Somali-Kenyans: A New Beginning is On the Horizon

11 years ago, I worked with Kenya's Ministry of Planning as a Census Officer in Dadaab, the world's largest concentration of refugees with over 350,000 Somali people. The experience gave me access to the true demographic characteristics of the local population: gender distribution, ages, education, employment, asset ownership, and availability of resources.

In 2010, a new census report has been released by the same Ministry of Planning. The population of Northeastern Kenya has grown from 900,000 people to 2.7 million in those 10 years. But development in the area remained the same despite changes in leadership at the national level. Majority of Somali Kenyans do not still have access to clean water. 63% of Northeastern residents do not have access to a toilet. They go to the bush to answer the call of nature. The region is one of the lowest provinces in academic performance. Unemployment is rife, and there are no plans to improve the situation on the part of the Kenyafs central government.

Despite these challenges, Somali-Kenyans have a better opportunity than their other Somali brethren. They have a sense of peace and stability and they actively participate in national politics. In addition, there is a new hope ushered in by the changes made to the laws of the land. The new constitution changes the way Kenya is governed and gives greater role to Somali-Kenyans to decide how they want to use their share of the Gross National Product.

With the promulgation of a new constitution a fortnight ago, Kenya has abolished the Northeastern province and the seven other provinces as homogenous administrative units. Instead of eight provinces, Kenya will now have 47 counties each of which will be represented at the national level by a Senator. A governor will head the county government. The Somali region is now divided into five counties. This is done in an attempt to devolve power and resources and make local communities responsible for their destiny. This is an opportunity for a fresh start for Somali-Kenyans.

The new constitution gives the local community the power to elect their governors, unlike the current system where the president politically appoints his kinsmen to head any region. Provincial Commissioners who do not understand the culture and aspirations of local communities have long failed the dreams of people in Northeastern Kenya and caused havoc and oppression by using state machinery against the very people that they were to serve. That is the past. Now it is the prerogative of the local electorate to decide their leaders amongst themselves.

The people of Northeastern Kenya have a golden opportunity to elect leaders who are capable of bringing the positive progress that they seek. The region needs leaders such as the Honorable Abdulkadir Mohamed who facilitated the writing and implementation of the new Kenyan constitution as the chairman of the constitution review commission.

The future of the region is now, more than ever before, in the hands of the people of the region. Please seize the moment and remember that your vote is your power. Use it wisely and elect the most effective and most efficient members of your community for the newly created leadership positions. By doing that you can get your right share of the national cake and realize the dream of a better Somali region in Kenya. With a good leadership and sound development policies, NFD stands a chance to become a shining regional example in the next 10 years.

Jibril Hirsi is the executive director of Somali CAN, a development think tank and community advocacy organization based in the United States of America. He can be reached at jibril@somalican.org.

Source: Sunatimes.com