Kenya - a nation in despair
- By Michael Mundia Kamau
- Published 04/11/2008
- Democracy
- Unrated
The second year of NARC’s rule in Kenya again comes to a disappointing end, with little to suggest that the coming three will be any better. Events over the past year are indicative of ill-equiped governance far removed from reality and the people’s plight. The government of Kenya has once again failed to spur an economic turnaround by skillfully mobilising the vast resources at it’s disposal. The government of Kenya has once again failed to contain runaway crime and insecurity, by mobilising it’s vast resources in instituting meaningful collaborations with communities across the nation. The government of Kenya has once again failed to address crippling levels of unemployment, by mobilising it’s vast resources in instituting meaningful collaborations and ventures with communities across the nation.
The government of Kenya has once again failed to contain high level corruption by apprehending the offenders through the mobilisation of it’s vast resources. Of grave concern in particular, are the continued and growing incidents of government sanctioned crime and sleaze. The governments of Kenya has once again failed to arrest spiraling social decadence that daily continues to manifest itself through pedophilia, rape, illegal abortions, underage sex, illicit sex and substance abuse of all and different natures. The government of Kenya has once again failed to give hope and direction to the people of Kenya.
The soul of this country is in a coma and the entire Kenyan leadership, whether in the ruling government of national unity or in the opposition, is tragically doing nothing to remedy this ghastly and fatal condition. Tales of Kenyan MPs being paid and being airlifted to the Kenyan coast by powerful interest
groups, in return for their votes in passing crucial Bills in parliament, are indicative of a nation that has gone to the dogs. Scenes of government ministers openly confronting and openly insulting each other,
are a sign that government functions have ground to a complete halt.
The entire Kenyan leadership as we presently know it, is clearly just a lull before a major storm. Unless
drastic action is taken to address and remedy the vast problems afflicting this country and it’s people, a
vicious and violent uprising is not far off. No attempt is being made to build goodwill at the grassroots, and this is the reason why several nations within one nation have evolved, up to and including the powerful Public Transport Vehicle cartels. This nation is so amorphous and so desperate, it’s difficult to tell who is really in control.
Hundreds upon hundreds of people, not least the trained and educated elite, are daily being marginalised by a system that cannot cope with vast changes that this country has undergone over the past forty one years. There are next to no opportunities left in Kenya anymore, and even worse, there are no concrete steps in place to create them. If the government has a plan, it has failed to communicate
it’s vision, goal, objective and mission to the people, which is as bad as having no mission at all.
The president continues to emphasise hard work and self reliance, yet the tax payer has been forced to
meet the cost of personal debts incurred by deceased members of his cabinet over the past two years. If the president wants to emphasise self reliance and reduce reliance on the government and the extended family, then there should be a massive nationwide drive to promote and entrench life insurance policies, pension schemes, provident funds, health insurance, education insurance schemes, unit trusts and trust funds, inter alia, as they constitute the extended family in the money economy that we live in.
In general, two NARC budgets have made huge budgetary allocations to all government ministries and departments, but we are yet to see these massive allocations and support translated into action. Where have all these funds gone? It is further troubling to read that government ministries returned back huge sums of money to the Exchequer following the elapse of the 2003/2004 government financial year, because the funds had not been cleared for use as a result of intricate bureaucratic red tape. If bureaucratic red tape cannot be streamlined, how can the plight of 30 million Kenyans be addressed?
