Should Have Passed on the Meat Stew

I just got back from two days in Eldoret, Kericho and Kisumu, but have an awful case of food poisoning.  Fever, chills and every joint in my body aches.  I had to leave my meeting this morning at Mercy Corps to come back and get my Cipro and go to bed.

I'll be back.

Déjà vu All Over Again

Much of the dialogue regarding gender issues in Kenya focuses on the cultural, legal and political inequalities between men and women.  There is a growing understanding that they are inextricably linked.  The rhetoric is very reminiscent of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s in the U.S., when I was first entering the job market and starting my family.

Kenya is moving, slowly, away from a culture where women are marginalized by their government, culture, social class and lack of education.  Although there are many articles, discussions and seminars that focus on why women should be allowed access to the workplace, they almost always are still linked to accommodation issues and needs related to childbirth and motherhood.  The implicit message is “hire a woman, but be prepared for the hassle.”  They don’t have enough experience yet to rely on the easy message that women will do a really good job if given the chance.

Outside the urban setting, many tribal cultures still view education of women as a waste of time and energy.  Yet women are increasingly represented in Kenya’s universities and professional schools.  The label “feminist” results in the same kinds of negative reactions from men and women that women encountered at home, but there appears to be an increasing willingness to talk about “gender issues.”

The culture here is intensely male focused.  Fidelity is a scarce quality; child care is the mother’s problem.  The needs of the man come first and foremost.  But women are starting to push back, especially as they gain more economic and political power to give that push some strength.  A letter to the editor in the Daily Nation this morning was evocative of prevalent and popular attitudes in the U.S. not more than 20 years ago:

“Let’s face it; a woman is not a robot, yet society forces her to act like one.  She wakes up in the morning, prepares her children for school, serves her husband breakfast, sits through annoying traffic jam on her way to work, works eight hours, and then rushes home to clean and cook and attend to her husband’s needs.  The least you can do as her son, daughter, or husband is to help.  Your mother ‘did it all’ because she did not go to work.”

I was raised in a huge Irish Catholic family in the Midwest where my highest and best use was to marry well.  My mom was unofficially excommunicated when she was 28 years old because she started using birth control after her fifth child. 

My dad’s approach to marriage and parenthood would fit in well here in Kenya.  During one of my visits home during college, I was in the kitchen talking with my mom, whom I adore.  My dad yelled at her to come pour his coffee.  He was watching TV on the couch; the coffee pot was right in front of him.  My mom went in and poured the coffee.  When she came back to the kitchen and saw the look on my face, she said “just leave it alone; it works for us.”

A few years later, I sent her a copy of Susan Brownmiller’s book, Against Our Will:  Men, Women and Rape.  When she called me later to tell me what a great book it was, she talked about Brownmiller's conclusions that men essentially have terrorized and dominated women unfairly since forever.  After several minutes, I asked her why she was whispering.  She said “your father’s in the next room and I don’t want him to hear me.”

My husband treats me with respect and makes me feel valued.  We are equal partners.  He’s been fully involved as a parent since our daughters were infants.  Those daughters are strong and independent, each with a strong sense of self.  Who would of thought.

It can happen here in Kenya as well. 

The Politics of Betrayal

Kenya’s reeling right now over the revelations in a new autobiography, The Politics of Betrayal:  Diary of a Kenyan Legislator, by Joe Khamisi, a former Member of Parliament (“MP”) during Kibaki’s first term as president in the early 2000’s.  Amazon Link  I don’t imagine he will run for office again.    

The Daily Nation is publishing major sections of the book as a “serialisation.”  Here are 10 points from the most recent excerpt that illustrate more of the political corruption I described in my blog yesterday.  (I promise that my next entry will be more up-beat.)

1.         Within weeks after Kibaki became president in 2002, the Parliament increased MPs’ salaries from 395,000 kes per month ($4708 at today’s conversion rate) to 485,000 kes ($5781) per month, half of it tax free.  The rationale in an economy where the average daily wage was less than $1 a day, was that “the job of a Member of Parliament is a selfless job for which no amount of money would be enough to compensate for the inconvenience, the risks and the both the job entails . . ..”

2.         In addition to the monthly payment, MPs received a 3.3 million kes car grant (about $40,000), a “sitting allowance” for each day they actually appeared in Parliament to do their job, and a “winding up” allowance of 1.5 million kes ($18,000) when their 5 year term ended.  With those payments, Kenyan MPs became some of the most highly paid legislators in Africa.

