Home Page Kumekucha Daily Jan 10th 2007

Kumekucha Today

Lead Story Dangers Somalia Poses To Kenya

2. The Big Moi Blunder On Somali That Is Being Paid For By Kenyan Blood

3. The Kalonzo Musyoka You Don’t Know Part II



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Dangers Somalia Poses To Kenya

It is with a sad heart rather than a self-righteous-I-told-you-so attitude that I remind regular readers of this blog of the warnings I issued about Somalia last year, long before the current crisis even started showing signs of erupting.

Two events happened late yesterday that clearly sounded warning bells that Kenya is in serious trouble over the Somalia crisis. Firstly President Kibaki cancelled a trip to his native Othaya to chair a security meeting in Nairobi. Then local TV channels gave the Somalia crisis unprecedented prominent coverage in the prime time news slots.

Although there has been fighting for weeks as American-backed Ethiopian troops swept through the country uprooting elements of the Islamic courts government, something in this seemingly endless crisis changed yesterday that makes Kenya even more vulnerable. And that is the American air bomb raids on what they believe are al Qaeda strongholds in the country. The American bombing was a big mistake and in my opinion will only fan flames of hatred and make a peaceful conclusion to the Somalia crisis even more difficult. It was a mistake because the success of air raids is surely a very dodgy affair ad it would have been best to leave any clean up operations to the Ethiopian troops already on the ground. By now everybody knows what terror groups are best known for, nay what they do best.

Personally I believe that it is no accident that Kenya has been the victim of terror attacks not once, but twice since 1997. It is mainly because Somalia is a major al Qaeda outpost. Indeed the terror group's international terrorism campaign grew out of this tiny East African nation that has not had a government for over a decade. The Nairobi and Dar-es-salaam US embassy bombings were an important step leading to the 9/11 attacks on American soil.

Something else that I am persuaded to believe is that the Kibaki administration must be under intense pressure from the American government to act against Somalia. Hence the current purge on Somalia nationals living in the country. Given the government's reluctance in the past to bend over quickly to American whims, blackmail in this case cannot be ruled out. As the Americans themselves would put it, this is an issue where they are bound to play hardball. So although I have no hard evidence there is little doubt that there is an American hand in the recent bold moves taken by the Kibaki administration.

So what is the worse we can expect from the Somalia crisis? The probability is high that we might see terror attacks on key installations in Kenya launched by remnants of the fallen Islamic courts outfit that ruled a significant chunk of Somalia until the Ethiopians rolled into town last week. Even more likely will be escalating violent crime involving weapons spilling over from the Somalia crisis. More so in view of the fact that one of their major fund-raising activities of piracy off the Indian Ocean coast has been curtailed by heavy American presence and patrols currently taking place there. Closing the border was the right decision but it is hardly the sort of thing that will stop Somalian insurgents from sneaking into the country.

There is good reason for Kenyans to hold their breath and pray hard over these latest developments.

The Big Somalian Blunder Moi's Kanu Made, Paid For By Kenyan Blood

It is said that in Kenya, money can buy you anything. That is why the people in Kenyan jails are mostly the innocent, fools and those who were a little short of cash to buy their freedom.

The situation in Nairobi's Eastleigh estate seems to confirm this popular belief. For all intents and purposes the sprawling estate, not far from Nairobi City Centre is a part of Somalia on Kenyan soil. To start with a vast number of the Somalian nationals living there are in the country illegally. Yet they engage in business (mostly the matatu business and trading in smuggled clothes and electronics) and enjoy the privileges that any Kenyan national would enjoy.

You can purchase an automatic weapon easily here and even obtain an American or British passport that will get you through most immigration departments in the world. It is instructive that policemen fear to tread in Eastleigh and when they have to will usually turn up in large groups and while very heavily armed (even when they are in plain clothes.)

Eastleigh-Somalia, as I would call it, happened because the Somalians have cash and they simply bribed their way into the heart of Kenya. There are those who argue that Somalians have greatly benefited the Kenyan economy. I disagree. They have actually caused more harm than good. To start with they do not pay taxes, not even VAT. Then they have caused serious new problems. For instance Eastleigh alone has cost Telekom Kenya huge losses over the years. A couple of years back, a popular business carried out by Somalians in Eastliegh was to apply for numerous Telkom land lines. The usual deposits would be paid and immediately the line was installed, it would get terribly busy making international calls worldwide. Owners of the lines would charge their clients a fraction of what Telkom Kenya charges. So how would they make a profit, I hear you ask? Simple. They would abandon the line with its' colossal pending bill the minute it was disconnected and apply for fresh new lines under different names. Naturally palms at Telkom would remain "well oiled" so that by the time the scum came into light the local telephone company had lost millions of shillings. That is just one example.

Because the Moi administration was not able to deal with the problem as it commenced, today, "cleaning up" Eastleigh would be a mammoth operation that is probably no longer viable. So Kenyans are forced to learn to live with this deadly menace. Guns from Eastliegh continue to claim Kenyan lives and maim others for life every day and now with the worsening crisis in Somalia we are actually sitting on a time bomb right in our own backyard. The recent case where policemen were stopped from entering a hotel in Eastliegh to carry out a search is a case in point and very worrying indeed.