Some old pictures from Nandi

Wanted for Kenya: a comprehensive medical insurance scheme, not free tampons and maternity fees waiver

A healthy nation is a happy nation. A healthy family is a productive family. This is a buzzword for any serious nation that recognises the need to have healthy, able-bodied walking and working nation. Kenya's independence government recognised three enemies: ignorance, disease and poverty. Over the years, many efforts have been devised to address the challenges. Obviously, various levels of success have been registered in various sectors. However, with the dawn of the last couple decades of the 20th century were characterised by emergence of newer and more draining chronic diseases. AIDS was declared a national disaster in Kenya by President Moi in November 1999. But little success has been registered in combating the pandemic because of attitude and stigmatisation. Quite a substantial percentage of the population remains unaware of their serological status. I wouldn't have dared to know either, except that it was a requirement before clearance to travel to China. Even once in China, the monstrous State Entry and Exit Quarantine Bureau ensures that you are checked again for syphilis, gonorrhoea, TB and AIDS before one gets a 'green' card or residence permit. Once aware of the status, one is relieved and the hardest part begins: rat seseet!

In Kenya, the three leading killers are malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis (TB). Malaria remains a nuisance, coming during specific periods when there is a spike in the breakout. Much effort has been made in dealing with the environmental vagaries that increase incidences of infection by malaria with some emerging resistance to treatment by the protozoa. As of now a vaccine is not yet with us, but bold efforts have been made towards evolving one and it may be that before long the trials will be with us. The economic implications of malarial infections are enormous. This is because when one is bed-ridden, the economic productivity is put to rest. In some cases the unfortunate happens and the victim is severely anaemic and dies leading to loses in productive human resource and family labour bases. The economic implications cannot, therefore, be underestimated.

HIV-AIDS remains the most scary and dreadful killer in Kenya today. According to UNAIDS in their 2005 report, this nation of 34 million people had an infection rate of 1.3 million people with 140,000 deaths so far recorded from the opportunistic diseases associated with depreciated immunity brought about by HIV-AIDS. Kenya has recorded tremendous awareness in HIV-AIDS because of availability of information. However, little is still done to address the problem of stigma. Indeed, the war on AIDS lacks a warrior. Society has always resorted to eulogising HIV-AIDS victims with niceties like '(s)he died after a long illness bravely borne'. Bravery to live through AIDS infection is necessary, however, denial remains the greatest enemy. Surely, we are all not infected but we are all affected!

Because of stigma, for example, I was told that although Mosoriot Health Centre in Nandi North District offers anti-retrovirals (ARVs) for free to the victims, some people are too scared to go for them. In dealing with social stigma and suspicion, the 'clever' victims have devised an underground mechanism to obtain the drugs. Through 'brokers' who are paid a 'fee' for taking the drugs on their behalf during the designated days, the victims live faceless lives. Should the social stigma be allowed to stand in the way of the victims acquiring the drugs? While this is happening, Kenya's most productive demographic bracket of 15-49 year-olds register an infection rate of 6.1%. One live is as important as 140,000 and every effort need to be invested to ensure a healthy nation in our lifetime.

The third nuisance is tuberculosis (TB). Worldwide, 2.5 million people die of TB annually, three-quarters of these are drawn from poverty stricken sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya has its substantial contribution to this statistic. There has been an upward growth in the infection rates of TB which is controversially linked to the HIV-AIDS infection. Apparently, due to weakened immunity, TB finds the victim whose defences weakened as good as trapped. Together with these three, Kenya has other minor problems like leprosy and other skin infections, diarrhoea and worms. Thank God, some of the 'rich man's' diseases like diabetes, obesity and others are not uncommon but they remain of little consequence compared to the aforesaid maladies.

On health, Mrs. Charity Ngilu has made several efforts to make the Ministry of Health personable and consumer friendly. With the pay-as-you-take-the-jab policy, the government strengthened cost-sharing in its health institutions. Hospitals are cleaner, the doctors and nurses, though overworked and underpaid (compared to the greedy politicians), they work as hard as ever. Probably this is because of the Hippocratic Oath that the doctors took. Without the need to stoke controversy, the health sector in Kenya has improved. But it remains a far cry from the perfect picture promulgated in the Narc manifesto that cheated Kenyans into voting for that house of Babel.

Last year, quite some heat was generated when the erratic Mama Narc launched the populist but poorly planned 'free health for all'. Mr Kibaki took over power with the now famously forgotten quip 'there is no free lunch'. However, a lot of free goodies and promises of more have been flying from the hallowed house on the hill. Who is funding these 'roadside gifts'? The Kenyan tax-payer! Don't worry that your MP does not pay a dime for the perks (s)he takes home, and they hunger for much more. Universal free health is not offered in Germany, certainly not in another socialist economy, China. I have lived in these two lands in the last five years. Their health systems are as different as the ideologies of the leaders are. The health consumers themselves fund their health through a contributory insurance scheme.

First let me refresh our minds. Life for the Kenyan school girl is not easy with respect to the adolescent revolution and the attendant blessings of womanhood. Much less among our conservative Kalenjin families where these things are not mentioned to parents. They are as taboo as taking home your boy-friend to the parents. Apparently, parents silently applaud when the boys bring home the girl. What mean parenting this is! Some parents only get to know their daughter's love during 'kaboorunetabgei' which precedes 'kooito'. In fact some girls prefer to ask their elder sisters or cousins for the sanitary towels than ask their own mother. How long this stereotype will be sustained is not my current concern.

However, I remember when one day I went shopping at Uchumi in Eldoret and dared to buy some for a relative. You can't believe the shyness that greeted my honest effort. The relative vanished every time I arrived, as if she thought that I had an idea that she was wearing it everyday. Even if she did, what joy is there for a woman than to know that she has the 'normal' visitor every month. Lack of it could be worse! From henceforth, I'd rather give the relative money; never mind the convenience of me buying them cheaply wherever I had found them. Aside from that hiccup, one of the problems that was identified last year as a hindrance to good school performance by the Kenyan girl-child is the lack of sanitary towels. Beth Mugo said as much in 2005. Not even the zero-rating of taxes on sanitary towels guarantees availability of the same to all our school girls. Matters are not helped by the casual nature with which parents approach the girl-child's hygiene and the apparent laxity by school administrations who are ready to jump on punishing the girls any time they notice a change in behaviour. These issues may be worse in mixed schools, where boys take it as a cheeky issue. The onset of menstrual periods was even implicated in school absenteeism and pragmatism on the side of the administration is required not to make matters worse for the young victims of a natural phenomenon.

