Re: Transformation Conference and Kenya Development Fund Corp - Invitation

Hi All,

Greetings from England! Am I the only person who smells something really fishy in all this?

Can I say at the very outset that I have a duty, in my twin and inalienable capacities as (i) 'Son of the Luo Soil' and (ii) senior citizen of the Republic of Kenya, to ensure that one does not stand-by as shadowy schemes get cooked up in distant capital cities of remote continents to rip the Kenyan and/or Luo nations of vital and historically hard-won land resources!

Capacity no (ii) above being a given, I do mainly send this letter in capacity No (i) - even as I bear in mind Jospeh Okumu's pretences to this being a 'Kenyan' issue!

As anyone can note from the content of the communication below, no attempt is made at being transparent by availing ample information that would justify anyone setting aside time (and incurring expenses) to attend the meeting(s) being announced!

Those of us who are lucky to be as old as we are have seen such 'shadowy' initiatives before - and Luoland is littered with the skeletons of initiatives that raked-in their authors massive fortunes but never lived up to the faintest expectations as far as the usual mantra re 'social and economic development in Luoland' is concerned! I hope achudhe (vultures) are not readying yet again to exact a vicious feast on the soul and carcass of the sadly impoverished Luo Nation!

Yes, we know that the pathetic state of Luoland (in terms of entrenched social and economic deprivation) is a magnet to all kinds of vultures, the so-called 'Dominion Farms' included: ... what stops Luo communities setting up in locally-owned and controlled community-based land development trusts, and working through a 'cooperative' approach to achieve whatever goals they wish to achieve food security, poverty alleviation, whatever?

For those who do not know, there is no rocket science involved in setting up and developing these as Kenya has a whole ministry for cooperative development intended for this purpose, which only benefits other communities due to low take-up of the cooperative concept in Luoland! Besides, the public sector offers devolved support to local development projects not only through the local development officers but more specifically via specialist community based ministerial outreach networks - such as local Agricultural extension officers, livestock and fisheries extension officers, local veterinary services, local offices of Agricultural Finance Corporation, etc!

Indeed, far from being the responsibility of the so-called ""Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" to address us at international conferences in Europe and North America about developing land resources in Luoland, it is the responsibility of community leaders to sensitive our people at home as to creative ways of attaining their social and economic development by utilizing opportunities that are already in place on the ground, but hardly utilized!

It thus does NOT call for 'international conferences' in foreign European and North American capital cities to promote local economic development in Luoland, and that's why I say we are NOT being transparently informed as to the real motive in all this!

Surely, it does not need American businessmen called ""Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North america " to come all the way from Oklahoma (?) to address a meeting in London 'so as to promote economic development in Luoland, that is taking the joke too far! More so, when we know that the civil society and people living around his so-called Dominion Farms (which are private, profit-making ventures) have been raising issues that remain un-addressed!

I challenge anyone receiving this email to give me ten good reasons why Luoland needs a "Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America, to address the London Conference on 1st Sep" to 'educate us' on how to perfect his self-enriching, profit-making, capitalist ventures while he exploits poor Luos in Kenya!

Taking a helicopter-view over Luoland, I keep wondering what it is that we Luos lack that hinders our people make the best use of the abundant resources that we do already have? Do we lack skills? Do we lack human or financial resources to work the land? We know that land resources aint the problem for most in Luoland - which is why the VULTURES like "Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" are hovering the Luo skies!

Do we lack local statutory support mechanisms through which to develop our land resources? If financial resources are the problem, aren't there local or national development financing mechanisms such as Agricultural Finance Corporation, cooperative development funds, etc? In fact, right now we even have additional locally available resources in the form of:

(i) Constituency Development Fund;

(ii) Women Enterprise Development Fund; and

(iii) Youth Enterprise Development Fund ....

not to mention privately accessible resources available to land-owners and anyone else with security through such financial opportunities like cooperative bank, commercial banks, etc!

Social and economic development objectives in Luoland cannot be realised without our well-paid political leaders taking the frontline in mobilising community effort, in every constituency, towards these goals. The answer does not lie in the "Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" to realise those goals, for he is really a VULTURE interested in sinking his teeth in the carcass of the Luo Nation - in order to rip it off of any remaining blood, bones and flesh - for there is no reason other than self-interest why any Johny Foreigners would leave North America to 'help' you develop your land!

Not too long ago our own MPs were involved in a shady scheme to secretly 'sell-off' Lake Victoria to foreign investors. When wananchi and local civil society discovered, the scheme swiftly evaporated! Knowing Luo MPs high propensity to self-interest AND their lacklustre credentials as far as their capacity to mobilise social and economic development in their own constituencies is concerned, one would NOT be surprised that a conspiracy would already be in top-gear between these MPs and the so-called "Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" to exploit mass illiteracy in Luoland to dispose of Luo land resources through such shady initiatives as one Joseph Okumu is talking about here! After all, isn't one of these MPs a former employee of the Dominion Group - and probably a profit-sharing shareholder, WHO KNOWS?

It is in the utmost importance that we should all endeavour to lay the activities of the so-called ""Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" on the table of transparency so that these activities (and long-term implications) can be analysed under the MICROSCOPE of community interest!

I have never met or heard of him but - reading this and other emails I have received from him on this issue in the recent past - I suspect that Mr Joseph Okumu is an ENTREPRENEUR, a BUSINESSMAN, who - like ""Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" - does see profiteering opportunities in this whole venture.

It is well and good for individuals to pursue private business interests, but not very honourable to turn your own long-suffering community into FODDER that foreign vultures like the so-called "Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" should feat upon! I therefore call upon Mr Joseph Okumu - and whatever interests he is fronting - to be whiter than white in this matter and tell us what it is he is hiding from us! It is well enough to be in the employ of profit-seekers like the so-called ""Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America", but Luo interest must supersede people's private individual interest at all times!

The way forward (for me) is for people to work within their communities to help promote community development, which we can do, have done, and will continue doing without the profiteering schemes of the likes of the so-called ""Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America"! After-all, while it may appear to the likes of Joseph Okumu that there is a new god in town to be worshipped in the shape and form of ""Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America", Luos are an ancient nation that has survived through Millennia without profiteers from North America coming to show us how to utilise our own land resources!

Why can't the so-called ""Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" use the vast land resources in North America for their schemes?

This is my considered view, and in the absence of transparent and credible information from Joseph and company about what the real intention involved, I refuse to be drawn into schemes I do not understand.

I would therefore like to hear from anyone else who finds this whole Dominion Farms and "Calvin Burgess, Dominion CEO and his Group of eight to ten from North America" thing a bit fishy as I do: I have a fatal loathing for VULTURES, and this case smells of a herd of them, hiding behind Joseph Okumu!

Over to you, Mr Joseph Okumu & Company - and dare you call me 'anti-development' for standing up to seek answers! We must avoid any new forms of 'Luo Thrift', 'Kisumu Development Trust', etc that came and went, and in their wake left skeletons that still remain scattered across the hills and vaklleys of Luoland, and with them a people's plight betrayed!

Regards,

Bob Awuor
London.
+44 7960 392 544.