Why is it always two steps forward, one step back?

I have come to the conclusion that writing this column is gradually becoming one the most difficult things I have to do each week. In a bid to try and meet the editorial deadlines I quickly choose an issue to handle but more interesting issues creep out of the woodwork almost by the hour. This confusion from the rapidly changing news scene in the region compels me to try and wait a little, not to be caught commenting on something that has long lost significance. Meanwhile my once good relationship with the editors who were happy to have a deadline-adhering writer is put on the line. As was getting ready to write the first story I saw on Al Jazeera was about Zanzibar. It turns out that sections of the islanders are pushing for secession from mainland. Do not forget that up north in Kenya, the Mombasa Republican Council also has a secession agenda with their famous mantra, Pwani si Kenya (Coast is not Kenya). All this is happening at a time when we are hoping to integrate five countries into one. Uganda was one of the few places where the Muslim population did not protest violently against the anti-Islam film. The same population woke up to the strange news that pilgrims were not to be allowed anywhere near Mecca thanks to the Ebola outbreak that was declared over a while back. You are healed from Ebola but are not clean enough to seek spiritual cleaning from the holy cities. I also saw somewhere that Kenya and Rwanda were negotiating plans to mutually recognise each country’s national identity cards as travel documents. This is a step the right direction as far integration is concerned but leaves us with a tough question.What happens when these Kenyan or Rwandan travellers get to Uganda where are they are likely to transit? Uganda does not yet have a national identification system and since it was not part of the talks between Kenyan and Rwanda then I don’t see how the plans by Rwanda and Kenya are supposed to work out. Meanwhile the tired story of aid to Rwanda being cut and then uncut has become quite monotonous if you ask me. The story of Congo seems to be this region’s Syria. It does not seem to get out of our faces no matter how obvious most issues are. On a more pleasant side, Rwanda and Uganda government officials took time to sit and forge a way forward on the issue of refugees. Many Rwandan refugees in Uganda have returned to Rwanda while some have chosen to remain. The lesson here is that two nations can sit and discuss this issue amicably. Now compare that to Kenya where a rather controversial assistant Minister and MP for Embakasi, Ferdinand Waititu had the nerve to say that Maasais were not welcome in his area. When the hate speech flags were waved he tried to play the politician’s most famous card – “I was misquoted.”However he seemed to just be borrowing from Peter to pay Paul when he said he did not mean all Maasais but those from Tanzania. In other words, despite all the talk we hear about East African integration, was he insinuating that Tanzanian Maasais are not welcome in his constituency? Is he now an immigration official? Ironically he wants to be the governor of Nairobi in the next coming elections. Eventually he was charged with hate speech and murder. Let us see how it plays out.After reading about the impending fall of Somalia’s Kismayu port several times largely from the patriotic Kenyan press it finally happened. The ANISOM troops from Uganda and Burundi were joined by the Kenya Defence Forces after a series of kidnappings largely around the coastal areas of Lamu to ‘sort out’ Somalia. It is expected that the capture of Kismayu from the Al Shabaab will be the militia’s Achilles heel since it has been serving as a major source of revenue for them. However with an anticipated increase in the terrorist attacks, we should not forget that famous statement, “Occupation is not victory.” Ask the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. And although some people are saying that Kenya is hogging all the credit in a war that also has Uganda and Burundian troops, I still think the irony is that as Kenyan forces were capturing Kismayu, Kisumu was being torn apart by two rival gangs weirdly named after America and China. Two steps forward, one step back. Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81