3.         The attendance sheet used to calculate the sitting allowances is maintained manually.  An MP could claim the sitting allowance as long as he showed up for even 5 minutes.  Others made arrangements for their staff to mark them in as present when they were not even in Nairobi. 

4.         In mid 2007, before the infamous election, truancy was so serious that no business could be conducted because the necessary quorum of 30 members – out of 222 – was not present.

5.         Every single committee of Parliament authorized overseas travel allowances for its members and their entourage, including the Catering Committee.  The favorite destinations were the U.S. and Europe.   During the first eight months of 2008 alone, the related additional cost was close to $1,500,000.

6.         In 2004, the taxpayers learned that they had been ”ripped off of hundreds of millions of shillings” when the government purchased a new building for its MPs and administrative offices in 1995 – the “Continental House.”  On March 31, 1995, the building was purchased by a company called Archway Holdings for 225 million shillings; the government bought it three months later for 465 million shillings, more than twice the purchase price.  The government then spent another 300 million shillings to renovate the building with a gym, sauna, Jacuzzi, salons, conference facilities and a roof-top restaurant, as well as customized towels and gowns for all 222 MPs, complete with embossed name tags.

7.         The building subsequently fell into general disrepair.  The plumbing and sewage system didn’t work.  The MPs stopped using the gym built for them and preferred to use exercise rooms in five-star hotels in Nairobi.  The air-conditioning didn’t work.  Millions of shillings were spent to lay cables between the Parliament Buildings and the new administration building and to install equipment in the MP offices, but the only computers with internet facilities were in the library.

8.         Some MPs turned their government offices into lodging facilities and private business centers, where import and export enterprises thrived.

9.         Young women ostensibly hired as assistants “did more than just typing and filing.”  “The heavily made-up girls wore their ‘personal assistant’ badges in a way to be admired and walked the corridors of continental House without care.  There were indeed some respectful and decent works in the building, but those were highly outnumbered.”

10.       The tarnished reputations of the MPs were publicly aired after an MP was accused of raping a woman in his office.  (It should be no surprise that the matter never went to court).  At that same time, the press learned that the sewage system at Continental House continually clogged due to careless disposal of used condoms.

Corruption, Graft and Impunity

Kenya’s largest problems are unrestrained population growth that is doubling every 17 years, related unemployment of over 40%, and a government that is permeated with graft and corruption. 

Political corruption in Kenya is rampant at all levels of government and law enforcement.  In 2010, Kenya was ranked 154 out of 178 countries by the Corruption Perception Index.  There are articles in the papers every day about new instances of graft and embezzlement of government funds, and bribing of police officers, magistrates and witnesses in amounts ranging from $100 or less to millions of dollars.

The corruption is compounded by what the papers call “impunity,” essentially exemption from any punishment or accountability.  Over and over again those charged with crimes of corruption are acquitted by the courts in blatantly inadequate investigations and prosecutions, if they ever are charged at all.  The cases linger on for years while potential witnesses die, disappear or eventually recant their expected testimony.

The corruption has existed since Kenya gained its independence in 1963.  Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president, ruled from 1963 until he died in1978.  Although he did many wonderful things for his country, he also created an authoritarian government that is greatly divided among tribal lines and rife with patronage, favoritism and nepotism. 

Kenyatta allowed and encouraged public officials to use the power and influence of their offices to acquire great wealth.  His own family became one of the wealthiest and most powerful in Kenya. 

Those practices became even more entrenched during the reign of Daniel Arap Moi, who was president from 1978 to 2002.   As with the Kenyatta’s, Mr. Moi’s family and friends accumulated great wealth during their days of power.  Although implicated in many charges of corruption, some still ongoing today, Mr. Moi still lives in his opulent estate in the hills overlooking Kenya’s largest slum, Kibera.

Mwai Kibaki is Kenya’s current president, only its third since independence almost 50 years ago.  He campaigned on promises to end the endemic corruption and to improve Kenya’s dismal economy.  To his credit, Kenya’s economy did improve rather substantially in the early years of his leadership; the corruption, however, continues unabated.

Early in his first term, President Kibaki appointed a very well educated and capable Kenyan journalist, John Githango, as the Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics.  Mr. Githango quietly resigned from that position two years later amid reports of death threats when he apparently started to uncover ongoing corruption at the highest levels.  

