Some stories sound stranger than fiction. When a whole senator is mentioned on social media as having misbehaved at an international airport and causing a security breach simply because he refuses to follow procedure of producing correct identification documents because he is a big shot yet such demands should be made on the hoi polloi ‘watu’ then we need to get really scared.
When an MP in obvious disregard of firearms handling protocols discharges his gun accidentally at an airport then we must ask ourselves some questions regarding his competence to carry a dagger let alone a loaded firearm. When another MP is accidentally shot by his own trained body guard who should be last person to shoot his charge then we must ask ourselves some searching questions about whether there was more to this saga than meets the eye!
When a senators wife is sensationally on national TV complaining to the world how her husband has made her life a living hell by removing all the furniture in the house, cutting off the water and electricity and even carting away the gas cylinder from the house just so that she can be forced to vacate a property where she resides courtesy of a court order, then brethren we need to ask ourselves what kind of leadership we have while running for the hills at full tilt!
When other elected leaders blatantly and in the full view of the world are named as beneficiaries of grabbed parcels of land worth billions of Kenya shillings from Lamu, Kisii, Makueni, Nairobi and other parts of the country then surely we must all be dreaming and shall soon wake up to find that it was indeed all just a bad nightmare!
I could go on and on with various examples of a leadership run amok but these examples should suffice being the most recent ones that come to mind because all this is happening while we are wide awake, sober, of sound mind and in a state of righteous indignation! Whether the stories are true or false is neither here nor there because as responsible leaders, like Ceaser’s wife, our leaders should be above suspicion and reproach. However, the regularity and continued mentions of scandalous behavior among one or other of our leadership gives rise to a probable likelihood of some truth in the tales to be believed even by their most diehard supporters!
Wikipedia describes leadership as "a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". For example, some understand a leader simply as somebody whom people follow or as somebody who guides or directs others, while others define leadership as "organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal". But, do our leaders really fit into this description of leadership based on the few examples portrayed above?
Looked at another way, and going by the popular adage that the people choose the leaders they deserve, does it mean that we are really no better than those that we elect from the hundreds of leaders that try to convince us that they are our best bet to get us from Sodom & Gomorrah to the Promised Land be it at the county or national level? Are we so narrow minded and parochial that we cannot elect any other leaders other than the same ones guaranteed to embarrass us one more time as their last hurray?
Many of the antics of the leaders (that we have collectively chosen) are nothing short of criminal and a blatant disregard for the rights under the constitution of those that have elected them and for which they have taken an oath to defend since they continue to trample us underfoot, ride roughshod on us and generally get away with literally murder.
Many of their antics would result in an immediate arrest for those less connected in the hallowed precincts of the corridors of power as has been demonstrated time and time again from as far back as any of us can remember and many of our retired politicians must be surely gnashing their teeth and tearing off their hair (where it exists) when they see these excesses whether they be still alive and (barely) kicking or somewhere in heaven, hell or that in between place called purgatory!! There must surely be two sets of criminal laws in existence in Kenya today, for the leaders and then for the rest of us hoi polloi ‘watu’ otherwise how else do you explain the apparent disconnect in the application of the law?
In the Kenyan context, we need to redefine leadership to include some of the antics and excesses portrayed by our leaders because why should be keep making the same mistakes year in year out of electing people with similar characteristics if they do not fit into the mold of responsible leaders and as per the universally accepted description from Wikipedia unless we are the perfect example of doing the same thing day in day out and hoping for different results!! It is likely that other countries out there also suffer from a dearth of good leadership but as good Africans we must firstly be intent on cleaning up our own leaders within our homestead before venturing out to correct the leadership in the next homestead!
I know we have some hard working and genuine leaders out there who are as unhappy with the state of affairs in our country as the majority of us voters are to whom I apologize to in advance. I am miffed and feeling utterly helpless about our predicament and a ‘ventfest’ was long overdue. If it is not one drama, it is another and twice on weekends just to piss us off more by Monday.
I shall not blame the devil for our predicament nor ask God for his intercession for that matter because we are where we are because we chose those that now lead us today - dirty socks, torn undies and all!!
