07/19/2007
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RE: YALA SWAMP PROJECT AND THE PROPOSED OUTREACH.
Dear Mr Burgess
I am one of the Luos in the Diaspora currently living in the United
Kingdom and one of the people who met with you at a London Heathrow Airport
Hotel early this year when you were on your way from the United States of
America to Kenya. I have also written e-mails to you about your aborted
proposed Skype conference with Lolwe Development Trust Limited following
your earlier e-mail exchanges with Mr Bethwel Owuor on the same subject.
I am a born again, Holly Spirit filled Christian and I am aware of your
views on donations and a hand out culture as a way of life. Indeed having
met you, I can testify to the fact that you are consistent in this view.
I am not jealous of what you are doing at Yala Swamp or indeed of any project
which benefits our people. I also share your quest for food security in
Nyanza and your loathing for this forum, particularly when those who should
know better use it as a medium for the abuse of and an attack on those who
ask legitimate questions on issues of concern to those impacted by or likely
to be impacted by the above projects. The reason I am writing here in response
to your e-mail is because of the importance to the Luo people everywhere
of the issues involved and also so that my descendants might not ask why
I kept quiet when I knew or ought to have known these issues and why I could
not constructively engage with you to try and find solutions to the challenges
they present.
I would like to take this opportunity to ask you the following
questions:
- If as you say that the Yala swamp project "has consumed the wealth I have accumulated thru-out my life," where are you going to get the money to complete the project?
- If you do not have the money to complete the current project, what are you going to do with the remainder of the lease? In that event, would you consider surrendering the lease to Bondo and Siaya Councils?
- If in the course of your activities at Yala swamp, there was a disaster such as happened after Dominion's Cimmaron pigs' project in the USA, would you respond in a similar manner as you did then?
- If you do not have the money to complete the existing project how are you going to fund the proposed outreach project?
- What method of farming is being used at Yala swamp? Is it "GM" as has been alleged by others?
- What seeds do you use? Are they "hybrid", or "GM" or both?
- In the proposed outreach project who will own the seed that will have to be bought every sowing time unlike at present traditional practice where seed is set aside at the time of the harvest?
- What measures, if any, have you put in place to contain the inevitable contamination of the environs of your farms by the hybrid or GM produce.
- I am not particularly pharisaic, but, is "GM" seed and produce part of God's plan for mankind and Africa in particular as revealed in the Bible?
- In the EU where I live, which is the biggest importer of Kenyan produce, there is no enthusiasm for GM produce. Where is the guaranteed market for the produce?
- Why can't you use organic methods which have a guaranteed market world-wide and is environmentally friendly?
- Can traditional methods of farming not be improved through, crop rotation, mechanisation and large scale acreage to provide the necessary food security in Nyanza?
- Have you addressed the concerns raised over your project by NEMA?
- Are you offering a fair level of compensation to those whose land you have acquired outside the leased area to cater for the hydroelectric dam water?
- Why do you not have on your website questions and answers to frequently asked questions about the project?
- In all the circumstances should you not at least try and make a success of the current Dominion Farms at Yala Swamp before considering the outreach project? It is more likely to be easier for us to persuade our people to embrace your proposals for the outreach when they can see the success you will have made at Yala Swamp and how you dealt fairly with them in accomplishing the project!
Kind regards
John Otieno
DIRECTOR AND VICE - CHAIRMAN OF LOLWE DEVELOPMENT TRUST LIMITED
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