RESIDENTS MOURNS THE "DEATH" OF A LEGEND TREE

By Adow Jubat

                               Duuq Mawaye before it "dead". File pic

A "death" of acacia tree is in a rare occurrence being mourned by villagers in a remote area in Balambala constituency of Garissa County, Northeastern region.

The residents of Saka location about 60 kilometers from Garissa town has declared 30 days of mourning in respect of ancient tree which collapsed on Thursday , due to its had historical significance to the people in the area.

The social media was awash with “condolences” sent my mourners who were shocked by sudden "death" of gigantic tree believed to have being in existence over 320 years. The tree which was in the centre of the Saka town was known in the entire northeastern region as “Duuq mawaye” (the elders’ favorite).

According to the former area councilor and the chairman of the defunct Garissa county council Adan Yussuf Bute said residents of Saka town and its environs were shocked by the news of the falling of the tree on Thursday at around 5.30 am.

Many residents mainly mothers who used the tree shade as their stalls where they could sale their farm produces are reportedly broke into tears uncontrollably.

“People have agreed to mourn the “death” of the tree for the next 30 days starting Saturday. The mourning will be done differently from the one usually observed when someone dies, it will involve offering a respect to the tree by not using its branches for firewood”, He said.

                         Residents shocked by the collapse of Duuq Mawaye milling around the shortly it fell on Thursday. Pic by Adow Jubat

The gigantic tree split miraculously split in the middle before collapsing into heap. A little boy who was with his mother who was selling milking was injured on the head, while several shops nearby were slightly damaged.

Bute, who is aspiring to reclaim his Saka ward, which he lost last generation said the “a burial” committee to ensure the fallen tree gets a deserving send off has been established. Among the tasks the committee will undertake includes arrangement to organize for offering.

The significance attached to the tree by residents of Abdiwaq community of Garissa County dates back to 1902, when the shade of the tree was used as an open hospital where casualties of the community who were injured in a tribal clash pitting them against Mohamed Zuber were treated said an 70 years elder in the town.

“Scores of people from Abdiwaq community, who sustained injuries in the fighting with Mohamed Zuber Ogaden sub-clan found in Wajir County, were treated for months under the tree. Those days there was no hospital, but the tree offered a better service that could be found in any public hospital”, He added.

Dr. Ismail Arte Rage, nutritional manager with UNICEF who is based in South Sudan and eyeing Fafi constituency in the forthcoming general polls said the tree was so popularly with local people since it was serving them many services at the same time for the last over 320 years.

“The acacia tree had big branches that cover about 18 feet square and offered very cool shade that help people to transact various businesses under it simultaneously. One side of the tree women used to sale their good, another side elders conferred on daily basis to decided on serious and important communal matters”, He explained while speaking to Frontier Leaks on phone from Juba.

Dr. Rage remembers tree as being an open air hospital, where medical outrage programs were conduct frequently. “When I read the collapse of the tree from the social media I was really shaken. I felt like I lost a close relative. I recall vividly how I was treated under that tree or sing for government dignitaries in early 1970s, when I was schoolboy”, He added.

The tree shade was also the only free open air “tent’ where government officials made important pronouncements such as the announcements of polio campaigns and hold public events.

The last national function which was held under the tree was on 12/12/15 during the Mashujaa Day. 

The tree is also historical as it is where hard political decisions were made in the last 3 centuries. One of the notably decision which was made under this tree was in the early 1960s, where the local community made anonymous declaration to support the aborted secession drive.

 

Many political declarations which were slated to be made this week under the canopy of the tree had to be cancelled as residents began their 30 days mourning of legend tree today.

Ends…

I want to be reminded when the Somali export their camels and reward for their labours,says Jaramogi

Fellow Kenyans,

Today we are testing freedom. This is the first time most of you are attending a political meeting of your own choice. This is the first time you are being addressed by people you have always wished to see stand before you and speak. 

This is the first time you are truly happy to remember that we struggled for independence and won. For UHURU means freedom; freedom for everybody: the poor, the rich, the disabled, the women, the children, the men, EVERYBODY.

It is the freedom to come together as we are doing today, discussing the future of our national. It is the freedom to feel perfectly safe as a Kenyan anywhere you live in this Republic, perfectly confident that your government will protect you and your property. That your children and your children’s children will inherit the property you have honestly acquired in Kenya.

It is freedom to live an honest life. Speaking your mind in the Church, Mosque, press, parliament, the university, country council and even in the cabinet [without fearing for your life].

But, fellow Kenyans, ladies and gentlemen:

As we stand here today, there are many Kenyans who cannot be with us today because they do not have this freedom thirty years after UHURU was won.

Why is Kenneth Matiba not with us here today? Why is George Anyona, Edward Oyugi, Isaac Gachangu, Rumba Kinuthia, Koigi wa Wamwere, Ngotho Kariuki and many other freedom fighters not with us today?

