Happy new year to all of you! It has been a busy last few weeks leaving me with little time to devote to my blog hence the reason that the blog has remained inactive for close to a month.
I am now firmly in Nyeri in the shadows of Mount Kenya that for the last two days has been visible every morning unlike previous visits to Nyeri where it has remained shyly cloaked in a cumulus of clouds. Perhaps the great mountain is welcoming me to this town and showing me its true beauty. But maybe I am running ahead of myself and some of you are lost so let me start from the beginning.
My employer has officially transferred me to Nyeri to start a new branch in the town and to also roll out a regional presence in the Central region. I reported to Nyeri last week, stayed in a hotel for a few days and then found myself a 2 bedroomed apartment in one of the better area codes of this town that is the seat of Nyeri County and importantly close to a golf course at Nyeri Club. It is less than a 5 minute drive to/from work.
My experiences so far have been humbling based on the fact that all my working life I have been based in Nairobi and now all the creature comforts that we all take for granted as being available only in the big city are also available here and to a greater or lesser extent at a more modest cost.
Parking fees is Kshs. 50.00 per day and I was unfortunate enough to have my car clamped last week and the fine was Kshs. 600.00 for that. The county government staff are quite efficient also as I found out during the clamping incident which was out of ignorance as I did not see the usual yellow jacketed attendant at the usual spot where I pay my daily parking ticket and had assumed that Saturday was a free day while they actually charge for parking until 4.00 pm!! Now I know better. Once clamped, they stick a notice on your car windscreen with a number to call and the unclamping team then comes within 10 minutes, you pay them the fine and they unclamp your car with the receipt that they have given you the one that you put on your dashboard. Monthly parking is charged at Kshs. 1,000.00
When I went to pay for a new water meter and connection, I expected much worse but I was pleasantly surprised to finish the whole process in less than 30 minutes and for my water to be connected within 24 hours of application in my case by the next business day Monday as I had only paid for the services on Friday. No follow up, no delays, no rudeness just pure efficiency. What a breath of fresh air when compared with other places I have applied for water! The electricity meter is a prepaid meter that you pay through MPesa so no horrible queuing there either.
Housing in Nyeri for middle class is also readily available and on my first foray with an estate agent I learnt that a two bedroomed house would be yours for a monthly rent from Kshs. 10,000.00 to Kshs. 15,000.00. What I got however is slightly more expensive and to put it into perspective would probably command a rent of between Kshs. 45,000.00 to Kshs. 80,000.00 per month (dependent on location) in Nairobi. It is in a block of 12 units with a common entrance, 24 hours guarding services, razor wire atop a stone wall surrounding the property, wi-fi enabled and with DSTV connection so the premium that I shall pay is well worth it. I am now working towards furnishing the apartment ready to recieve my first guests in due course.
People also tend to be friendlier here and my Nairobi bad manners will soon have to go assuming that I have any!! Also no traffic jams here though the town is a beehive of activity with many small and medium businesses operating throughout the day. Many of the big banks, insurance companies and service providers also have a presence in this town as well as a smattering of indigenous SACCO’s and businesses. The supermarkets (three in total) also stock most of the household and domestic items that you shall find in any of the giant chains of supermarkets in the country today and are always full of shoppers looking to buy anything from a fridge to a GOTV decoder.
For now I am on a mission to understand the business environment in the town so as to better market our product offering when we open for business in a few days’ time. It looks promising because in the short period that I have been in Nyeri many people have been walking in and enquiring about our products and services and promising to open new accounts when we are finally open for business.
I hope to be able to continue blogging in the New Year once things settle down.
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Where is this College of Idiocy located?
I am no psychologist but I have come to the rather cynical conclusion that matatu drivers and conductors in Kenya enrol, study and pass with flying colors from the same College of Idiocy and Infamy with a PHD in General Driving Indiscipline. It is very few who fail this course miserably but still manage to be employed as matatu drivers and conductors despite their unfailing good behavior displaying such alien traits in the industry that were not taught in college as the art of being well dressed, good road courtesy, general politeness, being well-spoken pays dividends and customer centricity leading them to forever being taunted by their more “educated” professional colleagues.
In this College of Idiocy & Infamy, they are taught how to generally behave as repulsively as possible and include subjects In GAB (generally annoying behavior) such as overtaking anywhere 101(brow of a hill/continuous yellow line/ corners etc), effective obstruction tactics, 1000 reasons why you should not bother with indicators and turn signals, rude gesturing perfection, the art of conning the vehicle owner, how NOT to maintain a vehicle, the art of blame shifting, ‘matusi’ 1-2-3, why body odor is a requirement of the job, how to run from the long arm of the law, bribery tactics, the dynamics of showing disinterest even if in the wrong, the arm dangle and what it means, being a road hog, bullying and blackmailing passengers, lying unashamedly and grasping money with three fingers.
