Of death and tragedies!

I am a realist or so I believe a pragmatist that takes a practical approach to issues. I am the kind who when confronted with a problem will first look for a solution to resolve it and then immediately thereafter establish the cause and then seek solutions to resolve the initial problem in the long term.

I do not prescribe to the blame game theory, where instead of seeking a solution one tends to look for the cause and then heap blame on that hapless person or process all the while forgetting that there was a solution that needs to be sought to resolve a problem.  

That said, my response to an illness or tragedy may be considered pedestrian at best. I am a firm believer that if one is unwell, then they need to rest so that they recuperate fully so this business of continually visiting people in hospital and spending inordinately long periods of time there is not for me. A quick 5 minute visit to wish you well every third day is probably all you will get. After all, with a career to take care of, bills to pay and issues to resolve life must go on.

In the event of a death, my routine will be interrupted by an occasional deviation to the venue of the evening prayers and to give my financial contribution to the bereaved family. While respect for the dead is important, in Kenya I fear that death is given more prominence than it actually deserves more so if that person was a senior ranking government functionary in society.

The entire provincial administration, police force, business community and other interest groups will  mobilise towards arranging a befitting send off for the deceased to the detriment of everything else. The press will mobilise teams of reporters, cameramen, soundmen and technicians to cover the demise of the departed from all angles including dredging up long forgotten footage and pictures of the deceased. Acres of space in newspapers on radio and in the TV will be bought for dedicated messages of condolence to the deceased.

Politicians, not averse to a photo opportunity, will troop to the home of the deceased to offer their condolences to the family of the departed. Issues of national importance will be abandoned and sidelined in Parliament so that messages of condolences can be made on the floor of the house. What a waste of the Hansard! Close friends and other assorted hangers on will drop everything they are doing and give their time  to the family including joining the funeral committees tasked with making the burial arrangments their personal lives and priorities can 'go jump in the lake' in the process.

Millions of shillings will be spent on improving the road networks where the person will be laid to rest, on catering, transport, programmes, announcements, editorials and the casket  while school activities, government  functions and business issues will be relegated to the periphery on the day of the funeral, thousands of man hours lost that would have been utilised in nation building!

Death in Kenya is often talked about in whispers, in undertones and with exaggerated respect. A dead person takes on a larger than life persona even if he was a general pain in the neck to all his family and friends. The deceased are dressed up in a new outfit and a new pair of shoes even if this is the first time they are being adorned in this finery. No one wants to believe that they will die so they forget to make their wishes known while alive and do not write their wills or talk about how they will be interred when they are no more.

That is why for me, I choose to look east like Wangari Maathai, Joshua Okuthe and others and go the way of cremation as has been practised by Hindu and Muslim adherents for millenia preferably within 48 hours of my death if not sooner. It is all in my will!! This is the modern way to go clean, cheap and with little or no fanfare and befits everyone whether the high and mighty or the simplest of souls at the grass root. I tell my wife that the only debate after my demise is about who will press the switch that condemns my remains to ashes to be preserved in an urn !

This translates into less manhours and national productivity being wasted since the period between death and internment is relatively short and huge resources are not necessary. The Kenyan economy will therefore prosper accordingly.

In parting, I would want to imagine that this is why some of the most succesful economies in Asia thrive because their focus is on growing their economies as quickly as possible and not being sidelined by ceremonies that are a drain on the economy!