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According to media reports, the company that recently pivoted from local to international money transfers currently has more than 250,000 users in the UK remitting money to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana.

NALA which was founded in 2019 after the startup secured a seven-figure pre-seed led by Acel was started to reduce the bottlenecks associated with cash transfers. According to the organization, 80% of the money sent to Africa is sent as physical cash with the remaining 20% done via digital channels but are subject to multiple layers of fees and paperwork. The platform was created to allow anyone to quickly send money in GBP or USD to all major African currencies at the lowest rates available.

While it was initially built as a mobile money service in East Africa, NALA started testing international money transfers in 2021 after some users expressed interest in moving money from the U.K. to East African countries (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), thus ushering the Tanzanian fintech into the remittance business.

With Africa being the most expensive region to send money to, with 10.6% in average transaction fees, digital senders like NALA pitch themselves to customers as platforms with the best rates and lowest prices.

Other players in the space facilitating transfer from the U.K. to select African countries include unicorn Chipper Cash, Lemonade Finance, Zazuu and Sendwave. Their collective bet is that their market will grow over time and eat into traditional incumbents’ share. Whether that’ll happen remains to be seen.

That said, NALA has achieved considerable growth since testing out the product last year. The platform allows payments from the U.K. to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana. And in the past six months, more than 8,000 customers have moved over eight figures in transaction volume to Africa, the company said.

“Our core customer base is the diaspora right now who live in the U.K. This is the customer we’re currently serving today as we speak,” founder and CEO Benjamin Fernandes told TechCrunch in an interview. “We also got our license approvals to go live in the U.S. and the E.U., which will be going live in a month and a half in at least one other E.U. country, probably France.”

The chief executive also said NALA, currently present in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana and South Africa, plans to be live in 12 African countries by the end of the year, including Nigeria.

Remittance is NALA’s low-hanging fruit. According to Fernandes, NALA has more offerings in its pipeline that can be likened to Revolut’s when it first launched in the U.K. The European fintech unicorn, now a financial super app of some sorts, started off providing multi-currency bank accounts, fee-free currency exchange, peer-to-peer payments and a feature for businesses.

Similarly, NALA, in addition to enabling cross-border payments from the U.K. (and the U.S. and the E.U.) to Africa, is privately beta testing multi-currency accounts that will allow the African diaspora to store local African currencies when abroad. It is also currently piloting NALA for Businesses enabling people who run businesses in the diaspora to make payments to Africa.

Away from Revolut’s playbook, Fernandes says the Tanzanian fintech will be building out infrastructure to enable money transfers from Africa to the U.S. and the U.K.

“We’re scaling that up, not just being in Tanzania and Kenya and Uganda as a consumer-facing product. But in the long run, we want to build infrastructure across the continent where we can do outbound from the continent and allow people to send money back. We’ve submitted our remittance license application in Kenya, as well as Uganda, for us to be able to do this the other way around,” said the founder.

The company has hired Subuola Abraham, ex-Citi U.K. MLRO and former group chief compliance officer at pan-African bank Guaranty Trust Bank, to lead its compliance efforts. It also struck a deal with Citi Bank Global to manage their F.X. and fast-track growth across multiple regions, one of the few African tech companies with this deal.

As part of its user acquisition and retention efforts, NALA will be launching a crowdfunding campaign this year where its first users will get access to own some shares in the company, said Fernandes. It’s a move similar companies facilitating money transfer in Africa, such as Eversend, have made in recent years.

NALA’s executive team includes Nicolas Esteves (CTO) and Nicolai Eddy (COO), who have experience at Monzo, Osper and Morningstar.

This new financing round includes lead investor Amplo, Accel and Bessemer Partners, including local investors like DFS Lab.

NALA also received funds from an impressive group of angel investors — Jonas Templestein, co-founder and CTO of Monzo; Vladimir Tenev, Robinhood co-founder and CEO; Deel founder Alex Bouaziz; Laura Spiekerman, co-founder of Alloy; Peeyush Ranjan, the head of Google Payments and early employees at Revolut and TransferWise.

Sheel Tyle, the founder and general partner at Amplo, will join NALA’s board, the company said in a statement.

The investment will allow NALA to hire more talent and foster growth efforts in the U.K., U.S. and Europe, build payment rails in Africa and expand to new countries.

