For me, 2015 was about igniting inner fires

As the year 2015 comes to an end, I am reminded that this is the moment when we venture into animated self-pontifications, perhaps, in order to reassure ourselves of our readiness to soldier on and (to) achieve those unfulfilled plans of 2015. Some people call this moment a period of serious soul-searching. 

For me, I see it as an affirmation of one solid truism. That time is a responsibility. So, as 2015 collapses and in its place sprouts 2016, the air around us is filled with that ever poignant question: Will 2016 be like 2015?

Well, I elect to wave back before I look forward. But before I touch this question, it would be fruitful to first dispense with this issue of whether 2015 and its happenings are detached from the past and the future. Hence the question: Is time a product of itself or an enabler of progress? In short, I think to talk about progress - in whatever manner - without invoking the central role of time is to live a lie.

Take the case of this common discourse on poverty and why Kenya seems to be hitting a dead end. My readings on this subject have left me burdened with painful questions. How possible is it to vanquish poverty when those referred to as poor understand not of their condition? Or is it an externally driven process whose finality has nothing to do with those listed as its beneficiaries? Paternalism, right?

I am of the view that for somebody or a group of people to see the road of success, there ought to be an inner push. This push exists not in a vacuum. It is a product of time. It is founded on time. It is time. It is an honest inquiry of what time portends.

Which brings me to my 2015 report card. Yes, I have largely written about poverty. A section of my readers have written to me seeking to know if writing about poverty is the only choice I have or I just “found myself preaching about it”.

First, writing about matters poverty has never been my choice. Talking about choices dilutes the sense of dealing with this animal called poverty. I look at it as an obligation to clear self-inflicted barriers that prevent the process of self-actualization.

Second, I consider poverty a negative-positive tool. This duality is informed by the number of people who profit and suffer under its wings. It is evident that sustaining this link demands some sort of mental gymnastics – both on the side of the “profiteer” and the “sufferer”. Hence, the need to underline the power of information in the war on poverty.

Third, how can this war on poverty be waged if the power of information is selectively deployed? How do “profiteers” and “sufferers” co-exist? Could it be as a result of this selective and/or skewed application of information?

Simple answer, my noises were aimed at igniting the fires inside you, dear readers. No qualms, I want your support. I want more members to join this shouting squad. And I know you are rightly placed to amplify this voice. 2016 is the moment. There is no better deal than finding the effectiveness of information.

Happy New Year!!!

Lemukol Ng’asike is an architect. Twitter: @mlemukol.

Our affinity for elite created 'two northern Kenyas'

Turkana women. Photo courtesy: Loito Titus.

There is every reason to doubt the tenacity of those spearheading the war on poverty in northern Kenya. That this process has been with us for ages yet the ground remains largely unchanged is for me, a clear indicator of its failure. It has failed to contain the rise of poverty - especially among the majority illiterate. 

One of the greatest challenges faced by the poor (in northern Kenya) is the fact that the narrative as to what constitutes anti-poverty moves derives its roots from a club of aficionados who have zero understanding about local poverty dynamics. Besides, these characters seem to cling to that old school way of doing things i.e. shout orders and listen not to the pleas of the populace. 

But I think I know a thing or two. This state of affairs soothes their feelings. It is their power bank.

This is the tipping point. Economically empowering populations has emerged as a new frontier of contestation between those who view the poor as a steady source of income and those whose actions are premised on "building a society that can stand on its own". This contestation is the oxygen behind the noises you hear about marginalization of northern Kenya. 

These elite power battles fall squarely into what scholar Tariq Ramadan describes in his many writings on politics and elitist manipulation of the masses as the dichotomy of alterity and likeness. Alterity and likeness imply a dichotomy based on power and/or interests which, whether in otherness (enabling the "aficionados" to define the general trajectory of the populace) or in likeness (trumpeting about imaginary gains and cashing in on the masses' gullibility to advance a predetermined narrative), can only favor one side, elite.

This dawned on me earlier this year when a highly-placed friend of mine whispered to me about the political math that keeps this enterprise of poverty alive in Turkana County. The guy declared that it is "better to steal and redistribute the loot within the locality than say, if an 'outsider' (euphemism for Kenyans from other regions) steals and goes with it to his 'home county'." 

In other words, it is politically correct to have localized theft than outsider-centric looting. Tragic.

This is despite the visible marks of social stagnation epitomized by hordes of jobless youth passing their time in village beer points.

No amount of violent crime christened as tribal raids or cattle rustling has succeeded to reconfigure the collective reasoning of these people towards the path of collective growth. 

