Sometimes ignorance is surely bliss - Part 1

You are going on a long journey of some 700 kilometers or so so the logical thing is to start your journey early, know the weather prevailing where you are headed so as to carry the right attire and also plot a course where you can stop for refreshments and to stretch your legs and work of that benign deep vein thrombosis sitting just below the veins in your legs. Easier said then done............but think again!!

We set of at 7.00 a.m on our maiden journey to Uganda the Pearl of Africa in a hired minibus. We were 16 of us, three families inclduing adult kids and our luggage. We were 45 minutes late but so what? After all we were going a mere 700 kilometres or so from Nairobi to Kampala and at a sedate speed of 80 km/h we would be there in 9 hours.....10 hours tops, meaning that we would be greedily gulping in the fresh Kampala air by 5.00 p.m. The mood was euphoric and positive never mind the fact that some looked the worse for wear no doubt a reminder of their carousing the previous night. The route was decided upon as the longer Nairobi-Nakuru-Eldoret-Malaba one as the Mau Summit-Kericho-Kisumu-Busia route was said to be under construction and therefore very slow and difficult going. The weather in Kampala was focussed to be overcast with showers and thunder storms for the fours days we would be there.

Barely out of Nairobi, we encountered our first stop. The driver of the minbus had not been home for several days and as he was scheduled to be out of town over the Christmas period had planned to meet his daughter somewhere along the way to give her some money. This took but four minutes but should have been an ominous sign of what awaited us all day long. Soon after passing Uplands, one of us who suffered from motion sickness suffered an attack and we had to stop off at a petrol station for him to be sick and go to the toilet. Thankfully we had a doctor on board who presecribed some pills for him to take to control the motion sickness which were procured at a nearby pharmacy.

The driver having eaten his breakfast (it turns out he had arrived in Nairobi at 3.00 a.m), the patient somewhat cured, 30 minutes later we set off on our merry way, down into the escarpment and on into Naivasha where our first official toilet break awaited us at "Delamare" for15 minutes or so. On we ploughed thereafter - Mau Summit, Timboroa, Burnt Forest - and just as we approached Eldoret our first major hurdle, a massive traffic jam on the diversion where they are redoing the road caused by overlapping, impatient drivers in a hurry to get to their destinations. So there we were stuck for almost an hour and 15 minutes while the mess untangled itself. Our next stop was scheduled to be at Sirikwa Hotel Eldoret but just on the outskirts of Eldoret our sick friend unable to wait a moment longer decided he needed another toilet break so we stopped for another 15 minutes as he did his thing.

Finally we arrived in Eldoret, this one street town that has experienced phenomenal growth in the last few years but where no one seems to have thought to expand the road networks or even have a by-pass around the town for those with no business passing through the town centre. Traffic was at a crawling pace until Sirikwa Hotel, where after a well deserved toilet break and a light refreshment, chips and sausage for those really hungry we set off an hour later back into the crawling traffic that would take us another 45 minutes to get to the Kitale turnoff. It was now approaching 4 pm and we had another 130 kms to get to Malaba and then cross over into Uganda.

By now, a majority of us were in high spirits having partook of the drinks that inevitably accompany such a journey. The obvious downside to this is the need for a toilet break.....or two.....or three! Suffice is to say that we finally rolled into the outskirts of Malaba shortly before 6.30 p.m to find a 4 km long traffic jam of trucks waiting to cross the border which is not unusual since small vehicles, mini buses and passenger buses have right of way and merely overtake the line of waiting trucks and give way to any oncoming traffic. This was not the case on this particular evening because out of desperation, anxiety or whatever some of the large trucks had also decided to join the smaller vehicles leading to the inevitable overlapping and traffic snarl ups as the oncoming trucks now had no room to pass through the bedlam created by this effect. It took up almost an hour to get to Malaba, Kenya and get our documents stamped for us to discover that the driver had only his driving licence and log book for the vehicle but no travel documents!!

.............(To be continued)

Being ‘eaten’ by an animal:

I have a feeling that many Kenyans are more scared of being ‘eaten’ by an animal then of being run over by a motor vehicle. Let me explain.

