The Independence Constitution, during the Lancaster house Conferences, was stuck on the question of citizenship. Therefore, because it was a negotiated document, we ended up with the provisions that we have today. Citizenship can be acquired in specific ways, including by birth, registration and naturalisation. In the 1960s and through the 1970s, Jomo Kenyatta launched what came to be known as the Shifta Wars with the aim of preventing the secession of the erstwhile Northern Frontier to the bastard state of Somalia. As a result, a significant population of Kenyans are of Somali origin; the Somali is recognised as a Kenyan ethnic group by the government, indeed, by the world.
I do not have any recollection of President Kenyatta having ever visited the Northern Frontier even once in his 15 years as president, nor president Moi in his 24. The level of official government neglect and marginalisation is staggering. Today, many of the families in Northern Kenya have struggled to ensure that their sons and daughters (but mainly the sons) have gone to school and graduated from universities. Indeed, Hon. Mohammed Abdikadir, the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Review of the Constitution is a Harvard-educated lawyer while the Chairman of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission is equally well-trained and qualified to discharge his mandate. These are success stories despite the neglect and abandonment of their own government and there are many similar success stories that can be depicted.
It is only natural that a community that still bears the scars of the Shifta Wars and the Wagalla Massacre to be clannish and band together to protect itself from the vagaries of the political environment. After all, Kenyans are notorious for fanning ethnic troubles for political ends. Consider the effects of the 2007 General Elections. Therefore, the existence of Somali ghettos such as Eastleigh is not unusual or 'a danger to the fabric of the nation' as alleged, but a sign that the Balkanisation of Kenya has had unintended consequences. Would the author not agree that it is the poor who are most likely to live in ethnically-divided ghettos? Mathare and Kibera, two of our most-famous slums in Nairobi, have since 2008 been clearly divided along ethnic lines. So why shouldn't the Somali community in Kenya choose to sequester itself away from a government that has abandoned them and waged war against them at various times in the past?
Comparisons with other countries' experiences with their Muslim populations also vary and depend to a large extent on the histories and economies of those countries, among other considerations. The failed state that is Somali has nothing to do with the ethnic identity of its populace but with the very real fact that it was a dictatorship that was overthrown and the result was a collapse of the very infrastructure of government with everyone attempting to impose his own dictatorship on a proud people. The current assail on the TFG by the Al-Shabaab is just the latest chapter in a long and bloody history. Al Qaeda and its supporters would not have a toe-hold in Somalia if there had been a stable government in place. The instability, which was exacerbated by the USA and her allies, created the perfected conditions for the growth of sectarian and extremist groups in Somalia.
This brings be to an important conclusion: If Kenya wishes to find a solution to its 'Somali' problem it must make every effort to ensure that a stable government capable of policing it borders and maintaining peace and security is installed in Mogadishu. Somalia is our 'Strategic Hinterland' and we must ensure that our backyard is peaceful. We have been lulled to believing that the purpose of government is just the protection of human rights and 'good governance.' The true purpose of government, which the USA discovered very early on in its history, is commerce and international trade. Kenya must create the conditions that will guarantee it an important role in regional commerce and ensure its dominance in the economic activities of ALL countries in the Greater East Africa Region, including the Horn of Africa. This cannot happen while we turn a blind eye to the travails unfolding in Somalia and to a large extent in Southern Sudan. Greater wealth for the nation can be made only in a stable area and East Africa is NOT stable.
The large scale acquisition of property in Nairobi and other parts of the country by Somalis and other wealthy Muslims should be taken as a sign that they have lost faith in the Government of Kenya to intervene effectively in the problems in the region. Any attempt by the government to forcefully intervene to deny them rights that they enjoy as Kenyans will be met with resistance. How the government acts will determine whether this resistance will be civil or violent.
I do not have any recollection of President Kenyatta having ever visited the Northern Frontier even once in his 15 years as president, nor president Moi in his 24. The level of official government neglect and marginalisation is staggering. Today, many of the families in Northern Kenya have struggled to ensure that their sons and daughters (but mainly the sons) have gone to school and graduated from universities. Indeed, Hon. Mohammed Abdikadir, the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Review of the Constitution is a Harvard-educated lawyer while the Chairman of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission is equally well-trained and qualified to discharge his mandate. These are success stories despite the neglect and abandonment of their own government and there are many similar success stories that can be depicted.
It is only natural that a community that still bears the scars of the Shifta Wars and the Wagalla Massacre to be clannish and band together to protect itself from the vagaries of the political environment. After all, Kenyans are notorious for fanning ethnic troubles for political ends. Consider the effects of the 2007 General Elections. Therefore, the existence of Somali ghettos such as Eastleigh is not unusual or 'a danger to the fabric of the nation' as alleged, but a sign that the Balkanisation of Kenya has had unintended consequences. Would the author not agree that it is the poor who are most likely to live in ethnically-divided ghettos? Mathare and Kibera, two of our most-famous slums in Nairobi, have since 2008 been clearly divided along ethnic lines. So why shouldn't the Somali community in Kenya choose to sequester itself away from a government that has abandoned them and waged war against them at various times in the past?
Comparisons with other countries' experiences with their Muslim populations also vary and depend to a large extent on the histories and economies of those countries, among other considerations. The failed state that is Somali has nothing to do with the ethnic identity of its populace but with the very real fact that it was a dictatorship that was overthrown and the result was a collapse of the very infrastructure of government with everyone attempting to impose his own dictatorship on a proud people. The current assail on the TFG by the Al-Shabaab is just the latest chapter in a long and bloody history. Al Qaeda and its supporters would not have a toe-hold in Somalia if there had been a stable government in place. The instability, which was exacerbated by the USA and her allies, created the perfected conditions for the growth of sectarian and extremist groups in Somalia.
This brings be to an important conclusion: If Kenya wishes to find a solution to its 'Somali' problem it must make every effort to ensure that a stable government capable of policing it borders and maintaining peace and security is installed in Mogadishu. Somalia is our 'Strategic Hinterland' and we must ensure that our backyard is peaceful. We have been lulled to believing that the purpose of government is just the protection of human rights and 'good governance.' The true purpose of government, which the USA discovered very early on in its history, is commerce and international trade. Kenya must create the conditions that will guarantee it an important role in regional commerce and ensure its dominance in the economic activities of ALL countries in the Greater East Africa Region, including the Horn of Africa. This cannot happen while we turn a blind eye to the travails unfolding in Somalia and to a large extent in Southern Sudan. Greater wealth for the nation can be made only in a stable area and East Africa is NOT stable.
The large scale acquisition of property in Nairobi and other parts of the country by Somalis and other wealthy Muslims should be taken as a sign that they have lost faith in the Government of Kenya to intervene effectively in the problems in the region. Any attempt by the government to forcefully intervene to deny them rights that they enjoy as Kenyans will be met with resistance. How the government acts will determine whether this resistance will be civil or violent.
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