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in surviving; the creativity and human instinct to do something about the deplorable standard of life in the region has been replaced by dependence on food aid.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.
Mandera County Forum 