First let me say pole to the families of the ones we have lost. That was unjust.
Secondly i wonder why guys who work and live or have worked or lived in the remote regions of our country are NOT participating in this discussion??
I will not engage in the high octane politics of foreign powers involvement but i will contribute abit as one of the previous residents.
North eastern is a whole different country for those born in Down Kenya.
Citizens of this region refer to funding of public projects as being funded by the "Government of Kenya" or "World food program" etc.
Nurse and clinical officers head hospitals and in-case of serious ailment i advice rush as fast as you can to Nairobi. don't stop on the way.
In this region we have a truly unexploited wildlife a potential tourist haven.
The soil in some regions of mandera is red loam and very fertile.
Fruits grown on river dauwa are exceptionally sweet but are completely rotten-12 hours after harvest due to the heat.
The Somalis in Ethiopia, Mandera, Somalia are one and the same clans and one can go whichever direction they deem fit without being questioned as they are at home.
In this region Clans rule.
In this region you can go a whole 100km or 1 hour without seeing anyone.
Water is truly a precious commodity more valuable than Gold.
The weather is so hot that construction workers work from 5 to 12pm, rest in the tents during the hottest part of the day and then resume from 4 to 7pm.
At night they sleep in tents because no one will give them accommodation(we are unclean)or there is no accommodation.
Most of the construction work and heavy work is done by down Kenyans because Somalis are muscularly weak primarily due to lack of physical activity. most cannot even be able to lift a bus Tyre. This work is left to us due to our physical strength. Maybe this might explain the punda thing and the slavery.
Slaves (our forefathers were enslaved passed through this region to kismayu or other ports to Saudi Arabia. Evidence of this exists in mandera and other places they look like an ochieng, kamau or rono ) they are called tribeless. They are low class, lost and very poor.
From Garrissa to Mandera; roads as we know them; either as murrum, dirt,leave alone tarmac do not exist. Especially on the Lafey arabia road.
It takes approximately 2 to 3 days to travel from mandera to Nairobi with a brief rest over in wajir where a bed can be provided at a fee.
During the rainy season it can take approximately 5 days.
Most civil servants are sent there because they have no God father, money to pay their way out,or have disciplinary cases. its primarily a form of punishment.
This group forms a very cohesive group and have a grievous feeling of being abandoned. They can do anything to help each other to survive.
If you are a young man used to alcohol and women then you are doomed if you are posted to guard a remote section where the only person who can talk to you is the chief and the rest see you as a donkey. You cant talk to the women, drink beer or have a decent conversation in kiswahili.
A one way trip from mandera to Nairobi used to cost 2500/= during my time there.
For a cop a trip maybe to visit his family in western could wipe out his whole net salary of 10,000/= after deductions and most opted to send the money rather than make this useless trip.
Hence "animals" from Ethiopia and Somalia" come into play-Aid's.
This is a place as a down Kenyan you cannot do business with Somalis. first a Somali will buy from his family, then clan, then a fellow Somali, then a Muslim then lastly you.
This is where it get interesting; due to the isolation and financial difficulties the cops in this region actively engage in any means to earn an extra living. Examples abound;
-Kupitisha "mbuzi" (illegals) for a small fee,
-Contraband,
-Smuggled goods (a packet of cigarettes e.g sportsman used to cost 30/= sugar 30/= a kilo) etc.
During the off-days the cops i.e APs, normal cops, anti stock name it meet at Border point one. where after drinking stuff provided by baite go at each other like a scene from a western movie. chairs, bottles and all in a bid to vent their frustration.
and we want security.
