What do pigs, the ICC and Masai men have in common?
First appreciation on second visit
For the first time on one of my numerous African trips, I didn't check in any luggage. I only travelled with hand luggage on this week-long trip, and I surprised even myself. It was my second visit to Nairobi, Kenya in two years. For the very first time, I had a real appreciation of the city. The climate is mild, hauntingly so. The flora, a sure testament to why horticulture is a big export for East Africa’s largest economy. What about Kenyans? Graceful, self-assured, politically astute, commercially savvy, golf-loving. Tea, tourism and horticulture, big export earners for Kenya. There are not many African countries where their biggest export revenue earners, are actually evident in everyday life in one way or the other.
Pigging around
The first full day of my second visit there, ‘Occupy Parliament’ protestors had made a pig’s mess – literally speaking - outside the House in uproar against Kenyan MPs plans to hike their own salaries. The civil society activists had actually brought pigs to Parliament to protest; the pigs symbolised the greedy MPs. The pigs were actually smeared with and fed blood during the protest. Animal rights activists would have been appalled as the pigs’ treatment . The newspapers and TV news stations carried the ‘bloody’ mess outside the House.. Among the protestors, were constitutional lawyers, young graduates, civil rights activists. For more than two hours, the protestors mocked the MPs. Eventually legislators signed the petition against their own agitation for increased salaries. In the mess, one poor pig was almost run over by a speeding vehicle.
‘ICC or no ICC’!
That was how a Nairobi cab driver started his response when I asked about Kenya's future prospects. There's a back-story to that response. Earlier in March, Kenyans has elected the tag-team of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, in a nail-biting election, that was a crucial test of Kenya’s departure from the post-electoral violence that shook the country 5 years before. In a smart move, Kenyatta and Ruto, who hail from the two ethnic groups – the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin - that had been the two main opposing protagonists in that violent not-so distant past, joined forces to defeat erstwhile Prime Minister Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Even more formidable, was the fact that ‘KenRuto’ had both been elected despite International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments hanging over them for crimes allegedly perpetuated and incited by their supporters during the 2007 violence. Kenyan supporters of both men cried foul. The West implicitly debated the future diplomatic and foreign policy choices that would accompany an elected Kenyan government with two ICC indictees. Meanwhile Kenyatta and Ruto rode on the political capital that had been drummed up by local frustrations at the West’s perceived audacity. Anyway, enlightened self-interest saved the day. Two African politicians saw it expedient to join forces to ascend to office, propelled by the ballot box, and, if you like, psychological will of a people, keen to assert their political sovereignty over external interference. If you ask Kenyans today what that election meant, responses will vary from ‘Kenyatta was the best thing to have happened to Kenya’ to ‘The West will have no choice but to remain engaged with the Kenyan government, ICC or no ICC’.
(Of course I oversimply the events around Kenya's 2013 election for ease of understanding. Many of the issues were a lot more complex and historical, which space nor time won't allow for on this blog)
Masai men and the spear!
A colleague tried to market the beauty, grace, and height of Kenya’s ‘alpha’ males to me (as she gallantly put it) – as if I was looking. The spear story I won’t forget in a hurry. Here goes. It is customary for a Masai man who has taken another man's wife to plant his spear outside the other man's hut during such encounters. Two primary conditions must be met: The woman must acquiesce in the encounter, and both her husband and her lover must belong to the same circumcision period (these occur about once every seven years). This practice stems from the fact that the Masai do not place great emphasis on biological fatherhood of children and make no distinction between adopted children and those born within the family. All are welcome and perfectly legitimate. #LessoninAfricanculturalpractices
Reflecting many things I love about Africa, is how at once, very traditional, ancient values and beliefs sit comfortably alongside a modernisation and social discontent. I never did get to the bottom of why I was told the story about Masai men, but I later learned the pigs outside Parliament had eventually found a home.
First appreciation on second visit
For the first time on one of my numerous African trips, I didn't check in any luggage. I only travelled with hand luggage on this week-long trip, and I surprised even myself. It was my second visit to Nairobi, Kenya in two years. For the very first time, I had a real appreciation of the city. The climate is mild, hauntingly so. The flora, a sure testament to why horticulture is a big export for East Africa’s largest economy. What about Kenyans? Graceful, self-assured, politically astute, commercially savvy, golf-loving. Tea, tourism and horticulture, big export earners for Kenya. There are not many African countries where their biggest export revenue earners, are actually evident in everyday life in one way or the other.
Pigging around
The first full day of my second visit there, ‘Occupy Parliament’ protestors had made a pig’s mess – literally speaking - outside the House in uproar against Kenyan MPs plans to hike their own salaries. The civil society activists had actually brought pigs to Parliament to protest; the pigs symbolised the greedy MPs. The pigs were actually smeared with and fed blood during the protest. Animal rights activists would have been appalled as the pigs’ treatment . The newspapers and TV news stations carried the ‘bloody’ mess outside the House.. Among the protestors, were constitutional lawyers, young graduates, civil rights activists. For more than two hours, the protestors mocked the MPs. Eventually legislators signed the petition against their own agitation for increased salaries. In the mess, one poor pig was almost run over by a speeding vehicle.
‘ICC or no ICC’!
That was how a Nairobi cab driver started his response when I asked about Kenya's future prospects. There's a back-story to that response. Earlier in March, Kenyans has elected the tag-team of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, in a nail-biting election, that was a crucial test of Kenya’s departure from the post-electoral violence that shook the country 5 years before. In a smart move, Kenyatta and Ruto, who hail from the two ethnic groups – the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin - that had been the two main opposing protagonists in that violent not-so distant past, joined forces to defeat erstwhile Prime Minister Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Even more formidable, was the fact that ‘KenRuto’ had both been elected despite International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments hanging over them for crimes allegedly perpetuated and incited by their supporters during the 2007 violence. Kenyan supporters of both men cried foul. The West implicitly debated the future diplomatic and foreign policy choices that would accompany an elected Kenyan government with two ICC indictees. Meanwhile Kenyatta and Ruto rode on the political capital that had been drummed up by local frustrations at the West’s perceived audacity. Anyway, enlightened self-interest saved the day. Two African politicians saw it expedient to join forces to ascend to office, propelled by the ballot box, and, if you like, psychological will of a people, keen to assert their political sovereignty over external interference. If you ask Kenyans today what that election meant, responses will vary from ‘Kenyatta was the best thing to have happened to Kenya’ to ‘The West will have no choice but to remain engaged with the Kenyan government, ICC or no ICC’.
(Of course I oversimply the events around Kenya's 2013 election for ease of understanding. Many of the issues were a lot more complex and historical, which space nor time won't allow for on this blog)
Masai men and the spear!
A colleague tried to market the beauty, grace, and height of Kenya’s ‘alpha’ males to me (as she gallantly put it) – as if I was looking. The spear story I won’t forget in a hurry. Here goes. It is customary for a Masai man who has taken another man's wife to plant his spear outside the other man's hut during such encounters. Two primary conditions must be met: The woman must acquiesce in the encounter, and both her husband and her lover must belong to the same circumcision period (these occur about once every seven years). This practice stems from the fact that the Masai do not place great emphasis on biological fatherhood of children and make no distinction between adopted children and those born within the family. All are welcome and perfectly legitimate. #LessoninAfricanculturalpractices
Reflecting many things I love about Africa, is how at once, very traditional, ancient values and beliefs sit comfortably alongside a modernisation and social discontent. I never did get to the bottom of why I was told the story about Masai men, but I later learned the pigs outside Parliament had eventually found a home.
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