The journey to Siaya came as surprise to me for two main reasons. First, I was supposed to be on leave that day because I was to attend to a very important matter (but something in my mind urged me to postpone it). So as usual I went to the office and along the corridors several people kept on telling me that they had not expected to see me that day. Secondly, the decision to accompany the Siaya team came as a short notice to me. Before I could tell what was happening, I was on the road to Siaya County. There is this old habit that I have; every time I am about to visit a new place or have a new experience, I find myself dreaming about it especially when I am very anxious. This time it did not happen.
The journey to Siaya.
The journey was unique in many ways. The obvious uniqueness was that we were traveling with my fellow staff for a long distance in this KCCB Nissan X-Trail. This was going to be a long journey if we were to maintain the usual office silence; we had to break the silence with all kinds of real and created stories. Along the way we had a tire burst of the rear wheel of our vehicle. We all had an opportunity to offer our mechanic skills both practical and advisory. Thanks to the situation such opportunities are rare but interesting. This was a perfect opportunity to solidify our team. Nobody wanted it to take long owing to the long journey ahead of us.
The CDC
As the initials suggest, the county dialogue conference was really something that was worth participating in. The people at the grassroots level were so passionate to dialogue on issues that have affected the country since independence. I was very interested in knowing how Wanjiku, Atieno and Mwikali felt about their land. Often I have heard their issues and ‘opinions’ debated on by politians. Nevertheless, the “Mwananchi” is best fitted to talk about their issues because they are the wearer of the shoe. For the two days that I was in the county, I barely grasped one quarter of the issues that the “Mwananchi” was raising since most of the issues were discussed in Luo. However, the passion with which people expressed their views was a clear indication that this process was long overdue.
Conclusion
The whole process was successful and fulfilling. A number of things had taken place such as meeting new people, having an interesting dialogue time, feeding on new delicacies and touring the area.
Thanks to the Siaya County Dialogue Conference.
By Ezekiel Mburu