This is why many Kenyan Somalis feel “not yet Kenyan”

A week ago Aljazeera aired a documentary by Mohammed Adow on the atrocities and systematic discrimination the government has meted on Kenyan Somalis since independence. It was very personal for him. He not only witnessed the atrocities as an ethnic Somali but his family and neighbors were victims. The shoe wearer knows where it pinches most and sometimes he could not help but break down in tears. I thank him for taking that bold step to tell the untold story.

The history of Northern Kenya is written in blood but no one has taken the effort to write it for posterity. It is meant to be forgotten. All the dailies are running chronicles dubbed “Kenya @50” in commemoration of Kenya’s jubilee year but that painful history is mentioned only in the footnotes. The only written account I have ever read about these crimes is “Blood on the runway” which documents the Wagalla massacre. However, I had the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of the shifta war and it’s never ending aftermath while working with a British Institute on a project to document the History of Somalis in the Northern Frontier districts. The accounts were horrid to say the least. 

Forgotten history tends to be repeated. That’s the case when it comes to Kenyan Somalis. The collective punishment of the entire community for the crimes of a few is the norm. You will be forgiven to think that after 50 years the government’s attitude towards Somalis has changed. But you just need to hear the police spokesman, Charles Owino, who was interviewed for the documentary to confirm that nothing has changed. If anything has changed, it’s for the worse. When he was asked why can’t the government apprehend the few criminals instead of targeting the entire community? His response was unlike anything you will ever hear.  He retorted “But the same community killed innocent revenue collectors”. Excuse me.The journalist also sought audience with GG kariuiki, a man who was once quoted saying “there is only one good Somali, and that is a dead one”. The Garissa massacre occurred under his watch as the internal security minister. He is still in denial. He kept telling Mohamed Adow “the problem with you people is that you are deceiving your people”. He denied that “many people died” but unwittingly agreed that “a number of people died”. What’s the difference?

Prove of identity

As a Kenyan Somali you can’t afford to leave behind your national identification wherever you go. That’s if you are lucky to get one. You don’t know when you will be asked “wapi kitambulisho”. The process of acquiring the identification document is itself a nightmare. There are many elderly people in Northen Kenya without the vital document. My colleagues in high school obtained theirs without breaking a sweat. It was brought to them in class. The few of us from Northern Kenya were told to go back to our home districts. We were told we could not obtain it like the rest. It was a government policy. One of my classmates was without it until 2012, eight years down the line. You can imagine how much he lost as a result. No higher education, no job and basically he was an alien in his own country.

It is not only Somalis who have their ethnic counterparts across the border. All the communities that live near the borders have their kins in the neighboring countries. Moody Awori’s, the former Kenyan vice president, brother was a Member of Parliament in Uganda. “Go back to Somalia” is a common cliché whenever a Somali gets into an argument with another Kenyan. All Somalis are refugees in Kenya, it seems. That was categorically stated by Martha Karua when she was drunk with power. Everyone may not be as bold as Karua, but the official policy says as much.I get amused, albeit annoyed, when I tell my colleagues “I am a Somali” and they quickly ask me “so you are not a Kenyan”. This is usually followed by a long discussion about how we have “Kenyan Somalis”. Having to prove where you belong is a daunting task.

Massacres

The historical timeline of Northern Kenya is inundated with massacres. Some war torn countries are better. This started immediately after independence. Somalis refused to join Kenya with the intention of joining fellow Somalis to form what was referred to as the greater Somalia. The British agreed to conduct a referendum for the people to determine their own destiny. 80% of NFD inhabitants voted to join Somalia but Kenyatta and other independence leaders would hear none of that. The British left the matter unresolved as Kenya gained independence. The few surviving Somalis who participated in that referendum would tell you they suspect the British of foul play. The British never wanted them to secede but was setting them on a collision course with Kenyatta's government.Emboldened by the

referendum outcome, the Somalis began regarding themselves as part of Somalia. They actually hoisted the Somali flag on their compounds. The government response was ruthless and indiscriminate. The conflict was derogatorily referred to as the "shifta war". Shifta is Somali for banditry. Men, women and children were put in concentration camps.They were all shiftas. Animals, the livelihood of Somalis, were either killed or driven away by the government forces. An old man told us this was a tactic borrowed from Ethiopia's Haile Salasie who told Kenyatta he should first destroy their livelihood if he wanted to defeat the Somalis. He told him Somalis are a government unto themselves when they have livestock resources. Men praying in the Isiolo mosque were massacred by the GSU. Men, women and children were transported from Marsabit to Isiolo in the dead of the night. We met a lady called Sibiloi. Sibiloi is a town between Marsabit and Isiolo. Her mother told us she gave birth to her on the back of a government truck at Sibiloi while they were being moved from Marsabit to isiolo.

