There is a discrepancy that has failed to make sense to me for a long time. My community, the Luo are the most learned and have contributed and are still doing so to many great achievements in the world. When the poverty index is published by Ministry of Planning and even UN agencies, we lag behind as the poverty stricken region in Kenya. It was encouraging to see that Siaya is position ten in the new wealth per county survey by the Revenue Allocation Commission. So, where is the problem?
The Chinese have a metaphor of yin and yang symbol of two fishlike shapes forming a circle. The more ‘male’ (yang) a society is the more the competition and total performance but weak group solidarity. The more ‘female’ (yin) a society is the more evenly rewards will be distributed and greater group solidarity but relatively low performance.
The yin factor is what kept Kikuyu’s economically afloat during the twenty four years of Moi era. Bad politics plays a role in entrenching poverty, but it only slows resilient people’s progress but does not stop it. A balanced society must attain the synergy between the ‘yin and yang’ for social growth.
Women make better leaders in social or business circles because of many reasons. They are relational; they share information and build people. Unlike men who outdo each other then bring each other down. Women tend to be less corrupt than men and are bound to look at long term solutions when men are consumed by the moment.
In an African family where the man is the head, the woman is the manager of the home. If the manager is not up to the task, it does not matter how much bacon a man brings home, it won’t have much effect on the health and wealth of the family. Look at it like the man is the CEO and the woman the operations manager. The ideas and policies the board comes up with will be pronounced dead on arrival when it comes to execution.
I am Kenyan of Luo descent, who grew up outside Luo Nyanza. When I was old enough to raise the fare to my rural home, I began to look at my people with an outsider’s lens. Among the Luo, a house belongs to the wife, a man builds a new house every time he marries. This led to many questions for which I will try to answer some and leave the rest to you. A Luo man who married out of the “lifestyle” as Luoism has come to be known will most likely meet an ‘enlightened’ lady. This will make his home more stable than of the man who married from within and had to make do with the average Luo ladies.
If I take a panoramic look at my village into several homes which look stable, I will find a focused mother. This is true even for the semi illiterate women. Women are born with innate abilities to multiply and nurture. When the woman gets it wrong like it happened in the Garden of Eden, everything goes south. Men may be strong but women are powerful, men have enormous spontaneous energy women have a long stay in power. Great men have realized this and Abraham Lincoln said that a woman is the only thing he was afraid of that he knew will not hurt him. Barack Obama calls Michelle the boss and definitely she is. The achievements of these men are evidence of the women behind them.
I then joined a public University to do a course with three hundred other freshmen in 1998. What shocked me and my Luo friends was the realization that we did not have a Luo lady in the class. Luo men made fun of it that now they could go out with Kikuyu ladies without a backlash from their sisters. This to me marked the epitome of social decline and educational decay in Luo Nyanza. Then the majority of student political activists were also Luos. This proved the theory that growing up in poverty and lack produces self driven individuals with a hunger for justice.
Then Nyanza led in the poverty index report and it was shocking how a region with a high concentration of intellectuals would be so poor. The report said that Nyanza Province: With a rural poor population estimated at 2.4 million, has the highest poverty rate across most Divisions and Locations in Kenya. The Leaders who did not agree said the report was more political than factual. On my next trip to Kisumu, the moment I entered Luoland from Kericho, I noted a big change. The difference is evident in people, houses and even cattle.
Let us hold politics constant and for Nyanza it also means leaving Raila out of this. I learned that numbers don’t lie- so I chose to believe the government statistics. The leaders from the region who concurred attributed it to pork barrel policies of the Moi regime and I do not dispute either.
United Nations Development Program released Multidimensional Poverty Index to look into poverty deeper than the income, it analyzes deprivation at household level. The indices measured are; school enrolment and retention, mortality, nutrition, water, electricity, fuel, sanitation and type of floor. Looking at Luo Nyanza with a high resolution lens, one gets the gist of why the region ranks high in poverty levels.
The theories, and scientific explanations in these reports however noble are not palatable to the same people the reports are meant to serve. The hydra headed face of development is not easily understood by the common man. They are used to their poverty which is caused by many factors and coming up with one reason as I have done here may appear pedestrian. I believe the reason for poverty in Luo Nyanza is the un-empowered Luo woman.
I have travelled across the whole region and interacted with Luos from all walks of life. I noted that a Luo is a Luo regardless of where he grows up and Barack Obama is one typical Luo. Luo men despite their arrogance, pride and imposed swagger are diligent and hard working. They provide for the family and spare some of the evening hang out which is important to us. So where is the disconnect? The leak is in the household where UNDP and other agencies conduct their surveys. These households are the workstation, playground and property of the Luo women.
When a wife is not empowered she will lack access to information on common diseases which increases child mortality. It is mother who can keep a child in school even when the father provides school fees. It is the woman who will keep the house clean and the environment cleaner even if the man does not bring tap water. It is the woman who decides what food will be eaten and how it will be prepared.
The Luo woman has been disempowered by her men and now the whole society is paying. She is not just beautiful but morphologically endowed. Educating or empowering a beautiful woman is like pouring honey into a fine Swiss watch, everything stops. The Luo man who is used to a submissive lady now finds this new woman threatening. The ‘liberated’ Luo woman needs to find a balance for her sake and the good of the community.
To get the Luo out of poverty, I put my bet on the average Luo woman; she holds the key to the emancipation and development of Luo Nyanza. Politics may appear like the way out but we need to turn off the tap rather than keep mopping the floor.
Poverty is rampant all over Kenya and every community must debunk their points of leakages and plug them. We shall never eliminate poverty totally, but the advent of a devolved system of government is a good starting point. A precondition for its sharp reduction is for professionals and the middle class to become more proactive and get closer to and learn more from those who live in poverty; then act accordingly. Sometimes you have to look at the dog not people to know the true economic status of a home.
The more underdeveloped a society is, the more underdeveloped the women. Develop the woman and you develop a society.
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