AN OPEN LETTER TO HON. KAWIRA MWANGAZA

AN OPEN LETTER TO HON. KAWIRA MWANGAZA.

JULIET MWANIKA, TIGANIA-EAST, CLIMATE AND GENDER ACTIVIST.

Dear Hon. Kawira Mwangaza – Governor-Meru County,

CC: Casty Micheni – CECM Youth Affairs, Sports, Gender and Social Development,                                     Meru County.

REF: COMMUNITY AND YOUTH ENGAGEMENT AS A CRITICAL CONCERN TO DELIVERING MATTERS CLIMATE CHANGE AND GENDER ISSUES.

It is your responsibility to monitor and guide relevant Meru-County departments on legislations that enforce climate change and gender policies.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Governor Kawira Mwangaza, let me start by saying we need to trust each other and collectively solve the climate change issues and its impacts on gender.

As we all know from the circulating news in our media stations and social media platforms, people of Igembe North, Buuri and Tigania East are starving due to drought and famine. As a residence of Tigania East I have witnessed first-hand the effects of the ongoing drought a product of failed rainy seasons. Food is posing harder to come by for most households and, so is water hurting livestock and homes which has had severe impacts more on women and girl child.

Tigania-East has long time been semi-arid, and the frequency and intensity of drought and famine is increasingly getting worse with each passing year.

The reason? We are living in a climate crisis period which affects all life with women and girls at the frontline. We are running out of time to act. Therefore, no one should be left out in these conversations not especially the frontline communities and groups at the grass root levels.

While climate change is a global menace as well as a national disaster which has affected most of the counties in our nation, each county has a responsibility to play in making sure that we take urgent action as a county, part of a nation and as a members of the earth community.

At the county level, the devolved government cannot do it alone. It will take more fingers, not limited to the non-governmental, governmental and faith-based organizations but also community and youth engagement.

Meru County is a youthful County and thus youths should be included in the decision making tables. If this is not incorporated, this generation and the ones after are likely to experience the worst impacts of climate change. Our future is at stake and that is why our perspectives must be taken seriously by decision makers. How we thrive as human population amidst these challenges is vital in adapting to climate change actions.

On behalf of the youth, I want to point to your attention, Hon. Kawira Mwangaza to 3 potentially transformative proposals. It is so encouraging to note that on your OKOLEA KAANA KA AMIIRU manifestos, community and youth empowerment was one of the critical area that your administration is focusing on.

Our first proposal is that to attain the above in matters related climate change, your administration should consider working with the youth by establishing an Operation Greening Meru County Committee that will give a permanent voice to youths in every constituency of our county in matters climate-related decision making.

Second, in our proposal is for you to elevate community and youth roles in climate and gender actions by establishing policy frameworks that encourage their participation in the fight against gender inequality and climate change via avenues such as green entrepreneurship and innovation.

For instance, drawing from my experience after the emergency of covid-19, I started a journey to green entrepreneurship by establishing a tree nursery hoping to expand it to fruits and vegetable nursery. I remember one of my neighbors a teacher, Mr. Gitile tell me that I deserved a presidential commendation (Hahahahaha). Although due to financial constraints it did not survive, I was thrilled by how I motivated fellow youth and young girls in my community. Stereotypes on how women and girls are not supposed to plant trees were among the major topic of discussion as well as startups (which many didn’t survive) and knowledge on climate change was on spot.

The major concern: Is how do we sow the seeds of a thriving green Meru County?

The first: The community and the youths should recognize that working with their hands and minds and their hearts and being interconnected, is the highest evolution of our species. Working with our hands is not a degradation, is our real humanity. Save seeds, start a garden, start a nursery, cultivate a land in a way you grow food. This is treated as a backward activity by our youth and therefore, they yearn and prefer white collar jobs forgetting that these activities are the reason we are sustained.

Most households in the affected areas have lost their agricultural investments due to uncertainties and changes in seasonal weather patterns. They are currently going through hardships due to loss and damage. Many rivers are becoming seasonal while others are drying up because of their sources upstream have been compromised and these may result to some girls being forced out of school in search of water source and others may get married off or drop out of school, due to financial constraints and hunger. We are also facing the risk of high mortality rate especially for babies. This is because they may not be able to thrive because hungry mothers may not be able to produce enough milk to feed their babies.

Adopting these proposal will add to OKOLEA KAANA KAAMIIRU manifestos and other projects that are already in place such as the solar renewable energy project and public space clean ups and waste management because, matters climate change is not a one stop destination but a continuous journey.

Most are the times that I feel like giving up and my activism feels hard as a youth but, there is a push inside me that calls for social justice. That is why I have come up with this letter to stage as an opportunity to share and connect with you Hon. Kawira Mwangazi to spearhead the fight for social justice and climate change in Meru County.

Yours Truly,

Juliet Mwanika

Juliet Mwanika is a Tigania East climate and gender activist. She writes to the Meru County Governor – Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, urging her to engage the frontline communities and youth on matters climate change and its impacts and act at a speed that will help sow the seeds of a thriving, green Meru County.