There is something terribly wrong in this country. There is a devastating and looming crisis in our midst, and direction out of this needs to be established fast. Government and local authority functions have crumbled to the detriment of an entire nation. It is this sheer frustration that drove an exasperated Njonjo Mue to confronting two government ministers on the grounds of parliament on 30th November 2004. Njonjo Mue’s bold and courageous act of confrontation will one day rank alongside that of the Boston Tea Party of 1773, the storming of the Bastille in Paris on July 14th 1789, the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama and the brave, bold and courageous manner in which civil rights activist James Chaney met his death at the hands of white captors in June 1964 by telling them to their faces, “I aint running”. Njonjo Mue’s is not the first bold and courageous act of defiance in Kenya. On the day Jomo Kenyatta was released from restriction on 14th August 1961, he was asked when he wanted independence for Kenya, and he famously and defiantly responded “Today!”. In 1975, former Butere MP, Martin Shikuku declared in parliament that then ruling party, KANU, “was dead”, and then Deputy Speaker Jean Marie Seroney famously came to the defence of Shikuku by declaring “there is no need to substantiate the obvious!” In mitigation during the trial for the part that he played in the abortive Kenyan coup attempt of 1982, then University of Nairobi student activist Rateng' Oginga Ogego, declared that his biggest regret was that the coup did not succeed. In early 1985 former University of Nairobi students’ leader, Mwandawiro Mghanga, stunned the nation when he inspected a guard of honour mounted by University of Nairobi graduands of the then National Youth Service training programme for pre-University students of Kenyan public universities, a role then reserved for only the Head of State. Images of Mghanga being whisked away by Special Branch officers then, are still etched in the memories of many.
Njonjo Mue’s bold and courageous act of 30th November 2004 is nevertheless an enviable and nspiring wakeup call to both the entire Kenyan leadership, and to the ineffective and heavily compromised Kenyan middle class in deep slumber, a heavily compromised 21st century Kenyan middle class that makes 18th century France’s Marie Antoinette and her callousness, appear saintly. The Kenyan middle class on which the country relies on for direction and intellect is decadent, and hopelessly preoccupied with sex, pleasure, alcohol, flashy cars and flashy cell phones. Fresh impetus and direction needs to given to the Kenyan dream, struggle and movement, and Njonjo Mue played a shining role in this respect on the 30th November 2004. Sanity and direction urgently require to be restored in this country.
On Wednesday night, 24th November 2004, Fr. John Hannon of the Society of African Missions, was
murdered at his parish house at Matasia, Ngong, 25 kilometres from the capital city Nairobi, after a
botched robbery attempt. Nothing whatsoever warranted the brutal murder of Fr. Hannon. Were it not for missionaries, this country would not have made the strides that it has and this agony clearly showed on the face of cabinet minister George Saitoti, the day after the senseless killing. Whites and priests have
always had a respected status in Kenya. Fr. Hannon was both a priest and a white, which means that nothing or no one is sacred or respected in Kenya anymore. This country is between a fiercely burning fire and hell, and whichever way one looks at it, we are in serious trouble. The least that this country can do, is fight to get out of this ghastly predicament. Is NARC dead, and is there no need to substantiate this?
The government of Kenya has once again failed to contain high level corruption by apprehending the offenders through the mobilisation of it’s vast resources. Of grave concern in particular, are the continued and growing incidents of government sanctioned crime and sleaze. The governments of Kenya has once again failed to arrest spiraling social decadence that daily continues to manifest itself through pedophilia, rape, illegal abortions, underage sex, illicit sex and substance abuse of all and different natures. The government of Kenya has once again failed to give hope and direction to the people of Kenya.
The soul of this country is in a coma and the entire Kenyan leadership, whether in the ruling government of national unity or in the opposition, is tragically doing nothing to remedy this ghastly and fatal condition. Tales of Kenyan MPs being paid and being airlifted to the Kenyan coast by powerful interest
groups, in return for their votes in passing crucial Bills in parliament, are indicative of a nation that has gone to the dogs. Scenes of government ministers openly confronting and openly insulting each other,
are a sign that government functions have ground to a complete halt.
The entire Kenyan leadership as we presently know it, is clearly just a lull before a major storm. Unless
drastic action is taken to address and remedy the vast problems afflicting this country and it’s people, a
vicious and violent uprising is not far off. No attempt is being made to build goodwill at the grassroots, and this is the reason why several nations within one nation have evolved, up to and including the powerful Public Transport Vehicle cartels. This nation is so amorphous and so desperate, it’s difficult to tell who is really in control.
Hundreds upon hundreds of people, not least the trained and educated elite, are daily being marginalised by a system that cannot cope with vast changes that this country has undergone over the past forty one years. There are next to no opportunities left in Kenya anymore, and even worse, there are no concrete steps in place to create them. If the government has a plan, it has failed to communicate
it’s vision, goal, objective and mission to the people, which is as bad as having no mission at all.