At the same time, close friends of the president were implicated in multi-dollar scandals.  Two of his close allies who held Minister positions in the government were forced to resign because of their alleged involvement in corrupt transactions.  They were reinstated to the cabinet, however, even before the investigations were completed.

In the 2007 presidential elections, Kibaki claimed victory and had himself sworn in secretly before the electoral process even finished.  To this day, it is not clear who actually won the election, which included widespread bribery, vote buying, intimidation, ballot-stuffing and incompetent oversight.  The post election violence that resulted in the deaths of over 1300 Kenyans, the brutal rape and assault of hundreds of women and the displacement of 500,000 people from their homes remains the darkest hour in Kenya’s history as a republic.

Following the violence, Kenya was given the option either to set up a local tribunal in Kenya to investigate and charge those responsible for the violence, or to refer the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.  On two different occasions, the Kenyan Parliament refused to establish the local tribunal to deal with the matter, apparently on the mistaken belief that the ICC would take years to act.  The ICC prosecutor, Luis-Moreno Ocampo, however, quickly instigated an investigation when Kenya failed to do so on its own.

The ICC subsequently indicted 6 high ranking Kenyans in March 2011 for the crimes against humanity that occurred after the 2007 election (the “Ocampa Six”).  The hearings to establish if the prosecution has sufficient evidence to proceed are scheduled to begin in September.  Ironically, the same Kenyan politicians who refused to establish the local tribunal, insisting that the cases go to The Hague, are now arguing that the ICC should allow Kenya to create the very tribunal it previously rejected. 

The Ocampo Six include Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, the grandson of Kenya’s first president, and its Higher Education Minister, William Samoei Ruto.  Accompanied by a horde of Kenyan officials in a display of “support,” they left earlier this month for The Hague where the Ocampo Six officially were charged with crimes against humanity. 

In a process I can only call surrealistic, Kenyatta and Ruto returned to Kenya amidst great fanfare and celebration that included a huge gathering in which they were treated as heroes by a cheering throng (who reportedly were paid and fed to attend the rally).  In the meantime, the relatives and friends of those dead and maimed, and the hundreds of thousands of people still displaced from their homes, wait quietly and futilely for a hero of their own to pursue justice for them.

Last week, Mr. Ruto was acquitted in an unrelated Kenyan criminal case where he and others were charged with graft related to a sale of public land to a public company several years ago.  The court dismissed the case for “lack of evidence,” expressly pointing out that the “critical witness” responsible for handling the cash flow was never even called to testify.  She was one of 18 witnesses expected to testify who did not appear in court before the prosecution rested and the court dismissed the case. 

The Critical Witness is around, though.  She is in a new job that Mr. Ruto gave her in 2009.  In the meantime, the 270 million shillings allegedly paid for the land are nowhere to be found.

From the Road to Mombasa

My husband is here for a week (hooray!) and we decided to take a road trip to the Kenyan Coast.  Our driver, Joseph, told us it would take about 5-6 hours to get to Mombasa from Nairobi.  It took us 9 1/2 hours.

Mombasa

The driver is not a luxury – he is a necessity.  The traffic and driving here truly are insane.  The roads are few, terrible and mostly under construction.  You barrel along a 4 lane for a mile or so and then the road just . . . stops and you are on a dirt turn-around where the driver does a 180 onto another dirt road, stops for a foot deep rut and then onto another road.  No one minds any rules of the road.  The public transit – Matatus (vans) and boda bodas (125 cc motor bikes) driven like maniacs.  There are deaths daily.

Now about that 5-6 hours to Mombasa.  I’ve experienced a fair amount of similar misinformation.  Take this recent interchange at dinner:

            “The menu says you have Béarnaise sauce for this entrée?”

            “Oh yes, the Béarnaise sauce is very very good.”

            “OK.  I will have that.”

My food came with a sauce, but it clearly was not Béarnaise.

            “I don’t think this is the Béarnaise sauce.”

            “That is pepper corn sauce.”

            “I see.  But I ordered Béarnaise sauce.”

            “The pepper corn sauce is very very good.”

            “But I ordered Béarnaise sauce.”

            “That is pepper corn sauce.”

“I understand that it is pepper corn sauce and I am sure it is very good, but can I have Béarnaise sauce?”

            “We have no Béarnaise sauce.  The pepper corn sauce is very good.”

