My Dad is a handful of years younger than President Kibaki. He still has a very sharp mind and is in excellent physical condition, personally inspecting his acres of maize shambas regularly and on foot.
Rather than leave his vehicle at the edge of the shamba to minimize on the walking, he often leaves it at home.
Still there is no denying the fact that age is catching up. The usual tell-tale signs are there. You forget important names, you move more slowly despite yourself and the tendency is very much towards reminiscing, which tends to bring the most satisfaction. Nothing wrong with this nostalgic tendency and nothing wrong with a man enjoying the twilight of his years, more so when by God's grace he managed to stay out of the Kenyan cancer of corruption. Many of his colleagues who got rich overnight on bribes and corruption are now dead.
But do you realize that I have just described some key elements in the Kibaki administration? This administration came to power with the promise to revive stalled factories (most of them parastatals) and this smacks of reminiscing on the so-called golden era in Kenya of the 70s. (I suppose this was how the government planned to create 500,000 jobs a year.) The president is unable to see the realities of the times. How do you revive factories when the rest of the world is busy downsizing and closing them down? Unlike in the 70s jobs are created these days through small businesses. But then we are always busy frustrating small business by passing all sorts of laws and more quiet bylaws whose intention is to shut down as many small enterprises as possible.
President Kibaki's handling of the economy is one of the greatest achievements of this achievement-starved administration, but at what cost? We have lost one of the country's biggest employer industries, the horticultural sector. Thanks to the super-strong Kenyan shilling. The Kenyan shilling is now so strong that the unschooled would be excused for fearing that one Kenya shilling will soon exchange for one US dollar. But jokes, aside, does the strong shilling reflect reality?
In the 70s the economy thrived on a protected shilling so that when you made a foreign trip you were shocked at how cheap things were (because a traveler always gauges value by directly converting a price to their local currency).
Ask some of my friends how well the economy has done and you could probably be picking a fight. Kenyans have fled to the West using all sorts of ingenious methods (heard of the foreign student who relocates with the entire family? Yep, this student is about 55 years old and intends to study law. Many countries allow this). And where the means do not allow, some have fled to other African countries. Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia. Others to neighboring and now un-welcoming Tanzania, and others to Uganda.
That's how well the Kenyan economy is doing. Watch what happens in the forthcoming general elections when some candidate tries to convince Mathare slum dwellers that the Kenyan economy has thrived under this coalition government.
Meanwhile the old men making decisions in this country are busy reminiscing and wondering why the crime rate is so high and why we can't go back to the lazy, prosperous, heady 70s. And probably why there seems to be so many "intimidating" computers all over the place. Does cabinet minister Njenga Karume have any computer skills (let alone Internet skills)? What about Vice President Moody Awori?
Whatever we do in the forthcoming polls, let's do the old men a favor and send them home to rest and enjoy their twilight years, as some of them go straight to prison for stealing property and cash belonging to the Kenyan people.
Lets vote in a young energetic government. At the very worst, at least things will move a lot faster. Even older voters should seriously consider whether we want to nostalgically shut down our country.
You hit the nail on the head! - They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I say its time we stop owing our "have been leaders" too much allegience - They had their 5 years to share their wisdom... but Im afraid globalisation has taken away the traditional revered value of institutional memory
ReplyDeleteyou know knowledge is knowledge my dad turns 60 next year but still ha a sharp mind and retired in shags - but now is working harder than ever because he seems the only out there with mental capacity to do certain things. there are many other retirees but many were paper pushers who never learnt to manage so now the spend their time harassing their
ReplyDeletechildren for handouts