The president continues to emphasise hard work and self reliance, yet the tax payer has been forced to
meet the cost of personal debts incurred by deceased members of his cabinet over the past two years. If the president wants to emphasise self reliance and reduce reliance on the government and the extended family, then there should be a massive nationwide drive to promote and entrench life insurance policies, pension schemes, provident funds, health insurance, education insurance schemes, unit trusts and trust funds, inter alia, as they constitute the extended family in the money economy that we live in.
In general, two NARC budgets have made huge budgetary allocations to all government ministries and departments, but we are yet to see these massive allocations and support translated into action. Where have all these funds gone? It is further troubling to read that government ministries returned back huge sums of money to the Exchequer following the elapse of the 2003/2004 government financial year, because the funds had not been cleared for use as a result of intricate bureaucratic red tape. If bureaucratic red tape cannot be streamlined, how can the plight of 30 million Kenyans be addressed?
There is something terribly wrong in this country. There is a devastating and looming crisis in our midst, and direction out of this needs to be established fast. Government and local authority functions have crumbled to the detriment of an entire nation. It is this sheer frustration that drove an exasperated Njonjo Mue to confronting two government ministers on the grounds of parliament on 30th November 2004. Njonjo Mue’s bold and courageous act of confrontation will one day rank alongside that of the Boston Tea Party of 1773, the storming of the Bastille in Paris on July 14th 1789, the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama and the brave, bold and courageous manner in which civil rights activist James Chaney met his death at the hands of white captors in June 1964 by telling them to their faces, “I aint running”. Njonjo Mue’s is not the first bold and courageous act of defiance in Kenya. On the day Jomo Kenyatta was released from restriction on 14th August 1961, he was asked when he wanted independence for Kenya, and he famously and defiantly responded “Today!”. In 1975, former Butere MP, Martin Shikuku declared in parliament that then ruling party, KANU, “was dead”, and then Deputy Speaker Jean Marie Seroney famously came to the defence of Shikuku by declaring “there is no need to substantiate the obvious!” In mitigation during the trial for the part that he played in the abortive Kenyan coup attempt of 1982, then University of Nairobi student activist Rateng' Oginga Ogego, declared that his biggest regret was that the coup did not succeed. In early 1985 former University of Nairobi students’ leader, Mwandawiro Mghanga, stunned the nation when he inspected a guard of honour mounted by University of Nairobi graduands of the then National Youth Service training programme for pre-University students of Kenyan public universities, a role then reserved for only the Head of State. Images of Mghanga being whisked away by Special Branch officers then, are still etched in the memories of many.
Njonjo Mue’s bold and courageous act of 30th November 2004 is nevertheless an enviable and nspiring wakeup call to both the entire Kenyan leadership, and to the ineffective and heavily compromised Kenyan middle class in deep slumber, a heavily compromised 21st century Kenyan middle class that makes 18th century France’s Marie Antoinette and her callousness, appear saintly. The Kenyan middle class on which the country relies on for direction and intellect is decadent, and hopelessly preoccupied with sex, pleasure, alcohol, flashy cars and flashy cell phones. Fresh impetus and direction needs to given to the Kenyan dream, struggle and movement, and Njonjo Mue played a shining role in this respect on the 30th November 2004. Sanity and direction urgently require to be restored in this country.
On Wednesday night, 24th November 2004, Fr. John Hannon of the Society of African Missions, was
murdered at his parish house at Matasia, Ngong, 25 kilometres from the capital city Nairobi, after a
botched robbery attempt. Nothing whatsoever warranted the brutal murder of Fr. Hannon. Were it not for missionaries, this country would not have made the strides that it has and this agony clearly showed on the face of cabinet minister George Saitoti, the day after the senseless killing. Whites and priests have
always had a respected status in Kenya. Fr. Hannon was both a priest and a white, which means that nothing or no one is sacred or respected in Kenya anymore. This country is between a fiercely burning fire and hell, and whichever way one looks at it, we are in serious trouble. The least that this country can do, is fight to get out of this ghastly predicament. Is NARC dead, and is there no need to substantiate this?