Trouble with Central and crisis of families

 

United Democratic Alliance [UDA] party candidate Njuguna Wanjiku (left) celebrates after he was declared the winner of Kiambaa by-election on July 16. He is accompanied by Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria and his Kiharu counterpart Ndindi Nyoro. [File, Standard]

ODM leader Raila Odinga once joked about Kibra being his bedroom. That was highly symbolic, you do not just get into someone’s bedroom.

Did United Democratic Alliance (UDA) get into President Uhuru Kenyatta’s political bedroom and assert their presence a few weeks later?

Maybe, why else has Jubilee been jolted into action, a crisis meeting later, and bringing the fight home to Deputy President William Ruto? But I will spend less time on this victory because there is something else more significant than victory, the surname of the winner.

That the surname of the UDA winner who was welcomed at Hustler’s mansion this week is a woman’s name is a bellwether event. It should reverberate through central region and beyond. Never mind the unconfirmed rumour that the winner’s father was campaigning for him.

As Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie (KJ) once observed, it will be the first time an MP with his mother’s name as surname will grace the august House. The name worked politically, “Wanjiku for Wanjiku”. Why is victory so significant?

Using your mother’s name as surname is common in Central region but not among its elite. Will Njuguna Wanjiku’s victory mean this practice has been normalised? And why don’t other communities use their mothers’ names as surnames?

The breakdown of the family unit in Central region is its soft underbelly. It is unfortunate it has happened in a region that has given Kenya three presidents. Have this region’s political victories been pyrrhic?

Once single parenthood is normalised, it will be very hard to reverse; my experience in the USA Deep South taught me that. You could find up to 70 per cent of children born to unmarried mothers in the Deep South.

The breakdown of the family unit in Central region is its soft underbelly. [File, Standard]

We should be bold enough to ask why men in this region don’t marry the women they impregnate. It is unlikely foreigners are imported to impregnate the women or girls.

They are probably not considered as ‘quality men’ with economic endowment. That is perhaps why child support is rarely sought. Women probably find it not worthy. This reveals the real problem in this region, seen as rich and affluent. It is poverty and inequality.

A drive from Ruaka to Limuru or from Uplands through Gitiha, Githiga, Githunguri back to Nairobi exposes all that. Have you noted that most girls from this region who marry outside their community marry into affluence?

The economic prosperity in this region has been shared only by a few. Early encounter with capitalism put Kiambu ahead of the rest of the country economically but with unintended consequence, inequality.

In this region, you are on your own, struggling economically. You are hailed as a hero if you become rich and affluent. You blame yourself if you do not succeed.

Could that frustration be driving alcoholism after which we blame the victim? Could that frustration be driving teenage pregnancy?

Neglect

The government is rarely blamed for the lack of economic progress in this region. It is all about rugged individualism. This makes it easy to neglect the region. Have you noted the absence of NGOs in this region? Why would anyone spend time in a region that produces presidents? This neglect, real or imagined, is pushing the region into new political territory.

The death of the traditional way of life left a vacuum easily filled by modernism, better moral relativism. When did a young man in this region last face a council of elders to pay a fine for impregnating a girl?

Anything goes; ”What’s wrong with having a child out of wedlock? It’s my choice.” It is also seen as part of women empowerment. Add the fact that women can now inherit their parents and the region’s socio-economic troubles are not over.

The church should have filled the vacuum created by end of traditions, it has not been that successful. The revival of ‘kiama’ system is one indicator that the church now has a competitor for influence. Never mind that the church is split on supporting the ‘kiama’ system.

The church should have filled the vacuum created by end of traditions. [Courtesy]

The dysfunctional families in this region will reinforce inequality. Children born to unmarried mothers are more likely to fall into poverty and crime. We can go further; giving children their mothers’ names in a country where masculinity is still valued reduces their confidence.

Shared responsibilities

Imagine a child being asked by others, ”Who is your father?” There is great joy in being brought up by two parents. The child benefits from economies of scale and shared responsibilities and love.

If I were to make one request to President Kenyatta as part of his legacy, I would ask him to end use of mother’s name as surname in his backyard. Such legacy would surpass Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) or expressway. Children born to unmarried women can take on family names without inheritance encumbrances.

How were they named traditionally? Women should disclose the father’s name and give the child a “decent name” whether the woman marries the man or not.

Adding child support would make life easier for the children. Why did we import senators and governors political seats from USA and not their child support system? Would this discipline men?

A better way to reduce the number of children bearing their mother’s name is to improve the economy of this region. Integrating it with Nairobi seems to be one option, going by the road network. What happened to coffee and other cash crops like pyrethrum? The other option is to raise the level of education. This will raise the level of entrepreneurship the region is famous for.

The region is endowed with rich agricultural land but is overcrowded. Productivity can be improved. What of knowledge-based industries like consulting or IT? Think of consultants or chip designers sitting by the window overlooking tea plantations? This region must detach itself from the earth and upgrade. Beyond agribusiness, which other industry does the region boast of?

To turn round the economic fortunes of this region with Kiambu as its epi-centre, we must fix the social structure, the family. The adage, charity begins at home, is not about to lose its relevance. We start with the simplest gesture, giving children names that imbibe confidence in them.

Giving children their mother’s name when their fathers are alive is misplaced heroism. Did I hear that reducing men’s confidence is one way of draining political and economic power from this region? Have you noted how women from this region are doing well in the political arena and in boardrooms?

Finally, can I request women from Central Kenya not to lynch me after reading this? 

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