​https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1793454327593840&id=1675318116074129

​http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Immigration-debate-should-make-kenyans-look-inwards/440808-3448354-ghv5vo/index.html

​http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Trump–Kenyans-have-reason-to-worry/1056-3450430-4s4w7iz/index.html

​http://media.reelforge.com/player/video.php?storyid=323397291&encryptid=bmh91csvr5k07wtpqgndxy42zj63f8

( This is the unabridged version of my article that appeared in the Standard on Monday 17th October 2016 and in the Daily Nation on Wednesday 19th October 2016)

In the wake of the Makonde people of Kwale County in Kenya marching to statehouse to agitate for their rights of recognition as citizens and the directive by the President and cabinet that they be processed, there is need for a national discourse on the issue of statelessness in Kenya.

According to the Constitution, Kenyan citizenship may be acquired only in two ways: by birth or registration. Citizenship by birth is the highest level of citizenship and cannot be lost under any circumstance, while citizenship by registration can be revoked as per the law. Article 18 (a & g) gives powers to Parliament to enact laws on the procedures of becoming a citizen as well as giving effect to provisions of Chapter 3 of the constitution.

Evidently, it is clear that if one is not born a citizen by virtue of one parent being Kenyan, they must follow the laid down procedures to acquire citizenship. It is in this realization that the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011 sets the criteria for stateless persons and migrants to acquire citizenship. Section 15 is succinctly clear that it is only persons who have no enforceable claim to citizenship of any recognizable state and have been living in Kenya since December 12^th 1963 that can become citizens under the ‘stateless person’s’ claim.

This section also sets basic standards to be met by the applicant as: adequate knowledge of Kiswahili or local dialect; not been convicted of an offense and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of three years or longer; intention to permanently continue residing in Kenya or maintain a close and continuing association with Kenya and an understanding of the rights and duties of a citizen. Important to note is that there are limits to the period that this window of stateless persons acquiring citizenship is open. According to section 16 of the Immigration Act, this is capped at a maximum of eight years from 30^th August 2016, when the Act came into effect. The initial period of 5 years commenced from 30^th August 2011 but can be extended for three years to 30^th August 2018.

As an immigration consultant and practitioner, my view is that citizenship by registration under any status including statelessness must be done in accordance with the laid down procedures and cannot be issued to groups but to individual applicants. The Makondes, Nubians, Somalis, Shonas, Indians and pockets of Rwandese and Burudians that fall under stateless status should apply for citizenship because it cannot be issued to them automatically. However, in order to make the exercise bearable for the applicants, the government in line with the president’s directive should come up with simplified process that can be done without the usual bureaucracies. Granting of citizenship is a function of the executive, and as long as it is done according to the law, then the tedious bureaucracies should be shelved to enable deserving persons acquire it.

For the human rights organisations that have been agitating for the issuance of citizenship to groups, their focus should be on trying to identify individuals in those communities that meet the set procedures and help them apply for citizenship. They should then push the government to expedite the process before the 8 year-window lapses.

My proposed way forward is – first, we need to get all the necessary details of these people and classify them into appropriate categories. Secondly, there are those persons that got married to Kenyans and therefore would qualify to apply for citizenship as spouses. Thirdly, children born to the stateless person and a Kenyan citizen are Kenyans, Fourthly, those with identification documents from their country of ancestry fall under migrants and therefore qualify to apply for citizenship and become dual nationals. That leaves a small group that is stateless for whom the government can expedite the process.

It is incumbent upon the government and local leaders to relook at the issue of statelessness in Kenya with an aim of sorting it once and for all. Parliament should address this matter robustly so that all Kenyans including, those classified as stateless, can achieve the aspiration of living as true citizens enjoying all the rights and freedoms. I am not sure if the president can in one stroke order all stateless persons in Kenya today to become citizens but he has the powers to simplify the process for them. Citizenship is indeed a crucial element in enjoyment of the rights of individuals and communities and therefore all those that qualify should be granted.

George M. Mucee is an Immigration Consultant and the Practice Leader, Fragomen Kenya Ltd.

(This is the original article that I wrote. It has now appeared in two Newspapers in Kenya: The Star on Sunday 9th October 2016 page 13 and The Standard on 10th October 2016 page 1 and in the EastAfrican on October 17th 2016 Please note this is unabridged version and has some bits that were edited out by the Newspapers)

The concept of a United State of Africa has gained traction in the last few months after the African Union (AU) launched an African passport in July 2016. The goal is to have the document in circulation by 2020 to allow citizens of the 54 member states travel visa-free across the continent.

