SOMALI HERITAGE WEEK: SOMALI KENYANS, KENYAN SOMALIS, CALL THEM WHAT YOU WILL

This week, a festival of its kind happened in Nairobi - the first Somali Heritage Week – a festival meant to highlight ‘’the contribution of Somalis to the beauty and cultural richness of Kenya’’.  Last night, this blog promised its fans and followers that it will highlight the contributions made by the community to the development of Kenya. But before the blog was published, the Sunday Nation carried a shallow feature with a catchy title but little content. 

Other than quoting some panelists and participants, the Sunday Nation’s feature ‘’Insight into the earliest settlers of EA: Somalis’’ either ignored the community’s contribution politically, economically and culturally or the writers were too lazy to do a proper story. Bloggers have a duty to correct those who disregard the truth and distort facts. Allow me to educate them.

It’s foolhardy to write about the contribution of the Somali community ‘to the beauty and cultural richness of Kenya’ without capturing their daily struggle politically, economically, socially,  how we have reached where we are now and the men and women on the steering wheel of the community.

The Somali Heritage Week – An event that brought together Somali leaders, writers, youths, activists, bloggers including yours truly -was officially opened by Kamkunji Member of Parliament Hon Yussuf Haasan. Yussuf’s  – a veteran journalist, long time employee of the UN, activist and an ex executive member of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPPK) – personal story is intertwined with that of Somalis in this country.  His opening remarks “The Somali national is everywhere and is easily visible, yet invisible because little is known about us. It’s now important to engage with other Kenyans,” set the stage for an interesting discussion that lasted for four days.  Hon Abdikadir Ore, Member of Parliament for Wajir West, was also a panelist and heavily contributed to the event’s success.

So, who are the Somalis and what is their story. Why is it important to celebrate them now? In his documentary, “Not Yet Kenyan’’, renowned journalist Mohamed Adow brought to the fore an interesting, dramatic and yet bold narrative of the tribulations the Somali community has endured over the last 50 years of Kenya’s independence. The Somali Heritage Week was meant to highlight this historical injustices, share the community’s contributions to the development of the country and change the perception other Kenyan communities have of the Somalis. In order to overcome ignorance and prejudice, we must celebrate diversity. Diversity is our strength.

As I sip my favorite sweet-hot- black tea, comfortably sitting at the balcony of Diamond restaurant, overlooking Eastleigh’s skyscrapers, let me tell you the story of Somalis commercial enterprise and their political power. Welcome to Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate, you are now at the global commercial hub of Somali entrepreneurship. When the British colonialists established an airbase at Eastleigh, little did they know that it would grow into a huge commercial gateway. It has since evolved into a “Dubai” of East Africa, where cheap imports are accessible. Today, the dry ‘free’ inland port attracts traders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda. Capitalism finds its real home here; with small businesses coexisting alongside big establishments. Eastleigh, described by many as "Little Mogadishu", as well as a city within a city on account of its robust business sector has come from far. All that thanks to the Somalis who were here as early as 1914.
Somalis are the most entrepreneurial people in Africa. It is due to their entrepreneurial spirit that the Somali grew up with the mentality of leadership. When you have leadership drives you also have entrepreneurship with it because you don't want to take orders from a 'boss' so you go out and set your own business even if it’s a taxi. Somalis have a thing with taking orders.

 

Politically, Somalis have contributed to the political development of the nation, from Lancaster conference, second liberation to the struggle for the 2010 constitution.

Here are the most Notable  Political  figures of the Somali Community.

Hon Adan Dualle –Hon Adan Duale, Mmeber of Parliament for Garissa Township and Leader of Majority is the ruling party’s – Jubilee – top MP and the most senior politician from the Somali Community. Vocal, fearless, inspiring, deeply religious and highly educated.

 To most Kenyans, Duale is the Jubilee government’s foremost defender.
The Garissa Township MP takes on opponents of Jubilee – from the civil society to CORD leaders – head-on. He has heavily to contributed to the success of the Somali community and majority of the community youth see him as a role model.  He has a dream of one day becoming the President of the Republic of Kenya, as he once said on Jeff Koinange’s show, JKL.

Hon Billow Kerrow: The Senator for Mandera  and Chair, Finance, Commerce and Budget Committee, Kenya Senate is one of the most vocal senators in the country. He’s also a columnist with one of the local dailies.

Ambassador Amina Mohamed:  Ambassador Amina Mohamed, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme at Nairobi is Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Trade. A former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs and former Ambassador of Kenya to the United Nations at Geneva. Amb. Amina Mohamed is a lawyer and diplomat by profession and has served in the public service for the last three decades. Somali girls need not look anywhere else for inspiration.