“We don’t want to be compared to a regular remittance company, and people will do that naturally. But we think remittance is just the starting point for what we’re going to build,” said Fernandes. “My take is that payments across the continent is 1% built, and there’s a lot of infrastructure and software that needs to be built deeply. That’s where we want to sit and this $10 million round is going to do a lot of that.”

Parts of this article were adapted from TechCrunch.

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The Governor was speaking at the official opening of the final leg of the Kenya-DRC Trade Mission held in Mbuji-Mayi town, some 1,600 kilometers northwest of the capital Kinshasa, where the first meeting took place on 29 November.

“It is an honour to welcome you to the Great Kasai region. We express our gratitude for your delegation’s arrival. This is a historic moment. The Trade Mission shows that Kasai has potential and has given our people hope that together we can explore avenues for business development. EquityBCDC’s decision to choose Mbuji-Mayi as the final stop for the Trade Mission is a clear indication that the Bank is a great catalyst of development in the Great Kasai region,” she said.

The visit to Mbuji-Mayi by the delegates from Kenya and DRC was a culmination of a bilateral agreement signed by President H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and his counterpart President H.E. Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC in April 2021 to create closer ties between the two countries, particularly along the issues of trade, manufacturing, and agriculture. The MOU was signed during a State visit of the Kenya President to the DRC, where he also commissioned the opening of the EquityBCDC tower in Kinshasa.

Governor Musuamba shared a comprehensive profile of the province in Central DRC that has the longest section of the mighty Congo River, illustrating the opportunities for investment that exist in infrastructure development, agriculture, mining, tourism, energy, internet connectivity, water utilities and other sectors.

“With a population of 55 million people whose average age is 20 years old, employment can be created by stimulating production through consumption. We have a tropical climate that is conducive to farming. Most of our land is arable. Among crops that can be grown here are cassava, corn, soya, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and fruits like pineapples, papaya, and avocados. With the adequate arable land and two rainy seasons, farming potential in Great Kasai can enable DRC to achieve food self-sufficiency,” she said.

Beyond agriculture is the mining of diamonds, iron, gold, cobalt, and other minerals, which provides a lucrative investment opportunity. “Serious exploitation can be explored for processing diamonds and other minerals at an industrial level. We also have massive deposits of construction materials like sand and granite, which exists in many areas,” said the Governor adding that the demand for suitable housing remains insatiable.   

However, said the Governor, these opportunities come with challenges. She cited transport and reliable energy as needs and urged investors from both the DRC and Kenyan entrepreneurs to work with EquityBCDC (the DRC subsidiary of Equity Group Holdings) that has already established itself as the largest financial institution in the province, despite the challenges.  

“To invest, be ready to tackle challenges. There is the challenge of electricity or more particularly lack of it and poor roads that inhibit transport to and out of this province. These challenges are not insurmountable given the benefits that are certain upon investment,” said H.E Dieudonne Piemme, Governor Kasai Province.

“By partnering together, we can solve challenges that affect the African continent including hunger, health issues and poverty by allowing businesses to be the driving force for continental change. This is the first time that businessmen and women of our two great nations have come together to purposefully explore business opportunities,” said Equity Group Chief Commercial Officer, Polycarp Igathe, as he implored delegates to take advantage of the physical attendance of the meeting by the Kenyan delegates to connect.

To reciprocate the visit of Kenyan entrepreneurs to the DRC, Equity is looking forward to hosting DRC business leaders on a similar mission to the Kenyan cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, and Kisumu in early 2022 to seek cross border opportunities for investment for the benefit of developing the two countries.

Kenya’s Ambassador to the DRC, Ambassador George Masafu said, “The mission by the Kenya Government to the DRC, in partnership with Equity Group, was not in vain and indeed, the meeting in Mbuji-Mayi was a turning point for Kenya and the DRC. The trade mission was a labor of love that seeks to fulfill the objective of President Kenyatta’s bilateral agreement signed in April, putting words into action for our two great nations.”  He added, “A political goodwill was built when President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Felix Tshisekedi shook hands in April this year. The political goodwill by our two presidents is fueling interest and growth for business opportunities in the DRC and by working together, we set pace for other African countries to partner with DRC,” said Amb. Masafu.