The notion of a single continental bloc was advanced by the late Libyan President Col. Muammar Gaddafi who even put substantial resources into it to woo African states into buying the proposed idea. Although largely driven by his own political ambitions and ego, Gaddafi had a valid proposition of a united Africa that the AU now seems to be receptive to.

Whilst there are both pros and cons, the quest for one passport for Africans is a welcome move. There are numerous benefits to be derived from a united Africa that would outweigh those of a divided continent. If this becomes a reality and enables citizens of 54 member states travel with ease across Africa, it will spur growth by encouraging Africa to trade with itself. A more integrated Africa would empower us to better negotiate for our rightful share at the global arena, perhaps starting with a permanent seat at the UN Security Council or a greater role in global trade institutions such as the World Trade Organization. Indeed, few global forums could afford to ignore a united Africa.

The question however is- how practical is this AU passport in a continent as big and diverse as Africa? Africa has well developed states like South Africa; unstable states like Somalia and countries undergoing civil strife like South Sudan. There are all manner of political leadership systems ranging from democracies, autocracies, monarchies and military regimes. This effectively means coming up with common regulations may prove a tall order.

It is important to note that the value of the passport is not the booklet but rather the weight, recognition and integrity of the process it carries. A recent Vlog by a Kenyan media personality, Caroline Mutoko, implored the concerned authorities to restore the glory of the Kenyan passport to enable the holders travel in dignity unlike the current situation where pass holders are treated with contempt and indignation before getting visas to other countries.

Further, immigration has emerged as a major political concern for many countries regardless of their level of development. In fact, any candidate seeking political office in America and Europe, must have a comprehensive plan on immigration controls. Brexit was about immigration more than any other issue. This is because immigration is linked to transnational crimes like terrorism, human trafficking, drug trafficking among others. The levels of unemployment globally have also made various countries home to many economic migrants who then demand immigration reforms. On our own continent, the issue of xenophobia in South Africa simmers on.

Currently, there are only 13 countries in Africa that are open to all Africans visa free and only one regional bloc, the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), has a fully functional regional passport. The East African Community (EAC) has an East African Passport that is mainly used by Kenyans, Ugandans and Tanzanians but rarely used by Rwandese and Burundians. Despite this, an e-passport has recently been launched in the region. The e-passport is expected to replace respective national passports of partner states (Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda) by 2018. It will then be interesting to see the nexus between the EAC and AU passport by the year 2020. Even with these developments, the EAC member states still display elements of distrust for citizens of partner states particularly on work authorization, right of settlement and land ownership. Indeed, across the continent, it is seemingly easier for non-Africans to get a visa or work permit than it is for Africans.

It is therefore my considered opinion that whereas the idea of a united Africa where visa requirements are eliminated is noble, the reality is that this will take a considerable period to be realized. It will require major concessions from each country and the inescapable reality is issues of transnational crimes and corruption will complicate the process. All countries need to ensure that systemic weaknesses in any of the 54 countries do not give the wrong individuals a passport to traverse Africa wrecking havoc through terrorism, drug or arms trafficking. This however, should not kill the dream; we should all advocate for a meticulous and inclusive process on the best way possible to have a United State of Africa. Perhaps a starting point is to ensure that we perfect the regional passports and build them up to the continental one.

George M. Mucee is an Immigration Consultant and practice leader at Fragomen Kenya Ltd.

​The Local Content Bill 2016 sponsored by the Baringo County Senator, Hon Gideon Moi is currently before the Senate. This  bill is designed to  provide a legal framework to facilitate the local ownership, control and financing of activities connected with the exploitation of gas, oil and other mineral resources in Kenya. Expectations are that it will provide a framework of  increasing uptake of jobs, contracts for supply of goods and services by locals in the exploration sector and  cushion locals from exploitation.

This comes in the wake of high rates of unemployment in Kenya and limited local skills in the oil, gas and extraction sector. Consequently, this bill seeks to protect jobs that can be taken by locals and  to encourage foreign companies to support local businesses by awarding them contracts or sub contracts for goods and services and further to address situations where local communities have been protesting exclusion by Foreign companies in allocation of contracts or sub contracts by requiring all multinationals to provide a plan on skills and technology transfer to locals.  

I will focus on the segments that address issues of skills transfer and employment of expatriates within the oil and gas sector and also ventilate on; who is local and what does it mean? Are there existing policies or localisation? Is this bill the panacea to all matters ado expatriates in Kenya? If passed, how successful will we be in enforcing this law and who are the  critical stakeholders in this among other issues of concern.