How many times do you get to visit someone’s house in one of the leafy suburbs and the first thing that comes to your mind once you drive into their compound is if they have a dog? Next you ask the question if there is a dog in plain view, “is it kali”? Or while out walking or jogging you come across a strange dog on your path and the first thing you want to do is cross over to the other side or stop jogging altogether because we all know that a dog will ‘chase you if you are running’ as you fearfully cast your eyes over your shoulder should the dog take an unhealthy interest in you sniffing at your heels as a dog is wont to do.

Many times the size of the dog doesn’t matter and it could be the scrawniest, mangiest, scared looking mongrel but the inborn fear is still in us to fear a dog…………hell any animal. You even go off to the Masai Mara and the inevitable question when you get back is whether you were scared of being ‘eaten’ by an animal.

Seriously folks, I have seen people almost trampling each other when a horse rears up on its hind legs at the Ngong Racecourse or in the City Centre when the police are trying to quell a demonstration, or grown men almost breaking their legs running away from a snake, in all likelihood a non-venomous one at that, sunning itself 10 feet away and what of those of us who are scared of spiders, lizards, geckos and chameleons almost falling down in our haste to get away as far as possible from the offending creature…………….and possibly being run over by a vehicle for our troubles!!

We are taught and conditioned from a very early age that any animal, wild or domestic, has the potential to do serious harm to you, and past experiences are shared with wanton abandon by our parents, aunties and uncles of being mauled by a dog, kicked by a cow, chased by a bull, butted by a goat etc in their youthful day and this is the reality that we face each day. The fact that corpses in many societies in Kenya in days gone by were left in the forest to be devoured by wild animals does not in any way reduce the believability of being ‘eaten’ by animals. Further, recent stories of a baby being half devoured by dogs soon after birth, or lions attacking a Manyatta and eating the livestock and leopards stalking and killing goats, dogs and other domestic animals means that being 'eaten' by animals is the worst nightmare for many.

If only we were also told of the dangers of dicing with death while walking on the road verge and not on the shoulder, crossing a road while the pedestrian lights are red, dashing across Thika Road or any other major highway with scores of hulking metal vehicles hurtling past at breakneck speeds inches from you so as to avoid a 50 meter walk to the pedestrian overpass and its relative safety we would surely be a saner, less suicidal society! Maybe it’s time we thought of policing our roads and highways with animals that would scare the living daylights out of us lest we get ‘eaten’.

Thank you for the year gone by......!

I have now been blogging for just over a year because it was on 7^th December 2011 that ‘Wondering Allowed’ was born..............371 days ago to be precise!!

The infrastructure has featured in my blogs mainly about Thika Road along where I live, so has the game of golf which I have too little time to play and enjoy in my limited free time, as have issues regarding my family and my friends, stories that touched me and which I shared and those that I culled from my C: drive written some time back but now adapted and updated to reflect the current situation. Politics, being the staple diet of the average Kenyan out there and being prone to cause disagreements based on biases, innuendos and insinuations took a back seat but got a toe in comment somewhere along the blogway (is there a word like that?) inspite of my decision even before I started the blog that politics would have no airtime on it!

I can now imagine what the editors of the ‘Nairobi Star’, that erstwhile precursor of ‘The Star’ must have felt when they initially decided to forego politics (or so I heard) when it was launched  only to change their editorial policy to include limited political commentary after realizing that politics is what sold newspapers in Kenya.

As I celebrate this anniversary let me mention that I have enjoyed the ride and the thrill of blogging because it has been an opportunity to write about things close to my heart, things that bothered and angered me, my feelings and instincts, my political grouses, my disappointments and anguish at promises made and not met, of incidents and accidents and issues of a general nature.

I have relished writing the articles despite occasional writers block (the bane of many writers and which I had no idea about before) and sharing them on my Facebook wall and the number of hits tells me that there are those out there who appreciate my blog and come back for more.  My target in 2013 is to get at least 50 followers and your recommendations and sharing of my posts and articles to those on your social network sites as well as your friends would be appreciated. Thank you for being a part of this blog in 2012.

