Monday 7th April, it
rained most of last night and the heat was unbearable, come morning and the
weather is cool and unassuming. This is representative in my opinion of the
current state of affairs in Kenya. We get heated up and want action but come
morning we are both cooled and subdued or just calm and moving on. Kenya today
is a country in turmoil with itself. From a political stand point where we either
do not understand the dynamics, to an economy that has made life unbearable
with inflation and goods we can’t access, to our new favorite past time
terrorism and how do we deal with this act of hooligan war.
Terrorism is a menace that needs
to be combated immediately. When someone uses guerrilla tactics against you,
your country and fellow citizens, it is absurd for them to turn around and then
claim rule of law, justice and decorum should be followed when we decide to
combat the menace. My opinion is brute force equals brute force. The first thing is to rid ourselves of unsupportive
elements who make it unsafe for us to live and attend church on Sunday morning
to thank God for his blessing and ask for strength and guidance in our daily
lives. Imagine a scenario where a mosque is bombed or Christians go in and
shoot the Muslims in prayer. Yet when the opposite occurs pin drop silence and they
assume we should take it lying down because they feel aggrieved. I am yet to
hear any Muslim leader condemning the senseless attacks and killings and
supporting the government’s attempts to reign in the cowardly acts. Secondly we
should root out the source of their finances and deny them money and a place to
feel safe. I say round them up send them back to refugee camps and divide that
wretched piece of sand known as Somalia between Kenya and Ethiopia and maybe there
will be peace. It is sad that the present day government has adopted a
reactionary approach to issues rather than pre-emptive. The same people have
been in charge of the security apparatus for so long that new ideas are lacking.
Hire new energized people with new ideas and give them smart objective clearly
defined goals that must be attained or the hammer is lowered and are fired.
Devolution is under attack and
that is not in doubt. I have always reiterated that people who voted against
the change the constitution so fervently will never wish it well or go out of
their way to make sure it works and is a success. No sooner had the present
government come to power and it started to slowly hinder its progress by
denying funds and engaging in all manner of shenanigans to make sure it did not
kick off smoothly. A recent case in point was the devolution conference in
Kwale last week that the government principles or cabinet secretaries did not
attend or think it prudent to give their 2 cents on the matter. It also does
not help matters that most of the governors a year later are yet to get down to
serious work and start showing the people who put them in office that they were
justified in doing so. Most are concerned with how they can accumulate wealth,
power and employ family and friends. As we approach the national budget speech
in 2 months, I hope to see the governors speak up and say what they intend to
do for the people and not for themselves. As much as the counties are one too
many and we created 47 mini presidents, let’s fix the problem by rolling up our
sleeves and working instead of fighting over flags and number plates like
children in the school yard.
My gardener recently asked me if I
got a raise and I told him no. I assumed it was a trailer to him suggesting I do
the same for him but to my surprise he then proceeded to ask me how do I make
it work in my house. I was a bit baffled by this line of thought and was wondering
what he meant when he continued by saying the price of good have gone up and he
is finding it rather hard to make ends meet for his family. Reason being that
the price of basic commodities, transport and cooking utensils (read: charcoal,
kerosene, gas, firewood etc.) was beyond the reach of the basic mwanainchi. He
lives in Kibera and says in Kibera you can find items to suit the amount in
your pocket i.e. cooking oil for 20bob, sukuma wiki for 30, unga ya ugali for
50 and kerosene for 60. Milk and bread are luxuries for Sunday morning. How
many of us have ever had a breakfast of strungi (strong tea) and left over
ugali or the leafy left over in the ugali sufuria? To say I was shocked was an understatement.
I sympathized with him and but could not offer him a way out or an increase in
salary.
The government has lost touch
with the people’s reality and if unchecked they may find themselves with a people’s
revolt. We live in a time where everything is taxed, insecurity is rampant and
access to our politicians is impossible unless in our dreams. When was the last
time you saw your MP, Governor, Senator, Women’s Rep or country rep in person
other than on TV. I don’t even k now who my county rep is or how I can contact
him in case of any problems affecting my community. This is also my fault in
that I seem content and have never looked for him/ her and tried to address an
issue affecting where I live. We have become complacent and grumble about
issues as we sip our beverages but come tomorrow morning NARC (Nothing Actually
Really Changes). Change begins with us and our effort.
As GG Kariuki said “Read the
constitution to know your rights and the bible to know God.” These two will help
you navigate life.