I don’t perceive an intent to deceive or to mislead in these conversations.  I think it is more a reluctance to make you unhappy with bad news, and so you get a modified version of the facts to maintain peace in the moment.

The drive to Mombasa and the East Coast was pretty interesting, although ultimately too long and very hot.  It included more than a few incongruous moments:

Free Ride

1.         A policeman was directing traffic in the middle of rush hour by the Nairobi airport.  Clearly lacking multi-tasking skills, he stood in the middle of the road with one arm out stopping traffic in one direction while talking and laughing on his cell phone FOR SEVERAL MINUTES.  The traffic he should have been controlling with his cell phone hand sat there, motionless, until he was done.

2.         The number of people who can cram in or on any particular vehicle is astounding.

3.        We watched several men load a car up onto a truck.  They counted to three and then lifted it onto the truck, which was about 6 feet off the ground.  It was similar to watching a person passed along a mosh pit by a drunken crowd.  At times the car kind of wobbled and leaned.  It was so odd and engrossing to watch that I forgot I even had my camera.

4.         We had lunch at a Muslim restaurant.  The TV was turned to an Islamic channel that conducted the call to prayer, translated into English.  As soon as it was over, The TV was switched to a rather bawdy MTV like channel.

5.         We saw many Muslim women in traditional black garb, with full veils, but they were filmy and formfitting, sleek and sinuous, with sequins, and the women looked incredibly sensual.  Not I think, the intent of the religious requirement, which seems to be focused on eliminating any vestige of female allure or individualism – to make you an unidentified thing, not a person.

6.         A school sign said “Secondary School for Girls.  No Mutilation.”  A good thing.

7.         A motorcycle went by with about a dozen live chickens hanging from its various parts.  Not too much later we saw a motorcycle with 5 people on it – 3 adults with two kids sandwiched among them.  And then this:

8.         The over-loaded bicycles in the middle of intense traffic.

9.         The over-loaded push carts in the middle of intense traffic.  Note that the guy below was running as he pushed the banana cart.

 

10.       The under-powered semi-trucks filled to capacity that are unable to get to the top of the hill (not to mention the 5 higher hills coming right after).  I wonder what they do?  Unload, I suppose.

Traveling

I am traveling outside Nairobi on the East Coast of Kenya for a few days and the internet connection, when there is one, is agonizingly sllooooowwww.  I will post again when I get back to town.

New Things I Learned About the Maasai

1.         Young Maasai girls often become sexually active when they are pre-pubescent.  Boys close to their own age, however, are not considered husband material.

2.         Virginity before marriage is not required or valued.  Girls who are not virgins may be suspect as undesirable.

3.         Girls and boys are circumcised in their teens.  The group of peers who get circumcised together are “age mates” or an “age group.”  The age of those in the group may vary from 2-10 years.

4.         Maasai men do not marry until they are “elders.”   Young girls typically are sold by their parents for a bride price and married to men far older. 

5.         Maasai men take several wives.

6.         A Maasai wife belongs to her husband and his age mates.

7.         An age mate who is in a hut with one of the many wives who belong to his age group puts a spear in the ground outside the door to indicate his presence.  The other men stay away.

8.         A woman who has several children is expected to give away at least two of her children as a permanent gift to her childless sister, with the consent of her husband.

9.         Only sons, not daughters, can inherit property from their parents.

10.       Education for girls is considered unnecessary, especially once they are circumcised and no longer considered children.

Ripped From the Headlines

1.         This one I will just quote:

            “As the 2012 US presidential poll approaches, Barack Obama’s re-election chances are not promising, remarks Tony Gee.  He poses: “Do you know that since 1945, only one Democrat (Bill Clinton) has been re-elected to a second term and only one Republican (George Bush, the elder) was never re-elected?  So the omens for Obama are not that good.  But his best chance will be if the Republicans select Sarah Palin, whose IQ is low and falling . . ..”

2.         Kobe made the Kenya news with his bigoted remark to the ref.  The most telling response is that no one on either side of the world seems at all surprised by his behavior.

3.         How many issues can you spot:  On April 11, a boda boda (motorcyle) operator and his passenger in Kisii died when a lorry (truck) hit them.  When the motor cycle driver made an abrupt U-turn, his helmet fell off and he tried to pick it up while still moving without noticing the speeding truck coming at him.

4.         The same day an overloaded lorry was laboring up a road on Thika Road, a major thoroughfare in Nairobi.  It lost power before it reached the top of the slope and reversed backwards.  It crushed the car behind it, killing three and seriously injuring two others.  The driver and conductor fled.

