Re: Fwd: DEFENDERS OF DOMINION FARMS ARE A BUNCH OF ROBOTS DEVOID OF HUMANITY

John Okebe wrote:

Mr. Ndebele Okoth,

From the outset, let me admit that I am disappointed in you and many contributors in this debate. The issues we are talking about are not academic. I attempted to show you the pictures to enable you reflect and even create some time to come to Aduwa, Ratuoro and probably Kadenge in our mother land, Nyanza. Your reactions are predictable. You all concluded that they were photographs downloaded from the web! Okoth even said that one can not have a grass thatched house in Luoland! I believe this is possible because you live in Diaspora. I spend some of my time in South Africa, but I care alot to come home and see what our people are going through. THat5 I realise makes abig difference. Your dismissal that 'there are no grass thatched houses in Nyanza' depicts a person who is completely alien to the realities in Nyanza.The photograph of Margaret Okello and of Aduwa did not elicit any human reaction from you. You proceed to tell me to think about joining you in a meeting with Burgess! I am in solidarity with the people of Aduwa, Kadeenge, Kanyumba, Ratuoro, Iyanga, Bubamba, Bulwani and Maduwa. I will ally with them.

Poverty in Nyanza can not be overemphasized. It is a fact. And many people including the people who were tilling the swamp and using it for production were doing something against this poverty. They were using luth/odunga man machiegni to kill the snake of poverty. Until Burgess and his supporters, mesmerised by technology and money, came and took the weapon away. Yala was never idle. Burgess should have planned with this people. Should have provided alternatives. He should have brought these people on board instead of bringing on board academics and reverends in diaspora. The distance between you and your people is taking a great toll on you people. I wish we had Wazees like Oliso who admit first that he does not have a practical understanding of the situation.

Growing rice can only create employment if it is done in a labour intensive manner. I dare Calvin to list the name of current employees who are not casual labourers! Always talking in abstraction can not go on for ever. This guy is not employing Luos and rice has never been a food security crop for Luos anyway. Chasing away maize growerrs was a big mistake. Rice is basically a food security crop for the coastal people. Replacing maize with rice can not make our poverty less. And our labour is not guaranteed to be needed in the swamp. The machines are coming and you cant justify this investment on the basis of the few machines operators who stand to be engaged. Employment as a justification is a myth! The project was not conceived to provide employment. It was conceived naturally like Orina said, to make money which will finally be flown to America. Dominion can't help our people. I look at the way some Luo lady called Joyce Opndo is treating Luos there and I know that Luos have very little understanding of one another. They are busy feeding on the sweat and blood of other hapless ones who they displaced from the swamp.

And who said that Luos can not plant rice. Why didn't this guy give us the capital and give us room to do production and wait to market. The investment model taken by this American is an outdated one and marks the mentality of a real colonialist. Today you can not use the Delmonte model in a civilised society. The Sugar industries have provided lessons that should inform these decisions. Growing rice need not be too mechanized. It is not like growing sugarcane. We did it in Kano for so long until the system failed us. And you never made noise then. Then Burgess comes along, and all of you are excited. Dont mesmerise our people with machines.

Okoth my brother, I understand why Luos will never trust Kikuyus, but on this one, Kikuyus are not involved. Even if you removed all the KiKuyuis from Kenya, this opposition to Dominion will continue. Even if you remove all the Paulas, Owallas and Kariukis, this opposition will be there. Even if God blesses us and we get the presidency, and all the organisations you hate so much are deregistered, this thing will go ahead. Infact I like the list of the organisations I saw there in Yimbo and the professionals willing to stand to be counted. These are issues. They are not tribes, and they are not people. Dominion, I am convinced will be held to account, not by people who want to be sophisticated but by the poor people of the area. And you may be shamed my brother.

The best we can do is to stop meeting Burgess in America. Let this guy come and sit with communities themselves under their trees and talk. You people in Diaspora can not guarantee Dominion peace. As we pray for Agwambo to sweep through, let us make peace internally. In military terms, it is called internal coherence. We sort out our differences, then we march on as a people, Jokanyanam, Lang Ajwang. Then we are a large army. We cant afford to lose any of these guys.

I hope what I say here will not cause so much irritation that we stop communicating with each other.

I am not anybody's agent, but I want to be an agent of the truth. And I pray to God to help in this always. It is called Conviction. I am convinced beyond doubt that this project takes advantage of our thirst for development to destroy our people. And this is not about the environment. It is about people.

Can I have the priviledge of my views being posted on the Jaluo.com site. I am not in the mailing list but would really want to share my thoughts.

Bye, Bye, brother.