Folks,
William you have spoken well, I salute you sir!!
This is truely a written thought in many Luo’s minds. The way forward is to move on from this limbo not tomorrow but today. Let us all now utilize the skills and talents and the ability to gain what was lost centuries ago. Let us marshal small and big rich and poor leaders and performers in a boat sailing to Development Strategic Plan of Action.
I will start and hope others will follow and together you will hold my back when I weary. The Luo men are a hard shell nut, but I will try to start to marshal them to invitation for development projects in different locations in Nyanza, starting with Obunga in November 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_WlP2Dk4zE
For employment I stand to challenge His Excellency The Rt. Prime Minister Raila to start by employing atleast 10 professionals in his Prime Ministers Office which was recently created. I have heard people say The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Raila is social and is good to Luos before he gets power, but when he does get to power, he gets drunk with power and forgets about the ladder not realizing he will need the ladder to climb down. What I say is, in leadership, people get so busy and occupied to a point they struggle to meet deadlines and in the process they take matters of utmost concern to later day. However, this is no excuse for The Rt. Hon. not to remember he is coming from a poor house which is the LUO. He should not relent to lift them up so we do not throw away the God given talent and skills. Nyathi gi Akinyi, wuod Jaduong, Kech nyalo dhi gi ji marach parie oganda mi ji tol mar lupo gidhi mak rech. Waheri mar adier go dhoji bor, jogo okbi timi gimoro, isekalo iwegi chien ndi wago machiemo. Let us together use it to the capacity because this is the will of God. The Rt. Hon. Raila too should not fear the gossip of Luos, they are like that, it is their culture – it is hard for us to change them since gossip is healthy, it is the grease that lubricates engine. Very soon there will come a time when the stormy water will calm down and settle when the tiding is good. Sani to pii pod oduwore.
Kajwang too have not employed or cleaned to make changes in his Ministry. It has taken him too long to make the necessary changes. It is well known that the Ministry of Immigration is known to be too corrupt, he should have started by cleaning the house like Hon. Ngilu, Orengo and Anyang Nyongo so to be seen he too is a CHANGE CATALYST.
Let us remain united while trying to find ways and solution to our community problem together.
I love you all!!!!!
Sincerely,
Judy Miriga
CEO & Executive Director
African Women Lobby Network, Inc.
219 Stubblefield Way
Silver Spring MD, 20905
Email: Jbatec@yahoo.com
Phone: (301) 879-1869
www.africanwomenlobbynet.org
— On Tue, 8/12/08, William ODuor. wrote:
ATT: Ms. Mary Onyango
Chair
Nyanza Economic Forum
SDA House, Riverside Drive, Ground Floor
P.O. Box 10676-00400, NAIROBI, KENYA
Tel: 254-2-2385853 Cell: 254-738231011 or 254-710-451318
E-mail: info@nyanzaforum.org
Website: www.nyanzaforum.org
I congratulate you for establishing Nyanza Economic Forum. It is my hope that, this is not going to be the Davos version of Nyanza!. It is my hope that, this will not be ”just” another initiative where the Luo elite come, dine and give word of mouth. It is my hope again that, NEF will aspire to inspire true sons and daughters of Sango to have an economy of their own. An economy with a robust market not only for selling their wares, but where they can obtain loan to further their entrepreneurial skills.
As you are aware, the people of Nyanza have endured real difficult times since the formation of the nation-Kenya. The Sango people have been socially, politically and economically emasculated due to perceived disobedience of the past regimes.
Today, as we start the walk, we must not forget important fundamentals that is the backbone of strong thriving societies. The reverses of 1960s, 1970s 1980s, 1990s, and the New Millennium shall guide us into a new beginning.
No condition is permanent but, as you ride through the towns of Nyanza, what do you see?, you see terrible signs of human withdrawal and resignation. You can not fail to see the many faces of wasted generations idling our market centres. The generation that thinks in terms of commencing ngware or boda boda enterprise. We are simply consumers of India and Chinese bicycle industry yet we have thousands of UON engineering degree holders who are unable to invent.
