Our Freedoms Cannot Be Relinquished At The Cheap Price Of Rhetoric

Every time I hear of massacres, political corruption, pseudo-religious profiteering, apathetic response to public concerns and many other ills bedeviling this nation, I silently come to the conclusion that reason and public good have been replaced by short-term noise-making-ism. 

Kenyans may be excused for their escalating pessimism, and especially, on matters touching their government - and (elected) leaders. But, yes, I'm reminded that this pessimism is founded on the glaring government inadequacies and absence of robust citizen-minded approach to matters security.

No wonder someone remarked that our police chiefs have been reduced to obituary reporters - as opposed to what they ought to do - protecting lives and properties.

State monopoly of security has been challenged. Citizens have rightly pointed this out. On the other hand, State functionaries and politicos have consistently denied this.

Needless to say, this push-and-pull has left many dead, orphaned, widowed and in deep pain. As usual, truth has suffered many blows as emotions and high-level rhetoric take center stage blurring any attempt to engage in a constructive, objective discourse on matters Kenya.

The future prospects of this nation should not be delinked from the present security challenges. For no nation that aspires to be an economic leader and a haven for prosperity shall allow the lives of its citizens to be snatched away every minute - unchallenged. Development begets growth which in turn creates an emboldened citizenry.

Freedom - as a pillar of any democratic construct - cannot be guaranteed in an environment devoid of security, where dignity of life has lost its meaning.

Put it differently, the safety of Kenyans comes atop all other national priorities for prosperity - material or otherwise - to trickle down to all.

Again, guarantees of economic liberation are centrally a security issue. Unfortunately, our national definition of security has remained skewed and shallow. Centrality of security guarantees to all citizens - regardless of their status - is no more our national guiding philosophy. Recent massacres (in Mpeketoni, Kapedo and Mandera) and government response (or lack of it) cement this.

Protection - especially for the bottom majority - remains a national shame. 'Personality importance' - albeit its resultant national malaise - continues to shape our security deployment and media attention. We have slowly, but surely, actualized the awkward reality of two Kenyas - one for the protected and the other for the poor fellows whose life goes for a penny and whose dignity preoccupies no officialdom. 

Our understanding of security challenges starts and ends with killings and burial arrangements. Makes one wonder if the media and its apathetic government clientele have ever quantified the weight and challenges shouldered by Kenyans. 

How many widows and orphans has insecurity created for the last one year? How many hospitals and schools have been robbed of their dedicated workers? How many pregnant mothers and newborn babies will perish in Mandera County, for instance, because doctors and nurses withdrew their services to protest against deteriorating security conditions?

We can fly blames to one another. We can smooth-talk all these security nightmares as mere artificial constructs. We can hire our own private security. But the inescapable reality is right here with us. The people must be assured of their safety regardless of their status and location in this country.

I agree security is a shared responsibility. The people are the primary promoters of peace. But the actionable component rests with the State. To blame the people for insecurity is purely arrogant and smacks of a security system calling for an urgent, radical overhaul.

Essentially, the government banks on the willingness of the people to share intelligence in order to achieve its operational targets. This, in my view, can only materialize when confidence in State control and security monopoly is felt by all and sundry.

For it serves no purpose to deliver loads of intelligence briefs to a government that is outwardly reactionary and inwardly clueless.

I side with Wanjiku. Intelligence briefs can only be delivered if tangible follow-ups happen. To achieve this, top security honchos must re-invent the wheel. 

I long for some quick starts. Purge saboteurs. Pay officers handsomely. Flexibility of the mind and admission of guilt is a must. Remove this always-deny-when-caught-syndrome from government official lingo.

The State must put its act together to win public trust. We are tired of these massacres.

Lemukol Ng'asike is an Architect. E-mail:  lemoseh89@gmail.com.  Twitter:  @mlemukol.  

I'll Rejoice Only When Kenyan Youths Commercialise 'Flying Toilets'

Of late I have come to develop a deep attachment to Nairobi's social dynamics, its people - and anything exclusively "Nairobian". One of this is the recent stripping of a woman, allegedly by touts, for "dressing indecently".

