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The reason why Kenya is in a mess became abundantly clear last week when several things that impact on the common man all happened at the same time.
The government had already increased taxes on the plastic paper bags that have become a nuisance to our environment during Kimunya's latest budget speech in June. The new excise duty is however supposed to become applicable in October thus jacking up the prices of virtually every consumer product that you can think of (but that is a story for another day). But before consumers and manufacturers of the nuisance products that employ and support hundreds of thousands of Kenyan across the nation could recover, the Nairobi City Council banned the plastic bags in the city and its' environs.
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Chris, this particular case shows you the problem Kenya has as a country. I won�t mind people saying that I am in the diaspora, but I would like to draw comparisons with the UK. I am neither brainwashed nor praising a Whiteman.
ReplyDeleteFrom July 1, smoking was banned from all enclosed public places in the England. This has been a trend in the other bits and pieces of this country, that the rule of law and respect for human rights holds a special place.
In the run-up to the ban, there was about three years of sensitisation and at the same time, advertising in all media. In fact you could not miss the fact that within one year, there would be a ban on smoking. Praise, aside, it was done in precision, dove-tailing perfectly into the system.
On the Kenyan end, it shows you what power means to our politicians and the ego that a man generates when given power and the amorphous powers that he displays when given an inch, which he translates to a yard and later a mile.
I don�t smoke, don�t fancy it, and I wish none of my close relations will ever take to it. But, the smoker was given a chance, counselled, even accommodate in the system. Basically, he was prepared for the �worst�, including premeditated withdrawal.
But it is only in Kenya that the Nairobi City Council cancels a Street lighting Project for flimsy reasons, and the president makes an appointment by the roadside and another one promises a whole community things after a spontaneous thought while addressing a group of bystanders.
Look at it, it is only that Kenyans do not follow up �trivial� issues, but in a city on about 3 million people, there is no way, a councillor can initiate such a monumental ban without consulting. Yes, there are the by-laws, but why abuse themdr.
Take the case of banning alcohol adverts; it was illegal, unprocedural and uncalled for. It affected many people who draw a living from the industry, but the politicians saw it wise to ban it.
With what you have mentioned, a return to a simple question, are we coy or docile as a community?
coy or docile? would answering that put us any closer to understanding our (unfortunate) situation? what i'd ask is why a country like lebanon has an economy almost the size of kenya's and living standards way beyond nairobi's finest DESPITE a population of only 4million, tribalism (twice as deep as ours),government by assasination and being invaded more than TWICE by different neighbours in less than a decade.not to add the palestinians,hezbullah etc etc
ReplyDeleteJust how do they run things up in beirut? anyone answering this question would be a long way ahead in their understanding of the kenyan circumstance.
Anonymous, there is something that affects the two countries you are talking of. Lebanon, despite its bloody past, has had a free media, a liberal system, and was for a long time the centre of Middle East communication. Lebanon has had a thriving economic system that is supported by a rich tourism industry, and thousands of others in the diaspora.
ReplyDeleteHere, I talk of a country that despite it deeply entrenched Muslim and Islamic ties, was able to adapt French way of life while the bearded Mullahs who run Hezbollah and any other militant group watched.
Docile or coy? What do you say, when a government starts a police housing project right in the idle of the capital city and remains unfinished for 10 years. No one ever raises a voice, including the politicians who are charged with that. The most we hear is the PAC Report which gathers dust faster than the lawn of a minister’s car park.
What do you call a people who for more than 10 years ply Thika Road and watch as the National Youth Service Engineering headquarters crumbles in the eyes of a country? No one even feels ashamed, including the president himself.
And when a matatu conductor/kamjesh decides to charge you 50 shillings for a ride that cost 20. He has no reason to do that, but decides and you obediently hand over the money, without raising a voice. The same matatu tout, says ‘we mzee mjinga kutoka wapi? Hiyo kiti no ya watu sita’ and you move quietly.
Well spoken guys but in the heat of it all you let the light escape your sights. True, Engand went smoke free three weeks ago after close to 1000 days awareness campaign. And there lies the reason and the difference, coy and/or docile.