5.         At 9 p.m. on March 29, “an axe-wielding assailant” attacked an engineering student, injuring him seriously.  The student narrowly escaped death when the axe missed his head and landed on his back.  The student is the 7th victim this semester at Moi University.  The serial hacker, still on the loose, is referred to as Mashoka by the student community (shoka is Kiswahili for axe).

6.         Crocodiles took an elderly man’s arm on April 8 in Embu, and yet another man was killed by a croc in Mbeere North on April 12.  Hundreds of Mbeere residents blocked the road for hours,calling on the government to establish a safer watering point for them.  Two brothers, ages 6 and 15, are fighting for their lives after a crocodile attack on April 12 in Mwingi.  The older brother was attacked while trying to rescue his little brother.

7.         On April 5 in Mbeere South, a primary school teacher was hacked to death in his house.  No motive has been established and apparently the attackers have not been identified.

8.         In Orlando, Florida, a Kenyan women threw a weight at her Burundian fiance; he used the weight to hit her back and killed her.

9.         After a domestic dispute with her husband in Eldoret, a woman killed two of her children on April 12 by tossing her three year old into a water filled quarry 300 feet below and then jumping in with her infant strapped to her back.  Her third child, age 8, escaped when she told her mother she would jump in by herself and then ran away.

10.       Some supermarkets are experiencing a shortage of coins to give change to their customers, so they are handing out sweets in lieu of the money.  Customers are not responding well; they are starting to insist that they should be able to pay for their groceries with their own sweets if they don’t have enough cash.

[All items from the Daily Nation.]

Justice Delayed Truly is Justice Denied

Today I spent several hours in Nairobi’s Industrial Area Remand Prison, which houses more than 3000 inmates in a space designed to hold 800.  The vast majority are persons charged with more minor crimes that are slowly – very slowly – working their way through the “trial” process.  

The prison has another relatively small population of convicts found guilty of non-violent crimes.  Their heads are shaved and they wear black and white striped uniforms consisting of short sleeved shorts and drawstring pants.

I sat just inside the prison in a small, open room with a prison cage in one quarter, benches in another, and a table along the other half.  While I was there, several small contingents of convicts came and went through the entry hall next door.  They seemed generally composed.  The guards I saw, and there were many, many guards, were positive, relatively respectful to the prisoners and some very helpful to our small group of interviewers.

The prison also houses several hundred suspects who are charged with capital offenses, such as armed robbery or assault with a dangerous weapon.  Unlike the other inmates, they are dressed in khaki t-shirts and long shorts and are hand-cuffed together when transported outside their cells.  And some of their stories are chilling.  Chilling not because of the accusations against them, but rather because justice has abandoned them.

Earlier in my stay here in Kenya, I noticed in the paper that a person charged with manslaughter might get four years in prison, but then another person who stole $40 was sentenced to hang.  I wondered how that could happen, but learned today that is because a conviction in Kenya for armed robbery has a mandatory death sentence.  Period.  The punishment was initiated in colonial times and has never changed.  (Note that no one actually has been put to death in Kenya for decades; the sentences are commuted to life.)

There also is no chance of bail for a person charged with a capital crime.  So he or she sits in jail until acquitted or convicted.  And that can take years.  (See my blog entry on April 13describing the “trial” process.)

Here are three examples where justice lost its way.

1.         John has a wife and three kids.  He used to operate a pull-cart service during the day, normally working from early morning to early evening.  At night he took a matatu to get home. 

Matatus, a form of public transport, are vans that hold 12-15 people.  They operate on a supply/demand basis; a ride that cost 20 kes (25 cents) at 10 in the morning could cost you 70 kes (83 cents) during rush hour.  The difference is significant when the average daily pay for a Kenyan is 100 kes ($1.19).  The drivers are notorious for ignoring traffic rules and paying off the police to ignore their infractions. 

            One evening last November, John was waiting for a matatu to go home to his family.  Several of them were charging 70 kes, although one driver said he would only charge 50 kes.  That van filled quickly.  The driver then told the people in the bus he had changed his mind and was going to charge them 70 kes.

            Several riders left the bus and started throwing rocks in protest (a person throwing rocks is considered armed), breaking some of the van’s windows.  John remained inside with his brother and a co-worker.

