that has fanned the ballooning poverty. The Kenya government has little choice but to address these issues. A gigantic program of reparations for individual victims and communities should be initiated. This should include acknowledgement, apology and significant compensation to individuals and development of schools, hospitals, boreholes and universities in the worst hit areas. A Marshall plan of some sort should be undertaken over 5 year duration to lift this community left behind and subjugated by successive governments.
10. Develop a tax regime
Tax is a source of revenue for the government. This is what makes government function and pay its bureaucracy as well build infrastructures. Any region that does not pay its share of tax to the government is a parasite region that is not vital to the economy of the country. The nine points in the plan can only be initiated if there is sufficient revenue expected from the counties in North Eastern Kenya. It is not in the interest of the inhabitant of these Counties to be net consumers of government revenue without contributing to the common coffers. An appropriate taxation regime for both County and National tax should be developed. Each county should set itself a target of 15 years to build up its own revenue to a level of self- sufficiency. After this period Central Government funds can only be used for massive infrastructure projects like highways bridges, alternative power installations and projects of long term nature. The county must be able to finance its recurrent expenditure, its social welfare programs and maintain its local development projects. The initiation of a tax regime at an early stage will set the tone for self sufficiency and local autonomy.
The ten points above are not exhaustive and may not be original. Each of these ten points has been elucidated somewhere else before. The idea is to have a plan and an eventual objective of tackling the poverty in the region. The plan requires leadership; motivated leadership. Implementation of such a plan is not a Central Government problem; it is the people who can demand that such a plan be created and implemented.
There is a potential for the plan to be hijacked for political expediency and it may end up being a wishy-washy project that increases the disappointment of the inhabitants in the region. It is however a starting point; a point of discussion that can be modified, altered, discarded altogether for a better plan or implemented.

Salah Abdi Sheikh, the author of “Blood on the Runway: The Wagalla Massacre of 1984” is a community leader and human rights campaigner.

Kenya's TJRC should be disbanded before it leads to further polarisation of the country

Press Statement: TBT Network on behalf of survivors and families of victims of Wagalla Massacre

Press Statement

The Truth Be Told Network, on behalf of the survivors and families of victims of Wagalla Massacre of 1984, register its rejection of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission as presently constituted.

As we have stated before, Wagalla Masscare is the most serious crime committed on Kenya's soil; in this massacre it is believed 3000 innocent men and boys were shepherded into a disused airstrip, tortured, starved and shot by the Kenya Security Forces. It was a well planned operation to exterminate a named community completely and therefore qualifies as genocide; a crime against humanity.

The planning for this genocide was executed at the top level of government and many past and present leaders of this country were privy to its this planning and execution. We have provided evidence to show that at more than time and more than one location meetings of top level civil servants took place to plan, strategize and carry out this heinous crime against humanity. One such meeting took place at Wajir DC,s office on 8th February, 1984 and was attended by at least 8 top civil servants whose line Ministries were responsible for national security. This was a day before the operation began to detain men and boys which lasted for four days. Among those who attended that meeting was Hon. Amb. Bethuel Kiplagat. Kiplagat is currently the Chairman of TJRC which intends to look into the circumstances surrounding the Wagalla Massacre. This is not an allegation, it is a material fact proven by government's own records and corroborated by eyewitnesses.

We also believe, the TJRC as constituted has neither the motivation, the credibility or the capacity to undertake the task required to unearth the truth, provide justice and reparations and create memorization for Wagalla Massacre and other crimes committed by government of Kenya against its own people. We specifically believe the following to be true:

1. That the TJRC was specifically designed to be perpetrator friendly. It was designed to absolve perpetrators of crimes and not heap the right accountability and blame on them. The former regimes which committed much of these crimes are still in control of the country through proxies. They are therefore in control of the truth-seeking process, leaving the victims and survivors disempowered.
2. That the TJRC is designed to validate long held false insinuations and untruths about many of the crimes committed in this country. In the case of Wagalla Massacre; the government admission of killing 57 men is likely to be validated while in actual terms this number was its own civil servants who died in the massacre. Governments own records show that it killed 2619 people. (In the political assassinations, it wants to validate, the false theory that the gentleman committed suicide etc).
3. That the TJRC was designed to limit the magnitude of reparations payable to the families of victims and survivors of the heinous crimes like Wagalla Massacre. The TJRC was modelled on the South African Truth Commission which eventually paid US$ 400 as reparations to all the victims, regardless of the crime. This idea was floated in meetings of the TJRC and even the figure of Ksh. 2000 was discussed.
4. That the TJRC will meet a limited number of victims and survivors. The number being discussed being 1200-1700 victims in a country of 38 Million people. Of this the TJRC is likely to decide on who is a victim and who is not. Justice will not therefore be served by a government agency dictating the identification of victims and survivors.
5. That the TJRC will focus mainly on foot soldiers not planners and political leaders of many of the crimes. For instance the Wagalla Massacre case low level soldiers have been lined up to confess to the crimes and apply for amnesty. While the soldiers committed unimaginable crimes, the responsibility for genocide is political and it is those higher in the echelons of the military and the executive who should be prosecuted.
6. That the TJRC as presently constituted will definitely lead to polarization in this country. It will not lead to reconciliation but further disorder and violence which turn our society upside down. Since the model used was from South Africa it can correctly be stated that the product will be identical; South Africans have turned on one another leading killing of white farmers and xenophobia against other Africans because of the way the Justice and Reconciliation process was handled. We believe that the result in Kenya will not be much different.

Because of the foregoing reasons Truth Be Told Network on behalf of the families of victims and survivors has resolved to:

1. Hold public demonstration in Wajir on 16th, 17th and 18th September, 2010 to protest TJRC process and urge the families of victims of survivors to boycott the TJRC.
2. Enjoin ourselves in the ongoing suits by the civil society aimed at halting the TJRC process.
3. Consult with various stakeholders on the formation of a separate People's Commission on Justice, independent of the government's TJRC intended to unearth the truth and recommend appropriate justice against the perpetrators.
4. Continue to agitate for appropriate mechanism for Truth, Justice, Reparations and Memorialization.
5. Continue to prosecute the two cases currently in court; one at the High Court of Kenya and the ACPHR in Banjul and seek the courts intervention to stop the TJRC from interfering in this matter which is already in court.

Further:

1. We therefore urge the TJRC staff to forthwith stop harassing the families of the victims of Wagalla Massacre in Wajir.
2. We strongly urge the disbandment of the TJRC and serious study on what went wrong with the process with the intention of constitution an appropriate body designed for Kenya's circumstances and staffed by Kenyans who had no involvement in the operations of the past regimes.
3. Implementation of the new constitution's provisions on leadership, integrity and bill of rights so that the credibility of any justice mechanism is enhanced.

We believe any further continuation of the TJRC process is deliberate chest-thumping of the perpetrators of past crimes and gerrymandering of politicians who had no intention to heal this country in the first place.

(Ends)

Signed:

Salah Abdi Sheikh: Coordinator TBT Network

The Wagalla Massacre: The Case Against TJRC in Kenya

By S. Abdi Sheikh

On 11 January 1985, the Principal State Counsel, M. Ole Keiwua, wrote on behalf of the Attorney General to Ibrahim Khamis Adan and Alinoor Yussuf Mohamed Hussein through their lawyers, Munikah and Company Advocates, asking them, in accordance with the rules of civil procedures, to supply specific information about the death of their fathers. The information requested included the particular dates and times when the deceased persons were killed; whether they were killed by the Kenya Army Personnel, the Kenya Police or 1982 Airforce personnel; and the names of the specific officers responsible for the deaths of the deceased. Khamis Adan Mumin, Ibrahim’s father, worked for Wajir County Council until his death; Yussuf Mohamed Hussein was a civil servant in the Ministry of Health. The two were among 55 or so employees of various government agencies who disappeared from work in early February 1984, never to be seen again. Their employers reported them as having deserted their duties and their families could not access their terminal benefits.

The question of who killed these two men and more than three thousand others was raised in parliament by the former Member of Parliament for Wajir West, the late Ahmed Khalif Mohamed, on 21 March 1984. During a debate on then-President Moi’s speech at the opening of that parliamentary session, Khalif accused the security forces of killing hundreds in Wajir District. The government forces, he said, had placed more than 4000 people in a concentration camp, over 300 had been immediately executed, and over 600 were confirmed missing. Khalif directly accused the PC for North Eastern Province, Benson Kaaria, and the Somalia government of collusion in the murder. Kaaria had claimed, as reported by the Standard on November 9, 1980, that he would eliminate all Somali-speaking people in the country unless they exposed shifta who had killed a District Officer. Khalif’s accusations were met with utmost hostility by the entire parliament. Mwai Kibaki, Keneth Matiba, A. Y. Boru and Samuel Ng’eny demanded substantiation. Charles Muthura accused Khalif of irrelevance in his contribution to the presidential speech while Parmenas Munyasia jestingly demanded to know the names of those who threatened to wipe out the Somalis. Khalif was cornered into dropping the Somalia claim but stood his ground on the mass killings of Somalis in Wajir. In a bid to substantiate his claim the late MP tabled the lists of massacre victims and their photographs in parliament on 28 March 1984; many on the list were civil servants,

including Noor Haji, the former Senator from Wajir, who had been killed in the military operation.

