The President should be helping flood victims; not feasting at the Coast

By MIGUNA MIGUNA* - 30 December 2006

PRESIDENT MWAI KIBAKI and nearly all members of his cabinet are celebrating and feasting in Mombassa, as they have done annually at the end of each successive year since Narc came to power. Only this time, the party is not entirely made up of the original Narc; it is a variegated amalgam of Narc   - Kenya, the original inner core Democratic Party and strands of Nyachae's Ford People, as well as what might have been left of Nicholas Biwott's limping new Kanu following the recent court injunction against the latter.

Media reports indicate that a large contingent of senior Government and parastatal chiefs have made or are making a pilgrimage to the Coastal city in search of left over roasted goat legs.  Some Kenyans believe that with the national economy reported to have grown at the unprecedented 5.8 per cent in the last year, the President and his henchmen deserve both a good rest and a feast. Add to this the rosy picture that was recently painted by the Steadman Group on Kibaki's sterling prospects of re-election and one begins to appreciate why our exalted residents of the Big House have taken to roasted goat legs, music and Champaign with gusto.

The only problem is that as our chief executives down their expensive exotic drinks and pick their teeth amidst all that ceremony and pomp, many Kenyans are struggling and barely managing against both natural and man-made havocs.  In Nyando District, for instance, thousands of people have been displaced and rendered homeless due to heavy rains and floods. For more than two weeks now, the main Kisumu-Nairobi road remained impassable. The Nyamasaria bridge that connects Kisumu and its hinterland with the rest of the country had been washed away by floods. Commuters have had to endure traveling from Kisumu through Eldoret to Nairobi and vice versa. A journey that would routinely take three hours now last for a full day, if luck beckons.

As well, the Kisii-Ahero road is still treacherously unusable because the Awach-Gem Rae bridge has remained washed away by floods for more than two weeks.  Even commuting between Sondu and Kisumu - a distance of not more than forty kilometers - now last more than a half day. All traffic from Sondu and beyond to Kisumu must now detour at Katito to Awasi before reaching Ahero. However, with the Nyamasaria bridge washed away, vehicles have had to further detour through Chemelil or Muhoroni before connecting to the murrum road to Kisumu.

There are other roads that have either been washed away or made too dangerous to travel on. Consequently, human travel, commerce and other activities have ground to a standstill within the vast expanse of central Nyanza. Even in Kisumu city, business activities have been disrupted and curtailed. Yet amidst all the misery and inconvenience, matatus have tripled their fares without any government intervention. This has made life more unbearable to the average citizen of the area.

The bleakest cases of all concern the people living along the banks of rivers Nyando, Asawo, Nyaidho and Awach. Also hit hardest are thousands of ordinary Kenyans scavenging in the swamps situated around Lake Victoria. Not only have these people been rendered refugees in their own country; the situation is made worse by the fact that unlike foreign refugees whose cases are prominently reported and acted on by national and international media crews, international organizations and donor agencies; the plight of the displaced peoples of Kano and Lower Nyakach have never been given the serious attention and prominent coverage it deserves.

Under the circumstances, one would surely understand why the flood-ravaged residents of Kano and Lower Nyakach cannot come to terms with their leaders' celebratory moods at the Coast. After all, those are the leaders they elected to deal with such problems.

As Kibaki and his entourage roast nyama choma, merry and drink whisky and champagne, fellow Kenyans are living a life of despondency, hunger, destitution and disease. Whereas it may be true that the national economy grew with a
whopping 5.8 per cent in the past year; the domestic refugees of Kano and Lower Nyakach have not experienced any trickle downs. It is not because they are lazy, less entrepreneurial or lacking in resourcefulness. No. The sad reality is that unlike their counterparts in Nairobi and Central provinces in particular, their lands are fertile but swampy. Those swampy lands also have never been surveyed and demarcated. Without title deeds, those pieces of land cannot be used as collateral for any loans. Moreover, even if they were to be issued title deeds, no financial institution would risk granting credit or loans on the weaknesses of the water-logged land. The area has no infrastructural development; thanks to the historical abandonment of the central government in Nairobi.

These are not problems that local Nyanza politicians have caused or can solve.
Their solution requires a Marshall Plan by the government now feasting in Mombassa. Instead of celebrating mythical achievements at the Coast, president Kibaki should be touring the flood ravaged areas and putting in place radical measures to tame rivers Nyando, Awach, Asawo and Nyaidho. He should also be mobilizing resources to construct road, power and communication infrastructure in this area; not just within the areas where he resides.

Flood victims are tax paying Kenyans, too. They deserve to live in decent and
humane conditions just like other Kenyans.
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*The writer is a Barrister & Solicitor in Toronto, Canada
Miguna AT migunamiguna Dot com