            The driver then closed the door and drove as fast as he could to the police station.  As the driver parked and ran into the station, claiming he had a van full of thugs, the riders started to leave the bus, justifiably fearing what was going to happen with the police.

            John was the last to leave the van.  As he stepped down, the police shot him in his knee and leg, causing serious damage.  John had done nothing other than sit in the van and then step out at the police station; there is no witness who says otherwise.

            The police took John to a hospital.  Although he was medically discharged on January 7 (with a cast and a walker), John was not allowed to leave because his bill had not been paid and because the police had dropped him off.  The hospital insisted the police had to come in order to let John leave. 

            John stayed in the hospital and slept on the floor until the middle of February, when the police finally came and took him to prison.  The next day he went to court and was charged with armed violence, a capital offense.  That is the first time he heard the charges against him.

            There is nothing in the police file identifying anyone who saw John do anything other than sit in the van and leave when it stopped.  There is no one who saw John do anything to justify the police shooting.  Both his brother and his co-worker completely corroborate his version of what happened.

In the meantime, John is still in a cast and must use a walker to get around.  The prison cannot afford to fill his prescription for pain-killers and will not allow anyone else to bring them to him.  John cannot leave until he is acquitted, which could take years.

            There’s been an “indication” that if John paid the matatu driver 50,000 kes ($596) and signed an affidavit that he would not sue the police for his shooting injury, the prosecution would not go forward.  Eventually the magistrate would dismiss the case.  John’s family does not have the money.

2.         William is a 17 year old high school student.  Last August he bought a cell phone from a man on the street.  One day he got a call from a man who asked William to identify himself.  William did so and told the caller that he was at school. 

            Later that day William was arrested at school and taken to the prison in his school uniform.  He was charged in court the next day with armed robbery and attempted murder, both capital offenses.  Because those are the charges, he is not eligible for release on bail.

            The sole evidence against William is the cell phone, which was stolen during the robbery.  The evidence from the cell phone records is undisputed that William was the 4th person to use the stolen cell phone since the robbery.  The first, second and third users have not been arrested.

            Since William was imprisoned last August, the prosecution has not yet called even one witness to support its charges against him.

3.         Steven was in his first year at the University of Nairobi and doing well.  He went to a pub one night to drink beer and watch a soccer game.  The pub was crowded and a good mood prevailed since the game was going well for Kenya.

            Another customer told Steven his phone wasn’t working and asked if he could put his sim card into Steven’s to make a short call.  Steven laughed and gave him the phone.  The man started to talk on the phone, but then said it was too loud in the pub and he was going to step outside.  He disappeared with Steven’s phone.

            A few days later, a man was robbed and beaten by an unknown assailant, who dropped a cell phone.  When the police recovered the phone, it was identified as Steven’s.  Based solely on that evidence, the police went to Steven’s home and took him to prison.  He was later charged with the armed robbery and assault, a capital crime with a mandatory death sentence and no chance of parole.

            Steven eventually was acquitted.  Not only was the phone the only evidence the prosecutor had, Steven had multiple and credible witnesses who placed him far from the crime at the time it happened.

            The very good news is that Steven is now back in the university, and positive and upbeat about life in general.  He tries to forget that he was in jail for more than two years waiting for his acquittal.

Attending a Trial. Or Not.

I spent yesterday morning in the Makadara Law Court and learned more about the Kenyan law system in three hours than I have since I came here.  But first I will digress for just a moment.

There is a large United Nations summit of some sort taking place at my hotel this week to discuss Somalia.  I am sure the agenda is sobering; security certainly is.  I went in to breakfast this morning (which plays country music each day; this morning it was “The Gambler” and “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille”) and requested my normal 2 boiled eggs from the young woman at the egg station in the buffet line. 

When I went back to get them a little later, I waited while the cook finished helping the man in front of me.  She told me the eggs were “just ready,” and as she was fishing them out, another man came around me and said he would take the boiled eggs.  She told him they were for the “lady there.”  Ignoring me completely, he told her, “I will take them.”  She looked at me, I shrugged my shoulders and she gave them to him.  I hope he takes a different tack in the diplomatic discussions.

Back to Makadara.  The courtroom in general is laid out similar to ours.  There is a box for the judge at the front facing the room.  In front of that is a table, with court personnel on one side – the Orderly (similar to our Bailiff) and Clerks – and lawyers and police prosecutors on the other side facing the judge. 

