They will never go anywhere until a certain guy leaves Ukambani for good. A guy who is now governor Alfred Mutua's biggest enemy. A man who will never rest until Mutua is finished. This is the guy who has so incited Johnstone Muthama mpaka hakuweza kuvumilia success ya mkamba mwenzake.
Remember that Muthama is usually a very level headed politician. So what is this that came over him to go to court to stop the best thing that has ever happened to Machakos?
Let me introduce you to him. His name is CRAB MENTALITY
What is this crab mentality?
If you have caught crabs then you know that once you have caught at least two then you needn’t worry about them escaping. This is because they will always prevent each other from getting out first. Wikipedia puts it very well thus;
“Crab mentality, sometimes referred to as crabs in the bucket, describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase "if I can't have it, neither should you." The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs. Singly, the crabs could easily escape from the pot, but instead, they grab at each other in a useless "king of the hill" competition which prevents any from escaping and ensures their collective demise. The analogy in human behavior is that of a group that will attempt to "pull down" (negate or diminish the importance of) any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of jealousy or competitive feelings.
This term is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality. It is also often used colloquially in reference to individuals or communities attempting to "escape" a so-called "underprivileged life", but kept from doing so by others attempting to ride upon their coat-tails or those who simply resent their success…”
Historically Kamba leaders have always been extremely jealous of each other and have gone to great lengths to finish each other, using all kinds of ploys and even witchcraft. Any half intelligent observer would wonder why the community has never realized that supporting each other would be much more beneficial to all.
Paul Ngei a prominent politician from Ukambani in his day was arch rivals with Mulu Mutisya another prominent politician in the area at around the same time. The differences between the two got so serious that they physically fought on several occasions. Today the rivalry between Charity Ngilu and Kalonzo Musyoka is legendary and all efforts to unite the two have come to naught. Interestingly both were in the YES camp in the referendum for the new constitution and yet clearly the two were extremely uncomfortable in each others company during the major rallies and meetings where they had to share the same platform. I am willing to bet you any amount that the two never ever shared a seat close to each other during cabinet meetings.
This inexplicable rivalry and crab mentality spreads well beyond politics into the business world. I have been in numerous situations where things have changed dramatically with another Kamba immediately they realize that I too have some Kamba blood in me.
Indeed this is one of the reasons why Machakos town (the first inland capital of the British protectorate that became Kenya and many decades older than Nairobi) has remained very much behind in development. Kambas would rather an outsider comes into the city and prospers in business rather than one of their own. Immediately somebody rises they will rush to a witchdoctor to finish them.
Where did this evil crab guy come from? The house of Mumbi always support each other, see how far they have gone. Luos will travel many miles to support a fellow Luo's business. But the poverty stricken crab mentality Kambas are busy shooting down governor Mutua when he is being celebrated countrywide and worldwide. Their small crab brains are telling them; "I have been around for so long where did this young man with big ideas come from? I cannot allow him to succeed just like that."
And as usual you can be sure witchdoctors have been visited and instructed to "finish" or at the very least "slow down" Mutua.
This is very sad and something that the Kamba community needs to find a way of facing and eradicating if they are to benefit from the good work governor Mutua is trying to do in that cursed forsaken crab county.
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Ukweli mtupu.
ReplyDeleteYou should hear what my Kamba relatives say about Lilian Muli when I visit them on weekends and Citizen news comes up.
"That woman is a kao and she will not go far"
"Yuko na maringo mingi."
And so on.
And these are people who have never met Lilian.
Hii crab mentality is in the Kao DNA. There is no way you can remove it.
Mutua is a spin doctor by profession and so it is true that he is good at highlighting his achievements and putting the right spin on every move he makes. But it is equally true that the guy is really doing an excellent job more so when you consider the "old thinkers and crabs in Macha" (e.g. Muthama & many other kaos used to siasa ya kumalizana) who are constantly looking for an opportunity to trip him up just coz he has become a political threat. That makes his work that much harder and the guy has done very well despite the odds.
ReplyDeleteIt is also a fact that in politics perception is so important that in many instances what you actually do pales in comparison. And so any politician (and governors are politicians) who works and ignores his PR and public perception is naive and headed for an election defeat. For instance when all the emotions have cooled down (maybe in 50 years) Kibaki will be remembered as an important president in Kenya because of the important groundwork he did preparing the country for take off. But because he arrogantly ignored his PR and even hated the whole idea so much that he hired a PR man (Alfred Mutua) most Kenyans would rather throw up than give him the credit he deserves (check out the poll in Kumekucha where Moi is beating him by a landslide.
