AMERICA SHOULD STOP IMPOSING ‘YOUTH LEADERS’ IN KENYA
Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 10:52
It is imperative and the wish of majority of Kenyans especially the youth to see a better future for our country. We want a nation free from corruption, free from impunity and free from bad and immoral leadership. The mentioned characteristics have epitomized Kenyan political leadership for a long time. We as Kenyans are duty bound to protect the future of this country through creating an opportunity for transformative leadership. Those who already hold power are hell-bent to cling onto it and hand over to the heirs of their choice. This culture of attempts by leaders handing over to certain people of their choice has hurt Kenya since the days of colonialism. It is this method of nurturing leadership that we have most times ended up being led by wrong people whose duty has always been to continue with the legacy of their predecessors.
Currently, Kenya is going through tough times which call for leaders with a strong background and a good understanding of the needs for our country. This is the time that the young generation is challenged with a responsibility of nurturing a leadership that will transform this country into a well established economy for the future generations. this has become the greatest challenge for this generation and I appreciate the fact that many initiatives have come up to try and right what has been made wrong by our leaders who happened to hold the reigns of power in the past.
It is laudable that even the international community is concerned about the future of Kenya and has thus decided to get involved in trying to take part in some of the processes that can help Kenya rid itself of bad leadership.
However the most regrettable part is that the people who intend to help in the name of foreign support are doing worse that the bad leaders that we already have by trying to patronize the processes of change. It is a reflection of colonial mentality that some foreign ambassadors are trying to own the Kenyan youth by imposing what they imagine can be the leadership of the youth. They have entered into the fray of misusing the name of the youth to achieve their own selfish goals which are yet to be defined.
They are now looking for the youth who are ready to be used without any question to implement what appears to be a foreign agenda. The hope that they could help the Kenyan youth overcome the political challenges has become a pipe dream. The foreign envoys especially the American embassy has decided to fall into ordinary Kenyan politics of gossip, cronyism, tribalism and sabotage as a way of showing their bosses in the US that they are working. They are spending millions of money in this country on what they claim to be pro reform projects by organizing bogus youth meetings to impress their political powers that they are working in the interest of bringing political reforms.
So far, the Kenyan youth seem not to have any sincere friend, since while the current government officials are using the Kenya youth name to advance the culture of tokenism by pretending to be appeasing the youth through small institutional tokens like the kazi kwa vijana project and the youth enterprise development fund, the foreign embassies are using the name of the Kenyan youth in justifying their expenditures on what they claim to reforms on the interest of African governments whereby Kenya is included in this group.
The same embassies have decided to use the money to impose people who know little about political leadership. It’s noticeable that the agenda of the US in this country is not to nurture true leadership, but to create supposed projects for supposed reforms without well intended result. its time for the Kenyan youth to have their own time to identify leaders and not American appointed projects sitting in hotels under American ambassador’s sponsorship and masquerading as leaders of the youth. Those gatherings are for programme officers of NGOs who are driven by the thirst for donor money and know little about political transformation in Kenya. Kenyan youth need support to work towards realization for true change; we don’t need donor sponsored circuses claiming to be representing us. Kenyan youths already know their leaders and are not ready for any impositions driven by greed for donor funds whose full agenda is yet to be established. Foreigners are welcome to help us but they are not welcome to impose political novices into what is supposed to be youth leadership.
I support president Obama’s Policy of helping democratically challenged countries like Kenya to advance reforms, but we refuse any imposition of leaders on the Kenyan youth.
FWAMBA NC FWAMBA
Box 1176, BUNGOMA,
+254721779445
I like your take..but it would be helpful if you can be more specific and show some case study on how these foreign Embassies may be exploiting Kenya youth.
Please, ask and urge your readers, in this case the Youths of your country, to read and pay detail attention to the pending ( Constitution draft). There are some good things in this draft that the public in this country should read and debate before this document can be adopted or rejected. Rather than ..
Your take on the manipulation of youths by your current government and foreign organizations is NOT far fetched!
Fwamba,
Many youth organizations in the country receive financial and technical support from development partners. A good number of these youth groups are doing tremendous work ensuring that youth issues remain on the national agenda. Granted, the US Ambassador has probably promoted his agenda more than any other Ambassador, and in a very abrasive manner that has not gone down well with a significant number of Kenyans. However, the bulk of the support provided by development partners not only benefits the respective organizations, or the organization’s intended beneficiaries, but also fulfills certain interests that they must promote from their respective capitals (international relations practitioners will support this). This is where I agree with you. However, its the same for any other support given to Health, Natural resources Management, Private Sector, Humanitarian etc. The US has particular interests with regard to Kenya, like every other development partner has.