The question of just what happened at Wagalla Airstrip between 10 and 14 February 1984 was partially answered by the late Justus Ole Tipis in a ministerial statement about the military operation, read on the floor of parliament on the night of 12 April 1984, and reported in the Nation of April 13 1985. Ole Tipis revealed that the security situation in Wajir was politically motivated, and that leaders were involved in divisive strategies planned along ethnic considerations. He claimed that the government decided to carry out its operations against the Degodia community in order to provide security to a

neighbouring clan. Ole Tipis gave an accurate account of the operations but avoided mention of the resulting genocide.

The Wajir District Security Committee and the Provincial Security Committee were convened by an order from the National Security Council. The meeting took place on 8 February 1984 at the DC’s office, Wajir. The District Commissioner himself was conveniently replaced by a District Officer, M. M. Tiema. According to the signatures in the visitors book at the DC’s office, and eyewitness reports, this meeting was attended by J.S. Mathenge, Permanent Secretary Office of the President; B. A. Kiplagat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; David Mwiraria, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs; John Gituma, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; Brigadier J. R. Kibwana, Department of Defence; B. N. Macharia of the Treasury; Z. J. M. Kamencu, Deputy Secretary in the Office of the President; J. P.Gitui, D.C.O Police Headquarters; J. K. Kaguthi and J. P. Mwagovya of the Office of the President; C. M. Aswani, Provincial Police Officer, North Eastern Province; Lt. Col. H. F. K. Muhindi of 7KR; J. K. Kinyanjui, director of Land Adjudication Nairobi; and finally Benson N. Kaaria Provincial Commissioner, North Eastern Province. The meeting resolved to carry out an operation with the objectives of disarming the Degodia and forcing them to provide the names of bandits who were committing crimes in the district.

Once the operation was authorised, it began in earnest on 10 February at 0400 and involved the Police, the Administration Police and the Army. The operation covered Elben, Dambas, Butelehu, Eldas, Griftu and Bulla Jogoo. According to the government statement, most of these areas had been swept by February 11 . When the army surrounded Bulla Jogoo, they ordered the residents to vacate their homes. According to Ole Tipis, the residents refused to comply with the order; the military then forcibly removed 381 male members of the Degodia clan from their homes and took them to Wagalla Airstrip, 9 miles West of Wajir Town. Ole Tipis admitted that those held were

interrogated for three days and a scuffle erupted when the District Commissioner accompanied by the OCPD entered the airstrip. Some of the crowds started to escape while others shouted at government officers. In this confusion and stampede, 29 people died of gunshots or were trampled upon, while 28 others were killed when the army met with resistance during the operations, according to the ministerial statement.

The official story given by the government was close to what happened, save that the government minimised the operation’s callousness. The operation covered all of Wajir District including Tarbaj, Leheley, Wajir-Bor and Khorof Harar. The target community were the Degodia but it is believed a number of Somalis of other extraction were caught up in cases of mistaken identity. The operation targeted male members of the clan above 12 years of age but women were raped, houses were burnt and property was looted in every locality where the operation took place. The men rounded up were subjected to torture in an effort to force them to confess to owning a rifle. Some died of their wounds before they reached Wagalla Airstrip. Those who reached the airstrip were sorted into sub-clans and up to 30 members of Jebrail sub-clan were burnt alive in an orgy of unprecedented violence. Their clothes were piled on top of them, petrol or some other highly flammable chemical was sprinkled on the clothes, and a bonfire whose fuel was human flesh was created. The other detainees watched as their colleagues were roasted alive. The rest of the men were forced to strip naked and told to squat in the hot sun – those who resisted were shot. The late Ahmed Khalif reported that the detainees were held at the airstrip for five days; that they were denied food and water; and that during this period those who tried to pray were shot. In those five days, more than 1000 people starved to death, shot for questioning the orders of the forces, or died at the hands of gangs which were allowed into the airstrip at night to carry out revenge against those whom they held a grudge.