Why are our sons and daughters still in exile? Why are brilliant people who can teach in our universities wasting their lives overseas? Why was Robert Ouko murdered? Was he murdered for speaking against corruption? Was he murdered for speaking his mind in the cabinet? For what reason was he murdered? And who murdered him?

Why was Muge murdered? Was it because he exercised his freedom to preach the word of God, to condemn sin and corruption?

The Moi government should answer these questions and answer them honestly and truthfully.

We demand that all political prisoners be released. We demand that those who are in exile return home unconditionally. We demand that every Kenyan be granted the freedom to travel inside and outside the country. That nobody be denied a passport.

As we gather here, there are many Kenyans who are refugees in their own country. There are many Kenyans who have lost their homes because they dared to support a political party of their choice. Houses have been bulldozed in Ongata Rongai like they were here in MWOROTO some time ago. Homes have been burnt in the Rift valley.

For these Kenyans who have lost their homes and houses there is no UHURU, no truth in being called a KENYAN CITIZEN.

We must restore FREEDOM to our country by removing the Moi government from power.
We must restore democracy for our people by freely electing a FORD government in the next General Elections.

The Moi govemnent cannot guarantee freedom for our people.

This is a Government that uses some security officers to terrorise our people and not to protect them.
This is a Government that tells lies and lives by the lie. Without TRUTH there can be no JUSTICE; and without justice no FREEDOM and without freedom, no DEVELOPMENT.

On Corruption and Development, we have seen how political repression under the Moi regime has encouraged and protected corruption.

We have seen how this corruption has destroyed development.

We have seen how billions of Kenyan Shillings have been wasted in ill advised investment projects because of corruption and bad government policies. We can here talk of the Turkwel Dam project, the molasses plant in Kisumu, the fiasco in the Post Office, the chaos in the Kenya Airways, and the nightmare in the Treasury.

We have seen how we have become a nation heavily in debt and almost incapable of servicing our loans. We have seen how our government has lost the moral authority to speak for this country in international financial bodies because its leaders are tinted with corruption.

We have seen how our professional civil servants have been thoroughly demoralised by the corruption, incompetence, and crudeness of the Moi regime. We have seen how foreign investors have lost faith in our country.

Let us open our hearts to each other.

Let us embrace the opportunities and challenge the future together. The clergy, the lawyers, the professionals, patriotic politicians, students, peasants and workers come together in challenging political repression. The battle is not yet over. The building of democracy has just begun. This is our hour of need. We must come together TODAY not TOMORROW.

THERE IS WORK FOR US TO DO. Let us do it with FORD in a democratic and proud Kenya. I want to stand on the slopes of the Aberdares and see far away into the rolling farmland of the Rift Valley. There I will see a proud Kenyan from Nandi, Keiyo-Marakwet and Kericho basking in the sun of political freedom and economic prosperity.

I want to drive to the coast, without potholes ruining my car; and there I will meet the Taita and the Taveta, the Swahili and the Giriama, proud to speak their various languages but knowing that they are all Kenyans with equal rights and opportunities in our sovereign Republic.

I want to climb Mount Elgon and see the Luo and the Abaluhia working in their sugar plantations, and knowing that they will be well rewarded for their sweat.

I want to come back to the slopes of Mount Kenya and drink fresh coffee from Kikuyu land knowing that our peasants are respected for the hard work they do. I want to see prosperous cooperative societies and a people who grow rich from their labours.

I want to be reminded that when the Akamba grow their cotton, the Gusii harvest their tea, the Masaai sell their cattle and the Somali export their camels they will ALL get a just reward for their labours. I want to know that every Kenyan enjoys justice and freedom in our motherland.

I want to come back to Nairobi, and meet businessmen from all communities. I do not want to hear that one is condemned for being industrious because he is of different colour or race. All I want to know is that he is a Kenyan and he is working for the success of Kenya.

I want him or her to ensure that our industries work at full capacity, feeding our people, giving them something to wear and providing them with housing. I want to know that our workers receive fair treatment and just wages, that they have trade unions free of state control.

I want to see professional associations enjoy the freedom we fought for.

I want to reassure myself that I will no longer say there is NOT YET UHURU for any Kenyan after FORD form the next government.

That is the Kenya I want. That is the Kenya we all want. That is the Kenya a FORD government will give you.”

YOU CAN'T INTIMIDATE DUALLE, GSA YOUTH TELLS CENTRAL MPS

 By Adow Jubat

A section of youth from Garissa County has on Thursday protested angrily against what they called persistent attempts to politically mud sling the Majority leader in the National Assembly Adan Duale by group of central MPs to remove him from his caveat parliamentary position.

The youth describing themselves as ‘friends of Duale’ termed the move by central MPs of the increasing manifestation of hostility and discrimination toward the Somali community by some people who are envious of the community resilience and their raising profile in business and political platforms both locally and at the international arena.

Addressing the press in Garissa, the youth led by Hassan Adhan alias Gumo said Northeastern Members of parliament immediately after Garissa University terrorist attack led by Garissa Township Mp have done a lot in sensitizing and educating members of the public in the region on how to fight terrorism in the insecurity prone areas and blaming any leader from the region over terror sympathy is obscene.