Kalonzo will never forgive Ngilu for standing for president before him. And to make matters worse she did much better than he later did when he too stood for the presidency.
ReplyDeleteflozie, u have just shared something from a blog known as kumekucha. let me remind or inform you that ukambani is not the driest place in kenya. it is neither the poorest place. hii iaonyesha ile hujatembea na vile una siasa duni. have you ever been to marsabit, wajir,garrissa ama moyale?? it is very dry hata heri ukambani atleast kuna season mbili za mvua. huko kuna clan wars ambazo haziishangi. i will not judge you wrongly juu pia mimi niliishi kuamini ukambani ndio poorest na driest place in kenya. usi9we like a typical kikuyu who believes that each kamba is a witch or a witchdoctor. wengine hawajui chochote, wanaskianga story kama wewe tu. in any case wakisii na luos wako chonjo kwa uchawi kuliko wakamba
ReplyDeleteflozie, u have just shared something from a blog known as kumekucha. let me remind or inform you that ukambani is not the driest place in kenya. it is neither the poorest place. hii iaonyesha ile hujatembea na vile una siasa duni. have you ever been to marsabit, wajir,garrissa ama moyale?? it is very dry hata heri ukambani atleast kuna season mbili za mvua. huko kuna clan wars ambazo haziishangi. i will not judge you wrongly juu pia mimi niliishi kuamini ukambani ndio poorest na driest place in kenya. usi9we like a typical kikuyu who believes that each kamba is a witch or a witchdoctor. wengine hawajui chochote, wanaskianga story kama wewe tu. in any case wakisii na luos wako chonjo kwa uchawi kuliko wakamba
ReplyDeleteguys, let me remind or inform you that ukambani is not the driest place in kenya. it is neither the poorest place. hii iaonyesha ile hujatembea na vile una siasa duni. have you ever been to marsabit, wajir,garrissa ama moyale?? it is very dry hata heri ukambani atleast kuna season mbili za mvua. huko kuna clan wars ambazo haziishangi. i will not judge you wrongly juu pia mimi niliishi kuamini ukambani ndio poorest na driest place in kenya. usi9we like a typical kikuyu who believes that each kamba is a witch or a witchdoctor. wengine hawajui chochote, wanaskianga story kama wewe tu. in any case wakisii na luos wako chonjo kwa uchawi kuliko wakamba
ReplyDeleteguys,let me remind or inform you that ukambani is not the driest place in kenya. it is neither the poorest place. hii iaonyesha ile hujatembea na vile una siasa duni. have you ever been to marsabit, wajir,garrissa ama moyale?? it is very dry hata heri ukambani atleast kuna season mbili za mvua. huko kuna clan wars ambazo haziishangi. i will not judge you wrongly juu pia mimi niliishi kuamini ukambani ndio poorest na driest place in kenya. usi9we like a typical kikuyu who believes that each kamba is a witch or a witchdoctor. wengine hawajui chochote, wanaskianga story kama wewe tu. in any case wakisii na luos wako chonjo kwa uchawi kuliko wakamba
ReplyDeletelet me remind or inform you that ukambani is not the driest place in kenya. it is neither the poorest place. hii iaonyesha ile hujatembea na vile una siasa duni. have you ever been to marsabit, wajir,garrissa ama moyale?? it is very dry hata heri ukambani atleast kuna season mbili za mvua. huko kuna clan wars ambazo haziishangi. i will not judge you wrongly juu pia mimi niliishi kuamini ukambani ndio poorest na driest place in kenya. usi9we like a typical kikuyu who believes that each kamba is a witch or a witchdoctor. wengine hawajui chochote, wanaskianga story kama wewe tu. in any case wakisii na luos wako chonjo kwa uchawi kuliko wakamba
ReplyDeleteJubree!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteKericho Senator Charles Keter wants State officials who 'coached' ICC witnesses against William Ruto sacked.
“I think it is a shame that the same people who wanted to fix Ruto are sitting comfortably in government. How do you serve the government of the person you wanted to jail?” the visibly annoyed senator asked.