It also includes advanced courses in total lane indiscipline, anywhere is a stage rules, how to overlap successfully as you annoy the most people at once, the scary rev to show you are in a hurry to leave, flashing headlights to oncoming traffic to show them who is boss even if you are in their lane, disabling speed governors, dealing with slow fare paying passengers, holding onto change as long as possible in the hope that it shall be forgotten, the ultimate gestures while driving at 100km/h to indicate trouble ahead and avoiding potholes is your right and to hell with everyone else.
More recently it has come to light that they are also undergoing night classes in consorting with criminal carjackers, how to bully (and if necessary beat up) a policeman, graffiti painting overnight, train evasion tactics and how to run away if things go wrong, the art of packing 12 passengers into the boot of a Probox, driving 12 hours straight without a break, the benefits of lewd and loud music and squad operations.
Now the syllabus is being taught to the piki piki (motor cycle) taxi guys who have also added topics such as speeding down the wrong side of the road against oncoming traffic at full speed, of what use is a safety helmet and the benefits of helmetless riding, maximum use of sidewalks to get to your destination, how to while away your time while in traction in a hospital and 76 ways to fall off a motor cycle.
But pray where exactly is this college located, because I have tried to locate its physical location not that I am interested in joining, but to burn it down and/or change the syllabus to something more relevant in this modern age where caveman like behavior is supposed to have become extinct with the dinosaurs and respect and dignity to your fellow countrymen is considered the basic indicator that we are human beings and not animals because frankly speaking some of the ‘tabias’ of these guys is so decidedly 19th Century!
Or am I jumping the gun here and blaming the blameless? Could it be that when one gets into a certain occupation/profession over time and despite your best efforts to retain your dignity and honor you are slowly and surely infected with the culture that controls and directs your thoughts and actions as you perform your duties? Is this perhaps also why a certain section of society while pleading for your votes will endear themselves to you then but become a total nuisance and uncontrollably greedy once elected and in office?
I must locate that college also and burn it down too!!
In this College of Idiocy & Infamy, they are taught how to generally behave as repulsively as possible and include subjects In GAB (generally annoying behavior) such as overtaking anywhere 101(brow of a hill/continuous yellow line/ corners etc), effective obstruction tactics, 1000 reasons why you should not bother with indicators and turn signals, rude gesturing perfection, the art of conning the vehicle owner, how NOT to maintain a vehicle, the art of blame shifting, ‘matusi’ 1-2-3, why body odor is a requirement of the job, how to run from the long arm of the law, bribery tactics, the dynamics of showing disinterest even if in the wrong, the arm dangle and what it means, being a road hog, bullying and blackmailing passengers, lying unashamedly and grasping money with three fingers.
It also includes advanced courses in total lane indiscipline, anywhere is a stage rules, how to overlap successfully as you annoy the most people at once, the scary rev to show you are in a hurry to leave, flashing headlights to oncoming traffic to show them who is boss even if you are in their lane, disabling speed governors, dealing with slow fare paying passengers, holding onto change as long as possible in the hope that it shall be forgotten, the ultimate gestures while driving at 100km/h to indicate trouble ahead and avoiding potholes is your right and to hell with everyone else.
More recently it has come to light that they are also undergoing night classes in consorting with criminal carjackers, how to bully (and if necessary beat up) a policeman, graffiti painting overnight, train evasion tactics and how to run away if things go wrong, the art of packing 12 passengers into the boot of a Probox, driving 12 hours straight without a break, the benefits of lewd and loud music and squad operations.
Now the syllabus is being taught to the piki piki (motor cycle) taxi guys who have also added topics such as speeding down the wrong side of the road against oncoming traffic at full speed, of what use is a safety helmet and the benefits of helmetless riding, maximum use of sidewalks to get to your destination, how to while away your time while in traction in a hospital and 76 ways to fall off a motor cycle.
But pray where exactly is this college located, because I have tried to locate its physical location not that I am interested in joining, but to burn it down and/or change the syllabus to something more relevant in this modern age where caveman like behavior is supposed to have become extinct with the dinosaurs and respect and dignity to your fellow countrymen is considered the basic indicator that we are human beings and not animals because frankly speaking some of the ‘tabias’ of these guys is so decidedly 19th Century!