There is a box to the right where the accused stands, and a witness box to the left, where the witness stands and testifies.  The are several rows of (very hard) benches at the back of the room for the public.  I will get a picture if I am there when court is not is session.

The Magistrate came out right at nine and started a call process.  She spoke in English and one of the clerks translated into Kiswahili to the defendants.  (The new Constitution expressly provides that Kiswahili is the “national” language of Kenya, and that Kiswahili and English are the “official” languages.) 

The first several cases were postponed for various reasons that sounded pretty familiar – the defendant’s lawyer was not there, a witness did not show up, the prosecutor needed more time to prepare, the defendant was sick, the official file was not in the courtroom, etc.  As the judge issued her orders postponing the trial, she wrote them herself into the court file.

In yet another familiar scenario, the Magistrate ordered the parties to go out into the hallway for 10 minutes and settle the matter.  The defendants were a husband and wife.  The accuser was a neighbor who said they had taken one of her animals; she was willing to accept money and an apology to drop her charges.  The defendant husband was willing to do that; his wife was not.  They settled.  This apparently is a very common way to resolve criminal charges, a process often rife with corruption at all official levels.

As each lawyer left, he or she turned to the court and bowed (some of them pretty perfunctory) before they turned their backs and left the room.

The prosecutions all were handled by the same Police Prosecutor, a large burly woman, dressed impeccably in a navy blue pants suit uniform (with  epaulets) and large gold earrings.  She was authoritarian and intimidating and I liked her immediately. 

I was there to watch the trial for a case that involves sexual abuse or “defilement” against a 14 year old girl.  When the little girl's parents both died, she and her baby sister moved in with their aunt. 

One day while her aunt was looking for work, a neighbor man, who looked about 30-35, told her she was supposed to come over to his house and pick up something her aunt had left there  When she went over to the house, he took the baby from her, set the baby down outside and lead the girl into his house and raped her. 

She screamed and two neighbor women came to her rescue. The young girl received a medical exam, which confirmed that she was sexually assaulted.

The police report, the medical report and statements from the victim and the two witnesses were in the file I reviewed.  The little girl was there to testify, accompanied by her aunt, her baby sister and a male friend.

I expected a trial; instead, one witness testified and was cross-examined by the defendant’s lawyer and the case was sent to another court for a new date to take more evidence.  There was no identification of the charges, no opening statement, no summary of what had gone on before, and no discussion afterwards of what would happen next, other than the need for a new date to provide more testimony from the police prosecutor.  After waiting in another courtroom for 1 1/2 hours, the new date was set for August.

The trial process subsequently was explained to me as follows:

1.         A complaint is filed against the accused, who is brought to court and officially charged.

2.         At some later date set by the court, the Police Prosecutor begins to provide evidence to the court through witnesses, who do not appear all at once.  The prosecutor may provide a fact witness at one appearance, the treating doctor at another, and other witnesses at yet another time.  The other side is allowed to cross-examine.

            In one case, the Police Prosecutor was ready to proceed with four witnesses, but the Magistrate said she only had time to hear two, and the others would have to come back at a later time.

            A lawyer may assist the Police Prosecutor in the cases, but is not allowed to speak in court.  This is called “watch briefing.”

3.         When the Police Prosecutor finishes with the state’s evidence, which takes months if not years, the Magistrate then decides if the evidence is sufficient to support the charge and decides if the defendant must answer.  If not, the case if over; if the evidence is sufficient, the defendant then starts the same evidence process.  Although unclear to me, rebuttal appears unusual.

4.         When all evidence is heard, the Magistrate makes a decision, prepares a report and enters judgment.  If the Magistrate leaves the bench for any reason during the pendency of the suit, the parties can agree to let the new Magistrate pick up and continue the case or request that the evidence start over.  The defendants, not surprisingly, usually request the latter.

5.         The clerk is supposed to prepare a hand-written transcript of the testimony taken in court, so testimony is given slowly.  (Note that I went to the Kibera court yesterday afternoon to review files; extensive hand-written notes in the files were little more than scribbling and undecipherable in either English or Kiswahili.)

            6.         The accused can appeal a conviction.

I left the courtroom after a couple of hours.  I bowed to the Magistrate first.

Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA)-Kenya



Lake Elementaita


FIDA Kenya was established in 1985 after the 3rd UN Conference on Women, which was held in Nairobi.  FIDA Kenya, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, is

“committed to the creation of a society that is free from all forms of discrimination against women.  This is done through the provision of legal aid to indigent women, engagement on legal, policy and legislative reform, treat monitoring and research among other programmatic interventions.”
Go to FIDA Kenya

Last week I attended a two day Public Interest workshop presented by FIDA at Lake Elementaita in Naivasha, a couple of hours outside Nairobe. 

The attendees were attorneys who provide pro bono services to FIDA clients.  The primary focus was the new constitution, its bill of rights and the opportunities to pursue claims of public interest.

FIDA Kenya is impressive.  It members are strong, smart and committed.  And they need to be, because their challenges are daunting.  Here are examples of the kinds of issues women bring to FIDA Kenya for help.

1.         A high school girl was raped at school by two classmates.  The boys were arrested and arraigned in court; however, the school told the victim she can no longer attend class because it would be disruptive and unpleasant for the other students, and shameful and humiliating for her.

2.          2.     A woman went into a hospital to deliver her baby.   She had to have a C-section and was put under a general anesthetic.  While she was unconscious, and without her knowledge or consent, the doctor circumcised her at the instruction of her husban

        3.     Flower farms in Kenya are a very profitable and lucrative industry; for example, Kenya grows 50% of all of the red roses sold in the world.  The workers at the farms are expected to work 12 hours a day for 100 kes (about $1.19 per day).  They are exposed with no protection to toxic and abrasive chemicals and insecticides.  They work in closed unventilated greenhouses.  The women are often sexually harassed and abused.

4.         Two high school girls approached another and made sexual advances.  She objected and they tried again.  The girl reported the advances to the deputy head master and then to the head master of the school, who did nothing in response.  The girl is now in the hospital after the other two “put metal pieces into her private parts.”   (The Daily Standard reported this incident on Friday, April 8, and stated that she is still in the hospital.)

5.         Women routinely are fired when they become pregnant.

6.         Women who are forced to go to the state hospitals because of problems in delivering a baby are detained indefinitely by hospital authorities if they are unable to pay.  (See my blog entry on April 7.)

7.         Polygamy is common and accepted, especially outside Nairobi.  There are multiple issues regarding inheritance and succession rights of wives, partners, and children.

8.         Three women were arrested because they were in the process of having abortions.  They were taken to the police station and not provided any medical care.  One of them bled out and died overnight.

            The break out groups and discussions, including those on the two hour bus ride back to Nairobi, were enlightening, to say the least.  This is another group that does, in fact, make a difference.

Sunday in Nairobi

Reading one of the Nairobi papers front to back is now a morning ritual, along with my bowl of fresh fruit and two boiled eggs.  The staff in the breakfast room know me and my cup of black coffee (which they find strange without milk) is poured before I even sit down.

The Kenya papers are consumed, understandably, with the first appearance of the “Ocampo Six” at the Hague earlier this week – William Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta, Henry Kosgey, Francis Muthaura, Hussein Ali and Joshua Sang.  They are charged with crimes against humanity related to the post election violence in Kenya in 2007 and 2008 in which 1300 people died, hundreds of women were savaged, and hundreds of thousands lost their homes.  They are accused of inciting and encouraging the tribal conflicts that resulted in beheadings, rape, torture, arson and other violence.

As I paged through the paper, with each article more serious than the last, I smiled when I got to the sports page and saw a picture of LaMarcus Aldridge and a big article on the Blazers’ win against the Lakers on Friday (yay‼).   Something I already knew about, of course, but fun just the same to see in the Nairobi newspaper.

The articles in the paper describe situations and perspectives that are very different from those at home; however, the similarities of the human concerns and interactions are surprisingly similar.  To illustrate that point, and to take a lighter moment on this incredibly beautiful Sunday morning, here are excerpts from the “Jokes” column in today’s Daily Nation describing misstatements in the media:

·         A great Captain must win the toss before anyone else.

·         The bowler’s ball went nowhere near where it was going.

·         The slow-motion replay does not show how fast Sachin was actually moving.

·         Andrew Strauss decided to chance his arm and it came off.

·         Cricket must not be used as a political bat.

·         The suspicious white powder found n Herman’s laundry has been analyzed as useful for washing.

·         Competitors for the spelling contest must syne up before Thursday.

·         The Judiciary is compiling fresh safety measures for criminals on their way to be hanged.

·         Teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a litmus test.

And finally:

            Why are you so exhausted?

            The computer broke down at work, so all of had to do our own thinking.



Sunday in Nairobi