I had to borrow this and support it with a picture. With all due respect, Dennis Okari’s documentary about radicalisation of Muslim youths in Mombasa added no value to the debate. He didn’t even attempt to find out why the youths are being radicalised. As a non-Muslim, I believe I don’t have the remorse people like Wandati suffer when they discuss this grave issue. The Coast is like no other region in Kenya. Duale, now part of the group that has marginalised others for decades, arrogantly claimed that many other Kenyan regions are marginalised, including North Eastern and Bondo, yet their youths are not being radicalised. How cheap! I have seen this warped logic used to assign greater fault on part of the Mombasa youths. If other Kenyans are marginalised, should that stop Mombasa youths from fighting for their causes? Even under the same oppressor, marginalised groups react differently and with their own unique set of implements. But the truth of the matter is that no Kenyan region has suffered the neglect and exploitation the Coast has been subjected to for fifty years. Other tribes have been marginalised or had their lands looted, but in the Coast both these injustices were meted, creating in recent years inequality comparable only to that in Latin America in the 80s, with locals living as squatters on their own lands. And now their culture that has survived 500 years, maybe more, is itself under threat. What annoys the youths more is not lack of dialogue, for which the government has allowed no space, but that all Muslim leaders, the ones who claim to be the people’s voices, such as Duale, are stooges of the oppressors. Which Muslim leader in Kenya today can speak with authority about the misappropriation of Coastal people’s lands? Even after the High Court and Court of Appeal ruled that Kenyatta’s decree on the allotment of land on the beaches was illegal, has there been discussion on the fate of lands that were allotted through that illegal law? The Kalenjin violence in 2008 resulted in their land grievances being recognised as part of historical injustices, but the Coast’s problems havent got such widespread attention, in part because the resistance is localised in mosques and is yet to become an existential threat to national stability. The coastals have not fought enough. One of the ironies of violence is that while we abhor it in principle, and while it hurts mostly the innocent, it is sometimes the only tool the oppressed can used against an all-powerful oppressor. With leaders in Kenya today among the biggest beneficiaries of land grabbing, this coastal problem will fester for longer until a solution is found. This will be at even more cost to innocent lives. It shouldnt be this way if there was good leadership. Another joke I’m tired of hearing in this Mombasa youths’ debate is the warning that religion should not be used to rally support for political causes. This point rings hollow in the sweeping support by its proponents for the use of tribes as a ralling tool in politics Written by a non-coast Kenyan.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 11:34:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015