Friday, June 01, 2007
what do you hear?
i wrote this on Madaraka Day - June 1, but have not had much email access since then...
Happy Madaraka Day. I think this was the day that Britain finally said they would leave. Or it is the day the British actually left. Not too certain on that one.
Happy Madaraka Day. I think this was the day that Britain finally said they would leave. Or it is the day the British actually left. Not too certain on that one.
So instead I'll ask the question that I was wondering on my walk to work today: what do you hear about Kenya these days? Do you hear anything at all? I used to assume that people in North America pretty much didn't hear about what's happening here, but then sometimes folks will ask about floods, or an evacuation of a group from a slum, and then I get confused. Why do you hear about certain random events? Is it only when there are slow news days?
"Well, it's between this piece on a feline fashion show in Philadelphia or the recent reign of terror in Kenya of the Mungiki sect."
"Aren't we running another 'reign of terror' piece about somewhere else in Africa?"
"Oh, yeah. Cat fashion it is!"
In case you are wondering, yes, we are under a reign of terror of sorts, right now, by the Mungiki sect. It's a Kikuyu group that is supposedly based on certain tenets like anti-colonial influences and pro-Kikuyu traditions, but in reality it is a gang. Well, more than a gang. They are like the mafia, Kenyan style. There is cult stuff that happens, and a lot of loyalty is demanded. They run cartels - matatu touts have to pay every day "protection" fees - and that money is invested into paying off killers, running political campaigns, etc. And they control the water sales and supplies in the major slums and any other services that might exist (folks in Kibera pay 225% more for water than people in Nairobi connected to the main water lines).
Lately they have been beheading people in revenge killings...the matatu touts were organizing to try to stand against the Mungiki. It's gotten worse in the past month. Since the beginning of the year, police have had a standing "shoot to kill" order, which basically has led to lots of "suspects" being gunned down, plenty of by-stander deaths, and police and security not needing to worry about suspects exposing their involvement in robberies, etc. It is depressing and saddening. And it is only going to get worse as the year goes on and we get closer to the elections in December. My theory is that they are becoming bolder because the politicians are already using them to terrorize certain portions of the population, so they effectively can act with impunity.
Last week about 300 "suspected Mungiki" were arrested, but everyone knows that they are mostly not Mungiki at all.
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