Or am I jumping the gun here and blaming the blameless? Could it be that when one gets into a certain occupation/profession over time and despite your best efforts to retain your dignity and honor you are slowly and surely infected with the culture that controls and directs your thoughts and actions as you perform your duties? Is this perhaps also why a certain section of society while pleading for your votes will endear themselves to you then but become a total nuisance and uncontrollably greedy once elected and in office?
I must locate that college also and burn it down too!!
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Being a public speaker:
One of my passions is public speaking which I got involved in quite by accident many years back. In the period since I took it up, I have had the opportunity to be the Master of Ceremonies (MC) at various functions both at family level, in my workplace as well as in a classroom environment. I have made power point presentations in a training and lecture room environment to hordes of people and taken questions to respond to many times as part of public speaking, something not for the feint hearted.
My most memorable occasion was being the MC in a fund raising walk function graced by a former Vice President of Kenya, but I have also been an MC at corporate functions involving captains of industry, at CSR events and at annual staff parties and customer cocktails. I have been a guest of honor at various bank functions including churches; school sports days and so on many of which required me to make a speech as a bank representative. It is something I love doing and while not exactly easy it is something that I have grown to be quite good at and which I enjoy immensely.
Public speaking is about reading the mood of the crowd, acknowledging the solemnity or light heartedness of the occasion and also veering off from the agreed script if necessary to inject some humor or to refocus the crowd towards the goings on or the purpose of the function. It takes patience and diplomacy and the ability to take decisions on the fly and sometimes to say ‘to hell with the consequences’.
It was not always easy because upto today, the sense of fear and dread that you shall make a mess of it always precedes any function. Butterflies fritter in your stomach, you break out into a cold sweat and fear that the equipment may malfunction. However once you commence the function, all jitters go away and I am in my element confident and ready to face anything thrown at me.
It is therefore no longer a surprise to me that some of those who are supremely confident when talking to the family, friends or peers fall apart when they are faced with a situation where they have to address a crowd because it takes tenacity, patience and a cool head. It also takes some practice particularly for training sessions and when making power point presentations to a crowd of people because you want the content to flow and for you to be within the agreed timelines that have been set for you.
So next time you have a function and are looking for an MC – look no further!!
My most memorable occasion was being the MC in a fund raising walk function graced by a former Vice President of Kenya, but I have also been an MC at corporate functions involving captains of industry, at CSR events and at annual staff parties and customer cocktails. I have been a guest of honor at various bank functions including churches; school sports days and so on many of which required me to make a speech as a bank representative. It is something I love doing and while not exactly easy it is something that I have grown to be quite good at and which I enjoy immensely.
Public speaking is about reading the mood of the crowd, acknowledging the solemnity or light heartedness of the occasion and also veering off from the agreed script if necessary to inject some humor or to refocus the crowd towards the goings on or the purpose of the function. It takes patience and diplomacy and the ability to take decisions on the fly and sometimes to say ‘to hell with the consequences’.
It was not always easy because upto today, the sense of fear and dread that you shall make a mess of it always precedes any function. Butterflies fritter in your stomach, you break out into a cold sweat and fear that the equipment may malfunction. However once you commence the function, all jitters go away and I am in my element confident and ready to face anything thrown at me.
It is therefore no longer a surprise to me that some of those who are supremely confident when talking to the family, friends or peers fall apart when they are faced with a situation where they have to address a crowd because it takes tenacity, patience and a cool head. It also takes some practice particularly for training sessions and when making power point presentations to a crowd of people because you want the content to flow and for you to be within the agreed timelines that have been set for you.
So next time you have a function and are looking for an MC – look no further!!
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Taming the monster of impunity on our roads:
I have read that the Government of Kenya (GOK) is in the processing of introducing a system that will require me to be retrained and retested to see if I am a competent driver before they issue me with a new smart driving license. This document will supposedly keep track of my incidents, accidents and transgressions with the information being shared by a host of interested parties the police, KRA and my insurance company amongst others as like the rest of officious Kenya they continue to make my life a living hell.
The plan also calls for the sending of a summons by email and SMS to appear in court if the traffic cameras catch your car jumping the traffic lights or committing any other traffic offence complete with a picture of the vehicle registration number and the facial snap shot of the offending driver. As the story is silent on how other road users shall be disciplined – pedestrians,cyclists and mkokoteni pushers – I wonder if the same measure of punishment shall be meted out to them also?