Life of a Nairobian has many contrasting facets. The 2009 national census puts Nairobi City County at, well, a better position on matters education. A Nairobi resident is, by comparative standards, believed to be exposed (to many marks of progress) than say, a chap from far flung Turkana County. 

On information flow, "city people" (no pun intended) still lead the crowd. A Kenyan in Nairobi has higher chances of knowing say, when new laws take effect and the content of such laws. This is diametrically opposed to what happens in the deep pockets of Baringo. 

Still on numbers. A huge chunk of Nairobians, (forty-nine per cent to be exact), falls in the category of active, mobile and informed population (i.e 15-34 year olds).

From statistical perspective, Nairobi looks like heaven on earth - the Promised Land of Kenya. But, recall the stripping incident and you spoil the party. 

The rosy numbers notwithstanding, Nairobi - and by extension, Kenya - stands on hot ground. There is ingrained bitterness among the ballooning masses of young people of this country. They are desperate and unstable. They are looking for a way to vent out their anger. 

Like the proverbial happiness-chasers, they are out on the streets looking for ways to "cool down" their tempers and assert their position. Mark you, their prime target isn't the mighty.

Public stripping of a woman in Nairobi is thus not an isolated case. It is a wakeup call to the nation that a deadly tsunami is ashore. The earlier we fortify our defenses the better.

Back to our numbers. Twelve per cent of Nairobians use unimproved sanitation - official euphemism for lack of toilets (commonly referred to as 'flying toilets'). This means about half a million of the city population - majority of whom live in slums – are victims of Nairobi "toilet-shortage" menace. Literally speaking, these people are on their own. Not even their county government is troubled by this choking condition.

Now, consider the figures streaming in from across the other forty-six counties. Put them together, then bring in Nairobi's monumental figure and you see a real tornado staring at Kenya. A tornado of "toiletlessness"!

Wait, some sweet news is coming. There is wealth behind this "toiletlessness". Some clever characters in the Mukurus (slums) of Nairobi are already on it. Get a glimpse of what they do.

They distribute "service bags" (these are special polythene/plastic bags used by slum dwellers to store human excreta). They charge a fee no less than Ksh. 5 is paid for every "service" rendered!

Now do the maths. Nairobi County alone with its half a million-strong "toilet-shortage victims" gives something close to Ksh.2, 500,000 per day. This goes straight into the pockets of those witty Mukuru chaps.

Look, this multi-billion-shilling toilet industry must be calibrated to save our young people from self-destruction. And there is a way to actualise this.

First step: There is need for an official recognition of the bad shape of our public health sector - in this case, the risks facing millions of Kenyan "toilet-shortage victims".

Second step: A public-private partnership in toilet construction and management is, probably, the way to go to realize tangible results for both the youth and the general public.

Think for a moment, if, the county government of Nairobi embarks on mass construction of toilets in its low-income areas and call in youth groups to manage them (toilets), how many of our young people would secure full time employment – and by extension get off the streets?

Heavy handed treatment and mass arrests of jobless youths, dedicated hawkers, mama mbogas et al, won’t stop others from stripping women. We must address the root cause of these "illegal" acts. 

Poverty – material and mental – is the cause of this degeneration.

It is historical truism that human beings – when pushed by material want and desperation – would resort to wearing a temporary gown of insanity to appease their mental self. This, my people, is the push behind the pettiness evident in Kenya’s socio-econo-political spheres. (I’m in no way defending those stripping women).

Thinking outside the box is the way. Make money from ‘flying toilets’ and save our youth. This, in my view, is the safest option to save ourselves from public embarrassment.

Remember, it began with stripping women for “dressing indecently”; who knows tomorrow you will be the one on the chopping board?

Lemukol Ng’asike is an Architect. E-mail: lemoseh89@gmail.com . Twitter: @mlemukol.

MR GOVERNOR, BUILD YOUR NAME BY BUILDING THIS SCHOOL

Dear Sir,

Jambo Bwana Governor! By all objective measures, I hold that you understand the enormity of your job and believe you are equally prepared to level the ground and impact positively on the soul, body and spirit of the people of Turkana County. For this, I commend you and your team.

