dumped and displaced
While growing up, I was told;
being dumped was one of the
worst feelings I might have to
experience, possibly in my
teenage and adult life. I was
scared to say the least and did not look forward to when the
inevitable would catch up with
me. Straight from primary school
and the experiences started in
earnest, I watched my friends
dump and get dumped for the most serious and most useless
of reasons. Some simply got text
messages telling them a simple
“tuache tu” while some had to deal with rejection, dejection
and worse. As for me…time will tell, or has already told but I am
not willing to tell. I digress. Dumping a fellow human is harsh.
It is sometimes inevitable,
sometimes contentious,
sometimes stupid, and once in a
while, justifiable. Nevertheless,
dumping someone, whether over flimsy reasons or for very
serious reasons, is painful and
causes serious heartbreaks. And
that is why I pity the Internally
Displaced Persons in Kenya. Also,
I would not be very wrong if I christened them Internally
Dumped Persons. Theirs is a
story that inspires awe, sadness
and pity in equal measure. But
above all the “scars and sufurias” and a spirit of resilience evident at the camps,
there is a bottom-lining of
rejection, fear and disorientation
that holds the camps together
in hopelessness. We can only
imagine the feeling of living for up to 500 plus days in a camp
laden with unhealthy toilet
facilities, lack of privacy, no
social amenities and a general
fear of the future. What caused the IDP situation in
the country, and across her
borders? For starters, some
people are still refugees in
Uganda and are afraid of even
coming back to the country that dumped, displaced and rejected
them into the despicable realms
of refugee-hood and seems to
have forgotten them. The other
day, the Minister for Economic
Planning urged the Census organizers and the government
not to forget to count the
refugees in Uganda. What
negligence you ask? Who then is
the government? Simple logic
and common sense dictate that it would be wise to spend the
resources to resettle and
repatriate the refugees than on
counting them. How does being
mere statistics in the dusty files
of the Government help them adapt to an already harsh life? Back home, Kenya’ s documentary on the scars and
sufurias of the IDPs won
international acclaim, but was it
worth it? Was it worth exposing
our dirty linen out for the
entire world to see if we were not willing to clean the soil on
our image? Flattering, isn’ t it? That people whose lives were
shattered to smithereens by the
acts of fellow countrymen and
the Police are still languishers in
the sea of poverty and
displacement is unthinkable! And that the so-called “government of an economist and an
engineer” is contemplating counting than resettling them is
stupid and untimely. Where did
logic fade to? Have we become
so much of economists that we
avoid the costs of re-
engineering the lives of our fellow countrymen, which we
destroyed? Last week, the IDPs did one act
of humanity that was laced with
a subtle message to the
“government”. The IDPs became partners-in-charity and
contributed their very little food
to help feed their fellow IDPs in
some other parts of the
country! What love, I ask, what
love? While the provincial administration lauded this as an
act of kindness and love, the
IDPs sent a subtle message. “It is over for you and us; you
have displaced and dumped us!” That was the message packed in
the bags of potatoes, curled in
the whorls of cabbages and
wheeled in the old lorries! That
a government whose raison
d'etre is not-clearly-defined has officially been dumped by a
disillusioned lot of IDPs is no big
deal. While the government is
still waiting for the charitable
and philanthropic among the rich
to help it sort out its messes, the poorest and marginalized of
Kenyans have given the rest of
us a clear message, “The government has dumped us!” Instead of waiting for the non-
existent entity called
government to take care of us,
it is our turn us Kenyans to
embrace the true spirit of
brotherhood and Harambee to help ourselves get out of the
cesspools that we have mired in
for a long time now. The IDPs
have given us the best of
examples and with this kind of
mentality. I believe an irreversible paradigm shift is
necessary. Saving the Mau, civic
education and curbing insecurity,
ridding our cities of jams and
ruling our country all lie squarely
on our shoulders and if we dump and displace the political thieves
before it is extremely late, we
might just have a stab at
progress and development. It
begins with a simple
responsibility, commitment and desire from you and me. I care,
do you?
being dumped was one of the
worst feelings I might have to
experience, possibly in my
teenage and adult life. I was
scared to say the least and did not look forward to when the
inevitable would catch up with
me. Straight from primary school
and the experiences started in
earnest, I watched my friends
dump and get dumped for the most serious and most useless
of reasons. Some simply got text
messages telling them a simple
“tuache tu” while some had to deal with rejection, dejection
and worse. As for me…time will tell, or has already told but I am
not willing to tell. I digress. Dumping a fellow human is harsh.