The plan also calls for the purchase of tablet computers to be used by the police officers when they catch up with you for them to swipe your license and get all the details of who you are, where you stay and other such information as well as all the muck on your erratic and undisciplined driving manners.If this initiative is all about reducing the carnage on our roads caused by drivers who bribed their way into getting their mug shots on a license document, or just bought the damn document then this is all very well. If this issue wasn’t so serious, this latest attempt by the GOK to force some semblance of discipline into the driving public in Kenya would be downright laughable.
Stay with me for a moment and get to understand the folly of this initiative honorable sounding as it may seem. First and foremost it pre-supposes that accidents are caused ONLY by undisciplined and careless vehicular drivers. The fact of the matter is that this statement is probably largely true. However a quick drive around any road in any part of the country today, including some of the new super highways and bypasses will tell a completely different story. Some of these roads were not meant to be driven on as dual carriage way roads being mostly too thin with no road shoulders, no cycling paths and no pedestrian footpaths.
This means that pedestrians, cyclists and the odd ‘mkokoteni’ are sharing the road with cars, matatus, trucks and buses dicing dangerously with death weaving and cutting in and out of traffic as all seek to get ahead of everyone else at the expense of the rest! The super highways and bypasses to my untrained eye are not well designed either, with dangerous intersections, overpasses and underpasses as well as blind exit lanes, no working street lights and for the most part filthy and unkempt road surfaces where again cyclists, pedestrians and the odd ‘mkokoteni’ criss cross the roads dangerously sometimes against the flow of traffic and at non-existent crossing points and oblivious to their own fate!
The GOK has said that they shall initially target the 25,000 PSV drivers who would surely put any motorist in any country in the world to shame with their dangerous and death defying antics which is all well save for the fact that these are also the most adept and brazen givers of bribes on our roads today so that a vehicle with tyres as smooth as a baby’s bottom will be deemed fit to continue plying on the roads in his death trap of a vehicle so long as the correct amount of bribe has been paid to the traffic policeman that had the audacity to stop that vehicle in the first place……and before anyone is unduly harsh on my judgement of the police department, I am not the one who ranks them consistently corrupt year in year out!!
So if these are the same people expected to reign in the trouble makers on our roads then what will have changed? What is to prevent the police officer from accepting a bribe in lieu of adding another transgression on a driving license when the offending driver is on the brink of losing his driving privileges for good? What is to stop the police officer from accepting a bribe so as not to swipe your card on the tablet reader which shall show that you are using your brothers license yours having been suspended months back?
The cost of bribery is going to go up, the rate of accidents shall remain at the same level so long as the same indiscipline targeting motorists is not extended to the pedestrians and cyclists with a death wish and who therefore walk anywhere they feel like safe in the knowledge that an accident is always caused by a motorist and never by a pedestrian.
So long as the state of the roads in the country remains the same – shambolic, dangerous and with ill-conceived interchanges and lacking the basic road infrastructure to make them safe then the rate of accidents shall remain the same.
It will take a multi-faceted approach involving disciplining of all road users and due care and diligence from the engineers that design our roads before an effective solution is found to end the carnage!!
The plan also calls for the sending of a summons by email and SMS to appear in court if the traffic cameras catch your car jumping the traffic lights or committing any other traffic offence complete with a picture of the vehicle registration number and the facial snap shot of the offending driver. As the story is silent on how other road users shall be disciplined – pedestrians,cyclists and mkokoteni pushers – I wonder if the same measure of punishment shall be meted out to them also?
The plan also calls for the purchase of tablet computers to be used by the police officers when they catch up with you for them to swipe your license and get all the details of who you are, where you stay and other such information as well as all the muck on your erratic and undisciplined driving manners.If this initiative is all about reducing the carnage on our roads caused by drivers who bribed their way into getting their mug shots on a license document, or just bought the damn document then this is all very well. If this issue wasn’t so serious, this latest attempt by the GOK to force some semblance of discipline into the driving public in Kenya would be downright laughable.
Stay with me for a moment and get to understand the folly of this initiative honorable sounding as it may seem. First and foremost it pre-supposes that accidents are caused ONLY by undisciplined and careless vehicular drivers. The fact of the matter is that this statement is probably largely true. However a quick drive around any road in any part of the country today, including some of the new super highways and bypasses will tell a completely different story. Some of these roads were not meant to be driven on as dual carriage way roads being mostly too thin with no road shoulders, no cycling paths and no pedestrian footpaths.