A couple of days ago Mrs. Ngilu announced that the government had waived maternity fees payment. One must welcome this as it is bound to bring with it other multiplier effects. Babies will be born in hospitals thus guaranteeing access to ante-natal healthcare, birth registration will be promoted and consequently child mortality will be reduced. But with this announcement comes another edge of the double-edged sword. It increases the pressure on the government to increase freebies in an election year. One wonders, has there been clear policy formulation on the part of government and were these things discussed soberly and budgeted for or are we seeing a government acting with too much heart and less grey matter? Isn't it possible that somebody is soon coming up with a proposal to offer mothers small goody bags as 'successful birth' gift packs or even free recuperation meals during the maternity/paternity break? Let me hasten to say that I support any effort that guarantees good and sustainable health-care provision to Kenyans. But, are free things the way forward for a government which promised that 'kila mtu kula jasho yako'? Already, the Ministry of Health in the current financial year requires 76.9 billion shillings (>US$1 billion) out of which the government provided less than half. Additionally, salaries alone guzzle more money than is available for infrastructure and expansion. How is the new 'maternity freedom' going to be funded?

Quickly to my point, to guarantee a reasonable provision for Kenyans, my country needs a comprehensive medical insurance scheme to which every Kenyan in employment contributes. This is what we do in Europe, America and any other country that cares to guarantee good health to its people. Free sanitary towels, yes: free maternity services, yes. But these should be funded from a sustainable kitty, not one which can be dropped whimsically at the behest of a politically driven decision-making. Certainly not in an election year. One only needs to look at ideas like the Nyayo (free primary school children's) milk and ask why it ended when a lot of children were benefiting. Forget that the teachers were making ndubia, tapal and tigin (was it actually 'thick'?) tea. The Nyayo milk project, a brain-child of the octogenarian Moi, helped bridge the gap between the children who had access to milk at home and those without. Don't forget that it also provided a marketing avenue for the struggling KCC, if ever the right hand paid the left hand. The project was wrapped up because it was not economically sustainable; it was driven by politics and it was ended by politics. I will not be shocked if somebody will come up with a 'free lunch for every primary school' kid sooner than later as a campaign gimmick. Trust these politicians to somersault and dive onto impossible ground!

I have decided to rebuff Ngilu's proposal because although it is important to have a hassle-free birth, other sectors of health and the economy should not be jeopardised. I remember that the choleric Ngilu had an acrimonious tug-of-war over a maligned 'free' national healthcare insurance scheme sometime ago. She even went on a shouting match with Daudi Mwiraria, if my memory serves me right. Why has the minister reneged on a personal 'pet' to bring 'free' healthcare to everybody. This scheme has the potential to make life safer for the Kenyan, reduce patronage and pressure on politicians and it will lead to another plus. Let me explain. Anybody who listens to the radio announcements does not fail to hear of somebody somewhere who died. Upon death, the deceased family members summon fund-raising committees, one in Nairobi, another in Eldoret and yet another at the village sometimes the climax being the day of the funeral/burial itself. This is 'to meet the costs of an accumulated medical bill', which was left behind by somebody who has left. That the family will not raise enough money is not a secret. Politicians make pledges, issue bouncing cheques and then there is the other strategy in the village harambees. Whenever a harambee is held in the village, the organising committee 'borrow' money from a local businessman which will be used 'to attract donations'. After the harambee, the 'borrowed money' is returned to the businessman, no penny less. The remainder is paltry and the hole is dug in the family resources. How long shall we have families being left with debts by the departed souls, that they cannot repay?

Here in Germany, for example, we have contributions to a health insurance scheme deducted from one's salary. At a premium of anything up to 130 Euros/head/month (apart from the church tax!), one is guaranteed good health care. It is not free, but you are sure of your bills not following you to the grave. In fact, some of these schemes are so comprehensive and comfortable that if, for example, I went back to Nairobi and were (God forbid) indisposed, I'd get treatment in the dream institution like Nairobi Hospital. All I need is my Insurance card/number and other paperworks. This scheme takes care of in-patient as well as out-patient services. The only exclusions are fitting of teeth-fillers and glasses/spectacles. Where one is too poor to afford, the government may pay for them an amount which takes the burden from the family and government to the able hands of the risk management system-health insurance scheme providers. Is such a scheme not feasible for the Kenyan people? Can't a tea farmer contribute his Shs. between 50 and 500 or even more/month and the family in a well-paying job contribute money to cater for treatment even abroad? Should it be only MPs who can be flown to South Africa, Israel, UK, USA and Germany while our poor relatives die in poorly equipped bug-infested Nyayo wards? I think the Kenyan healthcare consumer needs no more freebies, what is needed is a comprehensive mandatory health insurance scheme. What do you think?

Kenyans need better life. This does not come in the form of free things, the government has already provided a lot of 'free stuff'. Free things are not good for a working nation. Some people who could earn by providing what the government dolls around as the 'free services' are rendered jobless and unproductive. Free sanitary towels and maternity services are not the panacea for the Kenyan woman, it is the evolution of a well-structured and managed universal health care insurance scheme to cater for the whole family that is needed. Get down to business and don't play games with our health, Charity. We need an insurance scheme for health in Kenya to remove the barriers of access to quality healthcare. A health insurance will ensure the mental health and peace of mind for the Kenyan families. Certainly with the spiralling burden wrought by HIV-AIDS, the burden for the cost of the health care should not be left to chance, we need bold policies for Kenya that will guarantee sustainability and reliability.

