[wanabidii] Kondele Youth seeking for justice

Friends, I have been in Kisumu for a series of meetings and yesterday, I was in two such very crucial ones. I will give details of the first later after some more consultations to give form to what we were discussing has taken shape. The second was with the Leaders of the Kondele and Kisumu Matatu Routes, who were recently in the media agitating for some issues. The problem was, the media did not give attention to what these Kenyans were agitating for. Instead, we were treated to the side shows where innocent Kenyans were harassed as a consequence to the demonstrations. I had watched these demos on TV and my mind went racing to what The Clean Kenya Campaign Team could do to assist pacify the situation and address the issues the Touts were raising. Remember, our second Mandate is Peace Building. It was easy for me to initiate a discussion with this Team because just recently, in March, we hosted a very successful Clean up Campaign at Kondele. I hence made contact with our Team on the ground and within some record time, we had assembled all the Team Leaders who took part in the demonstrations. I want to salute the 16 Team Leaders under the leadership of Mr. Isaac Oyange and Mr. Maurice Ogola for organizing this meeting. Several issues were raised, and I picked 4 cardinal issues The Clean Kenya Campaign will raise with the relevant authorities shortly; The Kondele Team, and the Kisumu Matatu Crew in general are complaining about the arbitrary fines they are being subjected to by the Courts for Traffic Offenses. They are saying that they are being fined as much as Kshs 100,000.00 for the arrested Vehicles and for the Matatu Crews. They have raised this matter with the authorities and it has not been addressed. They feel this is crippling their business. The Kondele Team and the Kisumu Matatu Crew in general are complaining that there are far too many Traffic Police Road Blocks in Nyanza and each Road Block is extorting money from them. This is crippling their business and making them work for the Police instead. They have addressed this issue with the relevant authorities to no avail. The Kondele Team and the Kisumu Matatu Crew and Youths in general are asking what agenda the Government has for the too many idle Youths in the Lake Region. They have no access to any facility that can help change their lives for the better and they are faced with constant Police harassment. Many are being arrested on trumped up charges and nothing is being done to help their situation. Lastly, The Kondele Team and the Kisumu Matatu Crew and Youths in general are lamenting the absence of the elected leadership. They are complaining that they only become useful to the politicians at election times and immediately after the elections are won, the said leaders disappear. This is an issue the local political leadership might need to look at and address. Another issue that came up but which I will not list amongst the 4 is the attitude of the Provincial Police Officer Nyanza on the Matatu Crews. They think this Public Officer has low esteem of them and has said on several occasions that he can never discuss with a Manamba. I also find this offensive. These are only some of the issues these Youths are complaining about and the sad thing is, no elected leader has ever sat down with them to listen to their plight. I want to believe that they have genuine issues that need to be addressed and this is why, I will start by raising the same issues with His Worship the Mayor and the Town Clerk of the City Council of Kisumu today. Later on in the day, The Clean Kenya Campaign will raise the same issues with the Chief Justice, the Traffic Commandant, the Police Commissioner and the Rt Hon Prime Minister. As we work for a Clean Kenya, we also want to impress upon our leaders to give audience to their electorates and help solve some of the issues they raise. In the same vein, we are imploring upon the Kenyan Youths not to harass innocent Kenyans as they agitate for their rights. Your issues might get lost in the process, just like the issues of the Kisumu Youth were lost in their recent demonstrations. We all need to invite the confidence of the investor community to our Country and we are happy that His Excellency the President was recently in London wooing for Direct Foreign Investment in Kenya. These are the Corporates who might pitch Industries that might help mitigate the plights of our Youth. We also need to raise the confidence of Local Investors. But if we harass and burn their investments, are we being helpful in building a cohesive Kenya? As The Clean Kenya Campaign, we will be in the frontline to help address these issues. But we will also demand for a peaceful demonstrations where the real issues are not lost in any sideshows. And lastly, all demonstrators must respect the rights of Kenyans to Freedom of Movement. They must not hold Kenyans to ransom.   Odhiambo T Oketch, Executive Director, The Clean Kenya Campaign-TCKC Tel; 0724 365 557 Email; komarockswatch@yahoo.com Blogspot; http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com Website; www.kcdnkenya.org Facebook; Odhiambo T Oketch  Facebook; Monthly Nationwide Clean up Campaign Mailing Group; friendsofkcdn@yahoogroups.com   The Clean Kenya Campaign is an Initiative of The KCDN Kenya.

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