A little late I know - but Happy Christmas to you all!

This blog has been going just over a month - not long - but already it is quite addictive and I am always thinking of what would be exciting enought to include as the next blog entry………..none of the NRT staff are in the field at the moment as today is election day!

Campaigning has been energetic in the north and not too much violence reported - let’s hope it stays this way over the next few days and the people and politicians accept the outcome of the elections. Several of our Board members are MPs who are fighting to retain their seats this election, competition is stiff in most constituencies. We have even had some ex Conservancy Managers running in these elections so awareness of politics and interest in the outcome of these elections is high in all the conservancies - and among Kenyans in general.

An interesting article came out in the New York Times Magazine last weekend about the mix of politics and religion in northern Kenya and specifically Laisamis constituency where one of our conservancies - Melako - is situated. Will be interesting to see the outcome of the elections in this area. Politics is intertwined in the work that NRT and the conservancies are doing - local and regional political support are necessary particularly in the early stages of conservancy development.

This is an intro to the article I was refering to - sorry I don’t know how to create a link I hope you can work out how to get to read the full article!

MAGAZINE | December 23, 2007
The African Front
By JOSHUA HAMMER

Kenya ’s remote north has become a battleground for rising Islamism and its pro-American opponents. Have aggressive post-9/11 policies fomented the very sectarianism they were meant to fight?

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