It is sometimes inevitable,
sometimes contentious,
sometimes stupid, and once in a
while, justifiable. Nevertheless,
dumping someone, whether over flimsy reasons or for very
serious reasons, is painful and
causes serious heartbreaks. And
that is why I pity the Internally
Displaced Persons in Kenya. Also,
I would not be very wrong if I christened them Internally
Dumped Persons. Theirs is a
story that inspires awe, sadness
and pity in equal measure. But
above all the “scars and sufurias” and a spirit of resilience evident at the camps,
there is a bottom-lining of
rejection, fear and disorientation
that holds the camps together
in hopelessness. We can only
imagine the feeling of living for up to 500 plus days in a camp
laden with unhealthy toilet
facilities, lack of privacy, no
social amenities and a general
fear of the future. What caused the IDP situation in
the country, and across her
borders? For starters, some
people are still refugees in
Uganda and are afraid of even
coming back to the country that dumped, displaced and rejected
them into the despicable realms
of refugee-hood and seems to
have forgotten them. The other
day, the Minister for Economic
Planning urged the Census organizers and the government
not to forget to count the
refugees in Uganda. What
negligence you ask? Who then is
the government? Simple logic
and common sense dictate that it would be wise to spend the
resources to resettle and
repatriate the refugees than on
counting them. How does being
mere statistics in the dusty files
of the Government help them adapt to an already harsh life? Back home, Kenya’ s documentary on the scars and
sufurias of the IDPs won
international acclaim, but was it
worth it? Was it worth exposing
our dirty linen out for the
entire world to see if we were not willing to clean the soil on
our image? Flattering, isn’ t it? That people whose lives were
shattered to smithereens by the
acts of fellow countrymen and
the Police are still languishers in
the sea of poverty and
displacement is unthinkable! And that the so-called “government of an economist and an
engineer” is contemplating counting than resettling them is
stupid and untimely. Where did
logic fade to? Have we become
so much of economists that we
avoid the costs of re-
engineering the lives of our fellow countrymen, which we
destroyed? Last week, the IDPs did one act
of humanity that was laced with
a subtle message to the
“government”. The IDPs became partners-in-charity and
contributed their very little food
to help feed their fellow IDPs in
some other parts of the
country! What love, I ask, what
love? While the provincial administration lauded this as an
act of kindness and love, the
IDPs sent a subtle message. “It is over for you and us; you
have displaced and dumped us!” That was the message packed in
the bags of potatoes, curled in
the whorls of cabbages and
wheeled in the old lorries! That
a government whose raison
d'etre is not-clearly-defined has officially been dumped by a
disillusioned lot of IDPs is no big
deal. While the government is
still waiting for the charitable
and philanthropic among the rich
to help it sort out its messes, the poorest and marginalized of
Kenyans have given the rest of
us a clear message, “The government has dumped us!” Instead of waiting for the non-
existent entity called
government to take care of us,
it is our turn us Kenyans to
embrace the true spirit of
brotherhood and Harambee to help ourselves get out of the
cesspools that we have mired in
for a long time now. The IDPs
have given us the best of
examples and with this kind of
mentality. I believe an irreversible paradigm shift is
necessary. Saving the Mau, civic
education and curbing insecurity,
ridding our cities of jams and
ruling our country all lie squarely
on our shoulders and if we dump and displace the political thieves
before it is extremely late, we
might just have a stab at
progress and development. It
begins with a simple
responsibility, commitment and desire from you and me. I care,
do you?
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