“Some greed politicians from central region who are satisfied despite their community taking all lucrative positions in the Jubilee administration are now eyeing the majority leader slot and they want to manufacture all kind of tired stories to oust Duale”, Gumo said.

The youth also sounded their displeasure with the central MPs of disputing the population of the Somali community in the country describing the singling one community population as faulted a naked aggression against the community.

He accused members of parliament from President Uhuru’s backyard of being insincere in their demand in the fight against terror noting that a serious security matter such as the fight against al-Shabaab should not be politicized but faced with concerted effort devoid of political affiliations.

He said “As youth from North-Eastern region we want to those fighting Duale that he isn’t a guest in Jubilee coalition and neither is he in the government by anybody pleasure, he is a stakeholder who fought for the win of the UhuRuto administration who is in the position of majority leader based on pre-election Memorandum Of Understanding signed between TNA and URP political parties”,

MPs from central have given Aden Duale seven days to produce the controversial list of terrorist or they will initiate process to oust him from the powerful majority leader slot.

“we are wondering where were these MPs when Aden Duale was traversing the country campaigning for Uhuru Kenyatta, some of them are first time MPs who got elect on silver platter through the efforts of people like Duale and we demand that they should give the majority leader a break,” he added.

Garissa youth Chairman Hussein Salat said the responsibility to provide lists of any criminals lies with those holding offices interior ministry adding that instead of leaders wasting their time waiting for non-existing terror list from irrelevant office, they should thing on how to assist “their” government in providing security to Kenyans.

“Some leaders from central behaviors as if they are the only people killed or affected in the recurrent terror attacks in the northeastern. People in the region are the most affected by the insecurity prevailing in the area, which Jubilee government has failed or not willing to address.

“If Kenya want to defeat the war on terror we must united, we must not trivialize terror issues, security of Kenyans must been taken seriously and never reduced to agitating for positions in the parliament,” he said.

“Some uninformed leaders whose community has being on the presidency for more than 25 years are claiming that our people are unfairly getting government resources, we wonder which resources these people are talking, when our schools are closed for security reasons, how hospital are lacking basic facilities and our roads are deplorable. This is a good example of adding insult into a septic injury”, the youth leader lamented.

Shabaab kills 14 yet again Mandera

 By Adow Jubat

14 people were killed and scores of others were wounded by suspected Somali militant group in restive Kenya's northeastern border town of Mandera on Tuesday morning, a senior regional government official has confirmed.

The attackers raided three residential estates on the outskirts of the incursion prone town lying less than a kilometer from the war-torn Somalia at 2am, before they lobbied explosives indiscriminately at their sleeping victims.

Northeastern regional commissioner Mohamud Saleh said 11 of the deceased died on the spot following the raid by the gunmen believed to be affiliates of al-Shabaab terror gangs, while the three others died 5 hours later at Mandera referral hospital while on medication.

He said the attackers were targeting to slain 150 people mainly quarry workers who were living at the ill-feted estate, after they were chased out Koromey quarry site by the government last year over their security concerns following the killing of their colleagues.

"Our security officers have done a commendable job by rescuing 136 people from the hands of the bloodthirsty terror gangs. It is painful to us (the government) to loss a single life of our people to criminals, but the number of the dead could have been bigger were it not for the quick response by our security officers", He said.

Among those killed includes an elderly woman from the local community who was among many other local people who were living in the raided area.

Last week nine people from one of the local Somali community were killed by another group of gunmen who sneaked from the Somali border town of Baled Xawa.

The assailants destroyed metal grilled doors, which has been used to fortify the houses,  security precaution measure for many residents in the area before they hurled explosives at the houses and opened fire on the innocent victims.

Those injured were later evacuated by the security officers assisted by medical personnel and taken to Mandera county referral hospital for treatments.

At least 36 quarry workers were killed in November last year after Al-Shabaab militants raided the quarry and killed the workers in a macabre manner as they slept. 

Days earlier, another gang hijacked a bus and killed 28 people among them teachers and doctors in a separate attack that sparked protests and led to boycotts by most civil servants.

He added "We believe the assailants are members of al-Shabaab terror group who are operating from sleeper cells in Mandera town",

 "The criminals are people who could monitor the movement of our security patrol team with a surgical precision, which can't be a foreigners. The attack happened less than 10 minutes after our officers left the scene", He noted.

Amb Saleh said the security officers who were patrolling on foot and by vehicles quickly responded and confronted the attackers with firepower forcing them to take on their foot and managed to disappear into blinding darkness of the night.

He said the affected area and the neigbouring settlements has been immediately being cordoned off by the security respond team who will conduct house to house search to ensure the assailants do not manage to hide themselves among the people living in the crowded settlement.

The regional commissioner who left this morning (Tuesday) for Mandera to lead the operation to ransack for attackers said alertness of the security agencies in the region has tremendously reduced incursions by Al-Qaeda inspired militia into the country.