What a tough month this has been for the region

The last couple of days have clearly been some of the most miserable for the East African Community and the region at large. Times have been so harsh that some people in Kenya have actually started to think that the month of August is kind of a cursed one for them. I do understand where the Kenyans are coming from when they arrived at such a harsh conclusion. After all, it was in the first week of August in 1998 that hundreds of innocent lives were lost in the twin embassy terrorist attacks on Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The attacks left more than 200 people dead in Nairobi while Dar registered a death toll of 11 people. As if that is not enough, Kenya’s founding father or Baaba wa taifa, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta also died towards the end of August in 1978 on the 22nd to be precise. Now you take a close look at what happened on that day this year, you would also understand why conspiracy theorists may want to declare the month a dark one in Kenya. On 22 August 2012 which was a Wednesday, veteran Kenyan politician, Martin Shikuku died after a lengthy battle with cancer. On the same day, Mrs. Josephine Michuki, the widow to another long serving Kenyan politician – the late John Michuki – also passed away.Away from the individual cases, August 22 was also the same day on which eight pupils were burnt to death in a dormitory fire at Asumbi Girls’ Boarding Primary School when a suspected electrical fault sparked a fire. The pupils were in school for holiday tuition, which has been outlawed by the government. What topped the news rounds though was the death of close to 50 people including 31 women and 11 children who were massacred on the morning of Wednesday 22, August in a fight over water and pasture in Tana River County. Over 60 cattle were also killed in the process. The killings in Kenya have me worried now as the much anticipated elections are drawing closer each day. I am know for a fact that Kenya and East Africa ought to steer clear of such clashes as we witnessed in 2007 after a botched election contest between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. Back to August, it is also the month when Uganda lost three military helicopters and the lives of seven air force servicemen while en route to Somalia to face the Al Shabaab militia. The choppers crashed while trying to fly over Mount Kenya. There was another crash in the Maasai Mara National Park where two German tourists and a Kenyan tourist died.After weeks of speculation, news eventually came in that Ethiopia’s long serving leader had also passed away in a Brussels hospital after a long illness. Meles Zenawi had not been seen in public for a long time since falling sick. Pres. Zenawi has left a legacy of rapid economic development as well as a resolve to fight the Alshabaab militia in Somalia. As we pray for his soul to rest in peace, we also hope that the fight against the Al Shabaab militia is not derailed by his death and the troubles of the Uganda Airforce. The region as I have always argued is better off with peaceful neighbours if we are to achieve sustainable development. The fact that the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somali and South Sudan are all not so secure neighbours, greatly affects the East African region in one way or another. I am glad that Tanzania seems to have chosen an amicable way of solving its border dispute with Malawi. I hope the same follows with Kenya and that contested area that South Sudan is now claiming. The silver lining on the cloud for this month has in my view been Rwanda’s launching of the Agaciro Development Fund (AgDF) on Thursday and raising over 1.2 billion francs on day one. The fund will supplement other sources of revenue in a bid to accelerate the country’s development programmes. “Agaciro” the Kinyarwanda word after which the fund has been named loosely translates to dignity or self worth, something that has been a dominant theme in Rwanda in the recent years. The launch saw several individuals, organisations and companies pledging to contribute to the fund. The fund is an exceptional venture that demonstrates the willingness of the Rwanda people to own the development process. It joins other home-grown remedies that Rwanda has relied on to rise from the darker moments of its history such as the Gacaca judicial system.