I have gone through many of your government's reports; I have conversed with a number of your people and many more out there. A verdict of "Yes, there is a will!" is evident in their talks. They are hopeful to the core.

However, there is a segment of your people that can't speak for themselves - but want to speak (anyway!). They are many. They are what many of us would describe as the "the industry of tomorrow. A foundation over which future development is anchored." These are the 'school-less' children from the remote pockets of your county.

They radiate hope. Their resilience and reasoning can touch even the hardest of hearts of Men. It is at the backdrop of this that in the name of the many 'school-less' children of Turkana, write to you - as a person and a leader - to spare a fraction of your busy schedule to address the plight of these children.

Allow me to take you through the life of Kootoro Mixed Primary School. The school, according to information at my disposal, is located in Nakabosan-Nakaalei corridor of Kalapata Sub-location in Kalapata Ward in Turkana South Sub-county. 

The school enrollment as at january 2014 stood at:  Primary school: Boys-153, Girls-112; Nursery school:  Boys-115, Girls-98; Grand total 478 with only one T.S.C teacher (who also doubles as the school's headteacher), three volunteer teachers, a cook and a security guard.

Classes 4 and 5 learn under temporary structures. The rest find refuge under trees. Learning materials still remain a distant dream for this community of learners.

The question thus shoots: do these children deserve to learn under this condition? 

I'm alive to the fact that the role of rewriting histories rests not in empty declarations but concrete follow-ups geared at empowering the dis-empowered and educating the uneducated. We are the generation that must rewrite this history. The future of these children - and many more across Turkana's forgotten plains - depends on our present undertakings.

Mr Governor, do something to these kids. Build your name by building this school. 

Lemukol Ng'asike is an Architect. E-mail:  lemoseh89@gmail.com.  Twitter:  @mlemukol.  

JUDGE LEADERS BY THE NUMBER OF TOILETS IN THEIR BACKYARDS

The other day I received a message from an unknown source - probably one of the many readers of my articles - lamenting about the state of our public health. He pointed out lack of practical linkages between human waste production and disposal and the apparent absence of official recognition that a significant number of Kenyans do defecate 'openly'.

His view was anchored on recent government statistics and the fact that open defecation is no more a secret but the 'only way' for many of our folks living at the socio-economic periphery of this country. 

This, definitely, is a pointer to many factors. The measure of a country's progress is inseparable from the (primary) health standards of its people and the quality of ideas flowing from its leadership.

The awkward reality - and perhaps one that leaders must know - is that sanitation is the core of all our socio-econo-political experiments. For no population lives in isolation. We are inherently predisposed to risks and/or positives of others. The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is one perfect example. 

Ebola - albeit all groaning and cries flying from its victims - has brought to the fore a new positive thinking. That no frontiers exist on matters of public health. That the mighty and the weak, the rich and the poor, the schooled and the unschooled, the urbanites and the rural folks, are equally predisposed to public health risks. That an all-inclusive engagement is the way to go to stay healthy.

Which brings us to the core of our discussion: Is our public health preparedness commensurate to the dangers lurking ahead of us? Put it differently; are we ready to judge our leaders by the number of toilets in their backyards?

This is what the Kenyan government numbers say. Thirty-nine percent of Kenyans have no access to improved methods of waste disposal. Most of these victims, live in what is generally classified as rural areas - those pockets of our nation that feature prominently on the wrong side of Kenyan intelligentsia. (check:  http://www.sidint.net/content/inequalities-kenya)

In my home county, Turkana, 91% of residents use unimproved sanitation. In this place, valleys, bushes and rocky grounds not only serve as those must-reach beautiful selfie-spots, but the only place to dispose of human waste.

Look, out of the thirty wards in the county, practically twenty of them have no improved sanitation facilities (read toilets). This is sixty percent of the county going to the bushes! 

No wonder under-four mortality rate in the county is always on the upward trajectory as we keep on blaming mosquitoes and hunger. The problem is poor sanitation. This is what is killing my people.

