Empowering the Poor

The rural communities do not equitably share the national cake since it takes a long time before the government goodies trickle down to the rural areas. Many times, a little of national resources trickle to the rural poor. This explains the reason why the presence of NGOs and other donor agencies in marginalised areas is so important.

Rural residents need only empowerment in order to move out the vicious circle of poverty. Projects relating to youth/women entrepreneurship, microfarming, and tree planting can be implemented to help the poor people.

Poverty can cease to be a bedfellow if there are multifaceted approaches to involve the poor in their economic development. No one single individual currently regarded as poor was born to be poor.

I welcome your input and comments.

THE KENYA WE WANT

Kenyans remember the juicy speeches that were delivered by our political leaders during the 'Kenya we want' conference. The foreign diplomats even ventilated their views on what they thought would be good for the large majority of Kenyans.

A lot was discussed about the acceleration of the implementation and achievement of Millenium Development Goals by 2015. All speakers concurred that the realization of Vision 2030 would be a milestone achievement for the future generations. The cardinal question is: Is the government living in the true spirit of that conference?

While we should never chastise and criminalize the government for everything, it would be paramount to point out that a lot needs to be done. As a matter of priority, our national unity is under a severe litmus test after the 2007 post-election crisis.

We need first to cement a strong Kenyan relationship, not based on Kikuyu-Kamba alliances or Luo-Kalenjin groupings but comprised of all kenyans. This will form the backbone our political, economic, and social stability.

Secondly, we need to treat the implementation of Agenda 4 items as postulated in the National Accord. The government must move with speed to institute constitutional, institutional, and legal reforms. We need to hasten our pace of implementing land reforms through the formulation and implementation of the National Land Use Policy. Poverty reduction through enhancement of Women's Enteprise Fund, community empowerment, and equal distribution of national income should be accelerated.

Youth unemployment should be addressed as a matter of urgency in order to ensure that a majority of young people are gainfully employed or engaged in meaningful economic activities. We need to enhance the Youth Enterprise Development and increase access to credit for the majority of young people. Youth Empowerment Centres should be established without delay, as the government pursues the revitalization of youth polytechnics for vocational training.

These are just but a few areas in which the government should urgently address if we are to make a meaningful head start. Therefore, we should not criticize and trash the draft constitution without suggesting the changes we need. The MPs should not sabotage the Special Tribunal Bill without suggesting optimal ways of ending impunity in the future.

These are the moments for constructive criticism and collective effort and action. Every single Kenyan should make a positive contribution to help procure the change we need. We cannot wait to see a repeat of 2007. Kenya can change and become the beacon of hope and prosperity for its citizens.


Chris

Tribal Chauvinism must be stopped

Tribal chauvinism is a threat to national reconciliation and stability in any given country. It happened in Rwanda and the Rwanda genocide has a left a bitter pill in the throats of the Rwandan people. In the name of a constitutional referendum in 2005, we balkanized and polarized our nation.

Two years later, poor kenyans massacred fellow kenyans in the name of a stolen general election. People were burnt in houses and churches and the images of the post-election crisis remind us of the cruelty of negative ethnicity.

This is the reason why the debate about the KKK alliance should not be given the latitude and time to take root. The architects of this alliance are mere political opportunists. Their political rhetoric is not what Kenyans want to hear. Their promise for a better Kenya in fundraising events is just but hot air.

We do not need a Kamba, Kikuyu, and Kalenjin alliance. Neither do we need a Luo, Kalenjin, and Luhya alliance. For heaven's sake, Kenya has more than 42 tribes. If we need an political alliance, then the 42 plus tribes must be represented. This is what national harmony and cohesion is all about.

While we cannot tolerate the manner in which poor Kenyans are being evicted from Mau forest, we should never politicize the environmental issue. The attempts to gang up into tribal cocoons to undermine the concerted efforts of conserving the environment lacks wisdom.

