Mugarbage

To: president@statehousekenya.go.ke 

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s presence in Kenya for the signing of the customs union for the Common Market for East and Central Africa (COMESA), in the week of 20th May 2007, was extremely unfortunate, undesirable, insensitive and uncalled for. All COMESA member states and Africa at large, should bow their heads down in extreme shame for directing such an atrocious and extremely inhumane insult at the people of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabweans are being made to face extremely horrifying and traumatic conditions, by a sadistic despot who takes pride in possessing seven degrees. Not even Uganda’s Idi Amin visited such terror on his people, despite not having even one degree. It is difficult to see how current and future generations of Zimbabweans will ever forgive Kenyans and Africans in general, for warmly accommodating the nefarious actions and deeds of an extremely malicious and brutal dictator.

Delegates representing COMESA member states warmly applauded President Mugabe when he asked if the United Kingdom had ever been known to grow tea. Instead of this extremely juvenile, extremely unfortunate and extremely immature action, the COMESA delegates should have answered Mugabe by asking him whether he knew of any country in the world other than Zimbabwe, where inflation rates currently stood at 3,700%.

A significant number of Kenyans, both at home and in the Diaspora, have written diverse letters in support of Mugabe. This is as unfortunate as the warm applause that Mugabe received from the COMESA delegates. Applauding and supporting Mugabe equates to applauding and supporting overnight price hikes of a two kilogramme packet of maize meal from 50 Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 0.7), to 1,850 Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 26), a loaf of bread from 27 Kenya shillings to 999 Kenya Shillings, and average one way commuter fares in the city of Nairobi from 40 Kenya shillings to 1,480 Kenya shillings. Applauding and supporting Mugabe also means applauding and supporting overnight price hikes of a local text message from 5 Kenya shillings to 185 Kenya shillings, an overseas text message from 10 Kenya shillings to 370 Kenya shillings and an extreme devaluation of the exchange rate so that for instance, the Kenya shilling moves from the current average exchange rate of 70 Kenya shillings exchanging for 1 US dollar, to 40,000 Kenya shillings exchanging for 1 US dollar. These are the conditions that Robert Mugabe is presently subjecting his people to, and if we have convinced ourselves that we are facing hardships in Kenya, then it is clearly apparent that we continue to deceive ourselves in one of the biggest ways in history. How can we even stand the sight of Robert Mugabe, let alone applaud him and send letters in his support? We might as well invite the de facto heads of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), neo-NAZIs, “Intarahamwe” and “Banyamulenge” to Kenya, accord them first class treatment and accommodation at Hotel Intercontinental Nairobi, or the Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi, and cheer them wildly and passionately for telling us that the Sun rises in the East, and sets in the West. Why did we allow ourselves to be insulted and demeaned in this way? Why are Zimbabweans being made to face these conditions?

Many Kenyans feel that the worst that this country has ever faced is British colonial rule and the three successive independent Governments of President Kenyatta, President Moi and President Kibaki. Whether this is true or not, we have never experienced anything remotely close to what Zimbabweans are being made to face under President Mugabe’s atrocious rule. Even during the State of Emergency declared on 20th October 1952, no African, including the Kikuyu from whom the bulk of the Mau Mau fighters were drawn, was subjected to the extreme forms of mistreatment that Zimbabweans are presently being subjected to. The painful irony is that the State of Emergency was declared by and presided over by Governor (Sir) Evelyn Baring, a Briton, while Robert Mugabe is a fellow African, if this means anything anymore.

Even during the inflationary trends of the 1990s, President Moi’s Government ensured that the cherished two kilogramme packet of maize meal remained below 1 US dollar per packet, through heavy Government subsidies. President Kenyatta’s Government ensured the same during his reign, and President Kibaki’s Government continues to ensure the same. Regardless of whether the brand is or has been “Jimbi”, “Jogoo”, “Ndovu”, “Pembe”, “Halisi” or “Shujaa”, nothing can be said to be more Kenyan than the two kilogramme packet of maize meal. No Kenyan household, including the prosperous ones, can be said to be complete without a two kilogramme packet of maize meal, in the cooking area. It is to Kenya, what sushi is to Japan, and what curry is to India. Many food items such as sugar, margarine, milk and even bread, have been lacking in many Kenyan households for many years now, but rarely, the two kilogramme packet of maize meal. State Departments, Non Governmental Organisations, Corporations and Social Organisations, display it prominently when making donations and several Kenyans overseas even send fellow Kenyans coming home on holiday or business, for it. To wake up one morning and discover that a two kilogramme packet of say “Jogoo”, “Ndovu”, “Pembe”, “Halisi” or “Shujaa”, was retailing for 1,850 Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 26), would brutally devastate all Kenyans, including those in the Diaspora. It would herald the end of a nation as we have always known it. This is what is happening in Zimbabwe, as many Kenyans and Africans applaud and support the evil actions of one Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, must greatly be commended for very sensibly invoking state authority and banning a tour by the Australian national cricket team to Zimbabwe. This is happening when a Kenya select cricket side has just returned from a tour of Zimbabwe. How can we be condemning the actions of Kenyan militia such as “Mungiki”, “Kisungusungu”, “Chinkororo”, “Taliban” and “Baghdad Boys”, as we contribute to the purchase of a two kilogramme packet of maize meal at 1,850 Kenya shillings per packet (approx. US $ 26), by our fellow Africans in Zimbabwe?