This means that pedestrians, cyclists and the odd ‘mkokoteni’ are sharing the road with cars, matatus, trucks and buses dicing dangerously with death weaving and cutting in and out of traffic as all seek to get ahead of everyone else at the expense of the rest! The super highways and bypasses to my untrained eye are not well designed either, with dangerous intersections, overpasses and underpasses as well as blind exit lanes, no working street lights and for the most part filthy and unkempt road surfaces where again cyclists, pedestrians and the odd ‘mkokoteni’ criss cross the roads dangerously sometimes against the flow of traffic and at non-existent crossing points and oblivious to their own fate!
The GOK has said that they shall initially target the 25,000 PSV drivers who would surely put any motorist in any country in the world to shame with their dangerous and death defying antics which is all well save for the fact that these are also the most adept and brazen givers of bribes on our roads today so that a vehicle with tyres as smooth as a baby’s bottom will be deemed fit to continue plying on the roads in his death trap of a vehicle so long as the correct amount of bribe has been paid to the traffic policeman that had the audacity to stop that vehicle in the first place……and before anyone is unduly harsh on my judgement of the police department, I am not the one who ranks them consistently corrupt year in year out!!
So if these are the same people expected to reign in the trouble makers on our roads then what will have changed? What is to prevent the police officer from accepting a bribe in lieu of adding another transgression on a driving license when the offending driver is on the brink of losing his driving privileges for good? What is to stop the police officer from accepting a bribe so as not to swipe your card on the tablet reader which shall show that you are using your brothers license yours having been suspended months back?
The cost of bribery is going to go up, the rate of accidents shall remain at the same level so long as the same indiscipline targeting motorists is not extended to the pedestrians and cyclists with a death wish and who therefore walk anywhere they feel like safe in the knowledge that an accident is always caused by a motorist and never by a pedestrian.
So long as the state of the roads in the country remains the same – shambolic, dangerous and with ill-conceived interchanges and lacking the basic road infrastructure to make them safe then the rate of accidents shall remain the same.
It will take a multi-faceted approach involving disciplining of all road users and due care and diligence from the engineers that design our roads before an effective solution is found to end the carnage!!
Monday, 11 November 2013
Appreciation of others is necessary
I have been busy recently and have not had a chance to write a blog article for some time. The last few weeks have been an exciting time on the work front for me. It has been an intense period with a difficult one day at work, one day off work kind of schedule.
The day off work has not been spent idly, but meaningfully in a conference room somewhere with a team of other staff members carrying out an exercise that has been a long time coming thanks to the rapid growth of my employers business and the attendant growth in staff numbers that has seen the influx of new staff over the past few years many with special skills and perspectives necessary to drive business growth either directly or in a support role in the rapidly evolving and extremely competitive financial services industry.
Often in employment we take the contribution of our fellow employees towards the overall objective of the business for granted many a time not understanding what a particular role brings to the bottom line of the profit and loss account or even what someone in a certain role does on a daily basis. The exercise that I am engaged in has been an important eye opener to understanding the role that my colleagues play in making the business the successful enterprise that it has become over the years.
Over the years many roles and positions have come about at work on a need basis and many times I have wondered why some role was necessary given that the business has still been profitable and no appreciable bumps in the road had been evident. The difficult jobs that some of my colleagues do and the delicate decisions that arise in the course of their work impacting on business systems, outcomes and future planning have shown me that a business is an evolving, living thing that is constantly morphing and changing its identity due to emerging and changing factors that arise on a day to day basis. Each small cog in the wheel is connected to another cog in the wheel in a random and not so obvious way but which all ultimately results in continued success on the business front.
Now I appreciate the individual efforts of my many colleagues where I work and I have new found respect for the expertise that they bring to the table towards the bottom line of the business. On the family front too, everyone has a role to play in making the family a successful and harmonious unit much as each individual has their own character, nature and disposition.
The day off work has not been spent idly, but meaningfully in a conference room somewhere with a team of other staff members carrying out an exercise that has been a long time coming thanks to the rapid growth of my employers business and the attendant growth in staff numbers that has seen the influx of new staff over the past few years many with special skills and perspectives necessary to drive business growth either directly or in a support role in the rapidly evolving and extremely competitive financial services industry.
Often in employment we take the contribution of our fellow employees towards the overall objective of the business for granted many a time not understanding what a particular role brings to the bottom line of the profit and loss account or even what someone in a certain role does on a daily basis. The exercise that I am engaged in has been an important eye opener to understanding the role that my colleagues play in making the business the successful enterprise that it has become over the years.
