Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06NAIROBI916
2006-03-01 10:12:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Nairobi
Cable title:
NYANZA IS ISOLATED, RESIDENTS TELL AMBASSADOR
how-toVZCZCXYZ0032 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHNR #0916 0601012 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 011012Z MAR 06 FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9937 INFO RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 8238 RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM PRIORITY 4489 RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA PRIORITY 1159 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1864 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1843
UNCLAS NAIROBI 000916
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS, DEPARTMENT FOR H,
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USDA FOR ROBIN TILSWORTH
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KDEM PREL EAID EAGR KE
SUBJECT: NYANZA IS ISOLATED, RESIDENTS TELL AMBASSADOR
UNCLAS NAIROBI 000916
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS, DEPARTMENT FOR H,
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USDA FOR ROBIN TILSWORTH
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KDEM PREL EAID EAGR KE
SUBJECT: NYANZA IS ISOLATED, RESIDENTS TELL AMBASSADOR
1. The people of Nyanza are isolated from Nairobi, residents
and officials from the Province told the Ambassador during
his one-day trip to the area February 21. While there, he
participated in a school dedication, presented awards to CDC
Kenyan staff, and launched a food security assistance
program. Nyanza remains one of Kenya's most densely
populated, poor, and heavily HIV/AIDS affected regions,
characterized by strong tribal identity (Luo),and
increasingly at political odds with the government. The
province is a case-study in Kenyan personality politics with
favorite son MP Raila Odinga, whose parliamentary
constituency is actually in Nairobi, remaking his political
career out of being on the opposite side of the government.
IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD TIME FOR POLITICS
--------------
2. At Odinga's invitation, the Ambassador traveled to Nyanza
Province in Western Kenya on Lake Victoria to attend a
ceremony to rename two schools in Kogelo, Siaya District for
U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Obama's grandparents donated the
land on which the institutions were built. The Senator sent
a letter to the Kogelo community, which the Ambassador
presented during the function, recognizing the community's
dedication to education. The Odinga family's political and
ancestral roots are in Nyanza: Raila's father and
independence activist Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was from Siaya
and held the Bondo parliamentary seat which brother Oburu
Odinga now occupies. As a result, Raila has a rock star's
ability to draw a crowd, and his arrival at the schools was
met with cheers and song, overpowering the music from the
loudspeaker truck that preceded him. Speaking before the
audience of nearly 1,000 students, teachers, and community
members, Odinga, and his LDP colleague MP Sammy Weya,
announced that it would be impossible for them to pass up an
opportunity to make a political statement. They proceeded to
call for the resignation of President Kibaki, Vice President
Moody Awori, and others recently implicated in massive
corruption scandals.
LEGUME COMMERCIALIZATION
--------------
3. In support of improving food security in Kenya's western
region, the Ambassador participated in the launch of a
program to help farmers move into legumes production, growing
in particular groundnuts, chickpeas, and pigeonpeas. The
initiative, supported by USDA and implemented by NGO
Technoserve, aims to help develop a business approach to
farming. The launch took place at a press conference in the
provincial capital Kisumu, attended by local MPs, the Nyanza
and Western Provincial Commissioners, other donors, and media
members. The Ambassador stated that to strengthen the
country against the effects of recurrent drought, the
government needs strong political will and commitment to
establish prevention and response mechanisms.
4. In Nyanza, the challenge to succeed is not limited to
farmers. Prominent local businessmen emphasized to the
Ambassador the enduring obstacles they face from dilapidated
infrastructure, erratic and expensive energy supplies, and
the rising cost of doing business. Frustrated, they echoed
the Province's sense of marginalization and isolation, both
physical and political, from the resources of a government
that includes almost no Luos.
BELLAMY
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS, DEPARTMENT FOR H,
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USDA FOR ROBIN TILSWORTH
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KDEM PREL EAID EAGR KE
SUBJECT: NYANZA IS ISOLATED, RESIDENTS TELL AMBASSADOR
1. The people of Nyanza are isolated from Nairobi, residents
and officials from the Province told the Ambassador during
his one-day trip to the area February 21. While there, he
participated in a school dedication, presented awards to CDC
Kenyan staff, and launched a food security assistance
program. Nyanza remains one of Kenya's most densely
populated, poor, and heavily HIV/AIDS affected regions,
characterized by strong tribal identity (Luo),and
increasingly at political odds with the government. The
province is a case-study in Kenyan personality politics with
favorite son MP Raila Odinga, whose parliamentary
constituency is actually in Nairobi, remaking his political
career out of being on the opposite side of the government.
IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD TIME FOR POLITICS
--------------
2. At Odinga's invitation, the Ambassador traveled to Nyanza
Province in Western Kenya on Lake Victoria to attend a
ceremony to rename two schools in Kogelo, Siaya District for
U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Obama's grandparents donated the
land on which the institutions were built. The Senator sent
a letter to the Kogelo community, which the Ambassador
presented during the function, recognizing the community's
dedication to education. The Odinga family's political and
ancestral roots are in Nyanza: Raila's father and
independence activist Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was from Siaya
and held the Bondo parliamentary seat which brother Oburu
Odinga now occupies. As a result, Raila has a rock star's
ability to draw a crowd, and his arrival at the schools was
met with cheers and song, overpowering the music from the
loudspeaker truck that preceded him. Speaking before the
audience of nearly 1,000 students, teachers, and community
members, Odinga, and his LDP colleague MP Sammy Weya,
announced that it would be impossible for them to pass up an
opportunity to make a political statement. They proceeded to
call for the resignation of President Kibaki, Vice President
Moody Awori, and others recently implicated in massive
corruption scandals.
LEGUME COMMERCIALIZATION
--------------
3. In support of improving food security in Kenya's western
region, the Ambassador participated in the launch of a
program to help farmers move into legumes production, growing
in particular groundnuts, chickpeas, and pigeonpeas. The
initiative, supported by USDA and implemented by NGO
Technoserve, aims to help develop a business approach to
farming. The launch took place at a press conference in the
provincial capital Kisumu, attended by local MPs, the Nyanza
and Western Provincial Commissioners, other donors, and media
members. The Ambassador stated that to strengthen the
country against the effects of recurrent drought, the
government needs strong political will and commitment to
establish prevention and response mechanisms.
4. In Nyanza, the challenge to succeed is not limited to
farmers. Prominent local businessmen emphasized to the
Ambassador the enduring obstacles they face from dilapidated
infrastructure, erratic and expensive energy supplies, and
the rising cost of doing business. Frustrated, they echoed
the Province's sense of marginalization and isolation, both
physical and political, from the resources of a government
that includes almost no Luos.
BELLAMY