Mark you; this is not about toilets and defecation alone. It is the whole sanitation thing. And according to them (these government people); sanitation refers to the principles and practices relating to the collection, removal, or disposal of human excreta, household waste, water and refuse as they impact upon people and the environment.

Decent sanitation is grounded in appropriate hygiene awareness and behaviour as well as acceptable, affordable and sustainable sanitation services which is crucial for the health and the wellbeing of the people.

Some observations are clear even for the numskull. Poor or inexistent human waste disposal facilities leads to higher human and economic costs to communities through pollution of rivers, ground water and higher incidence of air and water borne diseases. Needless to talk of the blows education will suffer from this.

On the other hand, women and girls shoulder the greatest challenges of open defecation. Bush defecation puts them right into the hands of rapists and other sex pests roaming around in the vicinity.

The Indian "rape-hunter" experience proves this right. In rural parts of India, many women have been sexually abused and even died as a result of attacks from these sex-hunters.

From the look of things, Kenya should not afford hurtling down this deadly path. We have the capacity – material or otherwise – to make things work. However, it is instructive that the rethinking of our strategies takes into consideration the many dynamics out there.

There is an ingrained pseudo-cultural understanding among our people that things like toilets, are for the cream in the society. For them, this is a show of progress that the poor cannot afford. Tellingly, this is purely a problem of the mind that can only be vanquished by consistent public awareness and follow-ups.

Again, building a toilet falls at the bottom of the priority list of many economically disadvantaged Kenyans. For many of these folks, building a toilet means foregoing most of the badly needed items atop the family index. It is for this reason that government-led sanitation projects come in handy down there.

At a time when youth unemployment is the in-thing across public and private corridors in this country, perhaps, it strikes some sense to shift our focus and energies to sustainable toilets. 

County governments stand a better chance in actualizing this. What they need is simple: train youth, support them financially and have them deal with toilet construction, maintenance and management.

From a radical standpoint, Parliament and County Assemblies can do Kenyans a great service by passing laws stipulating that government officials – and especially, those residing at the countryside – (should) build at least one toilet as a mark of their commitment to sanitation.

Come 2017, before you troop to your polling station, count the number of sanitation facilities (toilets, refuse disposal points etc) in your village, constituency and county to gauge the commitment of leaders in the development of this country.

We must think, speak and act sanitation to propel this nation’s socio-econo-political wheel!

Lemukol Ng’asike is an Architect. E-mail: lemoseh89@gmail.com . Twitter: @mlemukol.

BANDITS AND POLITICAL OPERATIVES WALK, WORK, EAT TOGETHER

Kapedo hot waterfall

The situation up north, particularly along Turkana-Pokot-Baringo axis, is by all standards unbearable. There is a growing need that Nairobi must intervene with full force to send a message to bandits and to save lives and property. No doubt, this is what the State should have done long before the recent tragic incidents in the region.

Personally, I believe this is the right time to pacify this region for meaningful development to take root.

The tragic reality, however, is (that) truth is always the first prime victim. Whatever justification the media - and by extension, the government might give, they are jointly to blame for spewing half-truths about this banditry business up there. 

For long, stories have revolved around things like tribal fights, scramble for pasture et al.

Unfortunately, it has taken much pain and loss of lives for the country to demand complete answers on this. The on-going military campaign to flush out bandits is just half of what the State must do. The nation must be told who the faces behind these primitive criminal acts are.

Banditry is a three-pronged exercise bringing together different players. At the top of this chain is a group of political operatives masquerading as leaders. Their principle role is to defend, scare away any political force, and curtail periodic government interventions under the cover of speaking for the 'innocent members of their communities'. They are the de facto spokespersons and the external face of the whole game.

Banditry for them is a political mobilization tool. It is what guarantees their political survival.

At the second level is a group of connected livestock businessmen. At some point, the political operatives double up as businessmen directly or indirectly through their proxies. 

Now at the bottom of the pyramid is a group of illiterate desperate gun-wielding men whose only job is to wreck havoc to fulfill the demands of their co-players. In most cases, they do this thinking they are "defending their territorial integrity against encroachment from other 'enemy communities'."