Questions to Raphael Tuju on Kass FM - 27 Jul 2007

Thank you for finding time to visit Kass FM. I didn't hear all the talk but I guess it was enjoyable and enlightening. I'd have liked to ask you but was late for the link through Washington. Anyhow let me ask you some apolitical questions.

• How effective is your ministry marketing Kenya? I say this because although I see a lot of our athletes running all over the world, I hardly see miniature Kenyan flags being waved by fans as they cheer them. Why is it not made a policy that when they leave the country to participate in those sports meetings abroad, the government provides miniature Kenyan flags to be given to the crowd. Occasionally I see South African flags even when they don't have any participant. Wouldn't it be wise to take advantage of our Kalenjin and Kenyan athletes to improve the face of Kenya? Does your ministry recognise the marketing potential in our athletes, say even wearing a www.magicalkenya.com branded tee-shirt during their victory laps (if this does not infringe on the sponsorship territory of course)?
  
• Just next door to me is a shop with the name "Hakuna Matata". I will forgive you for thinking it belongs to me or a Kenyan! It is owned by a South African! I hardly see Kenyan tea and coffee here while I can drink Tanzania and Uganda tea! What is happening to Kenyan marketing strategies?
  
• Where is the Kenyan much hyped dress for example? Some of us would like to step out in it but we can't buy it abroad.
  
• In spite of you being a computer literate and competent person, why are these products not available on the internet? What does your ministry do to ensure that Kenya takes advantage of ecommerce.
  
• I will ask you a question I always want to ask every MP: Why are you not paying your taxes as an MP?
  

Ahsante

Kanu - comments on Kass FM 26 Jul 2007

Arap Sang,
Chamgei ago i tagaat. Tos iganye isooman ng'olyoondoni? Kanu ko tinyei 'taganeet' nebo choorset ak kaaluletab kampunisiek che kitooreti Kalenjin. Ye king'alale Kanu ak kitabaan ko kaking'eet ng'eet ng'wonindo ak tobootet amu ke yumgei choriik. Teebutiet ko ni, kimuchi ki uundo anan kinyaitoi ano kot koyaanak kogeny eng biik che ki isereet Kanu?

Kimwa chi kole "Bitoriin Cheserem, ogoigoii Cherop". Ateebe ale, Cheserem ak Cherop ko ng'oo bichu? Ye kimuuch kewoluu ng'olyondoni kemuuch kewoluu tangoochikab chi anum.
Arap Sang, Mi ng'ala miloot!

Kongoi is kin inee amu tuguuk aeng': Kass FM ak EMO, nda kibirchin kura ko kaikai kikoochi chuto amu tiei Kalenjin iman. Ki amwa aiin bo ui ale onge cheeng katuiyeetab Kalenjin ne iumi biik che chaang ak kemwee ng'aleek che kitiegei chito agenge. Ara ogeere ole mi chi ne mochei ko kertaenech kiroonget. Ang ka tuun keng'etu eng' kew ne leel oo we leiye!
Ogich bikyook eng ODM-K, ma kiweeksei karaiin, gotaab kimiteek ak loolek - Kanu!
Sere Nyou woi!

Winning formula for ODM-K, Comments of Kass FM 23 Jul 2007

1. I have a question: where are women in this whole business? We yell at Kibaki to have 30% of the positions reserved for women, but in all these arrangement for ODM-K positions, where are women?
2. I am sad. Our people should stop and listen for a while to Kenya. Why is this "Raila cannot be elected" nonsense still coming up when America is about to elect a Luo (Obama) as president? Kalonzo approaches the presidential campaign lazily, nobody is going to be gifted the seat on taabet. Raila is working harder than all of them for the seat. Surely, people reap where they sow. In my opinion, we should not be entertaining the thought that anyone of the front-runners is unfit to lead just because of their surnames. ODM-K is a team party, any candidate that is ready to get out to dirty their hands with work and form coalitions is likely to win. Sitting and waiting for lady luck to smile will not work. Let us say that I refuse to name a candidate because I don't need to name the obvious!
3. On the situation of ODM-K should be a party as well as a party of parties (Coalition party).

Democratise our schools - comments on Kass FM 19 Jul 2007

School strikes are a result of our school systems not having a workable mechanism to get feedback from the students. Teachers talk to and talk at the students while ignoring the contributions of the same. The communication is single-lane. What is missing is democracy in high school. Prefects are appointed by and are therefore the administrative agents of the school administration. Indeed, I am neither aware of the provisions in the education act nor presence in our high schools of a students' union into which they elect representatives that communicate their desires/demands to the school administration. Where there is absence of a mechanism of effective communication from the students of their problems and wishes, the best language becomes stone-throwing, arson and rampage. For it seems this is the language that will ring the most visible indicators of trouble within.

To minimise and eliminate the problem of strikes and school closures, I am suggesting that either:
1. Schools allow formation of student unions which must be recognised by the school administration, much in the same way like at the university,
or

2. Deliberately set aside a day called 'the students' parliament' much in the same way that there is a morning school assembly but where students, rather than the teachers, voice their problems freely albeit without being victimised. Such ‘parliaments’ may of necessity be attended by some members of the school board.

This way, our schools will be democratised. School strikes and closures are a result of failure by the students to communicate their wishes/frustrations to the administration. A method of catharsis (steam releasing or breathing mechanism) is needed. The prefects cannot be expected to represent the students before the administration; they lord over the students in the place of the teachers. We need to democratise our high schools. Allow the students to have a way of communicating to the teachers. Teachers should not imagine that the students are there to only listen and not respond. In our modern world, teachers should not think they own absolute access to information and knowledge while entertaining the skewed notion that the students are dim-wits (stupid). There are many sources of information in school, including clandestine pocket radios through which those students listen to Kass FM among other stations. In fact these should be legalised so that whoever can, may bring a radio. All reading and no entertainment makes Kipchumba a dull boy.

Finally, may I ask a question that may be unrelated to this but touches on our school life. Is it true that the murram (Githeri) that is cooked in most if not all of our high schools is mixed with diesel to 'cool the blood' of the students? This is certainly a disgusting thing if it ever happens. But what is that smell in githeri in high school? Tunguraas?