According to Mr Keter, the government officials he was referring to had gone to great lengths to send people to the ICC to give false testimony against Mr Ruto. He called for the officials to be kicked out of government at once and prosecuted for their misdeeds, accusing them of betrayal
Chris,
ReplyDeleteHayo maoni ni Akamba zone infraction. Kwani 'what of yours have' crabs - farmed in Ukambani - 'eaten that you're talking about them like that'?
FYI, Ukambani was inhabited as early as 300 AD by Wabwezi, Watuyi, Wangundo, Wathendu, Wamwingi, Wanoo, Watitu, and Wambogo kingdoms.
That was an era when a dense forest extended from the coast and beyond Tana Delta, Kitui, Marasabet, Moyale, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, and beyond Yemen.
That was at a time when the rest of the current inhabitants of Kenya were either still surviving in the Congo region, Upper Nile Delta, Nubia, Gala, Usambara Mountains, and in areas beyond the Zambezi and Okavango regions.
Wapende wasipende, Akamba aka Wakamba are the real people of the land that extends all the way from the lower and upper Tana regions to the coastal region, from the eastern region, including the whole of the central region - as it's known to day - and up to the middle Rift Valley region.
Everybody else are later comers to the region and people who were welcomed by the people who present day Ukambani in last three to four hundred years but ended using their hosts - Akamba - and abusing their ancient tradition of generous hospitality.
Ati crab mentality? Kwani where are the green, grey, red and blue crabs harvested in the land of Ukambani?
Chris,
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the existence of deep rooted crab - village - mentality, there is no iota of camaraderie among the major clans and sub-houses - nyumba - in all of Ukambani, including other thirty-two ethnicities in Kenya.
Crab mentality is not just an exclusive reserve for the Akamba of Eastern Kenya because their so many communities out there who do suffer from the same old corrosive disease.
Hunters and gatherers will always circle their tribal wagons and come to the rescue of one of their whenever the honour, pride or status of the community is under assault by perceived enemies.
As for Machakos, it's a governor's dream because the region is not yet developed and it's a blank canvas awaiting the right type of leadership and a constructive environment on many levels.
Mutua may end up being the type of governor and leader Machakos has been waiting for in the last seventy years. in other words, a regional leader who will lead, guide and unify the community along the path of long-term constructive thinking filled with development mentality.
Some of us couldn't agree more with the definition of what 'crab mentality' is all about, and how so communities have been stifled, scotched and scuttled by its long term deadly side-effects over the last several decades.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if a 'crab mentality' as its known is about people indulging in the very negative art of pulling down their fellow tribesmen and tribeswomen due to all sorts of reasons known to many of us.
Then what's the definition or rather what do we call the mentality of putting others down and making sure that our fellow tribesmen or tribeswomen remain down without any likelihood or opportunity of improving their way of lives.
In other words, doing everything in our twisted power to keep people below us in all ways so that we seem to be the only ones from our respective tribes aka communities who remain as kings and queens of the village hill or tribal totem poll.
Pulling down our fellow village people is one thing, but what about the never ending game of putting down our fellow village people so that they remain beneath us and in inferior to us?
As in making sure that they never get the chance to rise up from being dirt poor in the attempts of seeking a middle class or even a lower-middle class lifestyle for themselves and their families?
Tradition has it that the place or ground known as Machakos or 'Masaku' has been cursed for centuries given the countless numbers of Akamba people who were sold into slavery for so many generations.
ReplyDeleteAlfred Mutua will have to bring about real development in Machakos as the only way to eradicate or exorcise the grand old cultural demons that have maintained a tight chokehold on Machakos County.
Least people forget that more Akamba were sold into slavery than other ethnicities combined, especially those based in the Eastern region of Africa.
Paul Ngei and Muli Mutisya were big political giants who only wasted their primetime in the unnecessary time wasting destructive fights against each another for far too only to end up harming any development prospectus and the people of Ukambani.
ReplyDeleteThe political destruction of the one time greener pastures that were once known as Masaku the land of self-reliance, self-sufficiency and resilience, way before the Arab merchants ventured out into the hinterlands of present day Kenya.
That was at a time when the Portuguese sailors had not yet attempted to set foot along the one time pristine shores of Eastern Africa.
By all accounts, it goes without saying that Charity Ngili, Kalonzo Musyoka and others will end up facing - repeating - the same old fate that befell their political predecessors - The Dead Politicians of Ukambani.