EquityBCDC Managing Director, Celestin Mukeba said, “This Trade Mission was organized with the sole purpose of unlocking trade, tourism and investment opportunities in DRC and this is already bearing fruit. Equity’s vision and mission is to transform lives and livelihoods, and to give dignity through wealth creation. It is in this vein of expanding wealth that Equity has brought more than 300 Kenyans to DRC in four cities for networking and matchmaking.”

Celestin urged the investors to tap into the USD5 billion availed to companies and small and medium-sized enterprises by Equity, as part of efforts to integrate the region through trade and investments. “We want the DRC to be the first to utilize the liquidity that Equity has to resolve mammoth challenges in energy, food security, and mining,” said Mukeba. He added, “Remember development cannot happen unless people synergize with the government, especially for infrastructure. For the private sector, it is important to tap into the opportunities.”

The Kenya-DRC Trade Mission 2021, a partnership between the Government of Kenya, the Government of the DRC, and Equity Group Holdings saw cumulatively over 300 Kenyan investors and business people visit DRC and a delegation of over 7,000 attend the conferences and business networking sessions across the four cities

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Yesterday, I had an opportunity to have a conversation on South Africa’s Power 98.7 FM about a new product by Veezaviz, a technology firm based in Kenya which has produced an app that will help bridge the communication with the deaf community.

Listen in below:

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The car is locally assembled at the Associated Vehicle Assemblers (AVA) plant in Mombasa. A company that also does assembly for leading brands like Fuso, Toyota, Hino, Scania, Mercedes Benz, DAF, Peugeot, Nissan-Datsun, Foton, Bieben, Volvo, Daewoo and Tata.

The car is widely expected to take the Kenyan car market by storm looking at its attractive price proposition. Most Kenyans currently drive used Japanese cars and this move coupled with the financing options available with local banks might have just been the impetus needed to shift Kenyans towards buying zero-mileage vehicles.

“We look forward to having the Proton Saga and indeed the Proton brand take the Kenyan market by storm because we believe that this is a solution that our customers have been waiting for and we have finally delivered,” Simba Corporation Group CEO, Dinesh Kotecha said.

The assembly process is meticulous, the different sections of the car that are usually shipped in separately are carefully put together in the assembly line. The vehicle then goes through different stages of testing which includes rain testing to ensure that there is no leakage. During rain testing, the vehicle is subjected to simulated weather conditions which resemble the heavy rains period in the country.

The final test involves an engine check which is done to ensure that the vehicle is performing optimally before being dispatched to the dealers.

Even though the Proton Saga is not a very popular locally, it’s Malaysia’s number one car brand and has even had a stint in the local rally circuit.

The vehicle comes with a 5 year, 150,000KM warranty, a 4 star NCAP safety rating and will have over 50 service locations nationwide.

In December last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the Proton Saga assembly line at the AVA plant in Mombasa alongside Simba Corp Chairman Adil Popat and Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho.

Simba Corporation Executive Chairman, Adil Popat said: “The launch of the Proton Saga demonstrates how a positive partnership between the government, private sector and all industry stakeholders can deliver solutions whose impact will be felt by consumers at all levels of the Kenyan economy.”

Of course other than the attractive pricing you would love to know how the car performs and other unique features that might inform your buying decision. Well, I look forward to taking it for a test drive soon and writing a simple review. Keep checking.

The post Locally Assembled Proton Saga Hits The Shelves As Kenya’s Cheapest New Car appeared first on Biz Post Daily.

The solution will aid HELB to promote responsible spending with the funds locked for specific allocations, such as tuition or library fees only accessible to the specific Paybill account of the recipient’s University or TVET institution. The students upkeep allowance can now also be transferred into the student’s M-PESA wallet for everyday use.

“Technology today is not only revolutionizing every aspect of our lives but also creating opportunities to enhance efficiency and accountability. We are pleased to support the Higher Education Loans Board to deploy a solution that suits the digital lifestyle of students in tertiary institutions,” said Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, Chief Financial Services Officer, Safaricom.

Students can access the system through HELB USSD and the mobile app once completed from where they will view their loan allocations, current balances, statements and make payments.

HELB disburses over KSh 15 billion to over 200,000 beneficiaries annually. Part of the loan is usually channelled directly to the learning institution to settle part of the tuition and accommodation fees while the rest is sent to the student for upkeep.

The solution will create efficiencies for all stakeholders by reducing queues during registration as students can now pay through their mobile phones. There will be effective management and monitoring of all loans throughout the loan lifecycle.