The rhetoric is still the same - yesterday and today. The catch line remains the same. “Other people”, they say, are wholly to blame for the region’s stagnation. Local brains, again they posit, are as clean as angels. Lethal escapism.

Those of us who spend our time scribbling about northern Kenya know pretty well that this marginalization thing, though historically sound, is purely an art of appealing to the vulnerabilities of the people in order to herd them into one ideological corner. 

It is a political religion that only benefits the honcho atop the food chain.

Put another way, those potholed roads crisscrossing northern Kenya do not warrant a national consideration so long as powerful boys and girls from the region have their choppers ready to ship them to whichever destination they want. Those abandoned public schools in Garissa, Mandera and Wajir amount to nothing so long as it is only the children of the hoi polloi who get affected.

I fail to get a justification why a people who go to elections every five years, and participate in all civic exercises as demanded of any Kenyan citizen, can wallow in hopelessness. 

Why should a school child in Marsabit still be graded as "not at par" with her colleagues in other parts of Kenya? Does this mean the more than five decades of Kenya’s independence have not had visible marks on these parts of the nation?

The true northern Kenya that demands for support from the center has been pushed to the peripheries by an imaginary northern Kenya that resides in Nairobi, and pockets all goodies destined for the real northern Kenya.

I think it would be wise to extend the on-going war on graft to the many NGOs and half-governmental agencies operating in northern Kenya. I long for a people-centric tree shaker who will grasp the moral sense of confronting the elitist wastage that has reduced many hitherto life-saving agencies down there into money-minting shops.

Mark you; this is not a disease of the public sector alone. It is paramount to reiterate it here: wastage and theft cuts across the board.

It is time this narrative of ‘two northern Kenyas’ is crushed.

Lemukol Ng’asike is an architect. Twitter: @mlemukol.

Lodwar exemplifies Kenya's devolution "cow cities"

Overview of Nairobi city. Photo courtesy: Twitter.

This was an observation I made a few days ago when a Lodwar-based friend of mine posted on Facebook photos of near-Nairobi-like traffic jam in what was hitherto a dusty two-vehicle town. This is post-devolution Lodwar town. The headquarters of Turkana County.

The only bridge linking the center and the eastern portion of the town is always clogged up. There are just too many vehicles competing for space. The solution, he proposes, is to urgently erect a new bridge to ease pressure on the existing one.

Of course, my people will call this "development" for the only traffic jam they have known is that of cows and goats squeezing their way through a busy village market leaving behind a tornado of dust.

While this narrow bridge could actually be the issue, the crux of the matter according to me rests somewhere else. Devolution's outpouring of billions to mashinani is to blame (well, based on how you look at it). Vehicle ownership is the new status symbol down there.

From where I stand, I think this experience is both bad and good. It makes of a classic case of critiquing the very reasoning of those managing our agglomerations.

The juicy side of this is that urban planning as a key policy issue will take center stage. Those heavy-bodied women and men with newfound wealth will make this a reality. And you know what? They will be heard. One, because they have cash. Two, a majority of them sit in local decision-making bureaus.

Combine the two and you get the third motivation: giving life to “urban matters” like roads and water means responding to their personal challenges. This way, the public will end up collecting some fatty crumbs. Good!

The downside, however, is that we, as a country, have been caught flatfooted. The nakedness of our urban (and rural) development frameworks is now public knowledge. It is a no-confidence vote, I must add, against the municipalities and councils of yore. Those guys were just interested in revenue collection. 

The very critical aspects of monitoring urban trends with a view to building a responsive spatial entity for all received a beating. And this is how towns like Lodwar became "cow cities". Entities theoretically classified as "urban" but which operated as manyattas. Glorified manyattas - perhaps.

Several reasons fortify this  manyatta-status. One, these towns lack internal road connectivity. The only existing network, in most of them, is the road that enters and exits the town. 

Two, yes there is land for future expansion but there is no water to motivate this expansion. People crowd around water points. A painful experience reminiscent of those medieval cities of the Far East. 

Three, urban planning regime here is a strange lexicon. Even those charged with the mandate of implementing it are just but guess-work morons. Village-ism is king. This explains why cemeteries are under-utilized. People insist on burying their dead at "home", thereby complicating matters whenever there is need to execute land ownership transfer. Plots located in business strategic zones fall in this category.

(As a side note, even the dead have not been spared. You cannot, in your right mind, allow your loved one to be buried in these public cemeteries. A relook is highly needed).