On the fifth day the remaining men bolted, broke the barbed wire fence and ran for their lives. The military opened fire and hundreds were shot — many in the back — and killed. The stampede helped most escape into the bushes where they received needed help from nomads in the bushes. It was an escape that should have come on the first couple of days before so many were murdered, but without it the Degodia people would have been wiped off the map. The military found itself amid thousands of dead and injured men. The plan had gone awry: men had escaped and told others what happened. The military attempted a massive cover-up that involved piling the dead and injured into lorries and dumping them in the bushes; many bodies were also disposed of by fire and acids. A rescue attempt by the current Minister for Northern Kenya and Arid Lands, Mohamed Ibrahim Elmi, Catholic nun Annalena Tonelli, businessman Noor Unug and others saved many people who were ferried into various parts of Wajir district by the armed forces.

That is how Wagalla Massacre took place. The survivors’ stories are almost unbelievable.

One survivor says that he had never stepped into Wajir town before Februray 9, 1984. He decided to visit his father there; they were both picked up by the military the night he arrived and he found himself at Wagalla naked, hungry and thirsty and watching as life ebbed out of his father. Another survivor woke up in a pile of bodies in a depression in a bush; next to the his 16 year old cousin’s corpse — just an innocent boy shot at back of the head. One survivor escaped in the stampede naked and found a young girl herding goats who helped him cover his shame with her scarf .

It has been exactly a quarter of a century since the Wagalla Massacre. In these years the victims have refused to stay quiet, the dead are bursting out of their graves and giving clues to those who wish to resolve the massacre. The available evidence is sufficient to recreate what happened at Wagalla. It is still possible to give State Council M. Ole Keiwua the specific information he requested, in order to allow Ibrahim and Alinoor to prosecute those who killed their fathers, Yussuf Mohamed Hussein and Khamis Adan Mumin, along

with 3000 others — this is the figure given in the UN report — on the 10, 11, 12, 13, or 14 February 1984 by a combined contingent of security officers from the Kenya Army, the 82 Airforce, the Kenya Police and the Administration Police. (The larger casualty figures were also mentioned to the author by Ahmed Khalif while he was still alive.) The officers who killed received an order from their superiors who met at Wajir District Commissioner’s Office on 8 Februray 1984. Information of this kind could not be given by the sons of the deceased. The same information cannot be given now in a Kenyan court. The judiciary in Kenya has refused to hear the case because evidence will be adduced unfavourable to the current establishment. The Kenya government has therefore decided to form a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) which will have powers to summon evidence and give amnesty to those who are truthful. The idea of the TJRC is that perpetrators of past injustice have been defeated and fear has arisen of the victims exacting revenge on past oppressors. It is a way of creating a semblance of justice for victims of past crimes who now wield power to harm others. TJRC is a tool of reconciling the society at large and it is those who suffered in the past who create this tool to clear revenge from their conscience. The Wagalla Massacre victims are still victims; they have not acquired any power to harm those who carried out such genocide against their people. The only thing that might satisfy their urge for justice is a genocide court established on Kenyan soil, but administered by international jurists, where the perpetrators can face justice and the community can

demand reparations. The other alternative is a revolution that replaces the current order giving all Kenyans who suffered under Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki a chance to dictate how and who should govern them. A TJRC can then be mooted to give amnesty to the junior officers who did the footwork but the main perpetrators of impunity in this country need to be punished for their victims to feel safe.

About the Author

S. Abdi Sheikh is the author of Blood on the Runway: The Wagalla Massacre of 1984. Also known by the pen name Abjad Howartz Xudayi, Sheikh is a founding member of the Truth Be Told Network, a lobby group working to bring the perpetrators of Wagalla Massacre to justice.

S. Abdi Sheikh holds an MBA from the University of Nairobi and is involved in teaching and research in various institutions. He lives in Nairobi with his wife and two sons.

Sheikh can be reached at xudayi[at]gmail.com, and many of his articles and books can be reviewed for free at www.scribd.com/xudayi.