 As we come to end the end of the year and the start of the New Year with all its drama, intrigues and political machinations, let us remember that we are all one nation of a Kenyan brotherhood (and sisterhood………gender sensitivity you know!) and we should treat each other with decorum, respect and admiration for each one of us shapes Kenya in our own unique way and without each other we would not be the same!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR as I continue to wonder allowed in the coming year!!

How to tackle the Thika super highway:

As I live somewhere in the vicinity of Thika Road, I always take it for granted that it is easy for anyone else unfamiliar with the road to make sense of how to get to your ultimate destination anywhere along that superhighway! After all it is well marked with various road signages, numbered exits and off ramps and other assorted road furniture and basically everything to make the savvy person get to where they need to be. How wrong I was!

It was while talking to a colleague recently that it dawned on me that it is not as easy as it seems to the uninitiated to get by on Thika Road and it is apparently now one of the most feared of roads to those unfamiliar with its since “you could easily find yourself in Thika” as was exclaimed to me by my colleague.

Let us just take an example of getting to and getting out of Safari Park Hotel which was easy in the days gone by since you just turned left off Thika Road on the Thika bound side of the dual carriageway when you got to the hotel signpost. When leaving the hotel  you exited onto Thika Road drove a few meters and then turned right onto the city bound side of the dual carriageway to find yourself safely homeward bound. Not anymore because now if you miss your exit you will have to spend a great deal of time getting back to the hotel.

For starters, the multi-lane highway and service roads for much of the Thika Road development is a one way system. No oncoming vehicles are allowed to hamper the flow of traffic though boda bodas and some psychotic motorists often do so very foolishly and obviously without due regard to their safety and that of other road users. All the exits are now indicated well in advance clearly showing which destination each exit will take you to and with arrows to show those unable to understand what to do. I suppose the developers of this road in all their wisdom assumed that all the motorists using the road are literate enough to read signs and have been to a driving school and understand the basic Highway Code and what all road signs mean though this may be a little far-fetched given the zig zag maneuvers of many drivers caught on the wrong outside lane and desperate to get to the inside correct lane for them to exit the highway safely !

Back to how you get to Safari Park Hotel. You are required to leave the highway on Exit 7 (any of the earlier exits will get you there along the service road), well-marked with the various places it takes you to including Safari Park Hotel. Follow the service road until the top of the Broadways overpass then make a left turn towards Uchumi ‘Jipange’ following the roundabout that takes you onto the service road leading all the way to Safari Park Hotel. If you miss Exit 7 to Safari Park, the next one is Exit 8 which goes to Kasarani area and Kamiti Road. You will be forced to use this exit double back under the Kasarani underpass get back onto Thika Road then go all the way back to Exit 7 and then right onto the Broadways overpass to use the service road past Uchumi ‘Jipange’ to ultimately get you to Safari Park, almost 5 kilometres longer than using the correct exit.

The above scenario is replicated for much of the length of the (super) highway and one will need to be keenly aware of what the road signs are telling you and what you are expected to do given that the developers recognized the challenges they would face if they made it easy for motorists (read PSV drivers) to just drive over the road divide (where possible) if you bypassed your exit and therefore erected huge curb stones and road dividers  that even the most determined  and foolhardy PSV driver would think twice before trying to tackle.

The other side of voter registration

I registered as a voter at my local registration centre yesterday evening just before 5.00 pm the official closing time. The BVR experience was painless and flawless and took less than 3 minutes and I now have an acknowledgment slip to confirm this.

However, part of the process in addition to the photograph and the finger print taking of all 10 digits (with apologies to those with less), involves a manual process where you are required to sign an  indemnity form as well as provide your mobile phone number and email address, the first time in my recollection that this is happening. I assume this is so that they may contact you in future should any correction need to be made to their registers!

I am just wondering that given that 18 million Kenyans above the age of 18 years old expect to be registered within the one month registration period, I will not be surprised if the data being collected by the IEBC will also be used for other purposes.

Think about it for a minute!!

