By Tobias Ogutu
The first level of governance, and most felt, is that witnessed in the local community. Governance at the community level aims to be directly in touch with the citizens and help improve their lives. When local community governance is well done, the plights that individuals undergo will be eliminated. This is what is aimed at when the office of the President of Kenya is represented at the location level by the chiefs. However, the good services that were meant to reach the people have turned into their torture and nightmare, as is the case with Nyalenda A location.
Nyalenda A is one of the wards within Kisumu East sub-county. This humble ward is made up of the natives “Jo-Kassagam” and the non-natives “Jo-Pang’o.” The natives being the “sons of the soil” as they usually call themselves, believe that everything belongs to them. The non-natives are not allowed to take any leadership role, and whenever, they try to rise up for any leadership role within the community, they are quickly reminded that they are far from home.
The leaders of this lame community are the people cultivating the bad behavior in the people. These leaders have sidelined the non-natives among them in everything, even their constitutional rights. For instance, a son of “Jo-Pang’o” has to pay for a signature and stamp from the area chief on essential documents like those used for the application of an identification card. But, this is not a case with the sons of the soil. The area chief will proudly say to the non-natives, “Go back to your home area chief to sign the forms if you have nothing to offer.”
The punishment for law breakers in this ward is also determined by whether the accused is a native or a non-native in the land. Lawbreakers who are not sons of the soil receive extreme punishment. In fact, they can even be beaten to death by youths calling themselves the vigilantes, constituting of only the natives. However, if the accused happens to be a native, minimal punishment is ordered, and the matter will not even reach to the police station. All this happens in this area and the chief is aware and among those involved.
In this lame community, any support from the national government does not reach the non-natives. Even during the times of natural disasters like the past pandemic, relief food that was meant to be distributed to all residents of Nyalenda A, only reached the houses and homes of the natives. The non-natives were told to go to their native homes to receive their share.
This bad behavior has been a norm in this community of Nyalenda A. There is no hope given that the leaders are the orchestrators of this behavior in the community. They forget that the non-natives also pay taxes and are contributing greatly to the developments within their so-called native land. Therefore, the government should sample such wards and punish office holders in such communities to eliminate discrimination.
