When we were traveling from Dar-es-Salaam as refugees from Kenya on a KLM plane, it was three of us. Onyango Oloo, Githirwa Muhoro and myself. We went over Sudan at day time in the plane and we could see the Nile River all the way from Sudan to Egypt. It is really unbelievable when you watch it from there.
Today there was some talk about what to do with the Nile River to benefit all the countries and communities where the river moves or generates from. Musalia Mudavadi gave his speech on behalf of Kenyans on the matter.
One thing we should never forget or jump around is the obvious fact that the Nile River starts from Nam Lolwe which the British renamed as Lake Victoria. Without that lake, the Nile River would not even exist. The Nile River is the longest river in the world at 6,695 kilometers.
Without the Nile River, there would be no country called Egypt. Sudan would be dead too without that River. Ethiopia is now fighting with Sudan on how to use the Nile River water for irrigation and building mega water dams.
How about Kenya? All that water comes from Kenya. Our lake feeds that big river that is so crucial in Africa. That lake, by the way, is the third-largest freshwater lake in the world. And Lake Victoria would not exist without the Mau forest feeding it with water, River Nzoia and Yala River, and all the feeder water systems from our water towers in our country.
When we are talking with other countries about the Nile River Basin and its water system we have to be clear as a country that without Kenya there is no Nile River or Basin. Nobody is giving us any gifts from the Nile Basin. We already have it.
I have to say that it was very difficult for me to make any sense of what Mudavadi was talking about with regard to the Nile Basin.
“This will minimize potential risks of conflicts in the process of securing sustainability of water resources due to the increasing population and user demands within the Nile Basin.”
Acknowledging that the Nile Valley has been a centre of civilization for over 5,000 years, Mudavadi cautioned that the Basin still remains a water-scarce region.
Does anybody know what Mudavadi was talking about? I am sure even he doesn’t know what he was talking about. He was just bumbling words with no meaning. That is his job pitiful as it may be.
We have the lake. Let us use it to harvest water for industrial and home use. We do not need anybody’s permission to do that. What are we waiting for? Kenya does not need Egypt to give them permission to use Lake Victoria water. It is ours by nature.
It is coming together. Isn’t it? About time.
It is very dangerous to fool around with people who want their country because they are going to take it. That is evidence of history everywhere in the world for generations. It is not going to be any different in Kenya. They have done it before and they will do it again.
Ruto says he is ready for mass action. Good. Let’s have it. Ruto wouldn’t know what hit him. When the masses are fed up don’t fool around with them. Ruto will learn that soon. Very soon. There is a massive uprising in Kenya and it is not about Raila Odinga. It is about Kenyans getting very sick with the failing Ruto regime. That is what is on the ground now.
“They are threatening us with mass action. They will demonstrate till they grow tired, because Kenya is going is to be a country ran on the basis of the rule of law and the constitution. And all citizens have an equal opportunity and no citizen is greater than the other,” said Ruto.
That is exactly what Moi used to tell Kenyans. Where did he end up? In the dustbin of history. That is what is next for William Ruto and his mouthpieces like Mudavadi.
Adongo Ogony is a Kenyan Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