Many countries in Africa and elsewhere in the world, have in place localisation policies that mostly take the names of the countries such a Kenyanization, Gabonisation, Saudianization…to mention a few. Such policies were initially intended to facilitate the transfer of mainly the public service jobs from remnants of colonial masters to indigenous people. At independence, many white collar jobs were held by foreigners mostly from the colonizing empires such as Britain, France and Germany and as such an affirmative action was required to ensure that those jobs were gradually handed over to locals. Over time and space this has been transformed to cover the transfer of skills and jobs from expatriates to locals. In Kenya, there is a Kenyanization policy at the Department of Immigration which is meant to ensure that only jobs that require skills not readily available in Kenya are held by expatriates or foreigners and that there are Kenyan nationals understudying the expatriates with a view to localizing the jobs over time. There used to be a section called Kenyanization section at the Department of Immigration Services (DIS) that was tasked with enforcing this policy by looking at all applications for employees work permit’s to ensure that evidence is availed by the employing company to prove that no Kenyan was qualified for it and that a Kenyan understudy had been identified to get training from the expatriate. Although the section has now been merged with the Permits section, the Kenyanization function still exists and is considered for all permit applications in line with the localisation policy. 

An important question to ask ourselves, is who is local and what does local really mean? Looking at the bill casually one may think that local means Kenyan. While this is true, it goes further down to the exact location of the project. A lot of the viable oil and gas rigs are now in Northern Kenya like Turkana where Ngamia 1 is located. Using this example local has two meanings: Kenyan and the community around the oil wells, in this case Turkanas. Whereas the company may be 100% employing Kenyans it would be fundamental for the community around the project to be a big percentage of the employees. In my view, the bill should have laboured to define the local person to the specific man or woman historically residing in the areas where such a project is taking place. Part IV addresses the local content plans where local content means “maximizing the level of usage of local goods and services, people, business and financing”. I must say it is quite elaborate because it sets out the modalities and framework for ensuring that companies applying for various permits to operate in the industry must meet a set criteria for local content.

However, in terms of human capital, the bill seems to focus exclusively on the role the companies seeking to operate in this sector will play without addressing the role to be played by government ministries in charge of education and energies. As we speak, the government is well aware that Kenya is on its path to being an oil producer and that there are no properly trained professionals in this field. I would have expected to see the bill tasking the relevant ministries to work with our technical schools, universities and companies setting up in the sector to develop curriculum to train our people to make them ready for the market when things start rolling. To require that only companies that will be involved in the sector should train and avail skills required is tantamount to government absconding it’s duties. Granted, the operators in the industry will be required to offer tailored skills to their  employees to enable them perform, but the overall responsibility of training citizens in readiness for the industry should be undertaken by the relevant universities following a curriculum jointly developed by key stakeholders. Why are we sitting pretty and waiting for extraction to start then start demanding that the companies involved in the process look around for qualified Kenyans to employ and if they are not available, train them? Can we not be proactive and develop a curriculum for our universities and technical colleges to start training such people way before extraction proper starts?

Local content law for extraction industries is a good idea but in my view not enough. As it is, this bill only addresses itself to this sector and not any other. I think it would have been more useful to develop a local content law that cuts across all sectors of our economy that in effect guides specific sectors as the case may be. I would, for instance, like to see this bill address itself to the huge  infrastructural projects undertaken by the national government where we have seen foreign contractors bringing in foreigners to do simple jobs like operating a grader! The very specific nature of the bill may bring about a situation where each sector seeks to come up with its own law on local content which would be a duplication of laws and would confuse people. Why cant we have one local content law that sets the framework to guide all sectors with  one board and secretariat that is comprised of stakeholders from key industries? The sectors may be diverse but the approach is basically the same…empowering Kenyans to compete fairly with others regardless of the sector. That said, I believe that a good law may not achieve the expected results if not well implemented.

In Kenya today, good laws are in  place but implementing them is the real deal. The institutions tasked with implementation are either incapable or unwilling to implement. Giving the example of the Kenyanization policy at Kenya Immigration, the problem has been that the Department of Immigration is not adequately empowered to implement the policy. In cases where they have attempted to implement with zeal, political interference and corruption have defeated their efforts. This eventually demoralizes the implementers and defeats the whole idea. I am therefore hoping this law will be passed with amendments to broaden it to cover other sectors of the economy and those tasked with it given enough support to implement it. We also need to ask ourselves if key stakeholders have been consulted in the drafting of this law because although this bill is for the extraction industry there are critical government agencies like Immigration, KRA, Police, Labour that will be critical in ensuring it succeeds. The composition of the board and the local content development committee  limits itself mainly to extraction industry and does not even incorporate such departments as labour which in my view should be a permanent member of the committee and the board. This seems to be relegated to sub committees that may be constituted under section 15 & 16.

