Letter from the US: Day My Mother Told Me Not to Visit Her in the Village for Fear of Insecurity
Early this week, Monday to be exact, on my way back to the US from Kenya, I met Kenya’s Chief Justice, Dr Willy Mutunga at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. The CJ was making his way back home from some official engagement in New York. During the brief encounter, Dr Mutunga, having been away from home for some time, as expected wanted to know how the country was faring and so he innocently inquired from me.
I gave him a mouthful! Without much thought and with no hesitation, I told the CJ that in my view, what was new about Kenya was the increased sense of insecurity among Kenyans occasioned by brazen attacks by criminal gangs in the rural areas on innocent villagers, car-jacking in urban centres and the lynching and torching of suspected criminal elements by Wananchi. I told him that what I experienced during my short visit to the motherland was a country that is held hostage by criminal elements that now seem to define and dictate the security of the whole country.
I told the CJ that it broke my heart when my own mother beseeched me not to travel to the village to see her because if I did so, then I’d endanger not just my own life but also the lives of everybody else in the homestead because the marauding gangs would strike in the dead of the night thinking I’ve left truckloads of dollars.
The CJ patiently listened as I narrated to him how the previous day suspected terrorists had attacked peaceful worshipers in a church leaving 14 people dead and 66 injured. I told him that in fact Barrack Obama, our cousin who is also the US President had condemned the attacks and called for prosecution of the perpetrators.
I told him that I had personally witnessed three carjackings when I was transiting from JKIA to town the day I landed around 9pm and had listened to my cab driver complain that he had been robbed by the car-jackers just the previous day. I reminded the CJ that in the recent past, marauding killers have struck terror in the residents of Bungoma (my hometown) and Busia, murdering at least 13 people, injuring several others and displacing many more.
I told the number 1 lawman that most disheartening was the fact that even the police did not seem to know who exactly are the perpetrators of this mayhem and why. Some reports attribute the Bungoma/Busia massacres to political rivalries between local politicians while others seem to suggest that the attackers had actually crossed the border from the neighbouring country.
I have a feeling some of my readers would dismiss this as the ranting of another ‘Diaspora’ man bitching about nothing. Speaking to some people in Kenya, I got the sense that they were actually getting used to this kind living. To many, these car-jackings, violent robberies and late-night attacks on homes are common occurrences that should not be taken too seriously. I’ve always argued that, in Kenya, we live on so little for so long that we think what we have is the best in the world.
Yet, if we hope to develop, advance and join the community of developed nations, we must guarantee the safety of lives and property. A government that can’t do this for its citizenry is a government on the ‘ropes’.
How do we hope to develop when we are only operating on an 8-hour economy simply because everybody has to be at home and completely barricaded in their house for fear of being attacked?
When a spouse can’t go to bed because they are worried their partner who is scheduled to work late or just delayed because they are having a drink with friends will make it home alive or not? Which kind of tourist would want to spend their hard-earned money in a country that can’t guarantee his/her safety? These are some of the questions I put to the CJ just before we parted ways.
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By Chris Wamalwa.
This article was originally published on The Standard.
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Comments
Mr. Wamalwa, yes, you are very right on one point: "this is the ranting of another ‘Diaspora’ man bitching about nothing." As for the CJ Mutunga "having been away from home for some time, as expected wanted to know how the country was faring and so he innocently inquired from you", a stranger he just run into on an international airport in a foreign land, that sounds totally bogus. It is inconceivable that our Nation's CJ couldn't find anyone at our New York UN Mission or Kenyan Consulate in New York to brief him what was happening in the country during his stay in New York. It is also inconceivable that the CJ would be traveling alone without a personal assistant who would have obtained all that crap you have written about from online editions of the Daily Nation, The Standard, or Mwakilishi for that matter. If our CJ were that poorly informed as you claim, then I am very embarrassed and feel very sorry for him and our country. But am sure your article is nothing more than, as you have said in your own words, “the ranting of another Diaspora man bitching about nothing." FYI, carjacking started in America, the murder capital of the world, yet you returned to the US!
Pat Kenjuu, slow down on what is keeping u majuu! Com'on, what happened b/w Chris n CJ is a very normal thing n you want to make a mountain out of it? Gimme a break! Ata wewe unaweza kutana with a high ranking GoK official anywhere n engage him or her in whatever talk you wish...come on man, grow up
Mr. Chris Wamalwa: You succinctly captured the sorry state of insecurity in our country of Kenya. Unfortunately, rampant insecurity is affecting the economic growth of our country as well. It begs questions whether the leadership of our country is unable or unwilling to end insecurity. Our commander in chief must arrest the runaway insecurity or else economy will nosedive and our people will suffer economically. Glad you did not mince your words. You told it to CJ like it it.
