Somalia border wall will be culturally disruptive

In Summary

• As a highly evolved species, humans expect that instructions, laws and regulation will be adhered to as a means of social control, but when they are targeted at a particular cultural, ethnic, racial or religious minority, they are met with resistance and resentment.
• Most of all, for a country struggling with a monster called corruption; a mega-construction project can only be viewed with suspicion.
• Cancer, and this comparison is purely as an academic exercise, kills more people annually in Kenya than Al-Shabaab, and will continue to do so.

By MUTHONI THANG'WA
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Kenya wants to enter the list of nations that have border barriers. There are proposals to build a 425-mile long wall along Kenya’s boundary with Somalia.

The official position is that the wall will help Kenya keep out Al-Shabaab militants who wreak security havoc every couple of months in the areas around the boundary in Wajir and Mandera. They have also attacked Nairobi, Mombasa and Garissa.

On face value, the wall sounds like a good idea and the answer to some of Kenya’s security problems.

READ: Opposition leaders fault building of Mandera wall

READ: MBARAK: Episodic measures will not address insecurity

READ: NG’ULIA: Wall on Somalia border not a solution to insecurity

If the area around Dadaab refugee camp is anything to go by, Kenya will be building a wall along an almost barren dry land that supports a nomadic way of life as a rudimentary survival strategy. Ultimately, Kenyan Somalis will be affected and since our Constitution is so big on public consultation, I hope some arm of government is taking the trouble to do cultural impact assessments to help give these Kenyans already leading a very difficult life some choices and options when that wall finally goes up.

In reality, the porous border may only be a problem when it is combined with corrupt immigration workers and procedures. In countries where such walls have been effective, such as the West Bank barrier between Israel and Palestine, it is the hate behind the wall on both sides that has been the deterrent for entry or exit and not the wall itself.

MEGAPROJECT SUSPICION

As a highly evolved species, humans expect that instructions, laws and regulation will be adhered to as a means of social control, but when they are targeted at a particular cultural, ethnic, racial or religious minority, they are met with resistance and resentment.

Meanwhile the wall builders will have reasons such as protection of economic, social or political stability and prosperity.

In any case, evidence from public information of those who have been taken to court indicates that the killer recruits are Kenyans of diverse backgrounds who have been to Somalia for small periods of time or not at all. Such a wall then, would mostly lock out bona fide refugees who, when law-abiding, governments all over the world turn a blind eye to for economic reasons.

Mostly in the Western world, they provide cheap labour which is an impetus for growth in industry and social services. In the Kenyan scenario Somali immigrants are part of the boom in the construction industry.

Most of all, for a country struggling with a monster called corruption; a mega-construction project can only be viewed with suspicion. The world over, from Britain, to Brazil to the United States to Australia, mega constructions projects, are the bible by which bureaucrats swear when it comes to illegally draining taxpayers’ money by the billions.

NOBODY IN JAIL

According to research conducted by Grant Thornton International, a reputable US-based independent tax and audit firm, there are eight types of fraud commonly found in such projects: bribery and corruption, bid or contract rigging, fictitious vendors, change order manipulation, theft or substitution of materials, false representation, billing fraud and even money laundering and tax evasion.

So Kenya is not unique in all the mega-corruption cases that have been reported in the local media. The only difference is that in many other countries, someone is rotting in jail accounting for all the aforementioned types of fraud.

This will explain why the government is more likely to find money and ensure a ‘flawless’ procurement of services to build a wall instead of, say, procurement of cancer treatment-related machines for the national referral hospital. Cancer, and this comparison is purely as an academic exercise, kills more people annually in Kenya than Al-Shabaab, and will continue to do so.

The joke is that if such a border wall project were to be procured locally, strictly following practical requirements such as in-depth knowledge of the area, etc., and giving bureaucrats appetite for bribes, someone fronting for Al-Shabaab might well get the contract.

The type of money that would be spent ‘protecting’ any ‘international’ contractor who wins the contract might as well be spent reforming our immigration and security forces.