This Letter attempts to share with you my thoughts on measures that are needed to change Luo worth. The Luo, though a significant ethnic community in Kenya, are still unable to make Luoland a better place to live in. The reason to this is simple; we have been unable to embrace the art of organizing and acting coherently as a people who share the same economy, culture, region and surnames. I am of the opinion that, the first task of NEF should be that of soul-searching. It is not too late for the Luo to define themselves and identify their collective interests and finally to find how to promote or realize those interests. As I say this, I know that most of you do not have any investment in the capital of Nyanza. Many Luos in Nairobi talk of Kisumu in a very negative manner. Some even testify that they do not know Kisumu well or simply put, ”Kisumu kacha to ang’o ma itimoe”.
These are the people who NEF need to change their crude perception. This style of reasoning has made wahindi prosper as we watch. The wahindi have really exploited our disunity, capitalizing on it to their advantage by buying and owning the province’s government. The PPO, PC, DC etc only serve wahindi in Nyanza. Our people have been reduced to mere street hawkers (hawking for wahindi) and nyuka gi chapat pavement traders etc. The small money we get is rewired back to the big network of wahindi economy.
While Jaindi uses the money to educate his offspring mostly in UK, Autralia and Canada, the Luo take ther children to DHT or New Kisumu High School (all private secondary schools owned by wahindi) where going to the university is nothing but a pipe dream.
Ladies and Gentlemen, there has to be a cause, goal or agenda that drives both the leaders and the masses. History informs me that no community can unite without the purpose of doing so. As things stand now, what is the main agenda confronting Luo and Luoland at the hour?. Is it poverty? Is it Healthcare, Education or both? Is it political Leadership, Is it male circumsicion (as others seem to think)? Let us SWOT and go.
What I am trying to say here is: many Luos both peasant and elite are pursuing their individual agenda due to lack of collective communal response to problems facing the Luo.This has left the Luo masses in a serious state of frustration, despondency and even hopelessnes.
As I continue to share, I know some do rightly argue about politics. Yes, they may be right too, but what I can add is that Kenyan politics has got along way to go. It is therefore foolhardy to see politics as a way of solving our economic problems. Kenyan politics, just like other African countries are very difficult to come to terms with. No one can predict how the current political situation in Kenya will evolve. A common agenda appropriate to all the possibilities above is that the Luo should empower themselves to decide their destiny as a people and they should be able to enjoy the freedom, to develop and maximize their collective and individual potentials through unfettered access, use and exploitation of their resources – human and material – and by creating opportunities for every Luo son and daughter to develop their individual talents to the maximum extent possible for their own good, the general good and of our region. But, we have to be realistic, a realistic appraisal of our community assets etc. This may include, nam Sango, land and other numerous natural resources.
As I bid you, the NEF should strive to preach unity of purpose, sellf-confidence, self-motivation and determination as a people without the above can no longer be relevant in this first changing world. The world is undergoing a very rapid technological revolution. Today, you need to be up-to-date in order to be relevant in your field of specialty. In this regard, I would urge you to seriously consider joining hands to upgrading RIAT to be a fully functional Business and IT Institute. Why can’t RIAT be Kenya’s first equivalent to India’s Mumbai Institute of Technology?
Riat alone can bring world’s leading IT companies to Kisumu thus bringing jobs and opportunities in the region.
Above all, let Luo create a vision for a future they believe in and will fight and if need be die for. As the old adage goes, God helps those who help themselves. So let the Luo challenge themselves to succeed and never to fail again.
Thank you
William ODuor
– – –
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:12:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: Judy Miriga
Subject: Re: Nyanza Economic Forum
William, i truely agree with you that our people must have a plan
now of owning real businesses in kisumu not just kiosks and hawking.We are not going to allow our leaders to protect other
rich people at the expense of the luos in Nyanza.We can not be spectators in the wealth accumulations in the region where we
are just consumers.The provicial administration for a very long time has been working against the luos in kisumu inorder to promote Asians and other tribes with businesses to dominate
Kisumu business.