Here is an agency, for all intents and purposes an appendage of the government, charged with the biometric registration of Kenyan voters and whose target is to collect crucial data and information about 18 million Kenyan adults and rebuild their voters registers literally from scratch. The IEBC will have access within its database to the unique finger prints of you and I, our photograph, our specimen signature, our mobile phone number and our email address (for those fortunate to have this) of all who register. This is a watershed election since it is the first one under the new constitutional dispensation and it is expected that the registration turnout will be at an all-time high given the stakes involved.

Now which responsible government would not use such a database to boost its crime fighting capabilities, its ability to rollout a parallel system of facial identification and signature recognition software, its ability to eavesdrop on the mobile phone conversations of suspects and those that may be up to no good as well as to monitor and identify anyone who causes trouble in the period leading up to the elections and thereafter? Which agency intent on extending its reach and improving on its efficiencies would not go out of its way to lay its hands on such a massive and potentially useful data base?

By the same token, which rogue government would not use such information to harass and intimidate its populace and subject them to undue scrutiny and surveillance now that they have all their crucial details. I am not saying that this is what is going to happen, but I will not be surprised if this is the secondary motive why the BVR system was rolled out!

If as a secondary motive the information collected under the guise of biometric voter registration is able to prevent terrorists from infiltrating our borders, can assist in capturing and identifying criminals, weed out the bad elements from society, trace those that are in the country illegally and help to identify and trace criminal elements amongst us then it is acceptable to me. If however, the secondary purpose is to assist in spying on me and infringing on my constitutional rights then I take great exception to this motive.

Be that as it may however, the whole process is well grounded in our constitution and the IEBC Act and we have little choice at present but to accept it as is!!

Who is more ‘damu’ than the other?

Shameful scenes confronted us the other day. It was at a meeting called by officials in Kiambu County to discuss and agree on how the January 2013 TNA nominations for the county would be conducted.

The big guns had in all likelihood transported their supporters "en masse" to the venue in the hope of showing their popularity and perhaps to sway some of the ‘undecided’ to their side. Ugly and chaotic scenes of fisticuffs, hurling abuse and chair throwing ruled the day before some semblance of order prevailed and the nominations to the county committees were finalized. But, if this is the democracy some people talk about then I want nothing to do with it because if two people were nominated to the county committee after being read from a list and with the process having to be repeated in some instances as differing lists were forwarded, then this is not democracy!!

The forthcoming elections are going to be a high stakes game. With so many elective positions up for grabs and with so little time for nominations left, and with no ‘second’ chance once you fail at the initial nomination it will be a truly chaotic situation as all the contenders battle for the nomination ticket of the most popular party in their areas in a no holds barred, winner take all contest. It will make the actual elections in March 2013 look like a stroll in the park because the nomination process will be the final decider on who gets to be on the ballot box and on which party ticket!!

The Kiambu fiasco is going to be replayed across the country in one form or another as the current crop of MP’s, long forgotten former MP’s smelling reincarnation in the expanded democratic space, professionals looking for the excitement of competitive politics  to make a change and all looking to get the all-important party nomination for one of the various seats.

Those from the various counties in Central Province will fight tooth and nail for a TNA nomination, those in Luo Nyanza for an ODM nomination, those in Ukambani for a WIPER nomination, those in Western Kenya are still deciding, those in the Coast are still at ease waiting for direction etc, etc. There will be no negotiation and no consensus just a group of self-important people fighting for a nomination that in their own warped belief is divinely theirs by right and by virtue of the loudest praises to their party leaders and the strongest appeals to their tribal cohorts in support of their favorite candidate.

If this thing called democracy was alive and kicking in Kenya, then why the acrimony among those who claim to practice the same ideals as their leaders? Why the name calling, chair throwing and general bad manners if (as claimed) they will respect the nomination process and support the one who has won for the better good of the party? Or is it just a fallacy that your party leaders are democrats and have high ideals yet the truth of the matter is that they are mere rabble rousers content with a cabal of foul mouthed individuals only looking out for their personal interests?

I see democracy in Kenya taking a lethal body blow immediately after the nomination process and our courts inundated with petition after petition from sour losers unbelieving that even after emptying their bank accounts in a bid to woe the electorate to support them, they have failed to make the ‘cut’!