Thy food is thy medicine - comments on Kass FM 13 July 2007

'Thy food is thy medicine'. Kaaikai ilenjineiweech biik koneetgei koaam amitwogik che chaang' sogeek kou ingweek che bo gaa. Amata kobwaat biik kole kaboruneetab keek mogoriot ko ke am banyeek. Banyeek eng' kotugul ko bo kibananookab chameetabgei eng' boorto, mogoreek che bo iman ko amei ngweek che kiinyitgei emetnyo bo Kalenjin (asi koton suunetik)! Amu yo keenam tigenoikab kimagunook, mogongyoot ak alak koteitei robiisieguk ib kole chiim.

O am isocheek, isageek, ogeere robuonik magatinik ak okwei momonik agot cho biite oreet tabanwek, amelilaan. Ongelu chego che mursi. O am kimolonik, oee chaik the nyolileen (green tea) ak mindeiyweet amu bo kamanuut chutok asi kokwei busagarieek che mi borto amu amitwogiik che ka iam ye ng'aa boorto komoche agine koisto tugul che yaachen (waste). Ongeyaas 'chips na kuku' amu matooreti kiy eng' boorto chutok. Onge am 'githeri' che maa kichuur asi kokoneech mogotiet koasken moeet. Moeet yoo karatak ama mandoi koya nebo iman amu ka maalak ib koek temeniet! Ara anyuun mochei boorto tugun che mindilileen (antioxidants) ak komochei kora ke ee beek che chaaaaaaang' (amu solvent eng' wastes che chaang', mising ko yo ki amisiei, ye imugak ogany ke ee beek che lolong'). O ngetieem ke am amitwogik che solootin (coloured foods) amu saleiweek (pigments) ko tinyei boisiet eng' boorto. Eng' bitoni ke ale mboonik cho ochutee ng'ony eng' oloo bo gaa! Omwee sundeet, ak ogany kesoom serikali koeesio mwaanik cho uu 'grease'.

Oyee leiyee, ameliloonji boorto asi iwe keeny. "Ongebir maat ko loo". Ne bo let, ongechuul borto. Chito ne imuchi koal baskilit ak kobun, yo iwendi eng' oreet ko meende eunek loolet, moche keeng'us banda asi ko gochi muguldo ko ureren. Biik che imuuchi koruai muutio ak kineetgei kebun keldo eng yo kibendi kong'eete yo ma loo.

Atoboti amu ngunoo ko ma komii maineek che tia eng' Kenya! Sagiteen amitwogiguk!

Comments on Kass FM 06 Jul 2007

Arap Sang,
Bo Chameet karoon is we! Ke ooch moeet agobo ng'olyondono. Bunyoot neo ne bo kabatindetab Kalenjin ko ki chitaab Kalenjin. Amu nee asi ko amgei kwariin biikyok? Keer tuguchu

1. KCC. Ng'o che kigoon Tissue papers che chaang' kosiir chego che kiibei farmers? Bigaab Kalenjin! Ana kaiting'o!

2. AFC/ADC. Anga nda ingen biikyok kole kitooretech kampunisiechu, ko kibwa kondo mooinik ak kotubeer kamunisiecho. Abwati ADC Kimwani, Ki kikoito kot kobek ak komi biik che ing'ururi mbaret eng' Kiptega, Sokosik etc. Ng'o ne kiiluch eut, tos ma chinnyo? Ingen arap Meli inoo ak OCS (Philip Kosgey) ole kikisoomte mbaretab Kimwani ago kiibenech chito ne kitinyei eng' ADC Ndabibi, Chabali, Prison eng' Kitale etc. Aiyo. Ki ang' keng'em AFC, ko tos ma kibar kabatiikchok? Ki akwong' ale kimwa chito age kole 'write-off my debt with AFC' amu 'my maize was struck by lightning'. Ng'o ne kikooro bandeek che kabeel ilat?

Bichoo kichorso ib kotubeer kampunisiekchok ko che kiing'em kainetab Kalenjin. Anga noo ko 'ma iwang'unegei segem book'. Mitei biik che yaei boisiet ne nyoolu, anga chang'aan ko cho indoi nguno. Amu kinyoor boisiet agobo 'merit' ama amu 'godfathers'. Kwong'utiet arap Sang ko amu kabwa nguno choriichoto kosoom ng'echerook kondoiweech. Choriik che mochei koboi CDF etc. 'Ma kiyooktoe kimageet beeny biriir'.

Ingredients of Kalenjin Bonding: Unity in Diversity

Unity in diversity. A very ignored tenet in humanity, one of those aspects of democracy that guarantees the rights of the minority even in the face of domination by the majority. It is the strength of those who hold divergent views and yet live harmoniously. It is a well known and acclaimed fact that man, by nature, is poor at multitasking, hence the wisdom of division of labour. Even in the most basic sense, diverse ideas on salient issues like religion have the potential to dismember such sacrosanct institutions as the family. What does unity in diversity mean for Kenya's 42-plus tribes, indeed for Africa's rainbow of skin colour, religious creed, economic strata and geographical, or indeed even historical diversity? What does unity in diversity mean for the Kalenjin, a club of nine-some (nine is a magical number in Kalenjin myths) tongues unified by their similarities or pretended similarities in culture and obvious tongue as well as evolutionary or migratory attributes?

The Kalenjin were not called so at the beginning of the last century, if anything not before the 1950s. Before this time, the "Nandi-Speaking" peoples was a common reference and these facts are covered in some historical monographs and journal publications (Refer to Wikipedia) and some academic manuscripts published in the 1940 like the one by Evan-Pritchard. The emergence of the term Kalenjin seems more like a coinage of some intellectual class which was desirous to cement a political alliance as a bargaining chip. Beginning in the 1940s, individuals from these groups who were going off to fight in World War II (1939–45) used the term kale or kole (the process of scarring the breast or the arm of a warrior who had killed an enemy in battle) to refer to themselves. During wartime radio broadcasts, an announcer, John Chemallan, used the phrase kalenjok ("I tell you," plural). Later, individuals from these groups who were attending Alliance High School formed a "Kalenjin" club. Fourteen in number, they constituted a distinct minority in this prestigious school in an area dominated by another tribe, the Gikuyu. The Kalenjin wanted an outward manifestation of identity and solidarity to distinguish them from the Gikuyu. These young high school students formed what would become the future Kalenjin elite. Kalenjin identity was consolidated with the founding of a Kalenjin Union in Eldoret in 1948, and the publication of a monthly magazine called Kalenjin in the 1950s.