The Kenyan Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations is required to immediately summon the Commissioner of Sports, to enable him give a briefing on the lavish financial endowments of Cricket Kenya, among several other very troubling matters related to the tour. It must also be noted that cricket is a middle class sport, and that the tour lasted one month. Being a middle class sport, the entire tour party must have among other things, been feeding on food items such as milkshakes, beef burgers and French fries, a single serving of which presently retails for about 250 Kenyan shillings and which must currently be retailing for about 9,250 Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 132), in Zimbabwe. There have been two prominent deaths in the world of cricket in the last two months, while Cricket Kenya has just contributed to the death of an entire nation.

The Kenyan Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Energy, Communications and Public Works, also needs to immediately summon the Director of Information, to enable him give a brief on media policies and ethics in Kenya, and in particular, advise on the speedy enactment of the Media Bill into law, given the deplorable media standards in Kenya. The Director of Information will also be required to explain why local media houses, including the Nation Media Group and the Standard Group, supported the Kenyan cricket tour to Zimbabwe by giving it prominence in their coverage, in complete disregard of extremely appalling and difficult conditions currently being faced by Zimbabweans. The Nation Media Group and the Standard Group, were very prominent in attacking the UK Government of Margaret Thatcher for initialling refusing to enforce sanctions on the Apartheid regime of P.W. Botha. We cannot continue to blame “the White man” for all of Africa’s problems when the likes of John Howard take decisive action, as the rest of us sit back and support Mugabe’s regime, as we munch on milkshakes, beef burgers and fries.

The Zimbabwe High Commissioner in Kenya and all other Mission staff, also require to be expelled with immediate effect, as we temporarily shut down their Mission, and indefinitely cut ties with Zimbabwe. We must lead by example. It is obscene that we continue to allow staff of the Zimbabwe High Commission to enjoy high standards of living in Kenya and ride around in luxury vehicles, made possible by the wages of traumatised Zimbabweans, who among other things, purchase a two kilogramme packet of maize meal for 1,850 Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 26). What purpose does the Zimbabwe High Commission currently serve in Kenya anyway? Is it here to give us expert advise on how to dramatically shift our exchange rates from it’s current levels to levels where say, 40,000 Kenya shillings exchange for 1 US dollar? Staff of the Kenya High Commission in Zimbabwe must also be recalled immediately, and the Mission should be closed in Zimbabwe, until further notice. It is unacceptable for Kenyans to continue fueling a hitherto unforeseen global crisis by amongst other things, munching on servings of milkshakes, beef burgers and fries that cost 9,250 Kenya shillings (approx. US $ 132). Former US President Bill Clinton, was once heavily criticised for getting a US $ 200 haircut abroad the official US Presidential jet, Air Force One.

The African Union (AU), in conjunction with the United Nations (UN), must also hold emergency sessions, and explore all possible measures and resolutions that can be invoked, to ensure a hasty end to Robert Mugabe’s tyrannical rule in Zimbabwe. The problem clearly is Mugabe, and a small band of equally insensitive individuals surrounding him. Economic options, and possibly a military one must be explored as a matter of urgency. If need be, a combined military contingent should go in and arrest Mugabe, in similar manner to what happened to Gen. Manuel Noriega in Panama in 1989, during the administration of the senior George Bush in America. Were it not for combined and concerted outside pressure that was brought to bear on the Apartheid regime in South Africa, chances are that Nelson Mandela would still be in jail today. We must not this for granted.

With regard to Nelson Mandela and the freedom movement in South Africa, one cannot forget how Mandela defied western pressure not to visit Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. It was extremely difficult for Mandela to forget the support that Gaddafi gave to the African National Congress (ANC), during it’s darkest and most trying moments in history. Gaddafi gave the ANC much needed support at a time when the rest of the world had turned it’s back on it. When former Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin made a brief stopover in Kenya in 1991, he gave an emotional vote of thanks to the people of Kenya for allowing the Israeli rescue mission to refuel and get other supplies at the then Nairobi airport, following the remarkable Israeli hostage rescue mission at Entebbe airport in 1976. Rabin said that Israel would never forget. It is indeed difficult to see how Israel would have deployed specialised military contingents to Kenya after the August 7th 1998 bomb blast, and after the collapse of the building on Nairobi’s Ronald Ngala street in early 2006, were it not for 1976. Israelis helped save our lives.

The flip side is also true, and it will it will be several years before Zimbabweans are able to forgive us for our complacency in the current crisis. Following the February 1990 murder of former Kenyan Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Robert Ouko, then University of Nairobi students continuously shouted “Where were you?!” at contingents of Kenya Police Officers. Then Police Commissioner Philip Kilonzo, was not spared either. This is exactly what several generations of Zimbabweans will ask Kenyans and other Africans……. “Where were you?!”

Michael Mundia Kamau
                              P.O. Box 58972
                              00200 City Square
                              Nairobi
                              Kenya

                              30th May 2007