Corruption, corruption everywhere:

I despair at what is happening in Kenya today. I want to believe that we have a pragmatic and wise leadership that is aware of the issues that are supposed to be in the best interests of the country, but alas what we are seeing and reading about in matters of misuse of public funds and outright theft seems to suggest otherwise!

I recently watched a 2011 viral video of then President John Atta Mills of Ghana seemingly fed up with the shenanigans and corrupt ways of those in the Customs Department in his country, storming into what may have been the customs head office at the port of Tema and proceeding to tell off the corrupt officials. The visibly annoyed president did not mince his words and lambasted those present (unfortunately the video focus is on him so we don’t see the faces of those on the firing line) for failing to look at the interests of the country first but instead enriching themselves at their work stations. This must have been a serious crisis if the president himself made an appearance perhaps suggesting the gravity of the situation.

A friend who has been in Kenya for the last 15 years made a telling comment recently that in the decade and a half that he has been in the country not a single politician or high ranking government officer has been jailed for corruption or theft of public funds. Someone else present then shared a story how the North Korean leader earlier this year reportedly had a high ranking military general executed with anti-aircraft guns virtually vaporizing him for the treasonable act of napping during a military parade where the leader was present!!

While North Korea is not known to be a bastion of civility and democracy and indeed seems to be run like a personal fiefdom whose leadership is handed down from generation to generation, and whether this (apparently widely reported) event did take place - see story under the following link http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/13/north-korean-defence-minister-executed-by-anti-aircaft-gun-report the point is that drastic action is required from a leader to make a point if things are not progressing as they should.

In my opinion, and while agreeing with the opposition who are shouting from the rooftops about corruption, corruption and more corruption in government circles (and by the way I don’t believe they would be any different were the shoe on the other foot) I think that the theft of public funds and widely reported corruption reached endemic proportions a long time ago and continues unabated and unchecked and drastic, mercurical and unprecedented action now needs to take place before the country already in the throes of an economic shutdown collapses on itself.

I may not be an economist but the current economic crisis and reports of unpaid salaries and wages to state and government officers, high interest rates as the government continues to borrow domestically, banks shutting their doors to innocent depositors, ferries breaking down at the busiest ferry crossing point in Kenya at Likoni in Mombasa is nothing but a reaction to the years of corruption and theft of public funds by those entrusted with looking after the public vault.

Unless something, anything drastic and dramatic happens to stop this nonesense, this pussy footing and shielding of cronies and busom buddies implicated in corruption scandals and long drawn out cases in court designed seemingly to cleanse the accused shall not solve a thing. It behoves those who have sworn to protect our constitution to roll up their sleeves and fight this vice before it pulls us down into the abyss together! While their tactics may not be anything as dramatic as what happened in North Korea the message needs to be sent that corrupt individuals shall be dealt with firmly and decisively. The law must be applied equally across the board and the maximum sentence handed down to the individuals that make up these cabals and networks of corruption.

Corruption is everywhere and it must be fought at all levels starting with those with the power to stop high level corruption dead in its track!!

It’s just a matter of time and we’ll be inundated folks:

A friend is currently in America and he narrated how a week ago he was unable to proceed on a planned visit to Washington DC due to hurricane Joaquin bearing down on the East Coast of the US and how due to the state of emergency declared by respective state governors leading to all non-essential travel being cancelled they had stayed put even practicing living in a storm cellar should things get really rough. Well they dodged that bullet with the hurricane veering off towards Bermuda and causing serious damage in that region.

This is a grim preamble to our own looming crisis, but are we ready for it? The now boring mantra of ‘serikali saidia’ is almost on us once again. With the advent of the expected El Nino rains as has been predicated not only by our weather men in the +254 but also internationally heavy rains affecting much of the country will be upon us soon in a deluge of rain, more rain, floods, over flowing rivers, landslides and misery interwoven in equal measure reminiscent of the times of Noah and his famous Ark! This is expected to be the worst period of continual rain for the last 60 years.

In Kenya, the central and county governments seem to have taken the threats of flooding and related perils wrought by the expected heavy rains seriously (and I say this with a pinch of salt and tongue in cheek and trying unsuccessfully not to roll on the ground as I burst out laughing) based on the frenetic warnings to those living in flood prone low lying areas as well as those on riparian reserves and hilly slopes prone to landslides to relocate for the time being until the El Nino rains are over. There also appears to be additional efforts to clear up chocked and clogged drains and to widen drainage channels in flood prone towns and low lying areas despite the blame game that is shaping up with the central government being accused of not releasing funds for El Nino preparedness a song that is likely to take on a more stringent tone when the rains begin pounding in earnest.

The die is already cast and already some deaths have been reported in the media in rain related incidents across the country but the citizens are having none of these requests to move away from danger responding with the clichés that they have nowhere else to go, their homes have never been affected before so why now, and that their children are hard at work studying for exams…….as if they shall have a future should the deadly predictions be proved right and whole families plus their books and beloved pets are swept into a watery grave one rainy night!

But anyone over the age of 15 years of age will agree with me that in this digital age weather predictions are spot on 95% of the time so while it would be unfair to look on with disdain at the steps a caring government (oxymoron intended) is taking to protect its citizens from the almost certain elements soon to visited upon us, it is equally foolish to ignore the advice of the scientists that study such mundane things as weather predictions for a living, with one clueless guy recently admitting he has not heard anything about heavy rains and once again proving beyond doubt that aliens from another planet do populate our country!

So don’t rule out ‘serikali saidia’ choruses when rain drenched citizens who refused to heed warnings of danger with nothing else left but the clothes on their backs now turn to the same government that they ignored for assistance when the chips and their homes are finally down swept into a pulpy mess by the raging storms soon to land on our shores!

But whatever you do heed the expert calls on how to stay safe rather than sorry however silly they may sound because this could save your life.