Northern Kenya minister’s ‘breakaway’ statement calamitous

By Barrow Bakeeri

Minister Mohamed Elmi’s recent expression of sympathy for Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) and his stern warning that Northern Kenya may follow suit rekindles memories of Kenya’s first ever historical referendum conducted by the then British Government in 1962 on the political future of North Eastern Province or the former Northern Frontier Districts (NFD).

What the Northern Kenya Minister is trying to reactivate through MRC rhetoric is 50 years old and is as dead as the Dodo. The Minister’s statement is untimely and uncalled for and in contradiction with the mandate of his ministry, tailor-made to address the historical injustices he is lamenting about.

Elmi’s bluff is clear indication he is not devoted to the objectives of Devolution and could prove a poor implementer of the new Constitution and aspirations outlined in Vision 2030.

If Elmi is a true sympathizer of MRC, then he is very late in catching his party’s political train that plans to sponsor a Motion to address MRC grievances in Parliament. The plan was to request Speaker Kenneth Marende to constitute an ad hoc committee to dialogue with the outlawed group.

Marende has since rejected the request for such committee and directed the matter to the two existing, relevant committees (Equal Opportunities and Administration and National Security) to give back a comprehensive report within 60 days.

Question remains whether Elmi can marshal support for an NRC (Northern Republican Council).

The true sympathisers or protagonists of MRC whether genuine or not have shown their true allegiances on the floor of the House. Elmi’s version and venue must qualify as hate speech. The Minister gave only one, and insubstantial reason, as to why he wants to revisit the lost secession melee in NEP of the 1960s.

disagree on principle

That the coalition government that he serves as a Cabinet minister has protested the region’s 2009 population census results that may have ramifications on the newly created Tarbaj Constituency, Lagdera and the entire Mandera County if the Courts rule otherwise. Why can’t he raise the matter in Parliament?

Isn’t it ironic that cancellation of NEP Census came from his ODM counterpart and Minister Wycliffe Oparanya and was from an exercise supervised by the PM’s Office. Therefore, where does Elmi’s finger of blame point at? If government contemplates that the NEP census was “cooked”, then the simple answer would have been a recount.

And if the government gets it wrong after such recount, then Elmi would have had a genuine platform to hit back at the government and resign as his NEP marginalisation claim would have a foot to stand on. Then his call for secession would echo that of the special representative for NDF, the late Abdirashid Khalif. Elmi would then be worthy to tie the shoelaces of the late Khalif.

The Lancaster House conferences (1960, 1962 and 1963) was where Kenya’s constitutional framework and independence were negotiated. The Second Conference in February 1962 agreed on a firm framework for a new constitution. But the late Khalif stunned the Conference and the outgoing British government with a secession call.

The colonialists attempted to resolve this political conundrum using an independent Commission of Inquiry to carry out a referendum to verify the desire of the Somali community in NFD. This was where “a right went wrong”.

The Commission started its work on October 22, 1962, when the pro-secession clamour was at its climax. The Commission established that five out of the six districts of NFD favoured secession by a majority vote. These were Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Moyale and Isiolo. The percentage in favour was at well over 80 per cent of the total NFD population.

The right went wrong through failure by the British administration to approve results of the referendum and acted contrary to its results.

Kenya Regional Boundaries Commission, formed in 1963 to verify and ratify regional boundaries, ascertained that NFD was Kenya’s seventh province and no further debate was encouraged.

Subsequent governments threw a cordon sanitaire around NEP and this seriously curtailed the social, economic, cultural, and political activity and human rights abuses intensified. This was the point of departure for all parties and major turning point in the pastoralists-State relations. And that is why the region has never been part of any post-colonial government’s plans.

Elmi could borrow a leaf from former Cabinet ministers who disagreed with the Executive on principle and resigned, such as Mwai Kibaki, Simeon Nyachae and Martha Karua. If he won’t then please quietly ask the following: Why has the region not known a tarmac road or university since Independence?

What achievement can Elmi’s Ministry for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands point at? Why is youth unemployment in NEP endemic? How do we deal with the daily threat from Al Shaabab, a porous border with Somalia and now twice in one week there has been a grenade attack that killed and maimed Kenyans in Elmi’s constituency, Wajir East?

Is it enough to say that if government tries to right a wrong, we will “break away”? Has Elmi failed his Ministry or has Government failed the Ministry? Or have both failed the people of Northern Kenya?

The writer is a commentator on political and social issues.