He has good reason to speak like this. Life is becoming increasingly difficult for Somalis in Kenya. They are treated with suspicion even though many of them are natives of the country. In central Nairobi, I watched every ethnic Somali β identified by the security guard by their distinctive physical features β being scanned with a metal detector and searched as they entered an office block; non-Somalis were left alone.
In August this year, the Central Bank of Kenya directed all financial institutions in the country to monitor the transactions of Kenya-based Somalis suspected of having links with Islamist insurgents in Somalia. But Kenya has reason to be nervous. The documents said dozens of young men in Kenya had joined the cell, had been trained in Somalia by the Al Qaeda-linked militia, Al Shabaab, which controls many southern and central regions in the country, and that they were planning an attack on Kenya.
In November, six young men were arrested in the Kenyan coastal town of Lamu on suspicion of being Al Shabaab supporters on their way to fight in Somalia. Al Shabaab bombed neighbouring Uganda because it provides soldiers for the African Union peacekeeping force which protects the transitional government in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Prejudice against Somalis permeates many levels of Kenyan society. On the one hand, they are feared and resented; on the other, they are admired for their business acumen. They are corrupt and they are always fighting because they are, by nature, a very violent people. Somali pirates come here to Nairobi and buy expensive houses in the best districts. Kenyans hate Somalis, but they are very good at business.
It may be their success in business rather than their links to piracy and Islamist extremism that lies at the root of the hostility towards Somalis. They were doing well in Kenya before the days of pirates and Al Shabaab. It is a riot of hotels and shopping malls. There are several new buildings going up, some covered with expensive reflective glass, others many stories high.