There will be a lot of very unhappy people out there once the nomination process is concluded and with nowhere else to go they will be licking their wounds and crying just how unfair the process was well after the actual election in March 2013.

And before I forget, and if you have not yet done so, make sure you register as a voter before the deadline expires on 18th December 2012!!

Celebrating Barack Obama's win

The euphoria with which Barack Obama’s presidential victory in the 2012 US elections was met with in Kenya got me thinking. Here we were in Kenya and like millions around the world,  excited and ecstatic about the goings on thousands of miles away in the USA. Is it because we have seen that someone from a minority with great oratorical skills, a political novice at that, can be the president of the only remaining super power in the world today? Probably, but it is more likely that he has galvanized us by his organizational skills, his focus on the changes he intends to bring to the US economy and his agenda for the American people and probably the fact that he comes across as one of us who values the family unit and has no skeletons in his closet having revealed all way before his historic victory in 2008. Barack is also a scion of one of us with Kenyan ties and Kenyan bloodlines and deserves to be celebrated if for no other reason than this.

We are also about to embark on our own elections in 2013 in our own little enclave called Kenya though serious campaigning has been going on for months now. Would we react with the same deliriousness if Ruto or Uhuru won next year’s presidential election? Knowing that the duo are gung ho on being on the ballot paper come election day in 2013 while they are suspects with crimes against humanity charges awaiting their trail at the Hague gives me goose bumps if any of them were to win.

What would we be celebrating if any of them were to win?  We would be celebrating a hollow victory, a win for impunity and a win for a lame duck president already a pariah in the eyes of the international community. We would be announcing to the world just how short sighted and petty we Kenyans can be allowing a criminal suspect to masquerade as a leader of a country and at its very pinnacle as a president. We would be saying that we prefer that the rule of the jungle overrides the very constitution that we fought so hard for since 1990 and that our President then swore to defend before a multitude of Kenyans and the world at large in 2010.

We would be the nation talked about as being the most hopeful in 2002 but the most hopeless in 2013 having extinguished our hopes and dreams at the pyre of self-interest and intense tribal emotions. Where the lure of the filthy lucre ‘cash’ and ‘greed’ infected all of us and imbued in us an uncanny penchant to act foolishly and disingenuously, begging to be the laughing stock of the world our past achievements rendered irrelevant.

From our world beating sports men and women, to MPESA that has revolutionalized money payment systems internationally, to James Mwangi who has led Equity Bank to the pinnacle of success and won international accolades for his visionary style of running a business, to Wangari Maathai a winner of the Nobel Prize (may god rest her soul in peace), to an economy at the brink of super expansion with recent discoveries of vast quantities of oil and other valuable minerals, to our world beating free Primary Education among other achievements, everything would count for nothing.

Future generations would accuse us of selling our souls to the devil for 30 pieces of silver and our history would be most tainted with tome upon tome written of a corrupt and inept populace that believed in the rhetoric that of the many unblemished presidential candidates in 2013 our choice was restricted to one of two that had a pending case of crimes against humanity at the international criminal court and whom we sanitized through the ballot box by electing him the president to rule over us from the Hague!

We would be thumbing our noses at our business and development partners telling them to get lost and stay out of our internal matters and shouting from the roof tops about our sovereignty and the right to govern ourselves away from the prying eyes of 'foreigners' and other ‘tourists’.

With our celebration of a presidential win by either of the duo we would be wiping away any meaningful legacy that we would have bequeathed to future generations of Kenyans and be consigning ourselves to the eternal hell and damnation that would be Kenya, since local and international crooks would find a safe haven to perpetrate their dastardly deeds secure in the knowledge that impunity and corruption have found a willing house mate and the rule of law has been effectively thrown out of the window!

Many do not like to hear the truth but I hang my head in shame when I think that this could well be what awaits Kenyans  after the 2013 elections.

I pray that the lords of impunity including their hangers on and allied associates get a resounding trouncing at the ballot box for even imagining that they will rule over us!