Outliving Your Welcome

I was cruising on the loose sand at a speed of 80 kilometres per hour. Dusk was fast approaching and I wanted to reach Garissa town, a 100 kilometres away, before darkness fell. I was relatively confident in myself and the car, a Nissan Patrol, since I had driven the same road that morning. I was shaken out of my reverie when I realised the car was in the air. We had hit a wide drift whose culverts had been washed away by heavy floods leaving only two at the ends. It was the first one we had hit. We landed heavily on the river bed and before we could make recollections of what was happening, we hit the other remaining culvert on our way out.

It was fortunate that the car didn’t overturn or otherwise lose control. It was however enough to give a few of my passengers some painful bumps on their heads. It also made me realise that that English is not the mother tongue in Scotland. You see, I had this Scottish man in the car, an expert in relief work, and he cursed in his vernacular which as I have just stated, is not English.

We were coming from the Dadaab refugee camp. It was at a time when the organisation I worked for wanted to venture into relief work. Although it eventually didn’t do so, it afforded me the opportunity to see thousands of refugees, mainly from Somali, enjoying some semblance of peace and order away from the bloody fighting in their country.

The Government has this week stated in no uncertain terms that residents in the world’s biggest refugee camp have outlived their welcome. It therefore wants them to go back home and it says whether it is safe to do so or not is none of its business. It is saying that we have enough problems of our own without carrying those of our warlike neighbours.

IDPs

Closer home, figuratively at least, the government recently claimed that it has resettled the last of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and officially closed all the camps. Some of the IDPs are however still claiming that the government has not resettled or compensated them as it had promised. This is happening at a time when we are approaching the third election after the one which caused their displacement. Although I am a Layman when it comes to matters of conflict resolution, I can offer the IDPs some free advice. Deal with the fact that the current government is not going to do anything about your situation until after the elections.

Condemned Buildings

Occupants of all buildings with the ‘cross of condemnation’ marked on them have to move out. Their honeymoon of living in cheap houses in Nairobi is over. They have been given (at least some of them) deposit and first month rent to seek alternative accommodation. They have also been given money to buy school uniforms for their children so, according to the government; they have no excuse for extending their welcome on the river banks in Huruma.

Assassinations

This last week we woke up to the shocking news of the assassination of one Jacob Juma. When I first heard it I thought the News anchor had just said that Jacob Zuma had just been killed in Nairobi (don’t ask!). Anyhow, it was really sad especially for his family and friends. It turns out that the guy was rather outspoken and never one to shy away from controversy. I guess you never become that rich by being a coward. Apparently, he outlived his welcome under this warm African sun by stepping on toes belonging to very important people and as they say, the rest is history.

US Immigrants

The assumptive Republican Party nominee in the United States of America presidential elections has stated that should he get elected, it will signal the end of the welcome for all kinds of immigrants to America. Donald Trump – he of the “You’re Fired!” fame – has said that Mexicans, Muslims, and Africans (and in particular, Kenyans) will have no room in the land of opportunity. According to Trump, America belongs to Americans alone (whoever they might be) and any Mexicans wanting to move there will have to scale the massive wall that he intends to put up between the two countries once he is in power.