ReplyDeleteOurs is rule by fiat messaged by personal and ethnic egos. In contrast, UK and all her ilk reign with institutions. That is why Derek must be paying for his studies there through the nose. The reason is simple, his tax never built any university there. Meanwhile the process the Brit high school dropout can live off comfortable on welfare (Derek's tax) and even work on the sides to finance binge drinking 7/7.
Make no mistake. Smoking is signing your epitaph in advance by instalments. Granted, smoking ban is the trend worldwide but it must be structured and not done just to be seen trendy. That would be akin to roadside policies of naming Kenya's VP kwa barabara.
So we thought we burried these primitive version of leaderhip in 2002. How wrong we were duped. Let us JIENJOY the plastic boom and I would not want wake Luke up lest he throws tantrums at me for spoling his marvelous night in economic dreamland.
Bw. Derek it is integrity and honesty lack in all these charades. That is why today more than half of GB's cabinet including home secretaty owned up to smoking bang sometime in their youth. Can you imagine Michuki owning up to even meeting Arturs? If you think so then you can effortlessly sell icecream to an Eskimo.
I wish David Cameron tells us something about his past. I saw the Daily Sport (for the Media Review) and it had all these cabinet ministers lined up, including former American president Bill Clinton and Home Office Minister Jacqui Smith.
ReplyDeleteOn Michuki owning up to meeting the Artur's? Henry KOgei owning up to killing Kenya National Assurance!
Taabu. You say that someone lives off your tax. You meet this gang of smelly, dirty, Carlsberg drinking, hippies walking their dogs along the streets of London, or a Jamaican bloke who has never worked, but simply because he was born in Brixton or Harlesden or Stonebridge feels that you are a foreigner. Bomboclat (whatever it means) they will always shout at the �African sell-out� or you go to Haringey or Finsbury Park and a bunch of Turkish layabouts thinking of the next day they will claim your tax in three different names. It pains you at times.
ReplyDeleteThat is beside the point. The point is that Sue has taken me on a magic-carpet ride to nowhere. I really wish she told me whether she admires Yvonne or loathes her. Both ways, politicians are simple scroungers. Kalembe Ndile!
I believe in the rule of natural fairness. I will not pretend that the smokers do not deserve a grace period but at the same time I will not pretend to be oblivious of the fact that desperate times call for desperate measures. Any ban in smoking in public in the city of Nairobi is something we should all be glad about.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all people, let us not, at any time imagine that what London practises is always the right thing. Her practices are not the Standard operating procedures and Nairobi does not need to borrow them, Atleast she is not required to do so. But for the sake of argument, let us assume we we need to borrow stuff from them especially because they have gotten a few things right. While looking upon London for guidance, we need to do a comparative check on their differences with us as well as the similarities. One of the things we need to look into is the population densities of the two cities. Nairobi is by far more densely populated than London and almost all other major European and American cities and so every single puff by "Johny" affects a few more people than it would in london (The suffocating effect is worse due to overpopulation). We also need to look at the proportion of smokers in both places. I will be surprised if Nairobi had more than 15% smokers. I would also be surprised if London had less than 85% smokers. I guess this should explain their leniency when dealing with smokers because almost everybody is.
Now about this ban,i will gladly tell you people that these smokers have been given a grace period of years. The minister for health gazetted a smoking ban in 2004 and there was an outcry in Nairobi. We should not always be quick to blame the authorities without looking at the manners of the subjects. I dont think we need to negotiate with smokers on whether we need to give them a notice to stop polluting our environment and making us nauseatic. No they should quit smoking in public yesterday morning.
Anonymous I agree with most of what u said. Kenya's problem is more than a governance issue. What we need is radical character change as individuals. Lebanon has seen hell if you compare it with kenya. There has not only been religious squabbles of untold proportions but there is also alot of nepotism. The reason the Scadinavian countries have the highest human development index is not the strength of their economies or transparency in government. If those were the reasons then the US would be the best place to live in, But it is not. As much as economic growth, good governance and political stability play tremendous roles in lifting the standards of living of the citizenry, we also need to do a check up of our values as individuals. The pessimistic nature, lack of ambition and defeatism are our biggest undoing.
