“Luos have a tendency of using their knowledge to frustrate one another. The one thing I am proud of being Luo is that, I stress, generally speaking, Luos are principally not interested in corrupt deals at national level. That’s the Luo integrity. But, of course, every village has a mad man. Your father was corrupt,” Dr. Kajuang said recklessly. “I know two corrupt cases he participated in when you were out of the country. One involves a mastermind of a dangerous gang in Kisumu. They manufacture chaos to break into shops and loot. The mastermind – let me withhold the name – is slightly related to your father. Severally the mastermind had been arrested and charged but your father used his authority to get him out of arrest. The mastermind had become so bloated that he could tell police off or scream, “if you arrest me where will you take me that I can’t free myself.” But, of course, your father is not the only crime Godfather. There are others. Protection of criminals by Godfathers is changing the security scenario of this place rapidly.”

Dr. Kavirondo took the beating playing a game with his lips.

        “Sorry for the digression,” Dr. Kajuang returned to the subject. “Let me return to the point I was trying to make. The Luo community is naturally confrontational. The negative element of confrontation is that we have the genes of destroying each other’s aspirations. President Jomo Kenyatta exploited that confrontational nature.”

        “How?”

        “In setting Tom Mboya against Oginga Odinga. He gave Tom Mboya a big cabinet position and tried to make him the Luo spokesman. Tom Mboya went after Odinga’s neck. He began to eclipse Odinga. Stories are rife that Kenyatta inflated Mboya’s ego by promising him great things. Of course, neither Mboya nor Odinga entertained sitting together to iron out their differences on behalf of the community. They stuck to the psychology that no bull accepts another bull in the same herd. Even when an idiot Luo is in high position, all Luos worship him. So, the ebullient Tom Mboya’s selfish stand created political disharmony in Luo land that, in return, frustrated economic development by the government as if to say, ‘Let them fight each other while we eat.’ You know the rest of the story when Mboya became too bloated for Kenyatta, don’t you?”

        “I hear you.”

        “As you stand aware, Mboya’s demise wasn’t the end of the story of disharmony in Luoland. Remember the story of Raila and Tuju? Bring the Luo might of Dr. Miguna Miguna on board against Raila. Personally, my heart falls for Dr. Miguna Miguna. He’s intellectually incorrupt.”

        “That far?”

        “Check on his history books. When that physically and intellectually huge man walks into a room the climate changes instantly. But that becomes the end of the narrative. Luos have been perceived to be hostile to other governments.”

        “Dr. Kajuang!”

        “Raila hired Dr. Miguna Miguna as his point-one man. He lived to regret when he rubbed Dr. Miguna Miguna’s feathers wrongly. The stage was set for fireworks. Did you see the display at the airport when he was being thrown out of the country because he has a Canadian passport?”

        “I heard about it. I was out of the country. Who was behind it?”

        “Raila made Dr. Miguna Miguna the State project to get rid of him because he didn’t want to have another Luo competitor. You know how combative Dr. Miguna Miguna is. Dr. Matiang’i bore his state’s fangs – the story went on and on – poor Dr. Miguna Miguna. That’s the Luo political workshop.”

        “Are we our own political enemies?”

        “Where Luo blood is, from Kenya, to Uganda, to Sudan, Luo’s grassroots, there is trouble. Sudan’s political confrontation is the soup with which they eat their fate. There are elements of Luo blood in Nigeria. No wonder Nigerians have many names starting with the letter ‘O.’ Obasanjo, for instance. President Moi’s chorus was that Luos are the most difficult people to govern. When you rough feathers with one of them he becomes lifetime vindictive to you. Sudan has never enjoyed any political peace since independence. Is this confrontational blood what we inherited from our ancestral father, Ajuang?”

        “As a political scientist, you should have the answer. Any denial?”

        “Even if they lead in university degree achievements in Kenya, can the masses eat those degrees? Why have those degrees not removed Luos from ethnic economic stagnation and dungeons? Have you ever thought about how those degrees can be translated into strong economy for the Luo communities to move them from mud houses?”

        “Education is power.”

