Arjen Westra’s African Weblog

It is the people against the people.
I don’t see the sons of daughters of politicians fighting.
It’s the poor against the poor…
A poor Luo who lives on a fews shilling a day, has more in common with his poor Kikuyu neighbour who is trying to make ends meet with a few shillings.
They have both nothing in common with their filthy rich leaders, Luo or Kikuyu, owning companies, appartments, shares. Everyhwhere in the wordl: in Europe (Swizerland), America (New York), Australia, South Africa (Johannesburg).
They stole a lot already, although Kenyans did not threaten them in anything. How could they? They were busy: trying to sell some tomatoes, making a few cents profit so they could buy some ugali for their kids or sending half of their monthly salary of 25 euro to the shop where they sell school uniforms, worrying about their security. I am not talking about the leaders’ kids: they study abroad and don’t have to worry.
I am getting convinced more and more: Some weeks ago, Kenyan leaders did the Robbery of the century: they stole hope from people whose only possession was hope. If they call themselves men, African men and not cowards, the least they could do is give back hope. Kenyans will survive anyway, but it would be a great dead of respect towards their own people.

Just talked to some Kenyans in front of Parliament buildings. Please listen to this rough draft hardly edited basket of views and ideas.

Just back from a press trip with the Kenyan Tourist Board. According to the Kenyan Tourist Board, things have never been so bad, not even after 09/11 when a lot of Tourists stayed away from Kenya. The Tourism sector is ringing the Alarm Bell: 20.000 direct jobs will have gone the end of this month if Kibaki and Odinga don’t come to their senses. According to the Tourist Board within 3 months 120.000 jobs are at stake, 12,8% of Kenya’s GDP comes from tourism. What they want to say: tourists please come back, you are perfectly safe on the Kenyan Coast. Shortly available: audio.

Arrived in Togo-capital Lomé after a 24-hour trip from Capetown, South Africa. I still owe you some stories from Namibia and South Africa and Ghana among them one about some Himba milionares in the Namibian desert, and the Ghana art of living. For now: still enjoying the heat and the end of the rainy season in the Togo-capital Lomé where elections were held yesterday. First impression two days ago: it feels like Sunday morning here all day. And the heat, always the hea. And the happines that seems to come with poverty. Togolese suffer, but they know where they are coming from: they once had a thriving market that was mainly built on the economic crisis of the countries around: in Burkina Faso, in Ivory Coast and in Ghana. Now that those countries are doing well (I came through Accra, capital of the neigbouring Ghana: what an activity, boiling atmosphere!) people do not need Togo anymore. It is the other way around. People go the neighboring countries for doing business. There is a road along the coast that connects them and makes one big zone of economic activity. Locals can travel without visa, althought borders will be closed until 15 October. One of the most important things for Togo is that foreign aid and foreign investors will come back to the country. Only phospate, uranium and some other raw products are not enough to build your economy. There are a lot of opportunities for the tourism industry here. Ok, i am dreaming there.
For now, everybody still seems to have some tension about the results that are expected later this week. Last night it was extremely quiet everywhere in town. As a local explained it to me: `…people are still afraid of what might happen.` More than hundred people were killed in the 2005 elections, that were won by the current president Faure Gnassingbe. An expected 40.000 people fled the country that year. These 2007 elections were monitored by EU and Ecowas observateurs. I noticed some of them are from countries like Brazil, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. Not all of them did not give me the impression of observing. I noticed some of them were enjoying very good and long lunches when they were supposed to be on their job. Mmmhhh? Today I will be travelling North in Togo. I will Keep you posted with a delay. Enjoy your day!

Does Mungiki bring the dream for Africa? What is the point of a so called sect, or ‘political’ movement that believes in killing people by beheading their victims? Sorry to say, but if do you don’t make a point when you get the World’s attention, then there can only be one motivation: you want to bring chaos for the order of chaos, feeding any so-called opposition in Kenya with illustration material why things are not right in this country, bringing a general feeling of insecurity… What’s your programm, Mungiki? It just confirms the feeling that everything is politics in this country, politics to destroy.