Friends, Kenyans, countrymen, (Chris, Sue, taabu, phil vikii, derek kalamari et al)forgive me for my short-term absence; the economy has been threatening to grow so much this year that conflicting reports on its spurts confused me, so i sought to know whether it would be 6.2% or 6.5%....it is a tricky one only the next 12 months will reveal all but for sure revise whatever estimate as always, because we can't be sure
ReplyDeleteSomeone said it will take 23 years for us to become a middle-income nation.ahhh, I SEE...so TIME has now become the answer to solving our problems? only a pumbavu kama mimi would think that its WE the people-plus the right people in office who do what is right-are the ones to get things done and not time?
Enterprising Kenyans, my heart dared to begin to dream again when Mwalimu Taabu wrote what i live to see, and what Kumekucha illustrates here everydau...integrity and honesty in leadership is not a luxury-its the key
if you couldn't keep 1 promise about giving me a new constitution in 100 days, and its upto 5 years now, why should i risk trusting you that in 23 years me and my family will only be "middle-income"?
oh wait....the Govt has just NOW given teachers the salary increment
they negotiated 10 years ago...hmm, maybe it will take 23 years for our country to develop, after all its 41 years later and we have only finally moved from less developed to developing status
Even the most hard-working man in the world would consider waiting 41 years just to move .1% too much
but don't interrupt me please-the economy is about to sprout a leg to stand on and i have to see it
thanks for the notes on beirut &co.
ReplyDeleteas for docility,its bred in by the thought (experience?) of knowing that you have got no back-up if you get into a fight over the extra fare charged.fellow passengers will simply stare,and following up with a cop is SO risky,we better not bother!
but,if we're bad,one must wonder what goes on down in nigeria...
Once again Luke has brightened my day. Thanx brother.
ReplyDeleteHave you noticed that not many people want to talk about the impact of all this on all those poor low-income Kenyans struggling and who rely on plastic paper bags and smokers to put bread on the table?
But how can you guys understand when some of you have never used a pit latrine in their lives?
-Kumekucha-
Luke,
ReplyDeleteHappy to read Lukanomics again! One thing I want to agree with first is that nobody in Kenya, can give a new constitution in 100 days and I can say that it was the only lie that Kenyans fell for hook, line and sinker. Even now, it continues to score for the opposition.
Anybody can challenge me on this. Even the most autocratic despot in the world cannot provide one within 100 days. Not in a country where there is a shade of democracy like ours. Simply said, Never! I grew up hearing Moi bringing all kinds of experts from Germany to USA to UK to France and only in the dusk days of his regime did he institute a commission under Kanu Secretary Raila Odinga and Prof Yash Pal Ghai
Nobody and anyone who thinks that he can do that are simply lying to Kenyans, the way they have done in the last 43 years. It only needs one Njoya or Gibson Kamau Kuria to stop the process in the High Court. Second, the PM position is and remains within the constitution and so, it will be hard for anyone to appoint a PM within 100 days and nobody shall fall for that bait again. Within three months that some people said that Moi will be a passing cloud, a tribal coterie will be in place and the functioning system will then be upon and running with Mark Too, Ezekiel Barngetuny, Matere Kireri, and Mbiyu Koinange running the show. And in a parliament where there is no sweeping majority, then it is an illusion.
For Najib Balala to tell us that he will give us a new constitution is different from convincing some drunkards at Makuli Fagia in Mombasa or some disillusioned Jua Kali welder in Magongo or a miraa-chewing football fanatic in Buxton. That one, like other presidential aspirants remains the biggest lie. It will never happen. It has to go through a process and unless they all want to be dictators, then we shall see.
For the Kenyan economy, it will remain buoyant for the time to come, given that Eastern Congo will soon be opening for construction, just as Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Burundi continue to depend on the port of Mombasa for their imports.
But until that day that we have a system functioning Luke, please forget about the statistics or as Josep Stalin will dismiss them, they are only done to pacify you and the rest of the people who believe in propaganda. As you might know, every minister is charged with his own propaganda Michuki, Saitoti, Kimunya, Ngilu and Munyao all have special roles in the state propaganda, serving ministries that touch on Kenyan lives.
But I agree with you that we are better off then five years ago. Free education, economy back to its feet, NBK�s profit growing every day and a near-robust Stock Exchange. Soon, the railway will modernise after being shunted into history.