Over the years many roles and positions have come about at work on a need basis and many times I have wondered why some role was necessary given that the business has still been profitable and no appreciable bumps in the road had been evident. The difficult jobs that some of my colleagues do and the delicate decisions that arise in the course of their work impacting on business systems, outcomes and future planning have shown me that a business is an evolving, living thing that is constantly morphing and changing its identity due to emerging and changing factors that arise on a day to day basis. Each small cog in the wheel is connected to another cog in the wheel in a random and not so obvious way but which all ultimately results in continued success on the business front.
Now I appreciate the individual efforts of my many colleagues where I work and I have new found respect for the expertise that they bring to the table towards the bottom line of the business. On the family front too, everyone has a role to play in making the family a successful and harmonious unit much as each individual has their own character, nature and disposition.
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Looting has been going on before your very eyes for ever so why the anger?
You wonder how a grown man (or woman) can wake up in the morning with nothing else on his mind but reaping where he has not sown. This is the image that many no doubt have when we see poor villagers on our TV’s looting from an overturned vehicle with no care of the consequences to life or limb should the cargo being looted be a consignment of highly flammable fuel. It is probably the same thought we have when we see people armed with machetes and knives hacking away at the dead carcass of a hippo or any other wild animal unfortunate enough to have been killed in a populated area.
So KDF soldiers have supposedly been caught on camera and CCTV looting Westgate Mall as the operation to free the mall from the (innumerable) terrorists and to locate any surviving hostages continued into the fourth day in September 2103. What’s the big deal about that? If the recent report of the unaccounted for billions of Kenya Shillings by the Auditor General in the last financial year is anything to go by why aren’t we as incensed with this looting of public funds (about a quarter of the annual budget) as we are with what happened at Westgate? Is it because the theft of the Kshs. 300 Billion was not captured on camera and on CCTV and therefore remains just a dubious report by the Auditor General?
Without seeming to sound callous about those business people whose livelihoods have now been lost forever forcing many to start from scratch, what is so different between the looting at the Westgate Mall and the systemic and systematic looting of public funds that has taken place in Kenya over the last 50 years?
The history of Kenya is replete with incidences of public looting at a scale that would put the Westgate looting to shame and even more callously by those entrusted as custodians of the public wealth, some of whom still hold public office as well as some whose presence is no longer evident in the public eye but who still continue to flout their ill-gotten wealth from the proceeds of the public purse.
It is just scandalous how people who were struggling to make a living before entering politics and public service are suddenly awash with cash and unaccounted for billions in assets in their portfolios while the ‘hoi polloi’ continue to suffer the indignity of lack of schools and hospitals and other indicators of economic well-being that should have been paid for with their taxes but which have been diverted to someone’s pocket. Many of the past scandals have had a severe knock on effect on the economy of the country as it is today and to date no one has been punished for their gluttony and unbridled looting of public funds. In China lesser scandals would have resulted in public executions!!
It is my view that the alleged looting that happened at Westgate (that has so vehemently been denied by the army top brass) is nothing but a microcosm of what we as Kenyans have been witness to in the last 50 years. Those at the top, who have benefitted from the largesse of the public, have always no doubt considered themselves a sophisticated lot, plotting to steal from the public coffers through dubious scandals and inflated allowances but all along believing that they are not thieves as they have not been caught with their fingers in the cookie jar. When such criminal deeds go unpunished for such a long time why wouldn’t the same attitude trickle down to the masses to loot something every now and then when the opportunity presents itself secure in the knowledge that you will not be caught?
I am with the army top brass on this one, their soldiers did not loot and that CCTV footage is just a photo shopped video being circulated by Al Shabbab to discredit the KDF further……….or I just need my eyes examined!! But seriously though we should be more outraged at the blatant looting of the public purse that has been going on for the past half century then with an isolated and unverified incident that happened at Westgate because we have been consigned to the unenviable tag of a third world country when we should have long ago been a BRIC(K)S country if only we had not hired looters and plunderers to manage and control our public coffers.
So KDF soldiers have supposedly been caught on camera and CCTV looting Westgate Mall as the operation to free the mall from the (innumerable) terrorists and to locate any surviving hostages continued into the fourth day in September 2103. What’s the big deal about that? If the recent report of the unaccounted for billions of Kenya Shillings by the Auditor General in the last financial year is anything to go by why aren’t we as incensed with this looting of public funds (about a quarter of the annual budget) as we are with what happened at Westgate? Is it because the theft of the Kshs. 300 Billion was not captured on camera and on CCTV and therefore remains just a dubious report by the Auditor General?