Oddly, this word was settled on to unify the communities much like the demonised GEMA conglomerated around an acronym for the tribal nouns Gikuyu, Embu, Meru and ambivalently the Akamba. Why the Kalenjin club survived where Gema dispersed is beyond the scope of the present discussion. The Kalenjin movement was not simply the development of a people's identity. The British colonial government supported the Kalenjin movement and sponsored the Kalenjin monthly magazine out of a desire to foster anti-Gikuyu sentiments during the Mau Mau emergency. The Mau Mau movement was a mostly Gikuyu-led revolt against British colonialism that provoked an official state of emergency lasting from October 1952 to January 1960. Gikuyu conflicts both with the British and with non-Gikuyu tribes (including the Kalenjin) factored in the creation of Kalenjin solidarity and unity. Of note is that the Kalenjins are now recognised as one super-classification much in the line of thinking that informs the way in which the Luhya are amalgamated and sub-classified. By composition, the Kalenjin are made up of the Nandi (Chepng’al), Keiyo, Tugen, Kipsigis, Terik, Kony (Sebei, Sabaot), Pok (Lako), Suk (Pokwut, Pokot), Endo (not a clan of Keiyo?), Marakwet and the Kalenjin Okiek (Dorobo).

The different Kalenjin communities have had different references for each other. Thus, the Nandi were derogatively or otherwise called Chepng'al (watu wa maneno mengi!) by the other Kalenjins. There is, however, a myth that indicates that the name Nandi was given by some Arab merchants in reference to a community of vicious attackers, much like a swift bird called Nandi. It is perhaps important to mention that the term Nandi is used in the Indian language to refer to a goddess whose symbol is a bull! Does this have anything to do with the love for a cow by the Nandi and Kalenjins? It is a matter of conjecture, perhaps, but the love for a cow is found in the most flowery and unflattering language forms. "Koonyit ko toroor ko tee tany ak muren", respect is equated to a man and a cow! Ostensibly because when a man has cows, he can marry a woman and thus completely earn his respect 'koondit'.

Let’s say that history has done the Kalenjin some justice by identifying the cultural and linguistic points of convergence, and now it is upon us, this generation and the ones to come after us, to identify what divides us so that we can iron them out and model on a realistic and sustainable unity. In the Moi presidency, the Kalenjin were under the illusion that they were safe, needed not worry about multi-partyism and possibly needed no planning about the post-Moi political dispensation. That myth came crumbling on 30 Dec 2002 when the community woke up to realize that ‘Eve had no dress and I too am naked’. I need not repeat what has been repeated ad nuseum, except that a rallying of the community to counter any attempts to over-run and decimate us became the most popular effort of this community of valiant warriors. If the Kalenjin haters had succeeded in stigmatising, corralling and hoarding us into a cocoon of self-pity, the Kalenjin were to have been banished from the face of Kenya. As it were, the Kalenjin-haters' efforts came to naught, they didn’t succeed.

To not repeat the case where the community swung with Mr. Moi, we need to identify issues that unify us and those that divide us. In this case, we will avoid the case that led Njehu Gatabaki to dismiss the Kalenjin in his acidic derision that was published in the defunct yellow-journalism, the Finance magazine. I remember how every other Kalenjin kept their quiet while my cousin, Tony Kirwa, and I wrote a piece in defense of the Kalenjin (Why Gatabaki is wrong, Kenya Times, Wed 16 Nov 1994, page 7) which elicited a number of unsavoury exchanges between us and the dishonoured MP. I will post a scan of the papers elsewhere, soon. We, the Kalenjin, need to claim a deserved stake of Kenya, not as hopeless beggars at the mercy of some political god-father. No, the Kalenjin need to stand tall as proud co-owners and prominent shareholders of Kenya Inc., as a very pivotal addition without which Kenya is, but another dirty dot on a dark continent. We should know that like every citizen of Kenya: the Elmolo, the Okiek, the Giriama, the Tiriki, etc., we are an inseparable part of the Kenya socio-political fabric. Without us, this great nation will be in tatters, groan, bleed dry and wither.

The current show of Kalenjin unity may be threatened unless the tenets that bring us together are strengthened. Let me begin by saying that two things prompt me to say this. One is that the Moi presidency reversed the Kalenjin peoples’ democratisation to an extent that the Kalenjin people elected anybody he preferred as nobody dared contradict his fiat. The second reason is that while the Kalenjin position themselves to play a key role in the present political order, it is emerging that, indeed every community is angling to play the deciding or swing vote in the ever-changing political scenario. I provoke thought with a question I have asked before, should we invest in only one individual to determine our destiny as we continue to do with the ageless professor of politics, or do we need an approach that promotes a collegiate summit to manage the Kalenjin matters, much in the context of a 'Kalenjin Kokwet Council'?. Which is likely to promote a sense of ownership, a demi-god or a group that can 'weiwei' the options before plunging the community in the abyss of selfish and unconnected political expeditions?

Let me begin with a piece of tired history. After independence in 1963, the young nation needed to fuse into one massive shell, called Kenya. None of us bothered to ask what the name Kenya meant, which language it was or who had given it. I'm not sure that were we to rename this great land today, we would arrive at a consensus name given the way we are so tribally conscious! At independence, the word tribe was frowned upon as the people of Kenya embraced the nation-state and the 'growth' and well-being of Kenya became the more pressing need than abstractions like equitable distribution of national wealth. Anybody who raised a finger against the omniscient Jomo was seen as an enemy of Kenya, a 'Pumbavu', and was greeted with some unprintable platitudes. Therefore we all pretended to be Kenyans. Unwittingly, the rest of the country went to bed while Nyakinyua ran amok with land-grabbing sprees and the Chepkube menace.