Friday 24 October 2014
Tuesday 14 October 2014
The inexorable march of progress along Mombasa Road:
I drove down to the Coast recently where I was a guest in a friend’s family villa for 3 days at Vipingo Ridge in Kilifi. The villa was my wife’s idea to celebrate my birthday and also get in a few days of golf and R&R. The villa is a modern 5 bedroom all en-suite place with a swimming pool and Jacuzzi and set in a well landscaped garden all fit for a king and his queen! We were well taken care of by the resident cook, housekeeper and gardener during our stay clearly more than eager to have visitors whom they could take care of. That’s a story for another day though!!
We always prefer to drive to the coast otherwise you are forced to hire a car for the duration of your stay so as to get around or worse still use a taxi cab at horrendous rates since taxis in Mombasa are so expensive. The drive down is an exercise in infinite patience and driving skill as you navigate the 500 odd kilometers or so of Mombasa Road from Nairobi competing with the heavy commercial vehicles transporting goods and commodities to and from various East African countries like DRC, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda & Burundi along with the long distance passenger buses racing to their destinations to pick up yet more passengers for the return journey from whence they set off.
Unlike other times we have driven to and from the Coast, this time there were few personal vehicles on the road and no tourist vans suggesting that Mombasa has taken a beating from the terrorism activities witnessed there over the past few months where hotels are struggling in terms of business…………..or most tourists are choosing to fly!
What struck me the most as we travelled down (and back) was the amount of ongoing projects along the route all seemingly geared towards the standard gauge rail project whose first phase is scheduled for completion in 2017 and whose construction was touted to commence in October 2014. Well folks I am happy to say that there is indeed some action happening on the ground in this regard.
I am sure that any project of such magnitude would have serious logistics in place to ensure that the tight timelines are met from land compensation issues, materials supplies, human resource needs, heavy equipment sourcing, security and so forth. This is evident wherever they have set up some camp or another along the entire route as they also create access roads and construct prefabricated structures and other necessities for the comfort and safety of their assets. A lot of heavy construction equipment is evident in many of the camps, possibly the main central supply camps to other smaller camps/work sites within a specified area. So as others choose to play politics with this very important project, stuff is definitely going on!!
We could also not help noticing the sheer volume of flatbed trucks laden with all sorts of heavy construction equipment as we drove to the Coast. Whether these are solely for the standard gauge rail project or for other projects across the country is not certain, but one thing is clear, the levels of investment in heavy construction equipment is impressive, as well as being a pointer to intense construction projects happening in the country. We also came across several convoys of extra-long trucks carrying wind generator towers and rotor blades (for probably Turkana Wind Farm). The sheer size of this equipment is mind boggling and a sight to behold with each blade being all of 50-70 feet or more in length. You can imagine the length of the truck transporting such equipment. Somewhere along the way, a convoy of trucks carrying boilers (or silos) slowed us down to a veritable crawl no doubt destined for one of the factories in the region
No doubt all this activity shall translate into business opportunities for a large number of people either directly involved in the actual projects as skilled laborers and suppliers or indirectly as beneficiaries of economic activity associated with large scale projects from accommodation facilities, hotels and restaurants, retail shops, mobile money, phone repairs, watch repairs etc along the planned routes. These kinds of projects have the potential to turn around whole communities that are located in the immediate neighborhood of the ongoing projects and any right thinking citizen should be as anxious to see that these projects are a success simply because of the physical changes that follow in their wake. India as an example, with its 60,000 kilometers of rail tracks has probably grown into an economic giant partly because of the ease of transporting, goods, services and people cheaply and over long distances thanks to the Indian Railways the largest public sector employer in that country.
Ironically, this project to some extent also spells doom to the main purveyors of the tonnes of equipment, supplies and materials required by the standard gauge project, the thousands of long haul trucks that have been the main transporter of goods and commodities from Mombasa to hundreds of industrial, commercial and institutional companies across East Africa once the cheaper and faster option of rail transport becomes a reality. But for now, the truck rules supreme as it cargoes its precious commodities and machinery to drive the economies of the East African Community member countries.