They possess little/no critical capabilities to interrogate the intentions of their masters. They survive at the mercy of the tiny clique atop the banditry pyramid. Whenever government boots come pounding the ground, they are left on their own.

You see, this is the classic case of slavery invented and practised in the north of this country!

Which provokes a bitter question: Is the State incapable of dismantling this web and go after the big shots whose profiteering banks on the ever flowing blood of children, women and men of this region?

Piecemeal interventions stand no chance of rooting out this vice. A quick look into the past reveals that half-hearted operations have achieved no lasting impact. Instead, such operations have helped the top cream gain a permanent foothold among members of the affected communities. This is for one simple reason, operations targeted only one segment; the lower portion of the pyramid.

Going for guns and leaving killers and their sponsors off the hook smacks of a government that gambles with the lives of its people. The Kapedo incident in Turkana in which police officers were killed must not be allowed to go just like that. Guns did not kill them. People used guns to kill them and many other civilians. The killers did not plant themselves there. There must be other people who planned and owned the whole process.

Justice can only prevail when the brains behind these killings are brought to book. Only through this shall banditry come to an end. 

For now Kenyans must live with this truism: Bandits and political operatives are birds of the same feather. Only a committed government can dismantle this marriage.

Lemukol Ng'asike is an Architect. E-mail:  lemoseh89@gmail.com.  Twitter:  @mlemukol.  

OUR NAMING OF STREETS, PUBLIC SPACES IS BELOW PAR

What is the identity of a country, a city, or a place and how is it (identity) determined? What is the identity of Nairobi city?

Nairobi city is, by many standards, a people's city; a mini-world of sort, a house of diversity. Its influence (social, economic or political) reverberates across the East African sub-region.

By national standards, Nairobi is that "dream city" that every Kenyan would want to visit and even live in. In terms of planning and urbanization, it is relatively far ahead of many urban centers in Kenya. Its place - materially or otherwise - cannot be ignored whenever matters of spatial planning, urban agglomeration, naming of public spaces and/or streets are discussed. 

It is at the backdrop of this that I find it important to revisit the question of naming spaces with a view to exploring the philosophy behind it, the perceived quality a name confers to a place, the attendant benefits accruing from it (the name), the role of citizens in determining the name of a place and the rationale of effecting the same.

Without prejudice to those charged with the responsibility of performing this, I hold that our naming of public spaces (streets, public buildings, schools, dispensaries et al) is below par.

Naming, in its holistic perspective, has not been given the attention it deserves. In many instances, we resort to naming for convenience purposes and not as the raison d'étre of the people involved (the real owners of spaces).

There are many reasons why naming is as important as the very existence of human beings. Anything - or anyone - at the service of humans is identified by a name(s). There are parameters to help us do this.

First. The memory of the place and/or building. Public spaces are depositories of vital information of epochal events that shaped the collective soul of the people living there. They freshen histories and connect generations. In some cases, people retreat to these places to “soul search” and (to) re-energise their collective resolve to confront a perceived or real enemy. Uhuru park is one such place. Tahrir Square in Cairo comes to mind.

Second. Naming places to honour heroes and people of higher standing in the society. Making a socio-political statement - since the beginning of time - has been the in-thing of human beings. It is no different now. We "reward" our leaders by naming public spaces after them. It is one way of collectively "owning" heroes.

Third. Names carry "blessings". It is a common practice across the globe for people to name public places after prominent (mostly wealthy) chaps in recognition for their financial/material input. In other cases, the name we pick, say for a school or a hospital, determines the continued flow of support to such an entity. Rural folks know this better.

Fourth. We confer "popular" names to certain places, say a main avenue in a city, as statement of the importance of the place and activities happening there. Qualitative and quantitative thinking, you see. 

Fifth. Though infrequently recognized, the shortness of a name and ease-with-which to pronounce it gives it an upper hand. We name places to ease our works - not complicate our brains. The shorter the name, the less troublesome it is to the people. More so to the usual suspects - our drivers and other road users. A case in point is Moi Avenue.