Hon Yussuf Hassan: Politician, diplomat, social activist and former journalist and Director of IRIN is the Member of Parliament for Kamkunji. The only Somali politician representing a cosmopolitan constituency in the heart of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi.

Late Ahmed Khalif Mohamed: The former Labour Minister and MP for Wajir West died in a plane crash in 2003, weeks after he was sworn. One of the most respected and renowned politician since 1978. He was among the founders of KANU B, a rebel group within the then ruling party, under the one party state.

WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT MANDERA

Welcome to Mandera. Located about 1200 km from the capital city -Nairobi - Mandera is a semi-arid county in North Eastern Kenya.

Mandera has often been described as “the worst place on earth to give birth”. The county with the highest maternal mortality rate. This week the First Lady launched her 33rd Beyond Zero Campaign Clinic in Mandera County. It will go along way in reducing maternal death by 75%. No woman should die while giving life.

Mandera has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Security has really deteriorated. Internecine conflicts and cross- border terrorism have trapped so many of Mandera’s people in poverty and misery. Rather than acting as a deterrent, it strengthened the people's  resolve and they're on the journey of pacifying their county. Things have really improved. Business is booming. Buildings coming up every other day. The glorious days are back!

Mandera has produced world-conquering men and women. Champions such as Senator Billow Kerrow, Senior Counsel Ahmednasir aka the Grand Mullah - Publisher. Newspaper columnist. Tough Advocate. Clothes horse. Hell-raiser. Arsenal FC aficionado and Godfather of Kenya's corridors of justice - as once described by a local daily hail from Mandera County. I know you know that I admire the Grand Mullah a lot and always stick my neck out for him in social media wars.
The Senior Counsel has also coined "The Raila Doctrine, a phrase which has been used to describe how Raila Odinga has been reacting to his losses in Elections in Kenya."

The great Banker and Harvard alumni - former Barclays Bank CEO for East and West Africa - and the current Cabinet Secretary for Trade and Industrialization Hon Adan Mohamed is a Mandarian. So is another Harvard alumni and award winning lawyer Hon Abdikadir Mohamed. Abdikadir, ex-MP for Mandera North constituency, is President Uhuru's Constitutional Advisor.

Vice Chair of Commission for Revenue Allocation Fatuma Sheikh, Fatuma Ali Saman, IPOA Commissioner, Adan Mohamed aka Patel, NCIC Commissioner, Former powerful Rift Valley PC Mr Adan Noor and currently a senior official at the Devolution ministry, Senior lecturer Fatuma Daud, Hadi Sheikh Billow, Commissioner KRA, Ambassador Mahat, Ministry of  Foreign Affairs's Abdishakur Hussein, National Bank of Kenya CEO Munir Sheikh Ahmed and  Mohammed Abdalla, Director of ICT at National Bank, are Manderians too, just to mention a few.

In the 2013 elections, Mandera County was the Tharaka Nithi of Jubilee coalition. It voted 98% for Uhuruto. They're yet to pay back the political debt. Hope UK will soon visit Mandera.

Eid Mubarak to every one

Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, will be observed on Monday, 12th September 2016. One of two feast festivals celebrated by Muslims, Eid al-Adha falls on the 10th day of the Islamic calendar’s last month, Dhu al-Hijjah.

Muslims all over the world will be marking Eid Al-Adha. On this day, Muslims remember the sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim (A.S).

Eid Al-Adha, is not just an opportunity to celebrate, but also a valuable lesson in sacrifice for Muslims around the globe. According to the Islamic scriptures, Eid Al-Adha, also known as the Greater Eid, is an opportunity to give and forgive and reminisce about the story of the great sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim (AS) several centuries ago, when he surrendered to the will of Allah and offered to sacrifice his son Ismael (Peace be upon him).

Prophet Ibrahim (AS) was committed to Allah’s command, which later proved to be only a test. He showed that his love for his Lord superseded everything else.
In return, Allah gifted him a male sheep to sacrifice, and that action has become a ritual for all Muslims to emulate on the occasion. Its meat is to be equally distributed among family, friends and the poor.

May Allah shower His countless blessings upon you and your family. May this day be a special day that’s filled with warmth and love, and may it hold the happiness you are  so deserving of!

Eid Mubarak to every one.

*This Article has been edited to reflect the date of this year's Idd-ul-Adha.

Education Crisis: Parents and students are the biggest losers in this standoff

The government's directive that all schools be closed from Monday is going to be a double tragedy for parents. The one million dollar question is: What happens to the fees the parents paid to cover the third term? Will the fees be refunded or will the balance be carried forward to 2016? What was the rationale of sucking in private schools into the crisis? Is Tahidi High affected by the same directive?

There is the possibility that the performance of this year's national examinations may be hampered. KNEC keeps saying that they're ready to administer the exams. Who will supervise the candidates?