With regard to youth groups, these development partners can choose who to work with. Tomorrow, a different set of development partners will support a different set of youth groups to organize a “National Youth Meeting”. Will we then, lambaste them for imposing an agenda or certain leaders on us?
I would encourage youth organizations and networks to spread their horizons and partnerships that will contribute towards the youth agenda in the country. Let us ensure that the different activities we get involved in are feeding towards a common goal. What we should actually worry about now is how to set up a good monitoring system that would track all these initiatives and assess whether youth issues and interests will be taken care of. We are a critical and significant group in the country, if the draft constitution is anything to go by. The last thing we need is lambasting our fellow brothers and sisters who have been able to secure support to advance the youth cause. If ,at the end of the day, it promotes our agenda and cause, then we are better of.
The US ambassador leaves next year. Another one will be posted. He/She may advance the same cause but from behind the scenes. We wont even notice hence we wont accuse them of imposing agendas and leaders.
I think we are shooting at the wrong target. We should support each other as young people and support each other’s initiatives. Our division is the victory of those who do not want to ensure that youth issues are addressed so that they can use the same youth to advance their narrow political interests.
I do not interpret specific support provided by a particular development partner as an imposition of youth leaders in the country. Who, pray tell, are the youth leaders? Are they the heads of youth NGO’s? Are they the conveners of youth networks? Are they the young MPs and Councilors, some of whom have never done anything to promote one sub-issue on youth? Are they the youth leaders in our churches and mosques? Are they the young CEO’s? Are they the university student leaders? Who are these leaders that we know?
Omore C. Osendo.
Fwamba,
Our country chose to invite foreigners to rule us – see here below;-
* Kofi Anani came to create a new political order in the country i.e the coalition.
* Krigler came to flush the disbanded ECK (KIVUITU TEAM)
* Two experts are in the Draft constitution review process-and we are being told that we must have a new constitution (what about the suitability of the content)!
* Alston came to point fingers to the policing administration.
* O’Campo is on our necks as we cannot decide on the justice process on the post election violence.
* CIA and FIB are reportedly(newspaper reports – which Saitoti denied afew days ago) flushing out weapons in the great rift valley.
Every other day,a foreign voice is raised -what do you say on the above!
Regards,
Evans MACHERA.
Fwamba;
Cool down the rhetoric. Kenyans are a bright and intelligent people
and will see through the evil eyes of the honorable American
ambassador. If I may ask, are you a political activist? It may hurt,
but even Barack came from behind to beat the most established and
formidable candidates who had name recognition and money. Just do your
homework, don’t panic.
Another thing, we are currently in the interim period, and that’s why
everyone is concerned. Kenya as we used to know it is long gone. We
must wake up and show true leadership, and any support from any
particular quarter is all welcome. When we show true leadership
qualities and share the vision with even the ambassador, im sure he
will support your vision. Everyone is worried for Kenya right now and
that should be our priority as youth.
Lastly, we should not get entangled in the politics of the day and
brand every good meaning person an enemy. Its these same people we
loudly cried to when we were burning in 2007/2008, and should be
careful not to eat the hand that feeds us. They have been supportive
of the common man when we needed them and should accept their support even when we don’t need them. Lets be open to new ideas and criticism. Only then can we say we are sovereign and are better thinkers.
Thinkers listen to all ideas, they don’t stoop too low into arguments
on who has a better idea. A thinker is confident and never has to
repeat all the time that he has to be respected because he’s a
thinker, asking to be respected means you don’t deserve the respect.
Do your homework and Kenyans will troop to your side like honey bees,
and vindicate your idea that the Honorable HE the US ambassador is the fake messiah. Until then, God protect your people.
God Bless Kenya.
As usual
Kenfish.
Fwamba,
Though you might not have mentioned it directly, it takes no stretch of imagination to know that you are alluding to the just ended National Youth Forum organized by the Nyanza Youth Forum, the Youth Agenda, KENDO and the Citizens Assembly. Of course you cannot fail to mention the fact that it is USAID that sponsored the forum which took place at KICC on Tuesday this week.
