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Kenya: All Muslims Need to Be Considered
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The Nation (Nairobi)
OPINION
7 May 2008
Posted to the web 7 May 2008
Mohammed Maluki
Nairobi
Some Kenyans erroneously believe that Muslims are only found in Coast and the North Eastern provinces. That is why even political parties have always been busy focusing on these regions when addressing Muslim issues.
Muslims are found in Western, Nyanza, Rift valley, Eastern, Central and Nairobi provinces.
Going by events of last year's General Election, all political parties hardly considered up-country Muslims who voted for them.
PNU didn't nominate a single Muslim MP, while ODM nominated two, one from Coast and another from North Eastern.
ODM-K also nominated two Muslims from the same regions. Kanu got one and nominated her and she happened to come from the same regions where the other four come from.
The same applied to the nomination of councillors.
Saying this does not mean that we do not appreciate those nominated. However, we feel that even those Muslims from upcountry deserve the seats.
I further propose that the Government appoints Muslim ambassadors to all Islamic countries. Let the Government appoint people who will interact freely with the host country.
The Pakistani government, for instance, would be more at home with someone who worships in the same mosques and speaks their language.
The same applies to Iran and to many other countries.
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I urge all upcountry Muslims to come forward and fight for our rights. We have been marginalised for too long.
We need to join parties that fight for our rights. We should ideally have at least four Muslim MPs in every province. This religion belongs to Allah and no one is superior to another in the eyes of Allah.
Let all Kenyans know that all the mosques they see upcountry belong to Muslims.
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