Not even the East African Federation will bring our misery to an end

Ero som uru ane gima ni e Standard newspaper ka eni.

 

http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news_s.php?articleid=1143962447

 

Uneno kaka this stupid Kenya osechako tero fupgi e East African Federation?

 

As far as I am concerned and I have said this before, secession ema biro konyowa. Through secession, we can establish a proper democratic state that reflects who we are as a people and provides fair, equal, and honest opportunities for all. We have a lot of resources in Luoland that can form the basis of a prosperous nation-state. We have a lot of good land for agriculture. We have rivers and a lake to develop a lucrative fishing and tourism-based economy. We can harness electricity and develop irrigation schemes from our rivers. We have minerals including gold.

 

Above all else, we have a a very talented human resource base that has never flowered and reached fruition because of political factors. Just look at the music industry or soccer and think about how much talent in Luoland goes to waste just because of ethincity and politics. Think about boxing and people like Conjestina. How many Conjestinas are suffering in rural Luoland due to lack of opportunities? Think about all the intellectuals we have in Luoland, who would thrive in a truly democratic society, and in turn, develop their society!

 

All our physical and human resources go to waste because of politics, and you know, what, I don't think there is an end in sight as long as we are in Kenya. Why do I say this?

 

The reason is simple. Kenya is an artificial, neo-colonial state that was imposed on people who have little in common. Inspired and forcibly created by colonial powers, Kenya is an imposition on disperate and varied groups of people with different values, ideals, visions, and aspirations. Within its boundaries are those who wish to live like "wangwana" and those who believe in "nyagwok tho gi iye;" those who believe in circumcision as a marker of leadership and those who don't. And so it goes on.

 

After many years of its existence, Kenya and its leadership has not succeeded in conferring any sense of belonging among its varied people with their various cultures. Consequently, as Nnamdi Azikiwe said of Nigeria many years ago, Kenya, like Nigeria, is nothing but a mere geographical expression.

 

Its violent origins and artificial boundaries make it nearly impossible for its people, with their varied, conflicting ideals and values, to work and live peacefully and harmoniously. Even though sometimes its people tend to pretend that they have a lot in common, or may eventually develop some common traits in the future, the reality is that right now, they don't have much in common except their identity cards. Sad, but it is the truth.

 

In such an artificial state, the control of the state and its instruments becomes a zero sum game. It is a matter of life to acquire and hold onto the presidency and its powers. The community that gets to the levers of powers hangs on to them with dear life, and those who don't have it spend the rest of their lives scheming and planning to get at it.

 

Life becomes consumed by struggles for the control of the state. Never ending suspicions and conflicts obtain, sometimes flaring out into the open as civil wars, sometimes lurking undeground, beneath the surface. There is no time to lead a fully contented life. You out-scheme or are out-schemed. Your life is always in the balance, on tenterhooks; you are always worried, sad, miserable, always looking behind your shoulder.  

 

But just when you thought that the East African Federation might bring your miserable existence in Kenya to an end by dilluting Kenya's tribal competition for power, just when you thought that light was beginning to shine beyond the horizon with the emerging East African Federation, you realize that that is not going to be the case. The controlers of Kenya are determined to control your life in East Africa as well. They will never leave you alone. They are determined not to let you go. Whether in Kenya or East Africa they will never let you go. 

 

That is why I have suggested for many years that we must secede and create a new state consisiting of those with similar ideals and values like us. States come and go. Let us not be so hang up on Kenya. The Soviet Union came and went. So did Yugoslavia, Czechoslavakia; Austro-Hungary; Old Mali; Songhay; Old Ghana; Sokoto Caliphate. Most recently, Herzegovina, a state with only 750,000 people seceded from Serbia. 

 

We too can create our own state, reflecting our ideals and values, in which equal and fair opportunities exist for all, instead of spending our lives in a nightmarish, zero-sum-game struggle for the control of power in an artificial, colonially-created Kenyan state without an end in sight.  

 

[unedited]

 

Meshack Owino.

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