Back in Nairobi 8/13 - Kenyan Parliament Visit

8/13 Back in Nairobi

We awoke this morning happy to be back in our Nairobi home. After the hundreds of kilometers we've driven it was nice to not have to get up this morning and get back in the car; in fact the last thing we wanted to do this morning is get in a vehicle. We were feeling a bit drained from our travels and the natural ebb and flow of our bodily functions and their ability to adjust to new foods (a convoluted way of saying we got some intestinal challenges!) meant that we just wanted to stay at home and relax.

Jessie took an unusual late morning nap while Mer read on the couch. Finally at 2 pm we decided to venture out of the house and head into downtown. We couldn't justify wasting a whole day in Kenya at Pat's house when there was so much in Nairobi we still hadn't done. Plus, there was no power in Pat's neighborhood so that meant no updating of blogs or catching up on email for us. We headed into the downtown area with Njeri in one of the matatus that we now were starting to dread. We continue to be frustrated with "the jam" and ask ourselves how much more progress could this country make without a jam? Why isn't this problem being addressed? Every Kenyan we talk to is frustrated by it and people plan their lives around it. Daudi, Pat's husband, drives about 5 hours per day to Kenyatta University (this is a commute that should only take 30 minutes each way). When we ask Kenyans how they think this can be fixed, they all say the roads should be widened, the public transportation improved, etc but that the politicians are too corrupt and lazy to do anything. It is amazing how universally disillusioned people seem to be with the government.

We headed to the Kenyan National Parliament where we heard you can view proceedings from the public gallery. It took quite a while to get in - though we weren't asked to show our passports or even get searched though they told us this was the reason for the wait. The only other visitors that day were three sets of school children who looked to be between the ages of 13 and 17. Njeri said, "they must be public school children" because of how they were dressed and being treated. The students were wearing uniforms that were tattered and old. Their old shoes and slouching socks also gave it away. They were made to stand in single file lines while the guard told them to behave and took any cameras away (there were two total in the group of 60). The students filed in to sit in the gallery viewing area. They were very interested in us and a few reached out to touch us or give us high fives. As we climbed up to the viewing gallery we had to ask ourselves if we'd already missed the session. We were told it started at 3 and it was about 3:30 so we couldn't understand why the less than 40 members present started filing out within five minute of our arrival. Less than 10 remained as one gentleman from the Ministry of Trade got up to give his report on the request for funding for the ministry and a report of their work. There was, literally, not a single person listening to him as he gave his report. One woman was texting and picking up the phone to call people, there were two groups of people sitting and talking and laughing and a row of reporters one level below us who seemed to get bored and got up and left. It was really confusing and sad from our perspective.

The students sat up straight and very polite, not one talked or elbowed his neighbor, though a few kept turning around to sneak a peak at us or wave and smile. They looked bored but attentive and we wondered how they were following the speech - many of the students in the public schools receive very poor education and these students from the interior generally do not have a strong command of English; the language the government uses. Njeri had decided not to come in with us. "I went once when I was 12 and I choose never to go back again," she said as she had left us at the gate. We now understood why. How sad. The truth is that we were so disappointed. There are 230 or something close to elected members of parliament. To see literally 8 in there was such a shock to the system. Trade is such a hot topic issue and the AGOA conference had just occured in Kenya less than a week earlier - how could there be such low attendance? The few who spoke mentioned the importance of developing Africa as a trading region and not just going after Euros and Dollars. Some debated whether or not they should continue to develop and strengthen trade with Uganda given the current tension between the two countries. Others challenged them to think outside the box but offered few examples or solutions. After 45 minutes of the gentleman's report and then a few other speeches from people who hadn't been listening to his speech we decided it was time to go. While this is an area of interest to both of us and we really wanted to hear more, we felt like there wasn't much new we were going to learn. After less than an hour in session they all appeared to be winding down.


On our way out we asked the guard where all the MPs were - he said the President had gone to the coast for a conference so maybe they went to join him. When we asked Pat later she snorted and said "yeah right!" She was not at all shocked when we told her only 8 MPs were there that day - "this is how things work here girls. Wait until election time then they'll all show up" We told her how the parking lot was filled with luxury SUVs and she said, "you know we pay them an allowance for that! We pay housing, travel and food expenses for them and they don't even pay taxes!" She was disgusted but we asked her why she didn't run for office. "I should" she said. But she said she probably wouldn't.

As an outsider it's hard to be critical of someone elses government or system. You want to respect each country's right to develop their own system and how they choose to run their country. At the same time we understood the reason so many Kenyans lack trust in their government. The front page of the paper that day said that the drought has gotten so bad that people are starting to starve and there is a serious food shortage problem. Not only are animals running out of land to graze, the field crops are not yielding enough for people and food borne illnesses are also on the rise. Then to see that in the face of this crisis less than 40 MPs were present and less than 10 stayed for the whole session made the situation even more depressing.

We left the gallery to meet Njeri and her friend Andrew (who will be traveling with us to Mombasa). After a quick bite we headed to the Matatu stand where it took us about an hour to catch a matatu back to Pat's neighborhood - we had to face "the jam" all over again. If ever the country was in need of a government to help fix some of the problems that plague Kenyans every day it is now - we're anxious to find someone to talk to who can explain a little bit about how and why things have developed the way they have here. We know that the legacy of colonialism and the challenges of a developing country play a large role - we were reminded of that as we walked into the building of the Parliament and read a plaque proudly proclaiming that the foundation for the building had been paid for and laid by British nobility.