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.