Kenya Muslims Say No to US School Funds

The East African (Nairobi) NEWS February 23, 2004 Posted to the web February 25, 2004

The offer is part of Washington's global anti-terrorism campaign to win over Muslim hearts and minds

MUSLIM LEADERS have in effect sealed their rejection of an offer by Washington to fund Islamic religious schools in Kenya, by refusing to meet US ambassador William Bellamy during his recent visit to Coast province.

Confirming the initiative, Mr Bellamy, who was in Mombasa just over a week ago, told The EastAfrican that his government would consider funding Islamic education in the country once ongoing negotiations were complete. Washington has successfully carried out similar campaigns in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

The offer by the US government is part of Washington's global anti-terrorism campaign to win over Muslim hearts and minds, especially in the light of fears that Islamic extremist groups were entering the East African region through the porous Kenya-Somalia border.

The US has paid particular attention to Somalia, which has been without a central government since the overthrow of Mr Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, and is seen as a haven for terrorist groups.

Muslim leaders expressed fears that the initiative could be a ploy by the US intelligence to manipulate the curriculum in the schools, popularly known as madrassas, as part of its international anti-terrorist campaign.

Sheikh Khalifa, the organising secretary of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, said it was because of such doubts about Washington's intentions that the Imams declined to meet Mr Bellamy during his visit to Mombasa.

"We doubt the Americans' sincerity in supporting Islamic schools and we suspect their aim is to influence our curriculum to suit their interests," he said. Sheikh Khalifa, who is also chairman of the unregistered Islamic Party of Kenya, said Muslim organisations would reject any assistance from the US because "they suspect there is an ulterior motive behind the offer."

Sheikh Khalifa said the move by the Americans had raised suspicions among Muslims after the Ministry of Education issued a directive requiring all madrassas in Kenya to be counted and to disclose their source of funding.

The move was, however, rejected by Muslims who said it was part of efforts to frustrate Islam in Kenya. Sheikh Khalifa claimed that a similar exercise had been carried out in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, indicating that the US had a hand in the Ministry of Education's directive.

His sentiments were echoed by the Council of Imams' secretary general, Sheikh Mohamed Dor, who tied the offer to the recent directive from the Ministry of Education requiring the religious schools to give details about their location, number of enrolled pupils and their source of funding.

The Ministry recently issued forms which the schools are expected to fill out before they are registered. But Sheikh Dor said the requirement contravened the Education Act. His argument was supported by other Muslim leaders, who charged that the interest being shown in the Islamic schools by both the US and Kenya governments was based on suspicions that terrorist organisations had infiltrated religious schools on the Coast.

But Mr Bellamy denied that the US offer was linked to any anti-terrorism campaigns. "We have been asking ourselves, if we have been supporting secular and faith-based education in Kenya, why should we not also support Islamic education? he said.

He pointed out that some Muslim organisations had sought the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), which led to the ongoing negotiations.

He said Washington would only fund Islamic schools in Kenya if there was an expression of interest from the community.

A brief statement sent from the embassy to The EastAfrican said: "USAid has approved a new education Strategic Objective for Kenya. The programme will support the government's education reform programme and will focus on providing opportunities for children in marginalised areas, including largely Muslim communities in the Northern and Coastal regions where school enrolment is low; strengthening partnerships between schools, communities and districts; and in the Coastal Province, assisting communities managing madrassa early childhood development centres to develop primary schools."

It added, "The programme will strengthen school management committees, train teachers, and develop curriculum and learning materials. In the North Eastern Province, the programme will support primary education for nomadic and pastoral communities. This will include establishing and strengthening distance education and alternative education programmes."

But Sheikh Khalifa asked: "How can Muslims accept American support for Islamic schools while the same government is behind the banning of Muslim charities, such as Al-Haramain, which supports orphans and other activities?" The Saudi-backed NGO recently stopped its operations in Kenya and Tanzania after it was blacklisted by the US for allegedly financing terrorism. (See separate story, Page 1).

The Tanzanian branch of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was shut down after its country director Abu Hubheyifa, a Tunisian, and an official, Mohammed Ally Saleh al-Asaad, said to be from Yemen, were deported for lying on their citizenship applications.

The Kenya government recently banned another Islamic NGO Al-Muntada Al-Islami, which has been funding several madrassa and health facilities in the country. Its Sudanese director, Sheikh Muawiya Hussein, was deported last month after the government questioned his status.

The US Treasury Department, working closely with the Saudi government, recently added the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation's branches in Tanzania, Indonesia and Pakistan and Kenya to an international list of groups said to be underwriting terrorism.

Washington charged that the foundation's branches were providing financial, material and logistical support to terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and other suspected terrorist organisations.

Since the November 28, 2002, Paradise Hotel bombing in Mombasa that occurred simultaneously with the failed missile attack on an Arkia jet taking off from the Coastal resort's Moi International Airport, there have been fears among international security agencies that al Qaeda terrorists have an active network in Kenya.