I am glad I drove down to the Coast and back notwithstanding the slow 7 hours journey thanks to the hundreds of trucks on the road because it gave me an opportunity to see the progress made in this mega project costing billions of shillings, probably the largest one in Kenya since independence as well as observe first-hand the movement of vast quantities of machinery, industrial goods and other commodities. Brace yourselves for emerging business opportunities when the Nairobi to Mombasa phase of the standard gauge rail project is completed because with journey times estimated at 4 hours one way to Mombasa, it shall be possible to live in Nairobi and run a comfortable and profitable business venture somewhere in Mtito Andei and yet commute daily back to Nairobi.
14/10/14
We always prefer to drive to the coast otherwise you are forced to hire a car for the duration of your stay so as to get around or worse still use a taxi cab at horrendous rates since taxis in Mombasa are so expensive. The drive down is an exercise in infinite patience and driving skill as you navigate the 500 odd kilometers or so of Mombasa Road from Nairobi competing with the heavy commercial vehicles transporting goods and commodities to and from various East African countries like DRC, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda & Burundi along with the long distance passenger buses racing to their destinations to pick up yet more passengers for the return journey from whence they set off.
Unlike other times we have driven to and from the Coast, this time there were few personal vehicles on the road and no tourist vans suggesting that Mombasa has taken a beating from the terrorism activities witnessed there over the past few months where hotels are struggling in terms of business…………..or most tourists are choosing to fly!
What struck me the most as we travelled down (and back) was the amount of ongoing projects along the route all seemingly geared towards the standard gauge rail project whose first phase is scheduled for completion in 2017 and whose construction was touted to commence in October 2014. Well folks I am happy to say that there is indeed some action happening on the ground in this regard.
I am sure that any project of such magnitude would have serious logistics in place to ensure that the tight timelines are met from land compensation issues, materials supplies, human resource needs, heavy equipment sourcing, security and so forth. This is evident wherever they have set up some camp or another along the entire route as they also create access roads and construct prefabricated structures and other necessities for the comfort and safety of their assets. A lot of heavy construction equipment is evident in many of the camps, possibly the main central supply camps to other smaller camps/work sites within a specified area. So as others choose to play politics with this very important project, stuff is definitely going on!!
We could also not help noticing the sheer volume of flatbed trucks laden with all sorts of heavy construction equipment as we drove to the Coast. Whether these are solely for the standard gauge rail project or for other projects across the country is not certain, but one thing is clear, the levels of investment in heavy construction equipment is impressive, as well as being a pointer to intense construction projects happening in the country. We also came across several convoys of extra-long trucks carrying wind generator towers and rotor blades (for probably Turkana Wind Farm). The sheer size of this equipment is mind boggling and a sight to behold with each blade being all of 50-70 feet or more in length. You can imagine the length of the truck transporting such equipment. Somewhere along the way, a convoy of trucks carrying boilers (or silos) slowed us down to a veritable crawl no doubt destined for one of the factories in the region
No doubt all this activity shall translate into business opportunities for a large number of people either directly involved in the actual projects as skilled laborers and suppliers or indirectly as beneficiaries of economic activity associated with large scale projects from accommodation facilities, hotels and restaurants, retail shops, mobile money, phone repairs, watch repairs etc along the planned routes. These kinds of projects have the potential to turn around whole communities that are located in the immediate neighborhood of the ongoing projects and any right thinking citizen should be as anxious to see that these projects are a success simply because of the physical changes that follow in their wake. India as an example, with its 60,000 kilometers of rail tracks has probably grown into an economic giant partly because of the ease of transporting, goods, services and people cheaply and over long distances thanks to the Indian Railways the largest public sector employer in that country.
Ironically, this project to some extent also spells doom to the main purveyors of the tonnes of equipment, supplies and materials required by the standard gauge project, the thousands of long haul trucks that have been the main transporter of goods and commodities from Mombasa to hundreds of industrial, commercial and institutional companies across East Africa once the cheaper and faster option of rail transport becomes a reality. But for now, the truck rules supreme as it cargoes its precious commodities and machinery to drive the economies of the East African Community member countries.