So, which way forward? This is what I propose. One, consensus out there dictates that "government ignites (spatial) order". People tend to congregate around government installations. This proximity, it is believed, is an assurance of getting some "spillovers" of vital goodies like water and roads. And I squarely bank my argument on it. Governors and their respective assemblies should push their offices out of town. People will follow. And order will reign.

Two, people must discard this mentality that to be a "modern town", then, every place must be like Nairobi. I have seen this with the mad rush to put up traffic lights even on camel paths. A phenomenon that underpins local authorities’ poor understanding of the uniqueness of the places they govern.

It is simple, erecting mega flood lights at town's strategic points will do wonders. And sunbaked towns like Lodwar have an added advantage. Solar power is in plenty. 

The bottom line is that leaders must stretch their imaginations beyond normative responses.

Will this herald the death of “cow cities”? With cautious optimism, I choose to wait and see.

Lemukol Ng’asike is an architect. Twitter: @mlemukol

Paris talks: victory for dollar-thirsty climate change profiteers

Camels spotted in Turkana, North-West Kenya. PHOTO: Laforgue & Lédoux 

Notwithstanding the official outcome of the ongoing climate change talks in Paris, I am of the view that the real verdict, and which will reign supreme, is already out. One, more dollars (and perhaps euros) will be splashed out to supposedly "save the planet". Two, they will end up enriching this cable of profiteers we all know. Three, nobody will be held responsible for polluting the earth. Four, the poor will continue to shoulder the weight of climate Armageddon.

No, I refuse to be dropped into the ocean of skepticism. I am just as clear-headed as any other pro-earth noisemaker. But with one condition: if you stretch the meaning of earth to include the poor. 

This is the reason. Tragedies -whether man-made or natural - always attract many strange faces - some holy, others unholy. We all admit it is a tall order to spot any holy face. In this case I choose to focus on the unholy influential ones. 

Climate change "tragedy" is wholly man-made. This time round natural spirits are blameless. Our greed led to the plunder of our beautiful mother earth. The problem is that we erroneously thought that she will never feel the pain and fight back. We are now feeling the heat.

Again, the problem is those people who will pass these blows (from angry mother earth) to her poor children. Here, I refer to those pseudo-humanitarian apparatchiks and diplo-do-gooders who have already lined up to pocket climate change cash. It is what some might call the unholy trinity of climate change, climate dollars and climate millionaires.

Let's retrace this trajectory. Some twenty years ago, after HIV had gained ground and was mercilessly strangling folks, many governments scrambled to "contain" this deadly virus. I read, many states formed commissions to look into the matter, others passed laws and created special funding channels for, they say, HIV victims. Still others went overboard in a global fund-raising jamboree. As expected, the response was swift and positive. HIV dollars kept flowing in.

You know, it was the thing. Many jobs were created. Hitherto sleepy villages got a taste of “classy city life”. You could smell the elite from all corners.

But many moons after these HIV rains, many souls still languish in pain. The plot just hit the rock. Somebody somewhere might have pocketed "their money". I mean it is just a deadly business. Little has changed. Much has been given. HIV “crowd funding” is still the lifeline of many an in-humanitarian organizations.

Which brings me back to this climate change thing. Will the poor get their full share of this climate cake?

More principally, will this cake be treated as a case of a benevolent big brother extending a helping hand to a poor neighbour? Methinks not. I believe the world poor ought not to say "thank you". This is not aid. Climate change is not the working of the poor.

The reality, however, seems to be stuck in that old-school -ism. Aid-iplomacy. France is already playing ball promising billions of dollars to "save" the world from rising temperatures. Other big boys could not accept to be left out. Every (alleged) pollutant is promising big bundles of climate cash. 

The minions - Africa and her comrades - are on the receiving end. They are ready to "put the money into good use". The casualty in this case is the earth. Questions as to who pollutes and how that should be contained are off the table - at least for now. The bad guys are literally commandeering this climate ship. 

Back to the ground. Climate change move will be meaningful to the majority only if it is materialized in a manner that restores their environment to its state prior to man's plunder. For it is total nonsense to pooh-pooh about rising temperatures and to blame it for water scarcity and water-related conflicts while failing to restore water sources.

Take the case of the mega power and irrigation projects in Ethiopia’s Omo River Basin and their direct and indirect impact on surrounding ecosystems.

Why is the world silent? Who is financing these projects?

Unless the philosophical underpinning of climate change groups finds a solid footing, I have no obligation to sing this climate change song. The aforementioned unholy trinity and all its branches must be demolished at all costs. 

Lemukol Ng'asike is an architect. Twitter:    @mlemukol.