“The rollout of this smart solution marks a major milestone in our digitisation journey. It not only enhances efficiency in our operations but also enables us to step up the experience of beneficiaries, who are digital natives. The solution will allow the student to access and make transactions within the solution’s ecosystem,” said Charles Ringera, HELB’s Chief Executive Officer.

The platform grants HELB visibility of funds from various sources, which it can aggregate, reconcile real-time and report to its financiers. Continuing students can receive notifications and utilise a financial planning tool on the portal; while those who have graduated can track their repayments and generate statements.

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Among the schools are Katiko Primary School which got 5 new classrooms and Jeriman Lokitaung which received 2 classrooms. Nariding Nursery School and Katongun Mission Station each had one classroom constructed and furnished.

Lolobo, Lokutumo and Loreamatet Primary Schools each had one classroom constructed and furnished under the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP), a literacy and numeracy programme being implemented by Safaricom Foundation and Zizi Afrique Foundation. Nakiria Primary School also had a library constructed under the ALP Programme.

“Safaricom Foundation intervened in these schools to support pupils access a conducive environment for learning as most were learning under trees and makeshift structures. We are also looking to improve the literacy levels of children in this county through the Accelerated Learning Programme we are implementing with Zizi Afrique Foundation. We believe that education is one of the ways to transform lives, “said Joe Ogutu, Chairman, Safaricom Foundation.

Learners in Katilu Mixed Primary School also received desks and chairs, while visually impaired students in Katilu Integrated Primary School benefitted from furnishing works. Kilokony Eboyor, a local community organization, was equipped with more than 500 books for learners they support.

The total investment in the school projects was KES 21 million.

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This though was not the first time that Kenya was coming under attack from the al-Shabaab militant group (which claimed responsibility of the attack). In September 2013, 67 people were killed in an attack that lasted over three days at the Westgate shopping mall also located in the Westlands area of Nairobi. In April 2015 the group would stage another attack at Garissa University in Kenya’s Eastern region killing 148 students.

In both attacks, security agencies were faulted for among other things slow response and lack of coordination between the responding agencies leading to high fatalities and injuries.

That was however not the case with the Dusit Complex attack on Tuesday. Just eight minutes after the gunmen gained entry to the premise, police officers drawn from the flying squad unit arrived at the scene and started engaging the attackers as they rescued civilians from the building. Another two minutes later would see the arrival of emergency services such as ambulances from different organizations and fire engines.

By 4.00 PM the country’s head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations arrived at the scene and began coordinating police activities. Ten minutes later the elite Recce Company officers drawn from the General Service Unit (GSU) of the Kenya Police who are specially trained in close quarters battle (CQB) and the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) Special Forces arrived at the scene. By this time all the security agencies involved in the operation were put under a single command of a GSU Commandant.

Unlike the Westgate attack six years ago where there was alleged confusion occasioned by the multi-agency response teams, everything seemed to be moving smoothly as officers and volunteers combed through the floors and buildings in the complex saving dozens of civilians by the hour.

The level of coordination would be seen even through the regular updates on the situation at the ground by the country’s police boss and the minister in charge of Security.

Hospitals throughout Nairobi that were receiving victims were on standby at all times ready to attend to victims within the quickest time, citizens overwhelmingly heeded to calls to donate blood. At about 9.00 PM in the night, some of the hospitals were urging Kenyans to suspend blood donations to the following day.

This was definitely not a fluke – there seems to have been crucial lessons learned from previous attacks. President Kenyatta on his address to the nation acknowledged this.

I want to commend the quick and effective response by our elite fighting teams for neutralizing all the terrorists involved in the attacks. We have dealt with the threat decisively, and shown our enemies and the world that we are ready to deal with any threat to our nation.

-President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The president was however not the only one commending the responding teams, opposition leader Raila Odinga also lauded the teams for their swift action that saved hundreds of lives.

We commend our security forces for the robust, rapid and coordinated response to this evil that saw lives saved and the country reassured. We commend our citizens for being each other’s keeper and responding to appeals for blood donations and we appreciate the professionalism of our caregivers and first responders.

-Raila Odinga, Opposition Leader.

This though is not just a government narrative, ordinary Kenyan citizens were commending the response as soon as the attacks began even as they held their breaths and hoped for a speedy conclusion of the siege.

700 civilians were evacuated from 14 Riverside. Let me just say that again, 700!

