KENYA ENTERING A WARZONE

Kenya a lovely country with enterprising citizens and loudmouthed leaders has just made a discovery. She has oil. That thick black liquid is flowing within the veins of this exuberant country. Phew! Slowly we are burying the hoe and going mining. The capital city is relocating to northern Rift Valley if my prospects are to be believed.

Ten years ago the North of Kenyan had always been in Ethiopia, right now its warming up to become one of the Kenya most admired county and with flourishing investments. Developments will blossom and before long I will be relocating to the now cool north.

Evidently enough, the navigation toward the north has heard a tale of a forgotten area. We do not have roads but camel tracks. If you believe me then you are either blind or have never travelled beyond. In the desert looking for a track is tougher than looking for that needle in a haystack, better put, several camels would have made it successfully into the eye of a needle by the time you scream eureka! to a track.

Thanks to the prospected gold I believe the next budget will begin to build a super highway towards the North. One problem about Kenya is that everybody thinks that Nairobi is Kenya. Therefore constructing a few roads hugging Nairobi makes Kenya navigable.

Oil has always been a thorny issue, not only in Africa but also outside. The money unearthed carries the wrath of the ancestors. Maybe oil mining disturbs the peace of the ancient spirits. Who knows?

This news though causing earthquakes of excitement has me contemplating of the disaster to come. I am seeing a leader in Kenya the ilk of Osama bin laden or Saddam Hussein, money itching in toes and hands, his head rolling and reeling and declaring war on the west for poking their noses (which they always do) where they do not belong.

There also maybe a couple of elders like the GEMA or the Nchuri Ncheke who might sit down under a manyatta and decide that Turkana is not in Kenya. She should form her own country. In fact, there will be statistics to support the claim. They will form the Turkana Republican Council (TRC) to show their seriousness in calling for their secession.

I can also envision reading a local daily pointing to the devastating massacre of the Turkana Land Defence Forces (TLDF), a group of hooligans out to fight for their rights. The government on the other hand will grit its teeth and send its snarling dog, the General Service Unit. The GSU will be hurled stones and be forced retreat forcing the government to form an operation ‘ondoa kwekwe’ to smoke out the ever resilient TLDF.

Before long there will be cases of corrupt dealings. Some government clandestine operations with the companies contracted to mine the oil. The president, being a Kenyan stereotype will form a commission of Inquiry into the allegations. The people and the members of the fourth estate will be up in arms. The civil rights groups’ will loose their voices crying for the resignation of the minister for energy and that of finance. A parliamentary committee will be formed to interview the said minister. The chair of that committee will after careful analysis call   for a press conference where he will promise the taxpayer that they will leave no stones unturned.

On the other hand the commission of inquiry will bring its findings about the case at hand, the sitting president will praise the commissioners for candid and open investigations. He will be heard booming on the national radio assuring Kenyans that his government promised to stump out corruption to the core. Citing examples here and there he will promise to make sure that the recommendations of the oil dossier have been dealt with.

The story of the indicted minister will be swept under the carpet and after the fire has receded, the game shall continue.

Meanwhile, while all these are happening experts will be sending danger signals of the ever imminent danger of pollution in the area. They will be condemning the contracted companies for only paying lip service to the conservation of the bio-diversity. They will be up in arms throwing insults to the companies which displaced some people and have not compensated them.

There will be reports of tribalistic and nepotistic appointments where the immediate inhabitants have never even received even the lowest jobs. The government will be poked finger for observing all this happen without protecting the interest of the common mwanainchi.

These civil rights groups will mount a major public demonstration. The government will term the mass protest illegal and would unleash the police. Banking on the fundamental freedoms of the people, the organizers will go ahead.  Resulting in running battles that will lead to injuries and scores of others dying for the police used live bullets. Several activists will be detained and as Ken Saro-Wiwa puts it, Africa would again kill her SUN.

Therefore, as long as Kenyan bourgeoisie continue playing the game of turning  the blind eye and the political class awarding only the loyal counties- those who voted them in- Kenya is just but setting another time bomb waiting to explode.

The long standing prejudiced development that has been a brand Kenya must slowly be disintegrated, must be crashed and a tag of a Kenya running from the borders of Somalia to those of Uganda, and from Tanzania to Ethiopia, must be ached in everyone’s mind. Kenya should realize that she is not the size of a toe!