The wagalla massacre is the most famous of the government’s atrocious deeds against its own people.The truth is not yet known because of the government’s deliberate cover up. Over 5000 people were tortured and killed at an airstrip called wagalla. The government reduced the figure to 57.The massacre was observed with a moment of silence at the United Nations General Assembly. This is an indication that it was a serious crime against humanity. In the documentary, a survivor whose entire family was slaughtered said" I wish I died that day". Another describes how when his brother was shot from the back while trying to escape, one soldier remarked" that is food for the hyenas"

The Garissa massacre preceded the wagalla massacre. Four civil servants were killed and in response the government torched the entire town. This is referred to locally as "Garissa gubay". The residents were rounded up and brought to a local school's playing ground where they were kept for days without water, food or shelter. Many were killed and many were unaccounted for.This collective punishment has been ongoing since Kenya gained independence. Instead of resolving inter-clan disputes over grazing land, the government's trend has been to send soldiers for what initially is touted as disarmament program. But this always ends with dire consequences for the locals. Rape, torture, dispossession and killings would ensue. No improvement whatsoever. In fact things get worse afterwards because of bitterness and hopelessness.

Most recently, soldiers left their Garissa barracks to avenge the killing of two soldiers by suspected Alshabab militants. They did not revenge from the militants but from the local Somali population. They rampaged the entire town burning down properties and the entire market. Thank God, for Social media, history would have repeated itself. Their actions were broadcast to the world as it unfolded through the mainstream and social media. I shudder to imagine what would have been if we were still in the era of relying on government official channels.

Non-existence development.

When it comes to development, there is kenya and there is Northern kenya. They are worlds apart. Traveling from Garissa to down Kenya is referred as "going to Kenya". There is less than 7 KM tarmacked road in the entire expansive province. The road from Garissa through Wajir to Mandera is a road to hell. It’s impassible during the rainy season. When it’s dry, travelling on it is not for the faint hearted. Calling it a road is a misnomer. It’s just a path created by car Tyres in the wild.

Tana River, the biggest river in Kenya, passes in the middle of Garissa town. Water is life but despite the abundance of water the residents have been thirsty until 2002. It was a common sight to see donkey carts ferrying water from the river to sell to households. Mark you this was untreated water. Girls and mothers who could not afford to buy from the vendors would go to the crocodile infested river to draw water and carry the load on their backs. Some would roll the Jerry cans on the ground when they could not bear the weight on their backs. It was back breaking. The water problem is now history. But before you start praising the government, there is one thing you need to know; the water problem was alleviated with funding from one of the Gulf countries. The Garissa-Mwingi road was also constructed with funding from saudi Arabia. I heard the funds would have been diverted to other parts of the country like it happened many times but the donors gave strict instructions for the use of their funds. Those are the only two meaningful projects the Province can boast of.The province is not yet connected to the national greed. Garissa town for example uses an old generator with the capacity to cater for the power needs of only a small village. Power rationing is the norm rather than the exception because the town has grown so much.

Life was so harsh that the government used the region to punish errant civil servants. Those who did not tore the line were posted to Northern Kenya to "serve their term". Being posted to wajir or Mandera for duty was akin to serving sentence at the kamiti maximum prison. Civil servants dreaded the region.

Because of the systematic neglect of the region by the government, Northern Kenya lagged behind basically in all spheres of life. Schools were ill-equipped to impart even basic education to children. As a result the region always came last in the national examinations. The rest of Kenyans up to now think there is something wrong "upstairs" with students from the region. Ok, No one is genetically fool. Given equal opportunities, students from the region are equally bright if not brighter. Take the example of those who went to National schools and the universities. They compete equally with their counterparts from the rest of the country. This is despite having a not so good foundation in primary school.

Despite the endemic neglect by the government, the people are not entirely hopeless. Thanks to their enterprising nature, the growth witnessed in the last decade is phenomenal. This started in 2000 when a local was made the provincial commissioner. He understood the culture and restored total peace in the region. With Devolution, the future looks brighter. But this is dulled by the threat of Alshabab on one hand and the government on the other hand. The region may once again become collateral damage in a conflict that it knows little about.