Yes I actually agree with you on several of the issues you have raised and if you read my article on my blog shortly before the meeting you will concur with me that there is no one who is interested in real change in this country. May be even me I might not be interested in the change that will bring meaningful development to the youth of Kenya.
But having participated in the forum at the planning level and at the forum itself (in fact i was one of the discussants) I want to give credit to the group that met to discuss the various topics that you have mentioned here. Actually the topic was on impunity, corruption, ethnicity and politics in Kenya. I submitted a paper on impunity.
I want to submit here that unless the other organizers had a different agenda as alluded to by you, I personally thought the idea of bringing young people from all over the country was great. That Michael Rannenberger had his own agenda of course is factual. No one can allow his money to be put where his heart is not. The USA just like any other foreign country have an agenda. And I fear the agenda must be selfish. One that will at the end of it all benefit them.
International Relations is dominated by a capitalistic agenda dressed in various clothes but at the end of the day it is always targeted at benefiting the master country. That is a fact we can hardly run away from. Nevertheless, it would be immoral of us to reject funding of our activities just because it is coming from people who have a selfish agenda.
What we must reject is the imposition of leadership on young people. So let me call upon all young people to scrutinize all the people who purportedly represented them at the forum and give their own verdict on them.
Nyaichoro Maisori
Comrade Fwamba
I read your last week’s remarks titled “AMERICAN AMBASSADOR SHOULD STOP IMPOSING ‘YOUTH LEADERS’ with a lot of interest. The gist of your mail seems to be that the National Youth Forum held at Karl Henricks Amphitheatre, KICC, Nairobi on 17th November 2009 was one of the “bogus youth meetings” serving, not Kenyan youth but American interests. You claim that American money is used to impose masqueraders who know little about political leadership. You even move further and refer to the participants of such meetings as political novices who know nothing about political transformation.
As I read through your mail, I was taken down memory lane to classical theories on political economy. I was particularly reminded of what Karl Marx penned in 1848 as the Preamble of the Communist Manifesto:
“A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.
“Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?
“Two things result from this fact:
“I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European powers to be itself a power.
“II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the spectre of communism with a manifesto of the party itself.
“To this end, Communists of various nationalities have assembled in London and sketched the following manifesto, to be published in the English, French, and German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages.”
Whilst I come from the school of thought that believes that Karl Marx’s theory on the third level of socialist revolution (read communism) was faulty, I am alive to the fact the world is yet to produce a better analysts of situations that ferment proletariat revolutions. Such situations exist in Kenya today.
It is therefore possible to use the very words that Karl Marx used in 1848 to describe the fermenting youth revolution in Kenya today, and say thus:
“A spectre is haunting Kenya — the spectre of a youth revolution. All the powers of old Kenya have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Kibaki and Raila, Uhuru and Ruto, Kalonzo and Mudavadi.
“Where is the youth initiative that has not been decried as bogus foreign puppet by its opponents in power? Where is the youth initiative that has not hurled back the branding reproach of bogus foreign puppet against the more advanced youth initiatives, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?
“Two things result from this fact:
“I. Youth revolution is already acknowledged by all Kenyan and world powers to be itself a power.
“II. It is high time that young people should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the spectre of youth revolution with a manifesto of the revolution itself.”
I am therefore not surprised that as the Government made frantic efforts to ensure that 700 youth leaders from grassroots do not converge in Nairobi, reactionary forces are also emerging from within the youth movement itself, dismissing bold steps towards transformation by their fellow youth.
My difficulty with your opinion as expressed in your mail (and I will fight to the bitter end to ensure that your right of expressing it is guaranteed) is that you dismiss, not the content of what was discussed at KICC, but rather each of the 700 delegates. You call them novices. You claim that they are masqueraders being imposed on youth leadership by the Americans.
Is this a case of diverting attention from the real issues?
The 700 delegates were capable youth leaders in their own right. 420 were leaders of active grassroots youth network, 2 from each of the 210 constituencies. The rest were composed of young leaders from the existing labour movements, universities and other tertiary institutions, civil society and religious bodies in Kenya, both at the regional and national levels. Behind these 700 delegates were millions of young people working on different aspects of reforms at the grassroots, regional and national levels.
