Kenyan Pundit

CP meeting notes
Mathare:

- Mwangi Kihara, the Chairman of the Mathare United Landlord organization (MALUO) reported that negotiation between Landlords and illegal occupants of houses in Mathare ongoing. So far at least 111 illegal tenants have agreed to leave the houses. KVP (Kenya Veterans for Peace) has been facilitating this process.

- It was reported that some illegal occupants were being supported by the area Chief.

- Residents in Mathare still fear that they are being marked.

- Gangs involved in harassing residents mostly come from Baba Dogo area and are largely responsible for the massive destruction of infrastructure. Names are known to police and DC, but nothing being done to stop them

Kibera

- It was reported that an initiative by UNDP – Use a thief to catch a thief – an initiative where known thugs were trained in peace building had contributed to the return of relative calm in Kibera. It was suggested that the same initiative should be transferred to Mathare.

Gitathuro near Muthaiga Police Station

- Pastor Chege is currently hosting 157 orphans at his Zion Children’s home. The Children are aged between 2 – 13 years. All the children’s records were destroyed in the post election violence.

- He also reported that all the Church property had been stolen but some of it had been recovered from neighbours who ‘lent” it back to them. Pastor Chege appealed for assistance but was also grateful to members of CCP who had visited his community.

Other concerns raised
- Writers requested to capture the human story and underline the restraint of Landlords who’s houses are illegally occupied and destroyed. Can Concerned Kenyan Writers help.

- Writers also requested to profile the Kenya Veterans for Peace ( KVP) efforts in the negotiation process. They have been instrumental in preserving calm in areas that are currently tinderboxes.

Contacts

Kenya Veterans for Peace (KVP)
CEO – Rev. John Mathenge, 0725 – 203128
Deputy Coordinator – James Muriuki, 0722 – 607472

Mathare Landlords Organisation ( MALUO)
Chairman – Peter M Kihara, 0722 – 407052.

Interesting analysis of how the (in)famous Sessional Paper no 10 authored by edit Tom Mboya (mea culpa for previously attributing to Kibaki and thanks to those who corrected, great background on Mboya can be found here) is relevant to the current situation in Kenya.

EDIT: (Woz, here’s a better link, Cheers). Full text of the paper can be found here.

Obama Snr.’s critique can be found here.

So me and the fam were out of town for the holiday weekend…while driving to one of the tourist sites we visited, we came across groups of people parked on the side of the road waiting for cars participating in the Sasol Rally (never heard of it before) to drive by. It reminded me of the good old days of the Safari Rally (aka Safo), and I felt bad that Gabriella will grow up without some of the simple thrills that were a regular feature of my childhood.

I was a Shekhar Mehta fan (who wasn’t?) and Toyota Celica gal…ignore the conflict. Remember all those Finnish names? And I yes I was nerdy enough to track the drivers and stages with that ka-insert that was in the paper. Unfortunately, I lacked the skills to craft my own mng’are. We always walked to Mombasa road to watch the cars come in from their final stage. You had to get their early to get a decent viewing spot. I remember the road would be packed with kids, families, and further away from the city people even picnicking by the side of the road. It was exciting stuff. One year the company my dad used to work was one of the sponsors of the rally and I got to go to KICC for the kick-off…bragging rights in the esto’ ensued…hehehe.

In the spirit of 8-4-4 memories, please share your Safo memories.