Kenyanized

My Valentine Ditched Me!

kenyanized — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:31:06 +0000

When I should have been happiest, Devani was half way around the world, partying without me. When i should have been blessed, I was feeling cursed, because my people went chasing after another fallen lorry or did they drop the lorry so they could chase after it?)

When I thought I’d seen the last of bad boyfriends, Kimunya was reinstated, and in such proximity that I couldn’t possibly ignore him if I wanted to.

Instead of roses from known or unknown admirers I got forty war tankers, which I’m not sure were meant for me in the first place. And the sender is no anon, but granted they still garnered me the oohs and aaahs.

A river no longer runs through me, only a skeletal bed, and shallow gullies where once I was covered in happy water. The trees on my head, my pride and joy are hacked to create more skeletal streams in the name of farming.

Once the land on which I sit was bursting with yield – now it shrinks from the endless sunshine, the endless digging, the clueless farming methods (yes even in this day and age).

Oh I had a happy valentine with most of parliament’s populace declaring their aspirations to presidency, and the rest arguing over a friendly visit to the Hague.

I was spared two days of fuel – my only goody treat for Vals’ day. But come Monday, I’ll be back to before the beginning of a happy Vals day.

Images

kenyanized — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:00:34 +0000

Making muzak.

If you can't be them...

Copying, the scourge of universities.

Building Kayaks for the Doulos coast trip

Milestones 2009

Don't get me angry..**#@

KENYA’S CREEPING REVOLUTION

kenyanized — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:05:35 +0000

What do Kenyans and the French have in common? Nothing. Everything.
A cursory investigation shows that we are repeating France’s history at the time of the revolution, almost move for move. We have the same ingredients for a revolution:
Taxes
With Kenyans being some of the highest taxed people in the world, and all signs indicate that taxes will be increased further instead of the reverse. Rather than promote several of the lucrative local industries whose revenue streams would eventually fill their coffers, the government prefers to increase taxes on the struggling few that remain. In other words, to further crush the feeble. Then there’s the informal tax collected by the Mungiki*, and that by government officials – the infamous Toa Kitu Kidogo*(TKK).
France suffered from the same malady. They had the property tax, tithe, tax on the number of people in the house, royal or seigneurial taxes, epicés (the equivalent of TKK here), in addition to regular expenses such as rent – and these were compulsory for all who were not nobility or clergy. In the same way, Kenya’s taxes are only for the regular mwananchi. Joining the government elite automatically entitles you to numerous exemptions from almost all the taxes officially, and unofficially.
Extravagant Government Expenditure and Consumption
The Kenya government is incredibly extravagant in its expenditure and consumption. Take for instance the fact that every sitting MP is provided with two high end state cars, and the vehicles are of course, maintained by the state (read ordinary wananchi). Should they decide to use their own vehicles; the state will cover mileage – be it real or imagined. Send off packages for serving one term in office? Philistinism.
France’s monarchy was extravagant, and Versailles and its opulence more than anything else attests to this.
High National Debt
Kenya has a high national debt that is remorselessly increased by the regime. The Kenya government no longer seeks grants; it takes foreign aid – with all its attendant strings attached. No thought is given to the clearance of existing debts, or how the new debt will be serviced. Focus has merely shifted from one lender (the West) to another (the East). The sad part is that none of this ever trickles down to wananchi.
Ditto the French regime. For 200 years, they were in extreme debt. This was partly because; the monarchy did not tax the second estate*, France’s participation in the American War of Independence and the Seven Years’ War, and the extravagance of their monarch Louis XVI.
Vast Untapped Resources
As one of the most developed countries in Africa, and having a very high rate of literacy, in addition to vast natural resources, and as the ICT hub of East Africa, Kenya should by rights, be one of the one of the richest African nations. It isn’t.
France was quite industrialized, even before the beginning of the industrial revolution. It had high agricultural production per capita, it had lots of human capital, yet it was still in debt.
Failed and Half-Hearted Attempts to Reform for the Greater Good
During two consecutive reigns, that of Louis XV Louis XVI there were failed attempts to reform taxation to include the second estate.
The Kenyan government also infamously rejected a bill – unanimously – that would have included MPs as compulsory tax payers like regular Kenyans. They have also been dragging their feet, and sabotaging efforts to amend the law to suit Kenyans, rather than individuals.
Famine
France had just gone through El Niño and was suffering from shortage of food, notably bread, their staple food whose price rose 88%. In Kenya, ugali* the staple food is no longer affordable, with flour prices rising by over 110%, and the rest of it being underhandedly sold to our neighbouring country – Sudan. Famine is here, and it is severe.
Enlightened Citizens
France was exposed to the ideas of revolutionaries from America, it also had a high rate of unemployment and inflation, and a rapidly expanding middle class.
Kenya has an inflation rate that will one day rival Zimbabwe’s – if we don’t put a stop to its ascent, it has very high levels of unemployment, and a large middle class base.
France 1789 – Kenya 2009
When will we learn that history repeats itself? The ingredients match in an uncanny manner, but we are not willing to acknowledge that we are in the midst of a revolution, quiet though it may be.
We have the same ingredients for a revolution, we simply have a different cook. But a revolution is a revolution, and we are right in the middle of one.

*TKK – Bribery (literally means give something small)
*Second Estate – Nobility in France.
*Mwananchi – Citizen (the equivalence of the third estate, or the common people)
*Wananchi – plural of mwananchi
*Ugali – Kenya’s staple food, made from maize flour.
*Mungiki – An outlawed group that professes religious beliefs (… known for beheading those who resist their terror tactics.)

KENYA NEEDS A HERO

kenyanized — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:22:52 +0000

Kenya needs a hero. This was apparent during our last general elections, and more recently demonstrated by Barack Obamas’ election to US presidency. We were very ready to idolize a guy we’d never heard of during Clinton’s administration, all because he epitomizes our ideals as a so-called democratic country.

Democracy? We don’t know democracy, we only know ideals. That is why we need a hero. A big person to fight on our behalf in the right circles. Big enough to be above the petty squabbling and politicking, greed and self-serving of the current crop of MPs (, and even worse sins of the cabinet ministers). A person who is not afraid to show us his tax returns, because our money won’t be reflected there in it.

We need our own Obama or an Omondi Koitalel arap Kamau (so that his heritage is not in doubt). Someone from a mix of the multitude of tribes present in our country – who we cannot clearly call this tribe or that tribe (And I do not mean Saitoti variety); A person who will teach us democracy with all its beauty and faults. So far, what we have had is too pale to be democracy. It is despotism.

It could be one person, it could be many – but the fight begins now. With our country being sold to Libyans, Qataris, and Americans – right before our screens, with full press coverage (and the usual parliamentary denials). The guilty parties gorging on excess and unnecessary tax from our pockets (and paying none themselves), we need a hero NOW.

Kenya is barren from lack of food, water, energy – all of which are available in abundance, in all the wrong places. Who will bridge our needs? We need a fertile hero, one with new ideas and the desire to kill this barrenness. Our own Muammar Gadaffi if you will. A hero with attitude and vision, and who follows through.

We need a clay hero who will not melt at the first sign of heat in parliament but will instead be our bulwark against unfair laws, corrupt systems, outdated ideologies, and hopefully, deliver us from bunge la wazee.

We need an agile hero navigate the treacherous corridors of Kenya’s political landscape, without succumbing and leaving us to the hyenas in bunge. Kenya needs a hero.