The Gikuyu were eating while the rest of the communities sang the patriotic songs “ee Kanu, Kanu yajenga nchi” and 'nchi yangu ya Kenya ni nchi ya ajabu, tuungane pamoja tujenge taifa'. One only needs to listen to the patriotic songs of those days to affirm this. When Jaramogi decided to liberalise politics, the slaughter of his people in Kisumu greeted his efforts. Meanwhile, the key state corporations were being managed by the current millionaires, state companies collapsed while the company executives were becoming stinking rich ‘untouchables’. Sometimes I wonder whether my son has a role model to learn from, somebody who became a railway porter and rose on to be a millionaire by working hard, much like Tiny Rowland of the defunct Lonrho Plc. But he probably needs any, he just needs to avoid copying the ones we know.

Jomo slept, and Baba Moi inherited a system that had created a demi-god president: a primordial benefactor, the principal distributor of national wealth, farmer number one, teacher number one, family planner number one, and Kalenjin number one. To ‘speak with one voice’ was a great political philosophy and the greatest political professor considered any dissenting opinion as heretic and an insult to his consummate wisdom. On the underside, we saw communities within the Kalenjin club being branded as enemies while a select club was benefiting from state largesse, all in the name of the Kalenjin. I cannot forget an incident where I was in some audience somewhere. After being asked to identify the ‘enemy’, the audience failed to identify that the enemy was an ethnic community which is a member of the Kalenjin club! When the host pronounced the name of the enemy tribe, I blushed (well my blood became hot actually) and some in the audience turned to betray my intrusion. But it had been done. This was sustained throughout the Moi presidency with some communities being tagged as enemies, ‘berberen’, ‘kororon’, ‘choronok’, 'oribegei' etc. This should never have been allowed to begin in the first place, but Moi’s was a divide and rule regime per excellence, perfected to the core and sustained by a coterie of well-oiled sycophants.

The sad thing is that when the Kalenjin thieves were robbing the national coffers, they did it on their own, or at least for their families. When it was time to pay back, they high-tailed to the communities to seek refuge, then it was expedient for them to bundle the community into a single defence army. In a nutshell, when it was time to eat, Moi’s presidency was a closed house for only a select few court ‘eaters’. When it was pay-back time, the same exclusive eaters sought refuge in the community with the tired cliché ‘we are being haunted as a community’. We still hear these from the men and women who raped and crippled the very nerve centre of the Kalenjin economy, the KCC, KGGCU, NCPB, KIE, KNTC etc. While these corporations were going under or changing hands under the tables and being taken up by statehouse squatters, those that sustain the economies of Moi's erstwhile political enemies were thriving. Even the tea and coffee sectors were to have collapsed except that these were more controlled by Central Kenya cartels well out reach of the domineering RV Mafia.

Today, while the thieves of yesteryears enjoy the community’s protection, the protectors, you and I, walk around economically naked because of the collapse of several key agricultural-sector driving forces. The Kenyan, indeed the Kalenjin farmer was reduced to a pauper by their own government because the bubble millionaires with statehouse tentacles went on a product importation spree. Radioactive milk from Ukraine found a ready market and was safe to consume in Kenya as did Ugandan maize while the Kalenjin dairy and cereal farmer saw a collapse of the sectors at the hands of a Kalenjin government. The pride of the Kalenjin farmer was deflated irreparably by their own sons!

Fast forward to today. Mr. Moi is not in power and the Kalenjin are more solidly united and politically conscious and educated than ever. Granted, when I went to China in 2001, milk from Lessos was leaving each morning for the fresh milk market in Kisumu. Kibaki's government has tried to resuscitate the farmer's pride. Today, milk from Lessos doesn't go Cherongowards to Kisumu and Western Kenya, nay. In 2006, when I returned to Kenya, I found the milk being delivered to Kong'asiswards by the small scale farmer on a bicycle or on foot to the cooling plant in Lessos. In fact, one farmer who had forgotten his a/c number asked his son (an acquaintance of mine) to lunch at Kapsabet. The father was going to pay the bill. It brought back fond memories of the 1970s and 1980s, such a long time ago, that farmers used to drive the newest pick-ups and tractors in Eldoret town. Does any of you remember those stories of farmers going to an Indian's shop with money in a gunia, asking the Mhindi for the price of a new Ford or International tractor while the Mhindi looked at him from head to toe and back, trying to size up the rugged fellow against the price of the new tractor? Of course the Mhindi finally counted the money he needed for the tractor, much more money remained in the bag which he handed back to the nonchalant farmer. The 'kwaang'at' farmer rode his tractor back.

Those were the days when the credit facilities for farmers at AFC were available for asking, easily accessible and cheap. In Moi's Kenya, people who took these loans needed special clearance from some massive green pens, they could concoct stories like a ridiculous one I revised a long time ago. It read 'please write off my loan because lightning struck my crop of maize'. Lightning is a natural calamity, a strike of maize by lightning is creativity at its ebb. In the Moi's Kenya, brokers drove better and bigger cars, lived in better houses and put their children in better schools. The economy that was sustaining the Kalenjin was ruined by a Kalenjin ruling class while the people were reduced to beggars lining street corners for meagre pecuniary hand-outs. They were paltry when weighted against the robberies.

So much for the pain, back to the gist of my monologue, Kalenjin unity. Granted that in their magnanimity, the Kalenjin have accepted Mr. Moi's mistakes and decided to reinvent themselves as a unified house, how sustainable is the unity? One hopes that it is not a tower of cards, waiting to come down crumbling. But, is it an ephemeral coalescence driven more by fear of some unknown 'chemosiit' than a convergence of thought, or is it more reasonable than I can perceive? How about the mental ownership of 'Kalenjin', how much of Kalenjin is owned by the individual Kalenjin communities as opposed to it being owned by a few greedy 'elite' individuals with designs that are larger than your and my daily needs? Is it possible to premise the Kalenjin unity on a collection of ideological diversity but remain sustained as a unity of purpose because of some sense of importance accorded to each of the communities to that unity? Does a Sabaot in Mt. Elgon, for example, feel the same sense of mental ownership of the Kalenjin club as does a Nandi of Cherondo in Tindiret? I am aware that it is easy for anybody to imagine this as a stoking of old flames and an incitement of irrelevant issues that had better been let to rest. Ochamegei! Let's not bury our heads in the sand: by pressing the wound, the pus will come out, the wound will dry and we'll be healing it! Any other thing is an invitation to 'bulbuleni' and a Chernobyl-type explosion of a septic and contagious hatred will be inevitable. By confronting the issues that divide us, we'll be narrowing the gap, thrashing out the causes will undoubtedly help us to melt even closer. This is a viable move towards a sustainable unity of purpose.