As far as I am concerned, the meeting held at KICC was a meeting of 700 credible, legitimate and capable youth leaders representing the views and aspirations of millions of young people largely from the grassroots. The difference between the meeting and several other meetings that have been held under the banner of youth leadership is that, rather than picking on the “usual suspects” the design of the mobilization process made a conscious attempt at discovering the voices of other legitimate youth leadership at the grassroots who carry out extremely important work down there but are rarely given space on the national platform.
The origin of this forum was a discussion involving the leadership of six initiatives led and working with young people. These are Youth Agenda (YAA), Nyanza Youth Coalition (NYC), Kenya Muslim Youth Alliance (KMYA), Kenyan Network of Grassroots Organizations (KENGO), Coast Education Centre (COEC), and Citizens Assembly (CA). The issue at hand was the need to harmonize the various grassroots youth voices on reforms if our generation was to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the reform debate to impact positively on our lives and those of posterity.
This discussion was downloaded to a national youth leaders’ workshop of 60 participants held at Kasarani Sports View Hotel on 25th October 2009 who resolved on the need for a National Youth Forum to discuss the role of young people in reforms and set agenda for the forum.
The delegates at the National Youth Forum noted that the launch of the draft Constitution that coincided with the forum offered a great, albeit short, opportunity of 30 days for young people to debate and make inputs into the final phase of the constitutional review.
The full report of the National Youth Forum together with resolutions of the said meeting will be downloaded on this platform in the next few days for comments and inputs.
Comrade Fwamba, the words used in your mail depict the attitude of a person from a school of thought that believes that “if it is not done by me then it is bogus”. Do the organizers and participants of the meeting become “bogus” simply because you did not organize and participate at the meeting?
Kenya has more than 15 million young people. Each of them is engaged in a network in one part of the country or the other. Each of these networks has a leadership that may represent them at a national youth forum. They don’t become “bogus” simply because you were not one of them.
My opinion is that, rater than dismissing one another, the youth movement should attempt at finding a point of convergence. We should strive to pull together to ensure that the synergy so built is potent enough to achieve our desired goals. When we start dismissing one another as “bogus” we are in real sense destroying the chances of anyone of us achieving joint and singular objectives. Let us appreciate one another and unite for the sake of this country.
I want to end this long mail by addressing your concern on whether the meeting was serving the interest of young people or the interest of America.
It is imperative to note that as the organizers of the meeting, we took a deliberate attempt to invite almost 100 extra guests, not as active participants, but rather as observers. We invited relevant government ministries, parliament, civil society organizations, private sector, development partners and diplomatic community.
The reason behind inviting these other sectors was the realization that young people alone cannot revolutionize the country, and that we need to build partnerships with like minded people in the other sectors. For this to happen, it is critical that the potential partners in the great struggle understand our views, our aims and our tendencies.
That a number of countries sent observer representation to this meeting mean that the meeting was considered important not only within the country but even outside. Apart from other levels of representation, four countries sent in their full Ambassadors. These included the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Switzerland. At the end of the meeting the four Ambassadors assured the participants that their countries support the struggle of young people and would welcome discussions on the role they could play to ensure that the voices of young people make impact on reforms.
The Ambassadors even took time to respond to questions by young people on the difficulties that youth initiatives at the grassroots faced in accessing resources they avail to Kenya, promising to address legitimate concerns.
It is therefore imperative to note that the meeting was organized by young people and managed by young people and that the foreign countries – and you now realize that they were more than just one – came to listen, to understand and to lend their voice of support to the struggles of young people in Kenya.
With regard to the current interest of the United States on the work of young people in Kenya, the question should best be placed before its Government or their representatives to respond. However, I remember that in the months and weeks leading to the last Presidential Election in America, we almost suspended discussions on other issues on this platform as we debated on the possibilities of Barrack Obama becoming the President of the United States of America. We did this because the heritage and ideology of Barrack resonated with us. When he triumphed we all celebrated.
And on his first visit to Africa, Obama did not fail us. He spoke directly to the youth of Africa, including you and me and said:
“The people of Africa are ready to claim that future. In my country, African-Americans – including so many recent immigrants – have thrived in every sector of society. We have done so despite a difficult past, and we have drawn strength from our African heritage. With strong institutions and a strong will, I know that Africans can live their dreams in Nairobi and Lagos; in Kigali and Kinshasa; in Harare and right here in Accra.