The policy of making luos in kisumu has been the policy of the
central government right from the kenyatta government.Kenyatta collected Indians who were doing business
in Central Region to Kisumu and Mombasa inorder to compete with inexperienced and underfinanced luo businesses,and eventually ruined the luo businesses. This policy worked very
well and within a short time luos were removed from doing business in their own land.Moi also perfected the policy of kenyatta by promoted the imdian businessmen to become millionaires overnight. Kibaki was just concerned in encouraging
his kinsmen,kikuyu to open businesses in kisumu to compete
asians.
It is the time now when the luos must open meaning businesses
which can create employment to our people who are unemployed
despite their education.The indians in kisumu should come out
to help the luos by partnership.There are alot of business partneship the indians and luos can do to improve the economy
of kisumu. In fact,the luos have proved to the whole world that
we are very democratic by electing an Indian at the expense our
own sons/daughters.It is high time,the indians in kisumu come out to help our people.The luos are very peaceful people but
they hate pride from anybody.
luo businessmen
Indeed, we must encourage entrepreneurship at all cost; let us not yearn to be employees but to be employers.
What we should ask from the government is,
• Fast, affordable and easy business registration tools, including use of internet.
• Provision of credit facilities
• creation of a business authority to offer training and advice to small businesses at constituency level
• Improve the physical infrastructure.
We should let the PM employ qualified Kenyans because he is a PM for all Kenyans
ITS TRUE
During the acme of Minister Simon Nyacahe’s power he had a predilection for ridiculing the Luos as poor people who live in thatched huts. Under Moi ridiculing the Luos was taken as not only as a sign of loyalty but also efficincey by the top politicians and civil servants, no matter how uncivil they were!
Nyachae knew very well that he was sponsoring his tribesmen to dominate business in Kisumu using his office and he was also aware that the banks were not ashamed to tell us that the ”Luos are not given loans by the banks”. This was official crime supported by the likes of Simon Nyachae. He was lucky that he served in a corrupt tribalism-propelled government which did not care even if its Ministers committed acts of treason, like deriding the very people they took an oath to protect and develop without fear or favour.
In countries where the law of protection of citizens is in place the likes of Simon Nyachae could have easily faced the gallows.
It is not enough to say that the Luos must take active part in real business. We must act and not just talk. We have the power to change our economic status even if by using peaceful boycott to ensure socioeconomic respect by other communities in the country. This of time of boycott is coming and soon.
Any arrogant businessmen or bank employees who celebrate in our poverty must be exposed. Leaders with the mentality of Simon Nyachae must be resisted even if it means boycotting their businesses altogether.
Our econiomic status will never change if we enjoy being manamba boys in matatus run by others who deride us as poor thatched-hut dwellers. We must form corporatives and buy buses and matatus. Why not? We must all turn our backs to ”ichlit kod nyiego ma osethirowa higini mang’eny.”
In 2003 I witnessed how a GEMA magistrate was ridiculing the Luos at his Corner Bar in Kisumu just because he was married to a Luo and Mwai Kibaki was hard pressed to sack Raila Amolo Odinga from the post of Minister of Public Works. To this arrogant magistrate the money the Luos were paying in his bar simply represented our idiocy! Why then are we drinking in such bars when they do not do so in ours? The same could be said of the ”Hole in the Wall” in Nairobi!!
Boycotting the businesses of those who boycott ours and at the same time look down upon us will restore our respect. Just a one-week boycott will definitely restore our in-born respect, which is a basic human right.
DR. ODIDA OKUTHE.
I agree with the above, but where does one start?Luos are enemies of themselves and can not assist each other to come up.We have the best brains and our leaders would prefer outsiders to insiders.Good people, let us do what Simon Nyachaye did to his kisii tribe.Let us empower one another economically and then we will stop being looked down upon by other tribes.
There is a say which other tribes in kenya normally quote and our people unfortunately unware of it-“Luos are the most hated tribe in kenya but they are not aware of it,luos are the most loved tribe in kenya and they do not.Why?