Back to where we began. Devolution has brought to the fore the need to rethink this aspect. We have histories to preserve. Our society is teaming with many unsung heroes passing their time in the villages. We have a rich cultural heritage to showcase and "sell" to the world.

Isn't it time to reconfigure our thoughts and contextualize the appellations of our places? The marriage between the owners of spaces and their spaces can be fully effected through names. Are we ready to go this far?

Lemukol Ng'asike is an architect. E-mail:  lemoseh89@gmail.com.  Twitter:  @mlemukol.  

ONLY DIMWITS CLING TO THEIR GUNS TO 'FIGHT FOR PEACE'

War, like demagoguery and over-reliance on muscles as opposed to brains, causes disharmony and corrodes human conscience. It kills and confines people in a permanent state of despair. 

Econo-politically speaking, war is a tool of slavery. It is the simplest way to dehumanize communities and transform them to a state of nothingness - mere objects at the service of their masters. It is the last thing a right-thinking society can ever expect.

Yet this reality has never landed in the hearts and minds of my people. The ongoing bloodbath in Turkana, Baringo and West Pokot counties should subject all of us to meditation and self-condemnation. The rate at which hitherto "cattle rustling and (tribal) boyhood fights" have gained momentum should worry and push to action any policy maker, functionary and/or politico in this nation.

We cannot simply wish away the tears of our brothers and sisters from these remote corners. Lest we forget that a problem anywhere in this country is the whole nation's problem. We have a stake. We must act!

There are concrete reasons why these conflicts happen. Here are some of them.

First: There is established official apathy when it comes to matters security up north giving politicians room to mobilize citizens under the cover of protecting community interests against any attack from neighbouring communities.

Second: Insecurity is a big political capital in this troubled triangle. An analysis of political campaigns since 1992 points that the more troubled a place is, the more it is easy to secure votes if one shows the capability of "defending and standing for the community". Thus; why should a beneficiary of this confusion be entrusted with the mandate of preaching peace?

Third: There is an inherent feeling of generalization when it comes to punishment and/or pursuing criminals. A crime such as cattle rustling, for instance, is purely robbery with violence. But rarely do we see authorities pressing charges against known perpetrators of these heinous crimes. Which beggars the question: why should a community bank its hope on a system that has failed them? The State must invest in conflict resolution mechanisms. It must punish suspects to win trust of the people.

Fourth: Politicos in these regions enjoy near-absolute power. They move around spewing tribal vitriol and misleading the people without any feeling of self-guilt. Needless to say, Nairobi's silence and inaction can, without any doubt, be interpreted as supporting such acts.

For how long shall the women, children, the disabled and other vulnerable Kenyans of Turkana, Baringo and West Pokot Counties be subjected to the deadly blows of thieving, selfish reckless elite masquerading as their leaders? Has Nairobi indirectly abdicated its duties?

Fifth. Settle the boundary question in these places once and for all. The feeling on the ground is clear: the National Government has failed to step in and demarcate boundaries. Successive regimes have treated this segment of the republic as an afterthought. If not addressed now, this will in future cost us more time and money now that mineral resources have been discovered in the region. 

There is need for an urgent economic redefinition. The economic development philosophy in these regions revolves around conquests and displacement. Inter-tribal cooperation has proved a hard nut to crack. Unfortunately, local leaders have failed to rewrite this history in a way to lead the masses out of this self-enslaving mentality. This explains why there is a mad-rush for guns with a belief of cementing ones authority over others.

There is no other way of restoring peace out there other than exploring new paradigms. Water is one of these ways. It is time government (both at national and county levels) shifted its interventions from that of guns, boots and bullets to one of inclusive development.

Empty condemnations devoid of tangible follow-up have failed. Carry out an all-inclusive gun mop-up, build dams and go for the bad apples and peace will reign. Dimwits must learn – by all means - that clinging to their guns isn’t the way to peace. This is the right time to do this.

Lemukol Ng'asike is an architect. E-mail:  lemoseh89@gmail.com.  Twitter:  @mlemukol.