While the emergence of the Hon. William Ruto presidential bid has given the community a new sense of identity, a semblance of freedom from the Moi clan hegemony and some security of tenure as well as the realisation that we can have a bargaining chip in the post-Moi Kenya, there are issues that need to be addressed. For example, as I asked before, is it possible for the Kalenjin to constitute a leadership summit, call it the Kalenjin Kokwet Council, out of which Ruto emerges as a leader, one among equals? This kind of arrangement will allow the Pokot to feel a sense of ownership of part of the Kalenjin club. The danger in approaching the Kalenjin unity issue as we did the approach to national unity (by demonising rather than respecting the tribe) is to promote some pretence of the absence of the undercurrents of internecine suspicions. I am not inventing these. I am aware that we are likely to face the problem of one tribe feeling excluded from a just share of the Kalenjin ‘pie’ should we be able to get recognition as a collective bloc. How certain are we that if one pretends enough to be the ‘chief’ of the Kalenjin, (s)he will not think it wise to exclude other tribes in his negotiations for positions in government.

This almost takes me off the veneer to another issue I raised elsewhere. Even if the Kalenjin seek to ‘put one of our own in statehouse’ as we always hear it sung to us ad infinitum now, are we going to be tenants in statehouse for ever? I have been of the idea that the Kalenjin did not become politically schooled because of one of their own occupying statehouse. Rather they did this only after being jolted to the perception that some crazy person in the ruling class may come knocking their door seeking retribution. Indeed while the Kalenjin were fusing and intimidating the current administration into backing off from vendetta, it emerged that the Moi clan was pursuing a more friendlier and safer approach by seeking rapprochement with the Kibaki statehouse. He was seeking his and his clan's security and survival.

The Kalenjin were magnetised in spite and in the absence from statehouse of Mr. Moi. This unity should be natured and not endangered. The first republic rubbished tribe as pumbavu, anti-development and at the same time promoted the -isms associated with it. Nepotism and clannism became the basis for getting appointments to state corporations. This was sustained by the Moi regime. Mr. Moi extended it a little to the church. Almost to a man, for example, a non-AIC adherent Nandi was perceived as an enemy of Mzee. Bishop Alexander Kipsang arap Muge was demonised because he was Anglican, Samuel Kipyebei arap Ng'eny (I would have more grouses with him because he stole Lenana School from me for his son) was never a darling of Mr. Moi even though he was among the 'Kifunguo Tatu' (sic) of 1979. Henry Kosgey never quite settled in Moi's Statehouse although he could have been helped by 'kanyiok'. Please be reminded that Kipruto arap Kirwa has never found favour before Moi, even after prostrating and apologising profusely in public. Simply because he is not AIC! Where the non-AIC leaders in Nandi were depreciated and haunted to subjugation, the clownish Barng'etuny grabbed hundreds of acres of Kimwani ADC complex for each of his sons-in-law (I wish he had another daughter for me to marry) while the poor folks at Kiptega, Kamung'ei, Sitet and Kipkures looked on agape. John Cheruiyot got a soft landing in a state corporation while Stanley Metto walked Nandi like a large colossus. David arap Bett and a new AIC-convert (I was in the meeting where he declared that he had joined AIC at Kabuson AIC Church in 1997), one Tony Ketter, supplied to KCC more toilet tissue than the milk which was delivered by the farmers.

Education was not spared either. Mr. Moi deliberately put his fingers in schools that were christened with a prefix AIC-Ng'orotionge Secondary School, any other was doomed to rot. It was during his time that we witnessed schools changing nominal church sponsors, sometimes under acrimonious circumstances as happened in in the then CPK-AIC tug of war at Lelmolok and Chepkoiyo in Uasin Gishu. The AIC church became a new tribe, a new clan if you like. It still is, for Evangelist Moi will be found in Nandi occasionally preaching! In the meantime, Moi employed three Tugen vestiges and proteges to prefect the three Nandi countries. Mark Kiptarbei arap Too was detailed to keep a tight lid on Nandi, Reuben Chesire and his agile sister, Zipporah Kitony kept an eye on Uasin-Gishu and Trans-Nzoia, respectively.

The Kibaki presidency has been even worse! Not only has this regime negated the achievements made at the demise of the Kanu behemoth in the last election. In 2002, Kenyans thought, acted sang and danced 'yote yawezekana' in the hope that tribe would be banished forever from the requirements to qualify for a state appointment. In Kibaki's government, the ministers have been given the lee-way to run their ministries without having to run scared of some village party activist with fillers at Statehouse. That is a plus. However, two sad things happened with this. The ministers have turned the ministries into tribal enclaves and reward centres. You don't need to be a genius to perceive this glaring reality; looking at any government parastatal gives one the clearest index of which tribal chief is in charge. Sadly, there aren't 42 ministries, and even if this were the case, some are class A while others are as good as ministerial departments. I do not need to belabour the second misgiving, that Kenya is a democracy best defined as 'a government of the old, by the old for all'.