I am glad I drove down to the Coast and back notwithstanding the slow 7 hours journey thanks to the hundreds of trucks on the road because it gave me an opportunity to see the progress made in this mega project costing billions of shillings, probably the largest one in Kenya since independence as well as observe first-hand the movement of vast quantities of machinery, industrial goods and other commodities. Brace yourselves for emerging business opportunities when the Nairobi to Mombasa phase of the standard gauge rail project is completed because with journey times estimated at 4 hours one way to Mombasa, it shall be possible to live in Nairobi and run a comfortable and profitable business venture somewhere in Mtito Andei and yet commute daily back to Nairobi.
14/10/14
Wednesday 1 October 2014
I have been on leave:
I have just completed my leave and it was a well-deserved two weeks of rest and recreation – R&R. as my family is based in Nairobi, the Nairobi traffic was my biggest irritant and I now even more than ever before wonder how I was able to survive all that time in the big city. I also found out that we are now a nation of tortoises and sloths driving around at zero speed and clogging up the roads in the process.
On one memorable drive along the Nairobi-Limuru Road while on leave, there was a solid line of traffic on both outbound lanes as private vehicles tried to keep up with the long distance trucks just below the 50 kilometers per hour speed limit. How ridiculous you might think until you are the one facing a roadside magistrate and being slapped with an over speeding fine!! Nowadays people are so scared of being caught over speeding that they would rather err on the side of caution and therefore crawl through life at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour or less……..only in Nairobi!!
The issue of speeding is now one of the conversational topics you are likely to have when you meet up with friends as well as warning anyone new into the country to be aware of the speed rules and therefore they should drive sloooowly!! Alcoblow comes a close second in favorite topics for discussion.
But I am now back to Nyeri and what a difference two weeks has made. The main road into town is now being re-carpeted and in some sections being completely redone. The abandoned section of the road just after Gatitu at Wambugu Farm has also been completed. Traffic flows have been seriously affected as they have closed off parts of the road and diverted traffic to use alternate (almost none existent) roads as the asphalt laying machine does its thing. It almost feels like a mini Nairobi what with the resultant traffic jams.
I am not sure if road closure notices are a legal requirement as I have not seen any notice of intention to close the roads to vehicular traffic in Nyeri but all seem to be taking it in their stride though I would like to bash someone over the head for increasing my commute time to work by a factor of almost 4 – from 4 minutes to 15 minutes!!
All in all I am well refreshed and raring to go through this rat race called life even as we hurtle to a crescendo in this final quarter of the year 2014. Before we know it we shall be celebrating Christmas and the New Year!!
On one memorable drive along the Nairobi-Limuru Road while on leave, there was a solid line of traffic on both outbound lanes as private vehicles tried to keep up with the long distance trucks just below the 50 kilometers per hour speed limit. How ridiculous you might think until you are the one facing a roadside magistrate and being slapped with an over speeding fine!! Nowadays people are so scared of being caught over speeding that they would rather err on the side of caution and therefore crawl through life at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour or less……..only in Nairobi!!
The issue of speeding is now one of the conversational topics you are likely to have when you meet up with friends as well as warning anyone new into the country to be aware of the speed rules and therefore they should drive sloooowly!! Alcoblow comes a close second in favorite topics for discussion.
But I am now back to Nyeri and what a difference two weeks has made. The main road into town is now being re-carpeted and in some sections being completely redone. The abandoned section of the road just after Gatitu at Wambugu Farm has also been completed. Traffic flows have been seriously affected as they have closed off parts of the road and diverted traffic to use alternate (almost none existent) roads as the asphalt laying machine does its thing. It almost feels like a mini Nairobi what with the resultant traffic jams.
I am not sure if road closure notices are a legal requirement as I have not seen any notice of intention to close the roads to vehicular traffic in Nyeri but all seem to be taking it in their stride though I would like to bash someone over the head for increasing my commute time to work by a factor of almost 4 – from 4 minutes to 15 minutes!!
All in all I am well refreshed and raring to go through this rat race called life even as we hurtle to a crescendo in this final quarter of the year 2014. Before we know it we shall be celebrating Christmas and the New Year!!
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