That is not an easy operation. We can’t thank you enough, all the security forces & civilians too, who rushed to help/ assist #WeShallOvercome

— Captain Ozwald () (@VinieO) January 16, 2019

Let us all appreciate the GSU commandant Douglas Kirocho Kanja who was the operation commander at riverside.

God bless you sir.#WeShallOvercome#KenyaUnbowed#RiversideAttack pic.twitter.com/rSJsIQBQTH

— Road Alerts (@RoadAlertsKE) January 16, 2019

I salute Kenyan Doctors, Nurses and medical workers who have volunteered in our hospitals. Medical students have also turned up in large numbers. Terror cannot beat us. We are Kenyan.#WeShallOvercome pic.twitter.com/NahhZ1myWR

— Dennis Itumbi, HSC (@OleItumbi) January 15, 2019

Even as we commend the agencies for the prompt response, 21 lives were lost. Even a single life lost to terror is one too many. It’s time to also ask the tough questions. The main perpetrator of the attack lived in the outskirts of the city for more than seven months and visited the complex they finally attacked at least four times according to those who worked at the establishment, how was this possible? Where was the lapse?

A local news outlet reported in October about intelligence that six al-Shabaab operatives were plotting an attack in Nairobi during the festive season, how come this information was not taken seriously, did someone sleep on the job and will we see heads roll?

This article was originally written for www.africablogging.org

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The doctors told my dad to take me home and make me comfortable. There was nothing else they could do, I had about 14 days to live. I had gone to the hospital able to walk on my own but now I had to be wheeled out in a wheelchair – the death sentence from the doctors has sucked the life out of me.

Those are the words of 17-year-old Winnie Rukia. She is describing a moment from 4 years ago when a doctor at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital had given her dad a status report of her high-grade sarcoma – a fast-growing tumor on her brain. She had pretended to be asleep but heard everything the doctor said to her dad. The countdown to the end of her life had begun, 14 days is all she had and comfort was all the doctor could prescribe. This is the largest hospital in Western Kenya and the only public hospital offering cancer treatment at the time.

Her friends visited to encourage her, people from her mother’s church came to pray with her but she still remembers the nights she couldn’t sleep. How could she when 14 days is all she had left in this world? They were frightening she says.

Before she went to the hospital she had no idea she had been diagnosed with cancer. For about a month she had had itches on the right side of her scalp. As she scratched more it turned into a wound. Her dad who worked at a hospital took her there to get treatment, little did he know that his second-born daughter would be diagnosed with cancer. When the diagnosis came he had no idea of how to break the news to her daughter. He told her they had to go to a hospital in Eldoret for surgery but she had no idea it was because she had a tumor in her brain.

I met Winnie during the ‘Cancer Conquerors’ Walk’ in Kisumu, she and several other survivors marched through the streets of Kisumu city to create awareness on cancer, fight stigma and create publicity for a breast and cervical cancer screening that was being held at Kisumu Hospice and Palliative Care Center for the next two days.

Winnie removes a white hat she was wearing. The hat had concealed a healed scar on the right side of her head – the scar has a diameter of about five centimeters. We were having this interview in a shade outside the Kisumu Hospice and Palliative Care Center. The hospice is located inside the main referral hospital in Kisumu and for a long time was the only place cancer patients from Western Kenya could get subsidized chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for breast cancer survivors. To date, there is no facility in Western Kenya offering radiotherapy.

It’s here that Winnie’s countdown to her time of death ended about four years ago. One morning when she just had six days left in her countdown her dad told her he needed to take her somewhere. They came to the hospice.

I remember it was a Tuesday morning. Dad told me we needed to try a form of treatment called chemotherapy. I was wheeled into a room and put on a drip. I started feeling much better after the first treatment. The six days I was waiting for passed, I was getting more energetic. On the day I was to die I started walking albeit with a little help, it was a miracle. People who did not expect me to get better thought I was putting on the last show. On the seventh day, I was back to the hospice for my second session of chemo. When I went for the third session I went alone using public transport. People at the hospice could not believe it.

Winnie was too young to worry about the cost of her treatment. She just wanted to get better and get back to her journey of becoming a lawyer. She, however, knows that the treatment she received was very expensive. She says that as a lawyer she will earn enough money to donate some to cancer patients especially children from humble backgrounds.

