It is rather mischievous for people like Moses Kuria, the PNU spokesperson, to purport to have the cure for the problems that are facing Luo Nyanza (I refer to his article yesterday titled ‘Liberation of Luo Nyanza’). Moses’ article was in reference to the meeting held last week between Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and a group calling itself the Luo Nyanza Professional and Business Caucus. The meeting was organized by former Minister Raphael Tuju. It is rather annoying for Moses to talk about the challenges facing Luo Nyanza and blaming it on the leadership of Nyanza, without mentioning the challenges that are facing other Kenyans. If the problem of Luo Nyanza, which has led to its underdevelopment, is its leaders, what is the problem of the former Eastern province which is always in need of relief food? And what is the problem of the North Eastern where hunger and underdevelopment is the order of the day? What did the leaders of the two mentioned regions, do or not do, for them to find themselves in their situation? Moses goes further to say that the problem of the people of Luo Nyanza is that they keep blaming their problems on ‘everybody except themselves’. He says that the leaders encourage the people ‘to drive the car with the rear mirror only’. Yet in the same breath, he blames the problems of Luo Nyanza on its leadership. He is giving the people advice which he himself is not putting to practice. In other words, blame gaming. Read with a find tooth comb, you realize that Moses is blaming the problems of Luo Nyanza on the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga. Moses is basically a hatchet man for the PNU or Uhuru Kenyatta, who has an axe to grind with the Prime Minister. And luckily, Uhuru has confessed about that several times! What some of us who come from Luo Nyanza would like to tell Moses and those of his ilk is that they should leave the people of Luo Nyanza alone as they try to fight their political battles with Raila Odinga. Raila is not Luo Nyanza and Luo Nyanza is not Raila! If they have scores to settle with Raila, let them do it without using the people of Luo Nyanza, or their plight, as a weapon of convenience. The problem that I always have with people who purport to have solutions to the problems of Luo Nyanza is that the first thing they always do is to abuse the people of Nyanza first before they give their solutions! And that is why their solutions, however good they are, will never be accepted by majority of the people of Luo Nyanza! They are solutions which are given in jest, like Moses’. Since he has solutions to people’s problems, one would ask, what has Moses Kuria done in his place of birth? I don’t know where he comes from but I have never heard of any report about him doing anything in this country, apart from being used as a political attack dog! It was interesting to read Moses mentioning the name of Tuju as having ‘single-handedly transformed the healthcare landscape of Rarieda’. What a fallacy! When was the last time (or even first time), that Moses was in Rarieda? Any meaningful transformation is supposed to be sustainable and long time. Where are the mobile clinics that Moses is talking about in Rarieda now? So, his argument seems to be that since Tuju supplied clinics to Rarieda, the people of Luo Nyanza should be grateful to him! How cheap an argument! Luo Nyanza is so vast that what Tuju did was only felt in his constituency (maybe there are even people in the constituency who did not feel the effect of what he did). So why should every person from Luo Nyanza be looking up to him? The ironical thing is that the group from Luo Nyanza that went to meet Uhuru Kenyatta went with a wish list. What is it that Uhuru wants to do in Luo Nyanza now that he did not do in the last four years that he has been Finance Minister? As a presidential wannabe, Kenyans will ask him what he has done for the country and not what he has done for the people of Luo Nyanza. And why is it that this caucus from Luo Nyanza is only springing up now when the 2012 elections are around the corner and not earlier? Raphael Tuju is a leader of a party which has been dormant for the last couple of years. Remembering the name of the party is even difficult! Why is it only becoming active now? And the first thing he does, as usual, is to start by abusing the people of Luo Nyanza and reminding them about how “they are their own worst enemies”, before he can present his agenda? If Moses and company are really genuine (but we know that in real sense they are not genuine) in their quest to help the people of Luo Nyanza, let them dialogue genuinely with the people of Nyanza, but not come through an amorphous group whose agenda is only suspect. Without this, their mission is doomed to fail.
(An edited version of this article appeared on the Star newspaper of 29th April, as an opinion under the title, ‘Kuria’s piece on Luo Nyanza was ill advised’
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