The cost of closing schools early and  indefinitely will definitely be an additional burden to the struggling parents of this nation. The unexpected expense of hosting the students at home plus the time and energy required to supervise them to ensure that the time spent at home is well utilised is an additional one many parents can't afford. Clearly parents and students are paying dearly for the teachers strike.

Am shocked that the Senate is agitating for former councillors to be given hefty gratuities and pensions. We are currently facing a cash crisis over teachers' pay and instead of finding a solution, they are championing spending more money. This is foolhardy, reckless and downright immoral!

The union has dug in and is in for the long ride. The government seems unwilling to budge. The only way out is a compromise. For the sake of our children and their parents.

KTN STORY: Matters Usalama Eastleigh

Wenyeji wa Eastleigh watakiwa kuwajipika zaidi katika masawala ya usalama

Who will Restore the hope of the Northern Child??

The government should be worried about the impact of extreme insecurity on education in northeastern Kenya. It is a matter of urgency that the region is freed from the grip of militants to save education from total collapse.

According to civil societies and education stakeholders in North-Eastern kenya , one of the most pressing issues caused by rampant insecurity is the inability of school going children in the region (NEP) -mainly inhabited by Kenyan-Somalis -to continue their studies after an estimated 2,000 teachers have fled the area fearing for their lives following deadly attacks by Somalia-based terror group Al-Shabaab.

In the past year the education sector in northern Kenya has declined. There are no teachers and many schools have been closed. Hundreds of student

s are feeling hopeless.
Without education, we might as well hand the whole of northern Kenya to the armed militia. Education is the hope of society for a bright future. It is the tool that fosters dreams of peace, independence, success, and even hope. It is a basic human right. This is a dream that is about to be shattered by the paralysis in the education sector in northern Kenya, courtesy of  terror gangs.

The children of NEP are in danger of being robbed of their hope for the future due to the failure by the government to protect them and provide education. This group of disillusioned and neglected young people risk becoming a formidable foe and a target of extremists, human traffickers and all those with  ill intentions. Despite all this, neither the cabinet Secretary for Education nor that of security visited the region, to at least assess the situation.

All stakeholders in education and human rights groups must ensure that the people of Wajir, Mandera, and Garissa do not watch their hopes for a decent education die. Insecurity must be addressed now.

As all this happen, the so called leaders of NEP are dining and wining in Nairobi issuing one press release after the other in five star hotels.  So are the professionals. And the  lords of poverty in Northern Kenya - NGOs. After all the future of their kids is secured.

Even those who convinced us that they were walking in search of hope, ended it in disarray.  Noordin Bedel and the walkers who met the president had no bad intentions and should have been supported by all involved.
My advise to the team -Walk of Hope- going forward: Be united and sort the rotten potatoes in your midst before they spoil the team work.  My concern comes from the aroused hopes of the northerners including myself. Otherwise ni kama sina otherwise...

The Walk of Hope: Report Card and the way forward.

For the first time, Northerners - the good people of the restive Noth-Eastern - had something to identify with. As Northerners. It's such a shame that we are still hopeful after 52 years of self rule. But that is a point well driven home besides he who has hope has everything. Albert Einstein once said, "learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." We thank Allah that we are still hopeful.

The walk has inspired many Northerners as expected because of the levels of despair among them. Despite the poor planning and the failure to maximize on the occasion at many fronts, credit to the walkers who reached Border Point One- the first point the colonialists marked when they were drawing the map of kenya.

Now what next? The Walk of Hope seemed very fragile from the outlook and now enters the next phase of the dream, where challenges of group dynamics set in. How this stage is managed will be crucial to the aroused dreams of our people.
In a group of individuals with differing opinions and interests, some with celebrated unpopular history of rigidity that can give obstinance a new meaning, I pray wisdom will prevail and the hope of Northerners shall be to no avail.

From my own observation, the Walk of Hope is well represented at least at the core faces involved. Noordin Bedel from Garissa, Salah Abdi Sheikh from Wajir and Dr Abdinasir Mohamed Khalif from Mandera.
Building on these three pillar stones, the Walk of Hope can take Northerners to the promised land if and only if:

1) They are accommodating, and are willing to work with all divergent views without the rigidity and inflexibility that characterized the onset of the walk.

2) They can bridge the gap between the existing structures of clan hegemony and new, young and restless generation from the North in a smooth transition devoid of disrespect and negative discourse.
3) They put the community before their personal glory. There were instances where the walk seemed an individual morning stroll with individual goals of using it as a launching pad platform for personal political projects.
4) They are willing to learn from past mistakes in the many attempts to forge a unity of purpose in the north.

Considering the above and many other factors are put into perspective, I pray that the feelings of Northerners do not end up a subject of trial and error.