Winnie is a member of the Kisumu Cancer Support Group, the groups which were founded at Kisumu Hospice and Palliative Care Center plays a very important role when it comes to counseling of the patients. Here they come with various needs, others have had their diagnosis revealed to them in a shocking way, some are dealing with denial and several others are dealing with difficulties in financing their treatment.

At the hospice, I also met Rita Opondo. Rita is a Secondary School teacher and an official of the Kisumu Cancer Support Group. She had a mastectomy operation about three years ago. She describes her journey in conquering breast cancer as “hectic.”

Hectic because at the point of her diagnosis, she had no idea how she would cater to her treatment. Her doctor prescribed a ‘radical’ treatment which involved eight sessions of chemotherapy and five sessions of radiotherapy. She could get chemotherapy at the hospice for Ksh. 15,000 (approx USD 150) a session. Quite expensive for a public servant like Rita.

For radiotherapy she needed to travel to Nairobi. Kenyatta National Hospital is the only public hospital offering radiotherapy in Kenya. Being a national referral hospital which also at times serves patients from other East African countries, congestion is a real issue.

I wanted to go for radiotherapy but here in Nyanza, there is none. I could have gone to Kenyatta (National Hospital) but when I thought of the queues and at times there were breakdowns of the (radiotherapy) machines. At times I would be told to wait for one month and by that time the lump (in my breasts) seemed to be growing fast and I was worried. I knew the consequences (of not having this treatment fast enough).

She considered going for treatment at a Private Hospital in Nairobi, but she later realized she could not afford the treatment. Rita was lucky enough to find a doctor at Mulago Hospital in Uganda who could offer the same treatment at a more manageable cost. Ksh. 150,000 (approx USD 1,500) was all she needed.

Radiotherapy was not very successful, mastectomy was inevitable. Rita is grateful that the kind doctors at Mulago Hospital managed to do the operation to save her life despite not having enough money to cater for it.

Rita who was all smiley was now a bit emotional. Her narration of the process brought tears to her eyes.

She, however, wishes that the cost of treatment locally was manageable. She still regrets that she had to go to Uganda for a procedure that would have been done locally.

It feels bad. It’s actually a pity that we don’t support our patients as much. At the time I was getting my treatment I was really discouraged by the kind of service I got from our insurer. I went to AON Minet (the insurance service provider for public school teachers) and they told me they don’t cover cancer treatment. I cried. When I asked why they told me ‘it’s one of the new diseases.’

I went to NHIF (National Health Insurance Fund) and asked them what role they could play for me. They said that since we had deserted them to AON (AON Minet) they are not going to do anything for me. The person I was talking to was very rude. I cried. That was a painful moment.

Rita took a loan to facilitate her treatment. A loan she is not done paying. Her family also chipped in. She asks me what happens to people who don’t have government jobs and can’t access loans?

According to statistics from Kenya’s ministry of health, there are about 40,000 new cancer diagnosis every year. More than half of these patients die due to late diagnosis. Several others are driven to seek treatment outside the country due to congestion at the public hospitals that offer cancer treatment or the high cost of treatment in private hospitals. India remains a favorite destination for thousands of these patients.

Last year alone, Kenya patients spent about Ksh. 10 billion (approx USD 100 million) in cancer treatment in India. President Uhuru Kenyatta acknowledged this during a trip to India.

We are very grateful that India has opened up its facilities to our people and over 10,000 Kenyans are coming for various medical treatments.

-President Uhuru Kenyatta

President Kenyatta hopes that a lot more cancer patients can be saved if Indian doctors invested in health facilities in Kenya. His own government has however made little investment in cancer treatment despite the worrying figures of new diagnosis.

There exists an opportunity to expand that number from 10,000 to well over 100,000 by developing those facilities in Kenya. You would be able to triple your business and it’s beneficial to you and to us.

-President Uhuru Kenyatta.

For now, recovering patients like Winnie and Rita will continue marching on the streets every October, hoping to create much awareness about this disease that has robbed them of part of their bodies. Hoping and praying that such awareness would lead to having more responsive doctors who will go out of their way for their patients and a public health system that makes treatment of cancer and other terminal illnesses affordable for all Kenyans.

It is already painful enough to have this disease, we should not add the pain of not being able to afford treatment to it.

– Rita Opondo, Kisumu Cancer Support Group.

This post was originally written for www.africablogging.org.