Kimani, if anyone needs to grow up is you. If you believe the nonsense about Kenya's CJ asking a stranger to brief him, then you have a lot of growing up and learning to do. As I said, if our CJ is that ill-informed as Mr. Wamalwa claims, then we should all be very embarrassed to have such CJ. But I have known CJ Mutunga for many years going back to the days when we were at college together. Certainly, he is much more well informed than you and Mr Wamalwa give him credit.
Please note that the issue I have is NOT Wamalwa or you or anybody else engaging the CJ on important matters of insecurity in our country, the issue is Wamalwa's condescending view of the CJ's awareness of the situation in Kenya during his brief official visit in New York. Everything that Mr. Wamalwa claims CJ wasn't aware of is all common information to most Kenyans in New York and elsewhere; leave alone the CJ who should be getting briefings from embassy staff and/or his staff in Nairobi.
So Kimani, if you a brain in your head, think twice before you yell at others who give their opinions on this Blog. You made it a habit of behaving like a school yard bully, and it is the high time you behaved in a civilized manner or shut up!
Mr. Wamalwa is right. He is simply giving an account of an event. Kenjuu, you seem to suggest that Mr. Wamalwa's account is false. It is not. He is just giving an account of what transpired and many of us can identify with his encounter. In and discourse with the CJ. He raised important matters touching on security in Kenya as any other Kenyan should have done given the opportunity. I salute him for doing so.
That being said, it is not in good taste for Kenyans to attack others for sharing their opinion, account of experiences and perspectives on matters of public importance. Lets please tolerate one another.
Chris, thanks for your penchant for taking on important issues and for highlighting national woes in your journalism. Ignore the nay sayers and continue your good work!!
DISCUSS INSECURITY PLEASE: By chance, I have met regular Kenyans and high profile government officials at airports when traveling, and in malls and restaurants in the US and abroad. It's not bogus that someone can meet Dr. Mutunga at a Dutch airport. Media insiders, civil society activitists and political operatives meet/talk with senior government officials, on regular basis, unimpeded, directly without having to go/speak through a 'personal assistant'.
When i meet people from Kenya, and i do on regular basis, it's not out of the ordinary for me to ask them, 'How is Kenya?' It's conceivable that Dr. Mutunga could've asked exactly that question. People have asked me upon returning from Kenya.
With reliable sources/informants, folks in the media even know in advance who is in the govt is travelling, where and when. If Chris Wamalwa wanted to meet the CJ in Amsterdam, that would be possible; all he needs is to speak to 'CJ's people in Nairobi, and it can be arranged in advance. When goverment leaders are abroad, they don't have the 'tight' security and groupies that accompany them in Kenya. It's easy to talk to them one on one. For years, i have covered functions in the US attended by ministers, Dr. Mutunga in September last year, VP Kalonzo, Pres. Kibaki, PM Odinga and many others. I have photographs of Chris Wamalwa interviewing this calibre of leaders - without their secretaries/personal assistants. I have operated cameras when Chris is interviewing these leaders. By the way, it's easier for Chris to meet politicians here than it is for most journalist to do the same in Kenya.
That being said, Pat Kenjuu - if this is his/her real name - may be justified in critizing how Chris introduced/developed his point(s) in the article. Any time you write for public readership, you expose yourself to criticism, both favorable and unfavorable. But doing so in this case misses the point. Chris is talking insecurity, a serious issue. We have a major insecurity problem in Kenya. MPs know it; that why they have been canvassing for truckloads of police officers to accompany them all the time. That's why Prof. Saitoti, the man who controlled security forces was a very sacred person. Alot of these senior leaders are.
The Bungoma, Busia, Garissa and other incidents are sad events. Yes, i also happen to come from Bungoma, Wamalwa's home district. Friends of mine were affected by these incidents, and yes, people avoided -- and still are avoiding - visiting rural homes because it's a security risk if you 'appear' to have money. As i am writing, two friends who live out of the country are visiting, and just like Chris' case, they will not visit their rural homes for same reasons. Well-to-do folks who work in Nairobi, Mombasa and other regions have been forced to relocate their families from these areas, because they deem them a little 'safer' than rural area.
Please let's discuss issues. Thanks James Kimani and Jack Ambuka for speaking out. If you've read my whole 'ranting of another Diaspora man bitching about nothing' i say thank you. We need to speak out, more specifically against a growing breed of Kenyan digital assassins hiding behind catchy pseudonyms.
I neglected to mention that Chris Wamalwa also knows Dr. Mutunga on a personal level, having been in the civil society in the 90s.
Yes! I want the next president of America to be a tree!I guess you have ready Interface by Neal Stephenson maqsuerading as Stephen Bury? (not sure about all the v's and ph's there, as usual). If not don't fret, and don't add it to your list unless you want something lighthearted. *sigh* its been so long since I ready something lighthearted.are you done with the placement now and traveling or on a break and coming back?Mark