Scholars: the Somali question can’t be addressed by guns and batons

Friday, April 25, 2014
By Godwin Murunga

An areal view of Isiolo town. Elders have called for a resolution to the border dispute between Isiolo and Meru counties. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI | FILE

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A columnist recently wrote a damning article on African scholars and universities. He cited the lack of African experts on carefully selected remote places, but did this by way of comparison with European or American systems where the media will normally interview specialists on virtually every topic.

The article even misleadingly denied the existence of a single prestigious peer-reviewed pan-African journal.
As an academic who has worked only in public universities, I am already used to such dismissals. It is worse when the dismissal is based on comparisons with Europe or America without taking note of the vastly different research infrastructure and the politics of knowledge production embedded in the systems.

At every instance, many of us are expected to justify ourselves, to confirm to those who baselessly doubt that we are worth something more than repeated complaints about remuneration.

No wonder, security sector moguls do not also find scholarly work credible. How can they listen to knowledge or expert thinking on security when those who should appreciate knowledge don’t even think it exists in the first place?

Nothing illustrates my argument better than happenings of the week. Amidst the outpouring of writings on the dangers of short-term thinking on security, a senior police officer proclaimed that the operation against suspected terrorists had reduced insecurity. Before his echo subsided came a murderous explosion in Pangani in which police officers lost their lives.

We know that any celebration of dividends arising from the recent security operations is unfounded. In fact, the effect of the security operations will take a very long time to manifest.

In the short term, there will be calm, silence or even docility. But all these might just be the calm before the bang.

COSMOPOLITAN LOGIC

The lessons of history are there for anyone to see. Many Kenyans are socialised to think Somali entry into Eastleigh is a recent phenomenon dating back to the end of the Siad Barre regime. Their memory of Eastleigh is restricted to Garissa Lodge.

In fact, as early as 1917, the Somali were engaged in a protracted fight against the colonial government to prevent their relocation from Ngara to Mbagathi. Their eventual occupation of Eastleigh was the result of protest after they took the colonial government to court to defend themselves against unilateral relocation.
They identified a legal loophole that they used to purchase land in the area initially earmarked for Asian settlement. This is what eventually became Eastleigh estate.

In other words, the Somali created a space for themselves in Nairobi against the wishes of the colonial government. This was possible because of a very cosmopolitan logic built into the way Nairobi developed.

Not only did Nairobi grow into a cosmopolitan place against the wishes of those who wanted a white settler city, this growth pattern continues to define why security thinking must listen to scholarly voices because it is only when the complexity of places like Eastleigh is understood that a proper and effective security strategy can be designed.

Understanding the history of Eastleigh is only a first step. The estate has a long relationship with Isiolo Town and indeed the Kenya-Somalia border.

When one reads archival records on the Somali in Nairobi, Isiolo occupies an important place where Somali identity fully asserted its Kenyanness. Add to this the complicated nature of the Kenya-Somalia border and one has a complex security issue to handle.

This makes nonsense of a security strategy that focuses on Eastleigh but has no idea how to manage the long border that Kenya shares with Somalia.

Kenyans have a choice on security matters either to continue to dismiss scholars or mine their knowledge.

The future for longer term security strategy that ensures sustainable peace rests in thinking, not clobbering.

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