Follow this writer on IG & Twitter @IamOminde

Follow this blog on Twitter @OmindesWords

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Mondays have been marked with street protests called by Kenya’s opposition coalition CORD over electoral reforms ahead of the 2017 presidential elections. Though the protests were meant to be peaceful, they have resulted in the death of five people, several injuries caused by bullet wounds, loss of billions of shillings due to closed businesses during the protests and destruction of property.

It does not end there.

The street protests being championed by the opposition coalition have renewed the deep rooted ethnic animosity between some of Kenya’s largest tribes. In the run up to the stolen 2007 presidential election, political animosity pitted the Kikuyu (who mainly supported President Kibaki’s PNU at that time) against the Luo and Kalenjin (who supported ODM leader Raila Odinga). Today the Kikuyu and Kalenjin are together in the ruling Jubilee Coalition while the Luo and several other tribes make up the CORD coalition under the leadership of Mr. Odinga.

The rivalry between the Luo and Kikuyu is something that has been exploited by politicians for their own political gain and it dates back to the immediate post-election period when Kenya’s founding President Jommo Kenyatta (father to Kenya’s current President) allegedly betrayed a pre-independence MoU with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga (father to CORD’s Mr. Odinga). The rivalry would become amplified when Kenyatta fired Jaramogi as his Vice President in 1966.

This political rivalry was revived in 2005 after a short stint in which the two communities were in power together and successfully defeated former President Daniel arap Moi’s KANU candidate (Uhuru Kenyatta). The relationship between the Luo and Kikuyu would take a nose dive over another alleged betrayal of an pre-election MoU between former President Kibaki and Mr. Odinga.

The political campaigns in the run-up to the 2007 elections would ignite the ethnic mistrust between three communities; the Luo and Kalenjin on one side and the Kikuyu on the other side. The Luo and Kalenjin would accuse the Kikuyu of being responsible for all their economic problems.

When the election results were disputed, the ODM Party would immediately call for mass protests that quickly degenerated into full-blown ethnic conflicts that led to the death of more than 1,300 people and the displacement of about another half a million people.

Before it got that bad, there were the reckless political statements that incited communities against each other. There was the planning. The mass action called by the opposition (whose victory was stolen) provided a conducive environment to execute.

After a supposed resolution of the conflict following international interventions under the leadership of Dr. Koffi Anan, cases against those thought to be most culpable began at the ICC. One by one the cases were dismissed until no one is currently facing charges.

This has been interpreted back in Kenya as :”people can get away with these crimes.”

Fast forward to today, the war drums similar to those that were beating in 2007 have started beating again. Last night I watched two videos that were sent to me via social media. In one of the videos a Kikuyu politician  is heard proposing the shooting dead of opposition leader Raila Odinga and adding that, “the Luo will throw stones for a week and then move on.”

That statement has sparked angry responses, most coming from the Luo community who are also demanding action against the said politician. One of the reactions I read goes:

” I put it to you MK and those who share your caustic tongue that if Raila is ASSASSINATED, Luos will not DEMONSTRATE. They will FIGHT! An all out war of HONOUR!”

Another politician at the same function called for the mass circumcision of Luos (Luos are one of the few African communities that do not circumcise their men). What should worry anybody about that statement is the fact that forced circumcision was one of the ways in which Luos who were living in predominantly Kikuyu regions were tortured during the 2007/2008 post election violence.

My examples might have revolved around statements from Kikuyu politicians because that is what triggered this post but for the sake of being fair it is worth noting that even the tribes on the opposing camps have made extremely dangerous statements as well.

One comment on Twitter aptly describes my feeling about this whole conversation though:

What is sickening isn’t Moses Kuria saying “kill Raira “, but the number of seemingly educated Kikuyus cheering him on #StopUhurusWarDogs

— Yā Sīn (@CollinceBey) June 13, 2016

You see, politicians can only get away with this because their supporters allow them to. They cheer them on because deep down that is what our society is.

These statements are coming as the CORD coalition intensifies it’s push for electoral reforms through mass protests and just months to the 2017 general elections. Kenya is at cross-roads and even though the situation is calm today, the volatility can be felt in the air.

After 2007/8 we said “never again” but it looks like we forgot too fast. Maybe because we never really saw someone pay dearly for their actions – on that we blame the ICC.

This post was written for www.africablogging.org – a network of African Politics bloggers.

Folow me on IG &Twitter @IamOminde

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