In view of what the previous republics have done, Kenya and the Kalenjin need legislation to protect the citizens against mercenaries of state power so that in or out of power ‘our things’ should not be tampered with because the elaborate legislation will guarantee the rights of the weakest in the face of the menacing domineers. Community protectors need not be flesh and blood human beings who are likely to abandon the community in the high-seas. Much the same way that Kenya needs guarantee of the rights of the minority by the majority, the Kalenjin need declared and visible indices that a Sabaot will not be overrun by a Nandi in that part of their world because of their demographic strength or lack thereof. In the same way, the Terik need not be demised because of their numerical inferiority (although most of the Nandi are Terigek anyway). To guarantee this sense of collective and corporate ownership of the Kalenjin juggernaut, we need some sober thinking and not some orgasmic excitement. As the Kalenjin, we need a clear distinction between politicians and legislators including noise-makers on the one hand, and a collective Kalenjin leadership council. Can the Kalenjin offer representatives in equal proportion to constitute a supreme council that will handle and steer the community’s national aspirations? Such a council will be constituted as a semi-autonomous body made up of apolitical members representing every tribe, small or big. I hold no monopoly of ideas, certainly not of knowledge. But a robust discussion is required, not savage dismissals like are likely to greet this suggestion.

Aside from the council, the second thing is that I wish to state that it is important for all other Kalenjin tribes to respect each others' territorial interests. I am aware that this is not a very favourable topic, at least not for modern convenient thinkers. But I have taken it upon myself to broach this topic so as to slay the ghosts once and for all. Just as stated before, the Nandi should have a Nandi to represent their interests, a Keiyo should represent the Keiyo interests, even the interests of the Pokot are better represented by an ethnic Pokot. It means that it should be taken as a show of extreme insult of the Marakwet community if a Nandi should even dream of supplanting a Marakwet in the leadership of Marakwet country. This is the same for a Kipsigis in Nandi country, for in no way is a Nandi going to articulate the needs of a Tugen in Tugenland, much the same way an ethnic Kipsigis cannot be relied upon to not be tempted to devolve monies and development goodies and agenda from Nandi to a remote conclave in Kipsigisland.

Let us remember that, in Menjo University, for those who went there, we were told "Kiseetei kipchoi and eem bo buun". We would be educated by that paradigm to appreciate that we cannot invade fellow Kalenjins, Ongeseet Maasai ak eembo Lem etc. One of the truths that must be told is that when there is a ‘foreigner’ seeking positions of leadership in another tribe’s sphere, it will undoubtedly stoke the fires of hate and easily leads to a break-up of the Kalenjin unity. It is vexatious and gritty, however nationalist we pretend to be. Did I cease to be Chemoso's child because I woke up to realise that I am a Kalenjin? Will I name my son Cheptumo, or Chedatum just because I am an ardent Kalenjin? Hardly. I will name him according to the way the Nandi do. Only then can that make him stand out as a Kalenjin. That is why anybody who speaks Kalenjin language doesn't necessarily lay claim to Kalenjin membership. We need an entry point. Indeed, it is because of the privilege of being born a Nandi that I lay claim to my right as a Kalenjin.It is not vice-versa and to smell tribalism and any other -ism in this argument smacks of intellectual hypocrisy and ignorance of one's history. I am proud to be a Nandi, I expect any other Kalenjin to identify his/her roots and be proud of that. Stand tall as a Keiyot, Tugenin, Kipsigisin or Terigin. Don't be ashamed of this for in any case you bear indelible tribal marks, your names!

To rubbish the tribe as a unit of identity, security and nucleus about which the nation-state is cemented is to ask Kenyans to cede their surnames and adopt John Michael Joseph as a universal tag of a nation of patriotic pretenders. What a shame! To be proud of one's tribe and seek equitable distribution and a rightful share of the national cake to ensure that every tribe gets a share is to promote a sense of collective ownership of Nairobi. I will certainly not be amused if I am told that my tribe will not be represented in the Kalenjin club, much so the Kenyan association ostensibly because we are one. What balderdash! Promote and secure the units, the additive effect is that the centre will hold. God did not create Kenya, he created our tongues and consequently our tribes. Kenya is an acceptable, if irresistible, drawing of some imperialists, quite succinctly, a creation of the grabbers who were wining and dining at the remote Berlin conference.

Finally, for the collective Kalenjin representation, the prime representative emerging from the summit may come from any of the tribes either by consensus or through an electoral college. "Ma kindiitoi muren sumei". I ask again, is it possible to constitute a Kalenjin Kokwet Council? Will this enhance Kalenjin unity or not? Insult me if you can, but face the facts and discuss.

The February dilemma, Kass FM 02 Jul 2007

Joyce/Carlos,
Onyoiwo gaat amu asiree gutiit! Kongoi amu ng'alaaletab rani. Kayaptaetab lewenisieet agoi arawetab aeng' komuugaksei kobaate kityo ageere ale wendi koiimi biich eng' calendar ne bo school. Yoo mitei kimargatitab campaign ak election eng' arawetab aeng' ko magoi ta koyai kiy age biik. Igeere ile kiinam siaseet eng' atkinyeetak keebata lewenisiet. Ageere ale keyai lewenisiet kou biteet eng' arawab Mulgul nebo aeng' (December) ak ko koito bounatet kiptaiinik che mondooi eng' tarigiit agenge arawab Kiptaamo (February).

Uitugul ko yo kiyaei campaign arawek chuun alak ko koonu askenoteet ak kaiimet eng' lagookab sugul ak ko kataami tumwek che eng' biteet ko kikenaite ak ko nyoolchin keyai eng' Mulgul nebo aeng'. Ageere ale kito ne magaat eng' ngunoo ko keechob ng'atuutik che temeli kandoinateet amata kolewen anan kowelel biik chebo serikali konaame yoo ka kitubeer bunge (dissolution of parliament) agoi tuun konam bounateet bouunik alage anan kogetyigei bounatet. In other words, during the transition, NO appointments should be made, the governent should not undertake any thing that is likely to change our politics and civil service. Let's not forget that the transition needs certain contingent powers which should be well stipulated.

Eng' niitok koweendi konaami bounateet age tugul eng' Kiptaamo tarigiit agenge ngap iwoong'ugei niin age eng' taigit 31 Ng'otyooto (January). Ki yaak ng'olyondoni atkinye ago kituun kobiit biik che kiesio koib boisionichoto amu kikikonuunee njoor. Anga noo ko "ma kicheeng'chin booryot ye mie".