The Prime Minister should never be demonised in the implementation of government policy. Any misgivings in the way the government is manning its affairs should be addressed in diplomatic and amicable ways. The confrontational attitude of some of our leaders leaves a lot to be desired.

In the final analysis, kenyans rise and fall as one whether poor or rich, whether educated or uneducated, whether Luo, Kamba, Mijikenda, Kalenjin or any other tribe. The problems bedevilling us are many and common. When the poor folks cannot produce enough food for subsistence use, the economy suffers and the wealthy cry as a result.

We do not have a Western problem. We do have a North Eastern problem. We do not have a Rift Valley problem. Neither do we have a Nyanza or Coast problem. We have a Kenyan problem. We need a common purpose and a Kenyan solution rather than a tribal solution.

Chris
Article published in the Standard(04/12/09) and DN(05/12/09)

Youth Employment- A Matter of National Urgency

The demise of the Kazi Kwa Vijana Programme is both regrettable and unbelievable. A few corrupt people have once again destroyed the dreams of young people who had seen the hope of employment in the programme.
The bad news is that the 15- billion Marshal Youth Plan is simply no more. Several painful questions beg honest answers.

First, why did the government allow bureacracy to impede the success of the programme? We could have allowed the Ministry of Youth affairs to man the programme rather than allowing the busy PM's office and provincial administration to coordinate it. Besides, there seemed to have been no checks and balances in the disbursement of the programme funds.

Secondly, why did we have to throw transparency and accountability in the management of the programme funds? Apparently, this has been this country's major undoing in the management of similar projects. The fact that the death of the initiative came as a shock to many youth who depended on it for employment is disturbing.

There should have proper channels of communication as how much money has been disbursed, how much has been allocated for each project activity, when the funds will be paid, and honest explanation incase of there are delays in paying the youth.

Thirdly, are we going to allow a few people to oppress the vulnerable through their appetite for corruption? The youth have sacrificed time and energy to get community development projects completed. They offered their blood, toil, and sweat only a few people to shortchange them. This should be the last thing that should happen if we care about the youth in this country.

The bottom line is that we can allow ourselves to shatter the hopes and livelihoods of the youth with such sickening abandon. A bitter young population is a recipe of serious social and economic problems in this country.

The provision of employment to the youth should be a priority and a matter of national urgency. Those who thwart the efforts of the government in youth employment creation should regarded as enemies of Vision 2030.

We should never allow anyone to use and dump the young people. Empowerment of the youth is a sure key that unlocks development in any nation. In the words of Benjamin Disraeli, the youth of a nation are the trustees of its posterity.

Chris

Prof. Wangari Maathai- In her own words

"We will be judged harshly by nature for every tree that we cut with sheer ignorance"- Christopher Mutisya

-It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.

-We are sharing our resources in a very inequitable way. In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace.

-If you want the future generations to live in peace, we must invest in the protection of the environment and we must train especially our young people so that they don't think, for example, the whole world is like Japan.

-We can work together for a better world with men and women of goodwill, those who radiate the intrinsic goodness of humankind.

-You must not deal only with the symptoms. You have to get to the root causes by promoting environmental rehabilitation and empowering people to do things for themselves. What is done for the people without involving them cannot be sustained.

-African women in general need to know that it's OK for them to be the way they are - to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and from silence.

-I am working to make sure we don't only protect the environment, we also improve governance.

-It's a matter of life and death for this country, ... The Kenyan forests are facing extinction and it is a man-made problem.

-If they had resources, they would not be killing each other over grazing ground and water.

-Why has there been so much secrecy about AIDS? When you ask where did the virus come from, it raises a lot of flags. That makes me suspicious.

-We are very fond of blaming the poor for destroying the environment. But often it is the powerful, including governments, that are responsible.

-The privilege of a higher education, especially outside Africa, broadened my original horizon and encouraged me to focus on the environment, women and development in order to improve the quality of life of people in my country in particular and in the African region in general.

-Some say that AIDS came from the monkeys, and I doubt that because we have been living with monkeys from time immemorial, others say it was a curse from God, but I say it cannot be that.

