THREE Coast ministers have criticised Prime Minister Raila Odinga for saying that government will not talk to the outlawed Mombasa Republican Council unless they declare themselves Kenyans (see Page 16). The MRC wants to secede from Kenya because coastal people have been marginalised in land allocation and state employment.
Kenya is one of the most unequal countries in the world, with the super-rich existing side by side with the super-poor, and the Coast is the most unequal part of Kenya along with Nairobi.
To make matters worse, government has not done enough to resolve the problems of coastal people, preferring repression to reconstruction. The MRC have a point but secession is not the solution. Counties are soon coming and coastal areas will become self-governing. There will be the opportunity for homegrown solutions for coastal problems.
Raila was right to insist that government should only talk to the MRC if they accept to be part of Kenya. Otherwise government would merely negotiate the surrender of Kenyan territory.
The ministers were just seeking cheap popularity by criticising the PM. They would have done better to follow the example of MP Kiema Kilonzo who recommended that the MRC form a political party and join the political mainstream.
Quote of the day: "We face neither East nor West ; we face Forward." - Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah died on April 27, 1972
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