Xudayi's Page: TJRC is a fraud; Kenya is not ready for the Truth

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27696140/TJRC-is-a-Fraud-Kenya-is-Not-Ready-for-the-Truth

TJRC is a fraud; Kenya is not ready for the Truth

TJRC is a fraud; Kenya is not ready for the Truth

By S. Abdi Sheikh

These are interesting times. The Chairman of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission is embroiled in a dispute that touches on his past unjust actions. The latest information is that he has refused to resign even after being asked to by such eminent personalities as Desmond Tutu and 10 other members of past Truth Commissions in Africa . I am elated at this turn of events. I warned about the possibility of hijacking of the TJRC process by members of the past regimes in the book "Blood on The Runway". As usual Kenyans don't read or listen and they are usually taken in easily by hype. The idea of a Truth Commission is noble, beautiful. It is intended to allow a country to move forward without its past baggage.For a country to move on there are certain conditions that must be met as a basic minimum. There must be significant political, economic and social change that renders the past rulers powerless. Those who terrorized their population in the past should be disarmed, their institutions eradicated and their networks broken. The formerly oppressed must be abale to exercise power and be able to exercise options of retribution against their former tormentors. That is the basic minimum that must be met in order to explore TJCR among the options available to the victims and survivors of past atrocities. TJRC is the worst option available and it short circuits the well-developed mechanisms used by societies to accord justice and deal with criminality.

Truth and Reconciliation commission is formed in order to try and understand why a powerful class of society used crude and inhuman methods against the lower class members of the society after such powerful members were disarmed of their excessive power and privilege.

It was used in Argentina after the military dictatorship fell and a democratically elected government was formed. It was used in South Africa after the white minority rule was dethroned and it was used in Sierra Leone after a war that divided the country into warring factions on a tribal footing.

The common factor among these commissions is that they were constituted after the powerful clique that terrorized the public were disarmed. The perpetrators of the crimes had used a policy (say apartheid of South Africa ), a dictatorship ( Argentina ) and war ( Sierra Leone ) to justify their heinous actions. The perpetrators at the time of committing the crimes were following the procedure that they developed to commit these crimes. They could hardly therefore be called as common criminals.

Kenya has had a relatively dictatorial past. But this does not fall either in the category of war, apartheid or military dictatorship. Much of the crimes committed by Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki regimes are just crimes even under existing laws.

TJRC is created where the formerly oppressed have taken power and have the ability to exact revenge on their persecutors. That has not happened in Kenya . The KANU regime is still in power under a different guise.The powerful barons of yesteryears still exercise power over their victims. The time for TJCR in Kenya has not arrived yet. Those who were victims are still being oppressed. Impunity is still the order of the day and we are living under an illegitimate government cobbled together after a seemingly bungled election. There is absolutely no enabling environment for a TJRC. The very idea therefore has been put into the public conscience because of for two purposes; for political expediency and advancement of academic discourse. It is for political expediency because the truth itself is not in any dispute but wider political interests are being served by being seen to be doing something. The NGO’s being used to push through this commission have had interests in research and inter-disciplinary studies in this matter and hence advancement of academic discourse. Being appointed to such a position as a commissioner in the TJRC is a lucrative possibility for all.

The very composition of the commission itself raises eyebrows. It vindicates those who believe that it is a tool for cover up and is intended to protect powerful interests from being disturbed in the quest for justice. Hon. Bethuel Kiplagat was a member of very brutal regime, he participated in it with gusto that few of his colleagues could muster. He attended a meeting at Wajir DC 's Office on 8 February 1984, which preceded the rounding up and killing of 3000 innocent Kenyans. There are questions being raised about public land, Ouko murder and funding of dissidents in Africa . He cannot purport to lead a commission that will investigate past crimes. The rest of the Commission include a spouse to a serving military officer, a former military colonel, the wife of a powerful Minister, a former chairman of the law society that is not very well respected for independence of thought and the niece of a well-connected political player. These elitist fellows are not qualified for this work. They are just hirelings of the former regimes trying to cleanse their murky past. Regardless of the future turn of events, the perception that the truth will be manipulated and the victims shortchanged is as clear as the light of day.

We know the TJRC is a fraud on the Kenyan people but at least let it be a fraud that they cannot see through.

About the Author

S. Abdi Sheikh is the author of Blood on the Runway: The Wagalla Massacre of 1984 and Out of Control: How Kenya is Sliding into Civil War. Also known by the pen name Abjad Howartz Xudayi, Sheikh is a founding member of the Truth Be Told Network, a lobby group working to bring the perpetrators of Wagalla Massacre to justice. Sheikh can be reached at xudayi[at]gmail.com, and many of his articles and books can be reviewed for free at www.scribd.com/xudayi.