This has led to the formation of an anti-terrorism unit in the Kenya police force. Three suspects are in court charged with assisting the terrorists behind the Mombasa attacks, and Kenyan authorities are said to be hunting another five key suspects.

Those being sought include fugitive Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is suspected to have built the bomb used in the Mombasa Paradise hotel attack and Fazul Abdallah Mohammed alias Abdul Karim who is wanted for both the August 1998 US Embassy and Mombasa attacks.

Adherents to the Islamic faith comprise approximately 10% of the total population of Kenya. In essence Kenya is overwhelmingly Christian. The only problem is that every now and then the muslims act in rather asinine ways.

A good example. Most of you know that Kenya was attacked in 1998 when the US embassy in Nairobi was bombed by Al Queda. In the event 9 Americans and over 200 Kenyans died, with around 2000 Kenyans injured (the Kenyan security detail guarding the embassy managed to stop the vehicle with the bomb from enterring the embassy's basement,hence it exploded just adjacent to the embassy, exposing many passer-bys to a good part of the explosion's brunt).

Now, for the rest of the example. On 9-11 the US was attacked, on US soil. A few days later some muslims in Nairobi made placards and started marching down the streets chanting that Usama was their hero. Ok, ok, i'll pass that on muslims being muslim! However they were marching in Nairobi, in Kenya, which happens to be largely Christian, and was moreover attacked by their so-called 'hero.' That same 'hero' killed more Kenyans in one blow than any other one person, and that same 'hero' had been quoted as saying that the Kenyan deaths, although not the main target, were ok since the greater ideal (killing Americans) had been achieved!

Now, imagine what happened to those Muslims! They were severely beaten before the GSU (a police branch) came up to straighten things out, and the GSU even took out their angst on the muslims.

How dare they do that when that beast BinLanden killed hundreds of their fellow citizens, and maimed and injured thousands more? Simple! Those muslims were not Kenyans ....no, they were Islamic nuts who just happened to have been born in Kenya. But they were not Kenyan! Same thing for John Walker (the 'American Taliban'). The dude was not American! No American would ever participate in activities that would lead to the murder of his/her fellow citizens. Nope! The dude was simply some yellow-blooded daft-headed imp who merely happened to have an American birth certificate and citizenship. But was he American? No.

In the same way as a person who was born and bred in Kenya (although i am now in the US), i can say that those muslims are not Kenyans! No, what they are are Kenyan-claiming doppelgangers who, once you look past the facade, are nothing more than murderous Islamo-psycophants who pander and try to satiate their need to spread violence, vitriol and vindictiveness around the globe. If not death then endless protest over nothing. If not perpetual protest then the evils of oppression/suppression/depression and repression! That is their calling card.

Some years ago the Islamic Party of Kenya (a small but loud quasi-political party along the lines of the Green Party ....small but uncharacteristically loud) actually tried to change the Kenyan constitution to become Islamic. Obviously they did not get anywhere with that (they did not even get the opportunity to start procedings), but think about the audacity and temerity of trying to do that when the vast majority of the citizens are Christian? That shows how those guys think.

Now, the funding thingimajig that these oafs refused was basically an attempt by Washington to 'win over Muslim hearts and minds.' I have one thing to say about that! It is not easy! I do not even know if it is possible. Muslims everywhere pander to their demagogues ...the imams who lead their Friday services at mosques around the world! Trying to do 'good acts' so as to make the muslim people like you is like holding a viper in your hand and trying to make it like you by offering it mice. The viper will ignore the rodents and nail your wrist instead! Samething here.

The only way to win 'muslim minds and hearts' is to get rid of the demagogues. Get rid of the leaders who churn the milk! Get rid of the rabble-rousers. Do away with the clerics and the heads of the Madarasas. Do that and the results will be better than transmitting MTV to Lahore Pakistan, selling the NY Times in Tehran Iran(where it is edited anyways), or funding Islamic Madarasas in Mombasa Kenya. Look at the Israelis ....they focus their funds on defense, not on building water-parks for the lil' Palestinian boys and girls!

A better use for that cash would have been to use it to enhance the Kenyan anti-terrorism unit. Using that cash to pay for American specialists to train the unit, and to get more high-tech equipment to keep tabs on persons of interest (we get British and Israeli help, but Yank assistance is always welcome ...as long as you do not send it to a muslim p.o box). That would be better than ensuring Islamic kids at Madarasas are getting adequate arithmetic and can read english as well as Arabic. Goodness, it is a good thing they refused the cash! They might have accepted it and used it to fund terrorist activities!

Ay caramba! Talk about being incensed! We do not need to give the terrorists the rope to hang us with, and any cash/material donation to Islamic groups or nations (ranging from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia all the way down to the local Jehadi shop in downtown Malaysia) is basically aiding the bad guys to get us.

Now, i know there are good Islamic joints that help the lil' Hassans and Lailas. That's true. The only problem is knowing whether that is actually happening or if the money is going to Hassan's third uncle by way of Camel who is boarding the NY subway with a vial of Bubonic Plague!

Once again ...ay caramba!

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