“Fifty-two years ago, the eyes of the world were on Ghana. And a young preacher named Martin Luther King traveled here, to Accra, to watch the Union Jack come down and the Ghanaian flag go up. This was before the march on Washington or the success of the civil rights movement in my country. Dr. King was asked how he felt while watching the birth of a nation. And he said: “It renews my conviction in the ultimate triumph of justice.”
“Now, that triumph must be won once more, and it must be won by you. And I am particularly speaking to the young people. In places like Ghana, you make up over half of the population. Here is what you must know: the world will be what you make of it.
“You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can. Because in this moment, history is on the move.
“But these things can only be done if you take responsibility for your future. It won’t be easy. It will take time and effort. There will be suffering and setbacks. But I can promise you this: America will be with you. As a partner. As a friend. Opportunity won’t come from any other place, though – it must come from the decisions that you make, the things that you do, and the hope that you hold in your hearts.
“Freedom is your inheritance. Now, it is your responsibility to build upon freedom’s foundation. And if you do, we will look back years from now to places like Accra and say that this was the time when the promise was realized – this was the moment when prosperity was forged; pain was overcome; and a new era of progress began. This can be the time when we witness the triumph of justice once more. Thank you.”
When addressing students at the University of Nairobi on 29th August 2009, Obama said thus:
“In today’s Kenya, a Kenya more open and less repressive than in my father’s day, it is courage that will bring the reform so many of you so desperately want and deserve. I wish all of you luck in finding this courage in the days and months to come, and I want you to know that as your ally, your friend and your brother, I will be there to help in any way I can. Thank you.”
Should we or should we not take advantage of the brotherly commitment of support given in Nairobi and the American Policy on Africa, outlined in Accra by non other than the President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama? Do we become bogus youth leaders when we take the challenge and accept the voice of support from an ally, a friend and a brother? These are the questions.
Joshua Odhiambo Nyamori
Coordinator
Nyanza Youth Coalition
P.O. Box 1733
Kisumu
Tel: 0711 915 449
Nyamori,
How I wish such a piece should have come before Fwamba posted his article. May be he could have rethought his stand.
I will be brutally honest. What ails us is really not about who is responsible for what with whom and the question of how. The biggest enemy that we must seek to defeat is the entrenched selfish interest and greed for leadership roles that young people think will expose them to certain privileges and monetary opportunities. So much that as others are organizing for such a successful event with a clear mind of bringing together kenyans with a common resolve, others are busy calculating how much in terms of allowances people are being given. The greedy ones are always asking themselves, ”after the conference, how much money was nyamori for example left with?” or more still ” why were people being given only 200 shillings when in actual sense we were to get say 1000?”
Now such kind of silent selfish feelings will lead us nowhere. I heard many people talk of the same and I silently wondered whether we were ever serious with the change we always talk about!
When one is involved by the sharing of money such a meeting becomes successful to them but everytime they are not given money then the meeting was not successful or worse still it was imposed on us by so and so. How I wish we could be serious for even one day only!
Nyaichoro Maisori
254 727 248044
http://maisori.blogspot.com/
Kudos to the young Kenyans who came together on the 17th of November 2009
to discuss issues that affect young Kenyans. Most of us are proud of these
young men and women who came from all over Kenya to meet.
Kenyans must support such efforts,and especially now because our country
will only move forward when the young get involved and become active.
Let us give them a pat on the back and encourage. It is our duty to do so.
Let us also be grateful to those willing to invest in the youth of Kenya.
Jayne Mati
MD
http://www.marsgroupkenya.org
National Coordinator
Partnership For Change
http://www.marsgroupkenya.org/partnershipforchange
P.O Box 63535 00619
Nairobi, Kenya
254 20 2132311/2
254 710 252 727
Ndugu Joshua,
Thanks for this elaborate clarification. Reassuring. The challenge is how to build synergies across the various reform initiatives. The ‘enemy’ is a huge monster, and only a common reform-front can shake it. The harvest is a lot, but harvesters very few, as the holy book would say!
Best wishes,
Shem
Joshua,
You argue very strongly about the National Youth Forum. Question: is there a way that we could make the process of selection, and indeed, participation more inclusive? The gist of what Fwamba says, it appears to me, is that the entire process might not have been very inclusive – and so some folks felt excluded. I am not so sure this is necessarily good for the overall youth empowerment in this country…
This is just a thought…
David Onunda