Critical Analysis of Mr. Kipkorir's theory of "annexing, sub-dividing Somalia" between Kenya and Ethiopia....
Is Mr. Kiprkorir, saying, that we kenyan Somalis are committing treason by talking about subdividing Somalia between Kenya and Ethiopia? Who are we? when he talks about treason...treason against what? Your article or who...? Treason against Kenya, just because you wrote some un-substantiated article and we replied?
......................We are Kenyans and don't talk like you are more Kenyan than us...
Below, we believe you may read, My Views on Somalia annexation have been misinterpreted, written By DONALD B. KIPKORIR, of the now famous Kenya and Ethiopia should annex and Sub-divide Somalia" that appeared on Daily Nation's opinion. He summarizes his whole story by indicating a state is not nothingness, it is limited in time and space and by quoting George Washington, first US President (1789-1797) .....Citizens by birth or choice… that country has a right to concentrate your affections.
Read here his new version of the whole story starting now.......
" When I called for Somali’s division last week, I expected the vitriolic reaction I have received from the war-weary country’s refugees in the US, Britain, Denmark, Eritrea and Mogadishu.
But what shocked me most was the reaction of Somalis with passports of Kenya, America, the UK, Denmark and Canada.
Websites and blogs have been set up that have deliberately misinterpreted my views on Somalia’s annexation. My article was not based on religious considerations — far from it. I stand by my position that Southern Sudan is our strategic ally and not the Khartoum government. The Khartoum administration has aligned itself with the Middle East Arab countries, whose world view is different from Kenya’s.
Somalis who have reacted angrily to my thoughts have the mistaken view that they are Arabs and that Kenyans are blacks. Some even called me a monkey or a nigger, saying that blacks are predestined to serve them. Somalis and Oromos of Ethiopia are Cushitic in race, while Arabs are Semitic. Somalis’ future thus lies in being one with their cousins in either Kenya or Ethiopia, and not on creating an Arab caliphate in East Africa.
Kenya and Ethiopia have a duty as the brother’s keeper to impose peace on Somalia — and annexation is one of the options. In denouncing my thoughts and supporting the pirates and the Islamic Courts Union in their country, and even calling them patriots, Somalis carrying passports of other countries other than theirs have crossed the line of treason.
One cannot carry a country’s passport and owe allegiance to another. This split loyalty brings to the fore the issues of tribalism, nationalism and patriotism. Tribe is the least denominator of nationhood. In it people share a language as well as culture and cultural beliefs. Richard Hendler, a highly regarded anthology professor at the University of Virginia, USA, says that nations have “…boundedness, continuity and homogeneity…” . When the European imperial powers divided Africa among themselves in the mid-19th Century, artificial state boundaries were imposed on us. Within these borders we have striven to cobble up nation-states, but with varying degrees of success. However, due to the boundaries, our loyalty is now to the state, and not the tribe, when the two conflict. My ethno-nationalist beliefs do not in any way undermine my loyalty to Kenya despite its imperfections. Nationalism is our spiritual consciousness.
However, a state is not nothingness; it is limited in space and time. It has clearly defined boundaries and a common language, principles, flag and national ethos and strategy.
Kenya,, by all standards, is a state, while Somalia is a state in name only as it does not even have one flag. Ethical nationalism principles demand that when the interests of one’s state conflict with those of another, all citizens must come together. Patriotism, the higher ideal that calls for the love of one’s country above all else is not synonymous with sycophancy or blind subservience to the state. Roman Catholics’ allegiance is to the pope in Rome and Muslims to the ummah, but the fealty is ecclesiastical and does not supplant the temporal authorities.
Thus, thinking of setting up a Catholic holy state or an Islamic caliphate in Kenya amounts to treason. Treason and sedition laws in Kenya and many other countries are aimed at preventing the people from undermining national interests. It is in the strategic interest of our country that a caliphate is not set up in East Africa. And this converges with the strategic interests of many other countries, including most, if not all, Islamic ones. Thus, when people carrying passports of Kenya, Canada, the UK, Britain and Denmark e-mail or publish articles supporting an Islamic caliphate’s actions, they cross their nationalism and patriotism lines.
How can one justify the Somali pirates’ actions? How can one turn a blind eye to the country’s failed status? And how dare one claim that Somalia is better off than Kenya? Kenya cannot make much progress as long as Somalia remains the sick man of eastern Africa, and Ethiopia cannot export or import goods as long as Somalia remains a failed state. History places the onerous duty on Kenya and Ethiopia to resolve the Somalia problem.
Somalis in Kenya and those ensconced in the luxury and freedoms of Europe and the US must hold their peace. Somalis in the diaspora must choose what passport they wish to carry; one cannot enjoy the citizenship and privileges of a peaceful country and want Kenya to live next to one that gives sanctuary and succour to its enemies. Kenyans have a patriotic duty to safeguard national interests, irrespective of tribal, religious and political persuasions.
End....
My Analysis...starts here
But Mr. Kipkorir doesn't talk about the realities former Hon Billow Kerrow kept on reffering, regarding annexation of a sovereign country, although, now in crisis. Mr. Kipkorir would love not to hear anything from Kenyan Somalis, who are albeit, more educated, even as he wishes to talk about anything against Somalis, of Somalia, Kenya, USA, Europe, Arabia or anywhere..else.
In that case, Who gives him the authority to determine what Somalis, of Somalia or Kenya or anywhere on this planet would want to warrant him write anything he likes from his mind, even about annexing, sub-dividing people whose "previous annexation" by colonialists, brought along us in to this volatile situation of Somalia today?
Mr. Kipkorir doesn't know anything about Somalia nor doesn't care to hear from other somalis, be they his fellow Kenyans. He doesn't even what is happening in North Eastern Kenya, where we have a sizeable somali ethnic group, of Kenyan Citizenship, who have been marginalized for the past century, first by the british colonial administration and then by succesive government, among them one called, MOI, from his own tribe.
Where were you when our own Kenyan people were being marginalized ?........why aren't you talking your own Kenyan population to start writing about distant lands where you and even the superpowers can't do anything but just to wait and see? Kenya for that matter can't even keep it's borders safe let alone annexing Somalia...You Must know, from reports, 2 Kenyan government employees were abducted a fortnight ago in Mandera.
Mr. Kipkorir should refer to a lot of analysis before writing anything else on Somalia or Somalis of Kenya and although I don't concur with others much, he should know when he talks about treason, he doesn't think this is the same Moi administration he is used to, which called everything a treason. From my view, Mr. Kip is happy, Africans, among them Kenyans and Somalis were sub-divided by the colonialist. He likes talking about the 19th Century Scramble for Africa.
We are Kenyans like you Mr. Kipkorir, we have the liberty to enjoy what we want, talk the way we want, we have the freedom to respond to any un-subtantiated information you post in our own dailies and there is no crime in saying Somalis, whether of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia or Djibouti were already sub-divided and that we need to come to terms to resolve issues like different countries in a different manner but not what you are advocating for.
Last but not least, Mr. Kipkorir should atleast know, we have not set this blog when he started talking about "Annexing and Subdividing" Somalia, people who have already been sub-divided, just last week.