Sometimes i get really sick of Kenyan politics. All these movements of old guys with big bellies, who have been around for almost 20 years and are now blaming the current government for tribalism, not being able to fight crime, in-security or whatever. Where were you when the once riving economy nose-dived into the Rift Valley? This country is full of selfish bastards, who play their own population in a way that shows total disrespect. None of the so called new movements (and old political parties) have something like a program. A written document that says: this is what the country needs, and this is how we are going to solve it. They like to play Kenyan politics ‘old style’, where favouring an ethnic group, and your alpha-male aspirations for ‘real leadership’ is more important than being there to serve your people. Politics in Kenya is business. Not the question What do THEY get out of it, but what do I get out of it, is most important. The debate is about the heads, like in a lot of places in the (political) world. But the things is: I don’t know any African country that even can AFFORD to discuss about minor issues if the majority of your population is suffering. Opposition in Kenya like playing a blame game. It does not look very smart from a distance. Most countries on this continent live in a permanent state of emergency and therefore ask for a united effort to solve the problems in the interest of the most vulnerable people in there societies, children, women and the un-employed, the illiterate. The people who manage to survive day in day out. They are my heroes. Political debates where blaming is more important than coming with solutions for real problems your country is facing, is something for later. Opposition in Kenya is only for destroying and establishing their own interest, filling the bellies if you want. Come with a program. We are living in Kenya 2007 guys, not in the old days anymore! Have a dream for your people, a lot of them lost it! Comments are welcome.

Just back from the outback around Garissa for reports on a Camel Library. Prepared for the worst but got the best tarmac road: six and a half hours from Nairobi. The more than hundred NGO’s working here are using proper fourwheeldrives to deliver their aid to the needy. The local Nomad Palace is happy with the clientele. Development workers around means workshops! The Kenyan National Library Service delivers books to the needy, with camels. Why? Because camels are better accepted than other ways of delivery according one of the spokesmen of the libray. Interesting he? Audio and pictures will be posted soon. Have a cultural and literate day!

Just back from Chogoria area for reports on community tourism, the coffee- and tea industry. Coffee dioes not bring enough income, farmers don’t want to change, or are not able to change their business. Now, locals are becoming share holders in a tourist lodge and getting the profit. More pictures available soon.

Enjoy!

The digital gap is getting smaller: the thing is: we don’t see that it is really getting smaller because desert places get connected and they are out of our sight. At the moment I am enjoying rather quick internet in the deep south of Uganda (in the village Buhoma to be more precise, a few kilometers from the Congolese border). The cybercafe was set up for the purpose of sending medical reports on gorilla dung to the headoffice in Kampala. In case of an emergency Kampala can send a vet. The cyber is partly financed by the fees (360 usdollar) that people pay for gorilla tracking in the nearby Bwindi Inpenetratable Forest National Parc.   

Piracy might have good consequences but in the end a lot of people would be better of if there would be a better system of protecting consumers against these natural mechanisms of making income differences smaller in this continent. Such a system would at least contribute to the trust people would have in their own government their own systems. Trust is one of the most important things that a lot of African societies are lacking. It might even one of the main reasons that a lot of countries are still lacking a strong growth in development. In daily life one is all the time confronted with small and big lies, non-stop. If you want to bring a mobile phone to the repair shop you will get it back stripped from some parts: nobody in the shop is able to tell where the parts went. If you go to a shop people talk to you nicely to get you as a customer and after picking up the slides they have all sort of reasons why they did not deliver the quality what they promised. You want to talk about a discount. They call their uncle who works with the police and threaten to arrest you if you don’t pay the full amount al thought they didn’t deliver what they promised (which actually happened when I enjoyed a beer with a friend in a bar). The insurance company might come to see you and ask you to pay an extra amount of money because they have a police abstract that says you are guilty although you have a copy that says you are not. And as a climax you have to come to the police station to pay the ‘fine’ for your girlfriend who has been arrested for not wearing her belt in the matatu. Walking home she tells you that the police officer was suggesting other ways of lowering the fine when he took her to his office and proposed to remove your trousers. All cases are from real life and you pick up these stories daily fro the streets, from friends or I experience them myself. All cases have to do with a lack of trust or at least they contribute to trust in society. Trust from people in their governments, their police force and trust from people in their fellow citizen. For a lot of people on this continent it is daily reality. For me it explains a bit why people tend to behave selfish: if you don’t know who to trust, not even your own police force or government, then who could you? Then you are on your own. If people feel they are on their own and cannot have any influence on their circumstances, they will grab any one-minute of power where at least they can have the feeling they are in control of their live. In the West we have One Minute of Fame. In Africa a lot of people enjoy their One Minute of Power in those situations. Enjoy your day!