In conclusion, I must applaud the Hon. Gideon Moi for thinking about this bill because indeed it will be necessary to have a legal framework to ensure that locals benefit from resources found within their areas. I hope this marks the beginning of a discourse on how best we can capture the issue of skills and knowledge transfer not only for the extractive industry but also for  other sectors of the economy.

​I have on numerous occasions, in this forum and elsewhere, received many complains and misgivings from many foreign nationals residing in Kenya,visiting or just wishing to visit. Their issues range from: delayed processes, opaque procedures, solicitations for bribes by ‘officers’ to speed up their processes, non responsiveness from Kenya immigration department among others. After interrogating these allegations, I must say that I found quite  a number of them true and others really not…mostly based on hearsay or from some brokers in town hell bent on  making a kill by making Kenya immigration processes appear impossible without their intervention.

A few weeks ago, I was at Kenya Immigration headquarters in Nyayo house to check on some issues as well as catch up with my former colleagues there. Out of the blue we started discussing how easy or not so easy foreigners get work permits and special passes in Kenya. Apparently from what I gathered, there are substantial number of Kenyans working in west African states such as Nigeria. Such Kenyans am told work mainly in the ICT sector in fairly senior positions and that such people get their work permits in Nigeria with ease. So the question was why Nigerians applying for either short or long term permits in Kenya face delays and even rejections? This fairly senior Immigration official could not see the reason why that was the case…just like me! 

As a matter of fact, the Kenya Immigration laws allow for a special pass ( short term work authorization) to be issued on arrival. I know this because I was part of the team that looked at this when I served at the department of Immigration. However, for some reasons that I don’t know, this has not been happening. Applications still need to be done at the Immigration offices in town. What that means is that there are so many people that would like to apply, an in fact apply but before it is issued they will have completed what they came to do and left the country…meaning that the state will have lost revenue both in appropriation in aid and PAYE! This would have been avoided if special passes are issued on arrival or if the processing time is reduced to say a day or two. I have always argued that a special pass is really nothing more than a visa! Many countries allow people to do the things a special pass covers on a business visa. Many people that travel on business around the world can attest to this. I am still not sure what the Kenya Business visa allows or does not allow one to do bearing in mind that one can be on a Kenya Visitors Visa/Business for up to 6 Months! Surely, what business is one doing on a visa for 6 months?

To cut the long story shot, may folks that find it difficult and tedious to wait for months to get a special pass, come to Kenya on a visa and still do what they would have done on a visa…who will check them anyway? I ask this because to police the entire country for such people is really a hard task for the very lean Investigation and prosecution unit of the Department of Immigration. To borrow taxation terms, what many people are doing is  akin to tax avoidance where people exploit loopholes in the law and practice to pay less tax. In Kenya because of systemic lacunas that exist in the practice of Immigration there are many foreigners walking the streets of our cities and towns doing things that they ideally would need a special pass or work permit to do.

However, most of these folks would easily be in compliance if we streamlined our systems and made them easier, transparent and time bound. For example, why not issue special passes at the airport or even charge more for a business visa and allow people to do a bit more on that? Our work permit processes are equally epileptic for lack of a better term. Some cases come out faster than others that take quite some time. I agree that we need to tighten our immigration enforcement and one of the ways to do this is making sure that the determination of any application is above board and clear to everyone. It is better to get a rejection  in good time to allow foreign national plan their life. I do not mean that every person that applies should get an approval…no some must be rejected based on the set parameters but that too should be done in a time bound and clear manner.

A few weeks ago a member of parliament petitioned the National Assemble to look into the delayed processing of citizenship for some people. I could tell from the comments coming from the floor of the house there are a lot of frustrations on the issues of Citizenship, Permanent Residence and in some cases Dependent passes. The truth of the matter is that Kenya Immigration Department DOES NOT issue citizenship: they only help in processing because they are the custodian of all foreign nationals documentations. The president through delegated authority to the Cabinet secretary does! The problem is the way issues are communicated to the applicants: the process in shrouded in mysteries and secrecy. My advise to the Citizenship section is to try and communicate regularly with the applicants to update them on their applications. Apart from spouses of Kenyans and those regaining, citizenship issuance can not be forced on the government but there is need for an objective determination of applications with some clear timelines of the process.

