Wednesday, 3 December 2014

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It is devolution or revolution! We celebrate one year of devolution and this is why




Ahmed Sheikh recounts a harrowing narrative of Mandera’s bitter past of pain … a history of war, massacres, degradation and under development by successive regimes to a renewed hope of a new dawn ushered in by the new Constitution and the devolved system of governance.

Mandera County’s colonisation was different from the rest of the region then called the East Africa protectorate. Proximity to two volatile borders of Abyssinnia (Ethiopia) and Italian Somalia meant Mandera was to be handled differently. Greater Somalia was partitioned into three—British Somalia, which included Ogaden region of Ethiopia; Djibouti was French Somalia; while South Central Somalia was colonised by Italy.

The area was named Northern Frontier District (NFD) because of this proximity. It had an administrator and was used as a buffer zone to stop the advancement of Abysinnia and the Italians southwards.

As a way of stopping Abyssinia and Italians from encroachment, NFD took its own colonial administration. During negotiations for independence, the colonial administration proposed that it could hold on to the area as Italy had conceded independence to Somalia and Abysinnia.
 
In 1962 a referendum, one of the first in the Eastern Africa region, that gave the people three choices NFD to remain independent, join Somalia or Kenya was conducted.  It was done on behalf of the colonial office  by  Nigeria  and Canada. Three things informed the voting decision. 

When making their decision, NFD people felt they were completely cut off from Kenya. There was a pervading perception that they were part of Somalia because of ethnicity but had weak institutions to manage independence as they had high illiteracy levels. Whereas 85 per cent wanted to join Somalia, the British colonialists never honoured the verdict. They sat with the Kenyan government to ensure their interests would remain protected, as NFD became part of Kenya. In 1963 they asked the new Kenyan leaders to devise a strategy on how to make NFD part of Kenya

They wanted to partition NFD into two parts: Wajir, Garissa and Mandera were to become a new entity called North Eastern Province (NEP) while Moyale, Marsabit and Isiolo were carved out to form part of Eastern Province.

After partitioning it, it dawned on the Somalia government that the outcome of the referendum was not going to be respected. They mobilised people to fight for liberation and hence the ‘Shifta War’ and protests in the 1960s and 1970s.

The newly independent Somalia mobilised her residents to fight Kenyan authorities using Shifta guerillas before the locals were herded into villages, which were virtually concentration camps. 

In the early 1960s, the region started relying on famine relief and food aid and never recovered from the villagisation strategy. The other strategy the government used to contain the people was to categorise them into what was classified as a prohibited zone

Sharing the Somali language because of their close proximity to Somalia, the Borana-speaking communities were herded into Eastern Province to the so called ‘proscribed districts’. And then there were contagious districts influenced by NFD like Tana River and Lamu and who had their own sets of laws. 


They were given powers to shoot and kill and severe suppression ensued. To further marginalise the region, Sessional Paper Number 10 of 1965 prescribed a legalisation of marginalisation of the NEP from the rest of Kenya. The paper kept on informing decisions of successive governments on NEP

When Kenyans talked of independence in 1963, we  did  not.  It is only now in Mandera that we are talking of one year of independence since the advent of devolution. We lagged behind in development and when Kenyans talk about najivunia kuwa mkenya (being proud of being Kenyan) we spoke of kuvumilia (persevering) being Kenyans.
 
We got independence on August 27, 2010 with the promulgation of the new Constitution. The passion for devolution and high expectations are unprecedented. We were shunned, neglected conned and betrayed. But we are now smart and we can never be conned or be betrayed again. It is either devolution or revolution.  There was a lot of social segregation in terms of accessing legal documents of citizenship, jobs and basic services.

For a long time we were considered as a pariah people, sub-nationals without rights and privileges who pegged their hopes on those who were in leadership.  It took me four years to get a passport that other
Kenyans could get it in days. We went through trauma, curfews and massacres. Abdi Madobe was arrested and harassed by security agents, accused of being a poacher. There was no legal remedy. He escaped from jail and what he could not get legally, he resorted to the law of the jungle taking arms to seek justice.

This single incident invited the wrath of the country in punishing the entire Somali people collectively. They imposed dusk-to-dawn curfews in NEP. Why would the issue of an individual cause pain to a whole community? This is what caused the Garissa Massacre. Then there was the Wagalla Massacre resulting from the ethnic clashes between Degodia and the Ajuran. Hundreds died or disappeared and the impact is still being felt to date. 

This was revenge under the cover of repressive laws. Many other incidents of marginalisation, killings and torture abound. The local media ignored us and only international media glimpsed through the issues.   We are beginning to tell the world our story and we cannot allow the forces of betrayal and impunity to kill our hopes by  stifling devolution. We cannot go back to the dark old days of suppression and segregation. It is devolution or revolution!







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