RE: [Jambo] Kenyan Delegation Visit Mr. Calvin Burgess in Oklahoma

Obon'go,

You and your group are being like mwok. Mwok digs a burrow that is later taken over by the hyena. You remind me of the colonial era chiefs who were quick to sign treaties with the colonial powers without giving a thought about long-term repercussions.

The people who attended the meeting with the owner of Dominion farms have never been to the site. They haven't spoken to the masses on the ground to know the impact the farm has on their lives. Instead, you are joining the Burgess PR team with very little facts. I know that a bright man like you will change your mind once you understand the impact the farm has on the people and the environment. Anybody who meets Burgess comes out of the meeting his convert. He is Odiero and had a lot of money. That shouldn't mesmerize. By now you have seen enough Odieros and have know that you are smarter than most of them. The best thing you can do before marketing the Odiero is to go to and meet the people.

I hear as you put it "yuak ogwal ok mon dhiang' Modho pi". Burgess has bought the biggest mouths his money can buy. His is a big bull with lots of money. I am just a little frog just like the rest of my relatives. Our little noises can't top the big bull. It will walk all over us as the Odingas down our little noises. They Odingas will want you to believe that the Kikuyu are trying to block development of our area. That is the only way to get a Luo bend over for the Odiero. I am glad that the Odiero used our own people to push for this exploitation. In the end we will have nobody but ourselves to blame.

One thing that you people abroad are not understanding is that the Odiero didn't take over barren land and water. Our grandparents before us used these resources to bring up our parents. We lived out of these fields. Our animals grazed on the pastures. We may have had grassthatched houses but that was what we called home. Burgess's alternative to this is taking over land and using us on his farm. Is this development?

The farm that you are praising is not property of our people. That is private property. The best that we can be is labourers in the expansive farm for minimum wage. Burgess will not distribute his produce to the locals in times of starvation. We will have to pay for every single grain. This is what educated men and women call development?

The project has gone too far and we cannot stop it. The best that can come out of it is not the charity that you as a PR team are suggesting. The $43,000 that the odiero paid to get over 2,300 acres is peanuts. We should have the odiero pay rates and these rates should be used to fund education, health and infrustructure in the region.

As educated people, you don't need the odiero to help you think. Your ideas on how to set up co-operatives for farmers are good but don't think it will be in the interest of the odiero to help peasants compete with his farm. Set up your own team that is independent of Dominion because Dominion will be your competitor. There is nowhere in the world where a competitor has ever helped another businessman set up a business plan.

If your team wants to help our people I will say Amen. But if you will be mouthpieces of the Odiero I will say you are worse that the colonial era colaborators.

Jackton