Allegations of corruption on the part of Immigration department when processing various applications has been a common thing in many forums. Whereas I agree there are issues of corruption, I dare say that now than any other time in the history of Immigration, the Department of Immigration has improved on their systems and processes! Before you start hurling stones at me look at how easy it has become to make applications for visa, passes and even passports online. Well, there are still challenges of people that do not want to change but I dare say there are exceptional officers and officials of the department that are working in very difficult circumstances but still keen on offering services to the public.

Anyway, that is a debate that can never end. Before I rest my case I would like to mention a category of people that are the most frustrated with the Immigration department: Kenya women married to foreign nationals! Although  they are entitled to getting dependent passes as their constitutional right, Kenya Immigration has not been processing dependent passes for their spouses. There is no formal communication from Immigration saying that they should not apply or will not get but from the complains I have heard most of these are never issued. As if that is not enough, even those that qualify for permanent residence as spouses of Kenyans, they are required to provide evidence of temporary residence in Kenya….how on earth can they provide that when their applications for dependent passes have not been processed or have been rejected all together? Anyway I hope someone will think about it and consider some solutions for them… I am not a prophet of doom but I can see a class action suit…and I can see the state losing and getting embarrassed in court…probably the Attorney General will actually refuse to argue such a case because there is no law that will negate a constitutional provision as per articles, 12, 27, 39 and 45 of the constitution of Kenya 2010.

Granted. There are valid reasons to scrutinize every application made by Kenyan ladies married to foreign citizens like any other application but these must be done within the prism of the law and in accordance with articles 47 of the constitution.

It is when we make it impossible for people to  comply with the laws that even otherwise good people to turn to extra judicial ways to survive in the country. Yes, we an make our systems easy to allow people to enjoy the rights and privileges provided for in the constitution just like very many Kenyans in the diaspora do in their countries of domicile. As a country we must also accept that we are part of the globe and our own citizens are out there…

According to Knight Frank Wealth report 2016, there are about 187,500 individuals worth a net of at least USD 30 Million or Kshs. 3 Billion. These are the people referred to as Ultra High  Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs). In simple terms these are the super wealthy individuals. Quite a number of them worth more than African countries combined!

I have been thinking about these people from an immigration perspective: where they live, reside, occasionally visit for business, leisure or any other reason. Apparently Knight Frank wealth report 2016 has this data that I wish to share with you: London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Paris, Sydney, Beijing & Geneva are the most important and most frequented cities by these individuals and their families. In Africa Cape Town in South Africa is one of the most visited by these super rich.

In order to give you a perspective of this, out of the 187,500 worth over 3 Billion shillings globally, only 116 live in Kenya. Out of these 105 are worth between 3 Billion to 10 Billion shillings, 10 are worth between 10 Billion and 100 Billion. Only one individual is worth over 100 Billion. On a lower level there are about 8500 individuals worth about 1 Billion in Kenya. This is not a small number and they are growing. (Knight Frank 2015, page 60)

According to Knight Frank 2016, “wealthy investors are more mobile than ever and investment flows are targeting new markets” ( p.29). When I saw this, my mind was drawn into thinking about these new markets. In Africa you can talk of South Africa in Southern Africa, Kenya in Eastern Africa and Nigeria in West Africa. The respective countries are regional powerhouses.

These are not mean feats for such countries and more needs to be invested in enhancing their positions. One of the major determinant or enabler of the UHNIs to visit, reside or invest in the cities they do has to do with Immigration. How easily can they travel, reside or invest in those countries? Some of the countries with very friendly Immigration programmes for such super rich individuals include; Santa Lucia, Malta, Australia and Portugal. (KF 2016, page 33). Santa Lucia has citizenship by investment, Malta residency by investment, Australia has premium investor and Portugal has Golden residence.

In my view, Kenya too can leverage its key strongholds like beach fronts, the Kenyan highlands, the Rift valley among other unique attractions we have in this beautiful country. One of the ways of doing this is having specific categories of residency by investments. The current classes of permits do not envisage these kinds of individuals. For example if the richest man in Africa, Sir Aliko Dangote wanted to have Kenyan residency at the moment, he would have to get an investor permit by showing proof of investments, registered company and so forth. That is not what I am talking about… I am talking about a category that recognizes that as the super-rich and may be saying if they show willingness to buy their holiday home say at the Kenya highlands or a beach front, such people could get a residency for say 10 years. My argument is that such people make their investment decisions based on such considerations…. They could be on holiday in Maasai Mara and see an opportunity of setting up investments worth billions of money and create thousands of jobs.

