OKUNGU’S ATTACK ON KENYANS ABROAD WAS UNCOUTH

Stockholm: January 5 2005

By Okoth Osewe

The savage attack on Kenyans abroad by Jerry Okungu in his January 5th commentary in The East African Standard newspaper needs a quick reply. Although the writer raised some very legitimate points especially on his characterization of Kenyans abroad into three major categories, he messed up his commentary by unskillfully meandering into the un-chattered waters as to why many Kenyans abroad have been reluctant in abandoning their foreign bases to return home.

Because of economic limitations, it is impossible for Kenyans abroad to travel home every month as a way of strengthening bonds with relatives. A parallel comparison places Kenyans abroad in the same pot with their brothers and sisters who have moved from the back water villages in the country to the cities because of political, economic or academic reasons.

Millions of urbanized Kenyans are known to return to the villages only during Christmas or when a close relative passes. This is exactly what many Kenyans abroad also do. Once one leaves the boarders of Kenya and relocates overseas, the whole country assumes the distinction of a huge village and when a foreigner asks where one comes from, one is likely to say that one “comes from Kenya”, not Nyeri or Nyalgunga.

Kenya is in deep political and economic crisis. When Narc was coming to power in January 2002, hundreds of Kenyans abroad pointed out that the political character of Narc appeared the same as that of KANU because both formations had similar ideologies based on the system of man to man exploitation.

But these points were met with a barrage of calls that Kenyans abroad abandon their “luxurious life-styles” and return to Kenya to “soil their fingers”. Today, the media is awash with analysis that many Kenyans have lost hope in Narc because it is practicing the ways of Moi.

We wrote articles that even after the “Velvet revolution”, Narc would not be able to change Kenya because the wealth of the nation had been left on the hands of foreigners through multi-national companies who run the country’s economy. But these warnings only met with derogatory epithets especially from unhinged commentators in the media.

In fact, critical voices from abroad underwent a ritual bashing by liberal cows who are just coming to grips with the harrowing reality – that Narc is being led by zombies more interested in filling their stomachs and running around in sleek cars than in transforming the lives of 30 million Kenyans.

Even the “home grown” intellectuals like Jerry Okungu drowned in the Narc euphoria as we lost our voices, shouting that the IMF and World Bank will continue holding Narc to ransom because these are the economic weapons of choice used by Western imperialism to subjugate millions of people in the ex-colonial world including Kenya.

For Kenyans abroad who share my sentiments, the problem is that if Okungu and other shibboleths who call themselves “Media consultants” cannot appreciate the gigantic role Kenyans abroad are playing in the country’s political and economic survival, then it would be safe to conclude that the political consciousness of the most advanced layers of the Kenyan society may have taken a huge leap backwards during the 24 years of the Moi dictatorship.

Although KCA has its own quarrels with Kenyans abroad, the organization was right -  demented intellectuals of the Okungu type who liken Kenyans abroad to “distant cousins” or “foreigners” should never be invited to vomit their filth in any present or future summits whether in Kenya or abroad. They should be left to do so in pubs as they argue with resident alcoholics.

Okungu also attacked Kenyan “Economic refugees”, accusing them of fleeing the country after being educated with the tax payer’s money. But when you scratch beyond the surface, there are probably more internal economic refugees who have fled poverty in Kenyan villages to try their luck in the major cities where the crisis of the capitalist system is most visible. The reality is that these internal refugees are desperately struggling to flee the country as the cities become hopelessly overcrowded with zero opportunities as politicians steal the national wealth.

A home truth is that the lives of millions of Kenyans would sink into great mystery while hundreds of others would simply die if “Kenyan economic refugees” based abroad failed to remit money to feed poor families whose members are victims of permanent unemployment because Narc is unable to create the annual 500,000 jobs the coalition promised or those whose breadwinners have been brutally retrenched in the name of IMF and World Bank policies.

The situation is so acute that many Kenyans abroad have taken over government responsibility of providing medical services to their ailing relatives who must be admitted in money guzzling private hospitals following the collapse of Public health services as a result of the deep crisis facing the Narc government.

I don’t have to mention hundreds of Kenyans whose academic ambitions could evaporate with the twinkle of an eye because their fees are sorted out by relatives abroad as the government worsens the burden by endlessly increasing school fees.

By trying to pluck out Kenyans abroad from National statistics with such unsavory comments, Okungu is not worth tying the shoelaces of any Kenyan living abroad! He could easily suffocate the spirit of the new-year if his weak commentary is not smashed to smithereens in a moment of reality check.

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