As a teenager I held a fascination with
the Continent of Africa. My focus was primarily
in the countries of Tanzania and Kenya. In my freshman year in
college I wrote my English class term paper on the Mau Mau uprising of the
1950's. I don't remember much about my research, my paper or my grade. What I
do remember is how horrible men were towards other men.
By the time I wrote the paper in 1965, the country of Kenya had gained
its independence from Britain, and was becoming one of the more
prosperous countries in Africa. Both Kenya and Tanzania were rich in
natural resources (particularly wildlife), and my hope was that
I would one day be in a position to visit that part of Eastern Africa. I never
had that good fortune. Along the way life changed my dreams, but I have
hung onto the wonder of what it would be like to visit those two countries yet
today. Unfortunately, like much of the world in this century the living conditions
for both the poor and affluent alike have deteriorated to a level unimaginable
twenty-five years ago. For the poor the issue has been extreme poverty and for
the affluent the issue has become security.
The following article dated August 7. 2012 describes extreme mayhem
in the capital city of Nairobi. Sound familiar? Can anyone say Detroit,
Michigan?
THE KILLING of a British woman, Caron Winter, by burglars at her
home in Nairobi last Sunday was particularly poignant, writes Richard Dowden.
Winter, 30, was killed in front of her 14-month baby and her body was found by
her husband Adam, a pilot who had been flying relief flights into Rwanda.
He survived by feigning death.
Every time such a tragedy happens to a white in Kenya, nostalgic
articles appear in the British press juxtaposing the latest brutal killing with Happy
Valley, the Kenyan paradise that gave us Born Free, White Mischief and Out of
Africa. This dream world belonged to a time when Kenya was pronounced
Keenya, where whites tamed the wild and lived - or overlived - a life of
sensual luxury, and where All of the Natives were Happy All of the Time.
Even if the reminiscences do recall the Mau Mau movement, the
brutal Kikuyu rebellion of the early 1950s, they only include the 32 whites who
died. The 13,000 Africans killed are
usually forgotten.
Like
most big African cities, Nairobi and its largely white suburbs have been
dangerous places for many years. Most houses there,
bungalows set in gardens, have high walls, fences, steel gates and fearsome
dogs. Every house has a gateman and nightwatchman, usually a Samburu, Masai or
Kamba, traditionally regarded as 'warrior' peoples, armed with a truncheon. But
many Nairobi residents now have guns and alarms as well.
As
homes have become more impregnable, attackers have taken to robbing cars at
traffic lights in town.
Contrary to popular perception, the chief victims are not white
Kenyans or the expatriate community of the Langata and Karen suburbs. Two or
three times a week, Kenyan newspapers report the death of a nightwatchman. The
main shantytown, Mathari Valley, is a sink of crime and violence, and police
seldom bother to investigate a crime there. Violent robbery on buses or the streets of Nairobi is an hourly event.
It is the poor who are robbed most often.
Ethnic
conflicts have displaced more than 300,000 people in Kenya and many of them,
particularly young men, come to the cities in search of work, but find none. For
those who do, the average wage in Nairobi is about 3,000 shillings (pounds
32.50) a month, but for a breadwinner this barely covers the cost of ugali, the
maize-meal porridge which is the Kenyan staple diet. Meat is too expensive for
most families, and beer and cigarettes beyond their reach.
School fees, the most important investment every African makes -
or tries to make - are now about 12,000 shillings a year. If families can
afford consistent education for one child they are lucky, and there are
thousands of children who have dropped out of school or failed to take up
places because of lack of funds. Without education there is only one other way
of getting rich, and that is theft.
At more than 4 per cent, Kenya has the highest population growth
rate in Africa, but its economic growth rate is less than 1 per cent. Inflation
is estimated at 57 per cent. Standards
of living improved in Kenya in every decade since the Second World War, but
this generation is facing a sharp decline. That collapse of expectation,
particularly for young people who know they will never have a job or money, is
a prime cause of the rise in crime in the last few years.
Nairobi,
a city built for 1.5 million people that now has a population of more than 3
million, is close to collapse. Its roads are potholed,
its water, electricity and telephone systems are occasional. If you are under
attack in Nairobi and call the police, assuming the telephone works, they are
likely to ask you to come and collect them, as they have no vehicles or no
fuel. Only a few policemen will act without asking for a personal fee.
In
Kenya corruption has spread from the top, and when Kenya's leaders lead the way
in corruption why should the people not follow? One Kenyan businessman close to
several leading politicians, Kamlesh Pattni, is being charged with attempting
to embezzle 9.9bn shillings. An export scam he organised four years ago was
approved by the Kenyan Vice-President and one of its richest men, George
Saitoti, who was welcomed on a visit to London last week.
No comments:
Post a Comment