Quite a number of  the super-rich individuals like Sir Richard Branson, Bill gates Flavio Bliatore, Golfer Tiger Woods, Model Naomi Campbell among others frequent Kenya and I believe many others that we may not know have been to Kenya and love Kenya. The government can package a bouquet of goodies like Residency, citizenship by Investments, tax breaks among others to lure these people into Kenya. Imagine if Bill gates, Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, Sir Branson and others had each a vacation home in Kenya where they frequent using their private jets without worrying about anything because they have permanent residence in Kenya. If you think this is funny…..well sorry. Many countries are luring them to go into their cities using even more generous incentives. Let’s us use our immigration incentives to facilitate such investments in line with the Kenya Immigration Department’s mission of facilitating social economic growth. Immigration is not always about control… it can also be used to our advantage. Let’s try it and see if we regret… I bet we won’t.

Allow me to deviate from Immigration related issues for today…. I promise to be back soon… I would like to share with you some wisdom from my people… I mean the African people.

The Swahili people of Eastern Africa have this saying…mla nawe hafi nawe ila mzaliwa nawe… loosely translated to mean that he who that you mostly keep company of and spend your resources on can not stand or be with you when in trouble or faced with even life threatening situations. Anyway this is subject to interpretation but that is how I will treat it in this piece.

My dad too has told me this on several occasions to nurture in me the discipline to take care of my brothers and sisters as per my abilities and it is this story that I will share with you in this short article…. Once upon a time in some village in Tharaka there lived a man. This man had many friends and relatives as well. However, he spent most of his time entertaining his friends than his relatives. This went on for many years and one day something came up in his mind and he decided to indeed test the value of his friends as well as his relatives.

On this material day he sent a messenger to one of his ‘best’ friend and the man that he would spend most of his time with sipping gourds of traditional brew as well as all manner of food…boiled, roast, fried meat and so forth. And he told the messenger to go and tell his friend that a terrible misfortune had befallen him and that he should hasten to his compound. Without wasting time the message was relayed to his friend and he came. He found his host looking crestfallen and sad. What is the matter my friend? Amidst a lot of difficulties the man replied, yester night, a man came over here and we had a disagreement and started fighting. Out of rage and annoyance, I killed the man….and that man is lying in my compound and pointed his friend to a bloody scene next to his house. The man looked at it from afar and saw that which looked like a corpse but covered with a blanket. He stood there for awhile as if in a trance…then said to him in my mother tongue… “wee, bai ntiumba mantu mamu…nigu i kurea turarijaga bai cheria antu beenu bagutethie”loosely translated.. I am sorry my friend, I was only eating with you but on this one please look for your own folks to sort you out…and hastened out of the compound to avoid being seen to have been there.

Left all alone to sort his mess, the man sent the same messenger to his brother who lived not so far away with the same message. When the messenger arrived and broke the sad news to his brother, he was extremely disturbed and without wasting any time rushed to his brother. Upon arrival, he asked his brother what the matter was and like in the previous situation he responded to him that indeed a man came here yester night and we quarreled and fought. Out of annoyance and rage I killed the man. The brother asked so see where the body of the dead man lay and was pointed to the bloody scene. Without wasting time he asked if he could uncover the body so as to see how to carry It and dispose in the forest upon which the brother replied please go see it and see how you will help.

Albeit with a lot heaviness of heart and steps, the brother walked slowly…got close, hesitated then gathered enough courage to lift the cover a little bit and as hurriedly as he did that he quickly dropped it and jumped towards his brother with shock all over his face… “whaaat is the meaning of this bro? At this point the sadness on his brothers face was gone and he seemed just fine and told the brother, please let us go have some chairs and sit. He then explained to him why he did all that and was very remorseful that all this time he has been wasting with friends who could stand with him in moments of trial and temptations at the expense of his own folks.

It then emerged that apparently nobody had died. The man had just created the scene to appear bloody by killing a nice fatty lamb and sprinkled its blood at the scene. Once he had explained to his brother this, they both uncovered the lamb, skinned it and started roasting the juiciest part together enjoying the tender meat as brothers should always do and packed half of it for the brother to take home and enjoy with his family and from that day onwards they remained very close and cared for each other.

Moral of the story: always remember, it is less likely that he who that eats with you will stand for and with you unto death…now you know.