        “Dr. Kavirondo, power is a relative word. The thing is, while the wealth of the nation is being shared somewhere, Luos are absent from the sharing table because they are dancing nyatiti in villages. Who controls the economy of Kisumu City? Luos?”

        “Well, well…” Dr. Kavirondo said and stammered. “Why should the collective economy of Kisumu city, which is the heart of Luos, be controlled by foreigners – Kikuyus, Indians, Kisiis, Somalis and the rest? These foreigners are buying out Luo’s economic foundation in instalments while Luos chase intellectual butterflies in the cloud. Acquisition of Luos land is threatened. Outsiders are monopolizing Kisumu economically. Soon the Luo community is going to be servants of enterprises of outsiders. Luos are on the table for being swallowed economically by other communities. End of the Luo story. What happens when you invite a man in your house and he takes over your bedroom?”

        “How come you’ve not spoken about this publicly?”

        “For fear they’d rush to block my muzzle.”

        “Who?”

        “People of Kavirondo mentality. Luos are egocentric rulers when they get the position of leadership. If I dare challenge the status quo with my loud thoughts tomorrow I’ll face the consequences of being thrown out of my job. Are you aware of that?”

        “Point taken.”

        “I’m safe when I share it with you because what I say remains within the walls. Those in authority want you to praise them and remain silent about the poor. The poor are made to be poorer because the leaders are buying their stupidity.”

        “How?”

        “By keeping them ignorant. Just as knowledge is power, ignorance is power too. Ignorance is a great asset in political manoeuvres. You succeed in governing the ignorant but not those with knowledge. Ignorance has a powerful inbuilt mechanism for self-sustenance. It can kill for its own survival within its perpetual fight with knowledge for sustainability. We were colonized because we were powerfully ignorant of the survival arms with which to navigate us in the modern world of survival for the fittest. Smart Luo leaders want the community to remain subservient. Jealousy but not dignity rules this part of the world. Luos are economically stagnant, but the leaders want to hear you sing that everything is fine in Luoland. What happened to the giant project of building both the Lunda dam and bridge? What distance do you cover driving round the hill to get here?” “Nearly forty minutes and when the weather is bad it can take the whole day if not days because you dare drive and sink into the mud.”

        “What if the bridge is built?”

        “Ten minutes you’re there. Plus, it joins the highway and boosts the economy of the villages involved.”

        “Do you know who frustrated building the bridge?”

        “I sensed your trajectory. My father was involved.”

        “How?”

        “Edit out the details; you know how.”

        “Can you imagine the economic rise that part of the country would have by now if the mega dam was built?”

        “Would you blame my father for that one too?”

        “No, but he, too, played a degree of the frustration.”

        “How?”

        “Don’t you remember he supported the Member of Parliament challenging Raila Odinga? Come to think about it: if Raila used his political power smartly in developing Luos industrially, I tell you, by today the Luo community would be wallowing in joy singing songs of economic achievements. Instead, Raila has been talking hot air burning Luo economic forests in creation of Luo’s industrial decline.”

        “Do Luos know that?”

        “I don’t know.”

        “Economist Dr. Kajuang doesn’t know?”

        “They know, but they don’t think about the consequences of that. Raila is their king. Even if he was naked, he’s still their king – get it? My take is that Raila’s father was better in building Luo’s industrially until he fell out with President Jomo Kenyatta.”

        “Mr Economist, what’s the way out regarding the fate of Luo’s economy?”

        “They should come down from the clouds and from backward beliefs and take charge in active industrial participation. They should practically be part and parcel of economic structure. When a Luo man becomes great, his ego bloats dangerously. Your father was not of any difference. He was unreachable for the ordinary man. If their industrialization should be building educational institutions, so be it.”

        “Are you a solution or part of Luo problem?”

        “Damn you! I’ve never held any position of leadership. Your father was a big part of the Luo governing machine. He was a household name regarding his use of power. But he was a terror to many people. He ate on the same table with Raila Amolo Odinga. Do you know the cost of challenging Raila Amolo Odinga’s authority in Luoland by claiming Luos are marginalized to wallow in the dust of economic neglect?”

        “I repeat, Luos are their own economic enemy.”

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