-The people are learning that you cannot leave decisions only to leaders. Local groups have to create the political will for change, rather than waiting for others to do things for them. That is where positive, and sustainable, change begins.

-Women are responsible for their children, they cannot sit back, waste time and see them starve.

-It is important to nurture any new ideas and initiatives which can make a difference for Africa.

-There's a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.

-The essential role of the environment is still marginal in discussions about poverty, ... While we continue to debate these initiatives, environmental degradation, including the loss of biodiversity and topsoil, accelerates, causing development efforts to falter.

-I would be on my knees looking at them and admiring them, trying to have them on my neck, until my mother would call and wonder what ... I was doing in the river.

My take: How i wish the political leaders who have spend so much energy and time to politicise the conservation of our water catchment areas would heed to the words of the 2004 Nobel Prize Winner.

Chris

KENYA IS WELL ENDOWED

"No country can alleviate poverty if its leadership spends much of its time on what is politically expedient rather than economically prudent."- Christopher Mutisya

Kenya has a colossal amount of resources that can be tapped to improve the lives of its population. We are not short of human resources that spread across all professional disciplines. Kenyans are amazingly entrepreneural.

We have enjoyed peace and tranquility for many years which was severely threatened by the 2007 post-election violence. Our nation parks and game reserves present the world with a rare beauty. Our beaches are the envy of the world.

Kenyan soils are very fertile. We have so many rivers and lakes. The climate is not so unfavourable. So many positives favour us. However, we have found ourselves languishing at the bottom of growing economies as a low income country.

We seem not to emulate a country like Botswana, which is 70% covered by Kalahari Desert.The Southern Africa nation was among the poorest nations by 1966. Her landlocked status notwithstanding, her economic growth has eclipsed those experienced by the Asian Tigers. Today, Botswana is a middle income country and among the least corrupt in the world.

Our major undoing is indecision and inaction by our political leadership. There is too much political chest thumping, backbiting, and ethnic politics at the expense of economic development. Judicial reforms are being undertaken under the command of political expediency.

Environmental conservation seems to be a peripheral duty of our government. The government seem to lack the will to end impunity and uproot corruption in our society. The poorest of the poor are still inadequately reached.

Kenya can change and become a beacon of prosperity even before the actual deadline of Vision 2030. However, if change is to be realized, the government must learn the urgency of the moment.

Let us conserve the environment to help us address the food, water, and energy crises. Let us subsidise our farmers in order to beef up food security in the country. Let us sell a national brand where each kenyan sees the other from a kenyan rather than from a tribal perspective. The government must step up its support for youth and women entrepreneurship. We can do simple things in great ways to change this country.

Chris

Article published in The Standard August 18th, 2009

Nature is unforgiving!

"Is it possible and sustainable for any nation to import food, water, and energy? I have serious doubts. We must change the way we handle our environment."- Christopher Mutisya


Do not shoot me! I am Che Guevera and worth more to you alive than dead. These were the words of Che Guevara, the Argentinian revolutionary when he was captured in Bolivia in 1967. The same words would sound to Kenyans as: Do not destroy me! I am Environment and worth more to you conserved than degraded. This is the unalloyed truth we must all face.

Mau, Aberdare, Mt. Kenya, Cherengani Hills, and Mt. Elgon are worth our rivers, lakes, springs, wildlife, crops, and energy. The conservation of the entire ecosystem will guarantee prosperity in our agricultural, health, and tourism sectors. Peace and harmony will only be possible if we protect our nature. Economic growth is a sure thing if concerted efforts are made to manage and conserve the environment.

There is no time for small talk about who did what and when to the environment. There is no time for those who have encroached on our forests to decide on when to move out. It is a matter of necessity and emergency.

It is an abuse to Kenyans to hold any more conferences and give environmental speeches. We are living on borrowed time. We know our mistakes and should embark on doing what is right. Our environment is shouting loudly for help. An environment disaster is in the offing.

Let us face it: Too much talk does not cook rice.

Chris