( File Photos-Above is Luo Elder Mzee Alogo, PM Raila, Kisumu MP Olago and Luo counsel of Elders Chairman Ker Riaga below luoland homesteads)

Poverty leaves Nyanza relying on handouts

By Dennis Onyango

Nyanza has been missing out on the national cake because of its political stand over the years. This has left the region lacking in many development issues with a bulk of its people being jobless.

When Prime Minister Raila Odinga told his supporters in Nyanza that time had come for them to change their attitude and realise they were in Government, he was addressing a matter that is causing headache to some of his MPs, although they may never tell him.

When he went to Equity Bank and asked people to go for loans, the results were instant and far reaching.

A number of MPs from Nyanza concede poverty in Luoland is taking a turn for the worse and the culture of handouts, which cuts across, is at it worst in Nyanza.

Years in opposition politics, combined with successive regimes that have been openly hostile to Nyanza have taken a toll on the region, giving way to frustration, despair and anger.

What sustained the region was a lingering hope that things could get better if Raila ascended to the presidency or leads his supporters into a friendly government.

Quietly, leaders from the region say that while their efforts can change things in certain ways, the economic and social revolution that would make impact would require the PM’s personal intervention. Then, whatever he asks for, will have the aura of a commandment to be ignored at great peril. They want him to give it a try.

“I think Raila should convene a meeting with MPs, who will in turn brief councillors to chart the way forward,” an MP said.

The PM could draw a time frame within which certain things have to be done and ask for feedback. The MP adds: “If Raila went to Nyanza and said he would be monitoring which constituency produced the most food, sent the most children to university and made most use of credit facilities, it would be done.”

In the days after post-election violence, the Provincial Administration in Nyanza submitted a report in which the conclusion was that Nyanza is a bomb waiting to explode.

That was as a result of deep poverty and high levels of unemployment, giving way to thousands of idle youths.

Marshall plan

But the Provincial Administration also said the idle and unemployed of Nyanza are fairly well educated, most of them having at least KCSE certificates.

A section of leaders from this region say it is one of the few places, if not the only one, where huge populations survive on handouts.

Some of the MPs are making radical proposals to tackle poverty that has accumulated for over 30 years due to Government neglect.

They are calling for a “Marshall plan” to revive collapsed firms, agriculture, fishing and livestock industries.

Ndhiwa MP Orwa Ojode has a catalogue of projects that would have made a difference in the region, but were frustrated by hostile regimes. But he says the region would be asking for too much to expect the PM to show direction on everything.

“Raila has led the region into government. The people here voted for him to be a President. They knew that was a national job. It is up to us MPs and the voters to find out how we can benefit from being in government. Where we are stuck, we will turn to him. That is how it is supposed to be,” Ojode said.

But he is familiar with the development problems of Nyanza and how it has produced a culture of voters for hire and political violence.

Around the beginning of the 2000, Ojodeh said, the Japanese Government offered to finance the growing of rainfed rice in parts of Nyatike constituency in Migori District, which get flooded every year, with the water going to waste. That project was shelved in what the MP says had to do with a perception that Nyanza was not supporting then Kanu regime.

The Sondu-Miriu project, which only took off in recent years, was supposed to have been completed in 1985. But, Ojodeh says, it was shelved because of hostility from the Government.

In the late 1990s, then President Moi asked the Ministry of Livestock to open a Kenya Meat Commission plant in South Nyanza. It never took off.

Even agriculture, the Ndhiwa MP says, has not done well in Nyanza. Cotton, the cash crop for long, died then. A few took up growing sugar cane.

But the region is stuck with the sugar cane variety that matures after 18-24 months at a time other sugar regions are going for a variety that matures in nine to 12 months.

The upcoming Tana River Sugarcane project is going exclusively for the variety that matures in nine months.

Factories like Kenya Breweries and Kisumu Cotton Mills (Kicomi) collapsed decades ago, with no signs of rising again.

Youth for hire

The Ndhiwa MP, like many others, say the situation has bred populations that rely on handouts.

Some youths took advantage of post–election violence and invaded homes in the guise of looking for PNU supporters. In the process, they robed residents of money and household items. Ojodeh says it is all part of the joblessness that has gripped the region.

“People are asking for handouts because they are literally doing nothing. They are in market centres looking for grey areas to exploit. They are not anyone’s supporters,” the MP said.

He added: “They are there for hire. They are your people when you pay them. When you don’t next time, they will abuse you. We need to find something for that group.”

This idle group has over time shaped the politics of the region, putting money and terror at the centre of the region’s politics, unlike say, the Rift Valley, where people appear to be getting elected on merit.

“Sugarcane growing has not helped Nyanza. The fish from here is processed elsewhere. There is no fish processing plant in the entire Nyanza,” the MP said.

“If Kenya Breweries is not going to open in Kisumu, we need to source a firm, like Heineken or any other brewer, to open a branch in Kisumu. We need to do the same with Kicomi,” the MP said.

Rangwe MP Martin Ogindo says the region needs to look inwards to take care of itself. It amounts to starting from the scratch.

For a start, the MP thinks Luo Nyanza should, for purposes of development, reconstitute itself into the old blocks of Kisumu, Siaya and South Nyanza and, using the Constituency Development Fund, jointly address development issues.

Ogindo, who is the chairman of the Fiscal Analysis and Appropriations Committee of Parliament and an accountant, says there could be some legal hitches around the usage of CDF in joint projects, but there has to be a way out.

His committee examines budget making, analyses the final product and its implementation.

“We can decide that this year, we are going to build model secondary schools. We build one for Siaya, one for Kisumu and one for South Nyanza. Every MP could be asked to allocate money from the CDF. The schools will admit on a quota system, with their mission being to take our children to the university,” the MP said.

“We need schools whose missions are clear; that they must be centres of excellence. That will have a visible impact at the end of our term in Parliament. It will be better than what we are doing now. We currently allocate funds from locational secondary schools that do not serve any purpose,” he added.

The MP called for investment on projects that serve larger populations and have more sustainable impact.

Nyatike MP Omondi Anyanga says the Budget has revived the idea of a hides and skins factory and as a fish cooling plant in Migori District.

“I have no problems with revival of stalled projects, but I will pursue the hides and skins project and the fish cooling plants. I will not allow them to be shelved as happened in the past. When you talk about a cooling plant in Migori, it can only be built in Nyatike. That is where fish comes from,” the MP said.

Raila must intervene

But there is a catch. Some of the MPs admit some of the life changing proposals they may be having will require personal intervention of Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

“Luoland will not take anything seriously until the leader speaks. That leader is the PM,” an MP said. Some of the MPs learnt their lesson in the aftermath of post-election violence. When schools remained shut while learning went on elsewhere, some of the MPs urged the teachers to open schools and at least preserve education, the only thing that has sustained the region over the turbulent political years.

But voters would have none of it. They were ready to resume learning, but only if Raila said they do. When he did, the schools opened within hours.

The same pattern repeated itself over the Safaricom IPO. Few in the region were keen on buying the shares because Raila had raised issues with it. When he cleared it, there was a rush.

Ogindo says the PM’s word that the people should go for loans and pursue business has caught up. Many are going for loans, especially with Equity Bank, which he also cleared as a good financial institution. The worry now is the region may be failing to recognise that Raila has become a national leader and may not be available for macro- issues affecting villages.

“The people still think Raila is the one to give them directions. But Raila has become a national leader, with a national agenda. That national agenda is big,” an MP, said.

“Today, Raila is thinking about Kenya’s position on Zimbabwe, what to do about the famine, how the country could benefit from change of leadership in the US,” he added.

Courtesy of:http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143989319&cid=