Without seeming to sound callous about those business people whose livelihoods have now been lost forever forcing many to start from scratch, what is so different between the looting at the Westgate Mall and the systemic and systematic looting of public funds that has taken place in Kenya over the last 50 years?
The history of Kenya is replete with incidences of public looting at a scale that would put the Westgate looting to shame and even more callously by those entrusted as custodians of the public wealth, some of whom still hold public office as well as some whose presence is no longer evident in the public eye but who still continue to flout their ill-gotten wealth from the proceeds of the public purse.
It is just scandalous how people who were struggling to make a living before entering politics and public service are suddenly awash with cash and unaccounted for billions in assets in their portfolios while the ‘hoi polloi’ continue to suffer the indignity of lack of schools and hospitals and other indicators of economic well-being that should have been paid for with their taxes but which have been diverted to someone’s pocket. Many of the past scandals have had a severe knock on effect on the economy of the country as it is today and to date no one has been punished for their gluttony and unbridled looting of public funds. In China lesser scandals would have resulted in public executions!!
It is my view that the alleged looting that happened at Westgate (that has so vehemently been denied by the army top brass) is nothing but a microcosm of what we as Kenyans have been witness to in the last 50 years. Those at the top, who have benefitted from the largesse of the public, have always no doubt considered themselves a sophisticated lot, plotting to steal from the public coffers through dubious scandals and inflated allowances but all along believing that they are not thieves as they have not been caught with their fingers in the cookie jar. When such criminal deeds go unpunished for such a long time why wouldn’t the same attitude trickle down to the masses to loot something every now and then when the opportunity presents itself secure in the knowledge that you will not be caught?
I am with the army top brass on this one, their soldiers did not loot and that CCTV footage is just a photo shopped video being circulated by Al Shabbab to discredit the KDF further……….or I just need my eyes examined!! But seriously though we should be more outraged at the blatant looting of the public purse that has been going on for the past half century then with an isolated and unverified incident that happened at Westgate because we have been consigned to the unenviable tag of a third world country when we should have long ago been a BRIC(K)S country if only we had not hired looters and plunderers to manage and control our public coffers.
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Suspicious characters lurk everywhere I look:
I have recently read a leaked report prepared by the National Security Intelligence Services (NSIS) which amongst others warned of an imminent terrorist attack on diverse dates between 5th – 21st September, that eventually panned out with the Westgate attack. The leak coming so soon after Westgate and the hammering that the intelligence community in Kenya has taken for seeming laxity on the job, it is rather obvious who the source of the leak was but that is the subject for another day. The report concluded that Kenyans were not aware of and did not report anything suspicious and hence it occurs to me that we need some education on what constitutes suspicious characters, behaviors and so on.
Ever since the Westgate attack, I am seeing suspicious characters lurking at every corner. Or is it just my over fertile imagination working overtime with a previously unknown zealousness to spot anything suspicious? I am seeing them as they drive past me in their heavily tinted cars, leaf and coil springs sagging under the weight of something unseen but obviously heavy. I am seeing them as they carry their backpacks and rucksacks contents hidden from prying eyes and I am also seeing them as they push heavily laden ‘mkokotenis’ and bicycles along our roads.
I am also seeing suspicious characters as they drive their pickups and trucks past me the mysterious cargo in their truck beds covered in a tarpaulin or protected by a closed container. Could it be that under that load of whatever they are carrying there could be a cache of arms or explosives? I see them in their sand carrying trucks under which sand could be a lethal dose of RDX, TNT or any other explosive or chemical weapon ready to blow up innocent Kenyans at its next stop.I also see them idly standing at street corners waiting for God knows what, as well as at the entrances to construction sites. But hang on could they just be job seekers waiting for that all-important masonry job or even plain clothes policemen keeping an eye out for security reasons?
I see them as they leave their bulging bags at the left luggage counters of the supermarket and I see them as they go about the business of nation building striding from one side of the city to the other surely on a surveillance mission and I also see them at the Mpesa agent and at the ATM points withdrawing or depositing money for their nefarious purposes. I see them in that primary school boy who looks older than an ordinary 13 year old should look school bag slung over his shoulder trying to look innocuous and I see them with a sling around their arm or a bandage across their skulls for surely they must have received those injuries as they threw their grenades and shot at those battle hardened women and children at Westgate.
I see them with a bulge somewhere in the region of their armpit for surely that is a holstered firearm ready to dispatch me to my maker. Or surely that person in the hardware store purchasing nails and fertilizer can only be doing it to construct a fertilizer bomb as effective as any explosive when mixed in the correct ratio of ingredients.
Or what of those ‘burkha’ and ‘buibui’ clad ladies? Surely that one walks like a man masquerading as a woman so as to escape my eagle eye as he surveys where next to strike. What about that car left by the roadside so close to that petrol station? It can only mean one thing, a possible carload of explosives about to be blown up and the proximity to the petrol station will add fuel to the fire and the subsequent havoc.
I see suspicious characters everywhere just waiting to unleash mayhem and terror on me and the rest of the Kenyans for we have been promised fire and brimstone and a bloody war by Al-Shabab if the Kenya Defence Forces do not exit Somalia immediately so that they can continue with their reign of terror and continue to collect illegal taxes from a ravaged people to finance their heinous campaigns of horror as they enforce their own brand of sharia law.
But what can I do since I am ill trained to know what is or is not suspicious as I have been told countless times by the police officers and now by the NSIS. Should I report all my suspicions to them? What if we all report our suspicions to the police? Are they equipped to handle all such reports that we make to them? If they dedicate the entire police force to handle suspicious reports will they really get anything else done and will they really manage to sieve facts from fiction and from personal vendetta and pure biases among people?
I agree that we all need to be aware of what constitutes a suspicious ………………….....anything but do we have the resources to manage the whole process?
Ever since the Westgate attack, I am seeing suspicious characters lurking at every corner. Or is it just my over fertile imagination working overtime with a previously unknown zealousness to spot anything suspicious? I am seeing them as they drive past me in their heavily tinted cars, leaf and coil springs sagging under the weight of something unseen but obviously heavy. I am seeing them as they carry their backpacks and rucksacks contents hidden from prying eyes and I am also seeing them as they push heavily laden ‘mkokotenis’ and bicycles along our roads.
I am also seeing suspicious characters as they drive their pickups and trucks past me the mysterious cargo in their truck beds covered in a tarpaulin or protected by a closed container. Could it be that under that load of whatever they are carrying there could be a cache of arms or explosives? I see them in their sand carrying trucks under which sand could be a lethal dose of RDX, TNT or any other explosive or chemical weapon ready to blow up innocent Kenyans at its next stop.I also see them idly standing at street corners waiting for God knows what, as well as at the entrances to construction sites. But hang on could they just be job seekers waiting for that all-important masonry job or even plain clothes policemen keeping an eye out for security reasons?
I see them as they leave their bulging bags at the left luggage counters of the supermarket and I see them as they go about the business of nation building striding from one side of the city to the other surely on a surveillance mission and I also see them at the Mpesa agent and at the ATM points withdrawing or depositing money for their nefarious purposes. I see them in that primary school boy who looks older than an ordinary 13 year old should look school bag slung over his shoulder trying to look innocuous and I see them with a sling around their arm or a bandage across their skulls for surely they must have received those injuries as they threw their grenades and shot at those battle hardened women and children at Westgate.
I see them with a bulge somewhere in the region of their armpit for surely that is a holstered firearm ready to dispatch me to my maker. Or surely that person in the hardware store purchasing nails and fertilizer can only be doing it to construct a fertilizer bomb as effective as any explosive when mixed in the correct ratio of ingredients.
Or what of those ‘burkha’ and ‘buibui’ clad ladies? Surely that one walks like a man masquerading as a woman so as to escape my eagle eye as he surveys where next to strike. What about that car left by the roadside so close to that petrol station? It can only mean one thing, a possible carload of explosives about to be blown up and the proximity to the petrol station will add fuel to the fire and the subsequent havoc.
I see suspicious characters everywhere just waiting to unleash mayhem and terror on me and the rest of the Kenyans for we have been promised fire and brimstone and a bloody war by Al-Shabab if the Kenya Defence Forces do not exit Somalia immediately so that they can continue with their reign of terror and continue to collect illegal taxes from a ravaged people to finance their heinous campaigns of horror as they enforce their own brand of sharia law.
But what can I do since I am ill trained to know what is or is not suspicious as I have been told countless times by the police officers and now by the NSIS. Should I report all my suspicions to them? What if we all report our suspicions to the police? Are they equipped to handle all such reports that we make to them? If they dedicate the entire police force to handle suspicious reports will they really get anything else done and will they really manage to sieve facts from fiction and from personal vendetta and pure biases among people?
I agree that we all need to be aware of what constitutes a suspicious ………………….....anything but do we have the resources to manage the whole process?
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