Thursday, February 05, 2009

God Help Us If We Still Don't Know The Kenya We Want

A conference on the Kenya we want?

This should have been a grand idea just shortly before independence. At that time, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Arap Moi and other Kenyan freedom fighters should have gone around the nation seeking opinion on the Kenya Kenyans wanted. As a matter of fact, they did. They went around the nation listening to the humiliating stories Kenyans had to tell about working as servants in white homes and fields, caring for the brutish children of Asians who called grown men "boyi", and toiled in their own little shambas that never yielded food enough to feed their perpetually threatened families. After listening to the anguish of fellow Kenyans, these leaders acted. They mobilized the folks and took back this nation from the colonialists.

Our founding fathers' goals were not grand by any stretch of the imagination. They wanted to eradicate poverty, hunger and disease. That these three goals have not been met...and seem to have exponentially grown...is testament to the fact that our post-independence leaders have failed to lead this nation. How do we expalain the fact that while Kenyans have sank deeper into poverty, the Mois, the Kenyattas, the Odingas and the Kibakis have grown wealthier in equal measure? And how is it that while Kenyans are today going hungry we are learning daily of the culpability of men like Ruto and Fidel in causing the biting maize problem? Still, how are we to explain the fact that while most Kenyans can't afford insurance and are saddled with crushing medical bills, our leaders are healthy, overfed and boast some of the grandest perks in the world?

The Kenya we want?

Who the hell came up with this idea? When Kibaki campaigned last year, was he campaigning without a vision for Kenya? Did Raila campaign without knowing where he wanted to take this nation? And did Kalonzo Musyoka promise to do A and B and C for Kenyans without knowing what we wanted? Or is this just our leaders' way of telling us that they've been so disconected from the rest of us...that they have no clue what we want? These guys never cease to amaze me.

But this I must say. That if after all these years these folks don't know what we want, they have no business leading us. If they truly wanted to know what Kenyans want they didn't have to call in Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim and Renneberger and Lidner and the bunch of Cabinet ministers and our don't-give-a-damn MPs to that forum. What they needed to do was go to the people. They should have gone to Kibera, Nyeri, Kisumu, Chavakali, Voi, Lodwar and other towns across this nation. Or better still, why not look at the face of that starving, crying woman on the frontpage of the Standard newspaper or the traumatizing pictures of fellow Kenyans burning to death at Sachangwan just to fetch some gas/petrol that might be sold so food can be put on the table?

The Kenya we want?

Bullshit.

All I know is that the Kenya we want has no place for clueless men like Kibaki, Raila, Musyoka, Uhuru, Ruto and the band of MPs who have lost touch with their constituents. Next time they call a conference like this, they will find better answers if they can hold it in Berlin or Toronto. Why? Because rather than make the dignitaries from around the globe come here to tell us what kind of Kenya we want, why not make it easy on them and go to the counties they live in?

Listen...

Kenyans know the Kenya they want. Just wait till 2012. You will see!

29 comments:

  1. so refreshing okello

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  2. well well..how the mighty have fallen. Here is sam putting raila in the same sentence with Kibaki.. never thought I would see the day.

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  3. Sam Okello is very good at pointing what is wrong with the goverment which is wonderful, but he is not able to point out what is wrong with mwananchi. Its is easy to point fingers to the goverment but we need to look at ourselves.
    When we have Kisumu men engaging in a act that is condsidered as an adbomination and you don't challenge it then you are no good to us.
    these are latest statstitics according to UN.
    The number of men having sex men in Kisumu stand at 31.8%.
    this when you compare with gay capitals of the world like New York with 9%, Los Angeles with 10.2%, Amerstardam 9%, Sydyney 6%, London 5%.

    Wake up sam Okello and preach to your people before they perish.

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  4. sams people are the kenyans of kenya, not the luos of kisumu only, anon @ 12:05 a.m.

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  5. anonymous, I think this time you lost it for once I have seen some incisive discourse from Sam though shallow and naive. In any functioning institution , there is nothing wrong with consulting with people , though not at the level they are doing which again is shallow. People who need this services are probably more honest at the grass root level.
    This could have been done through local authorities or CBS.

    Back to your story anon , I find your input short of intellect , poorly researched and with emotional undertone. If people like you are the future leaders, then Kenya is doomed, what is direction/solution atleast sam struggles to offer his.

    Who points direction for wanainchi? First of all leadership needs to be beyond reproach, secondl it is about services and lastly the CULTURE. Behaviour is usually manifested in frustration people face in the course of searching for opportunities. When barriers are placed on their way, frustration will be all over the place, hence the animalistic instinct. I am a statistician and was wondering when the data you are talking was produced!!

    Wake up bro, ask not what the society can do for you but what ou can do.

    And finally, Sam think your love for the pen intrigues me, ou should try our hands in polishing your books otherwise, I would advise you do your home work well before exposing your ignorance in the public domain. What you put across was not new, if not stale and lacks serious researching. Sam when did you last visit Kenya? Hiding in the comfort of your room would not help, some show casing with communities would remove the clog from your eyes

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  6. Good post Sam,

    These politicians are jokers! The 2007 election campaign period saw a rise of grandiose manifestos with all manner of things included in them, which though well presented some were totally out of touch with the Kenyan reality.

    A good case in point is one Mr. Kalonzo wiper, who promised us a 24 hour economy without thinking of the necessities and the infrastructural development of the country. We would have been going to work in darkness and without a reliable public transport system. So you see? They don't know! Unless he was going to provide reliable transport and electrify the entire country with his juju miracles?

    The problem is, even if they are told what we want, they would not do anything about it, so why bother? We have been singing here and on every other forum that the MPs must pay taxes like every other Kenyan, they haven't taken it upon themselves to do so yet...now is when they will?

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  7. Well said sam okello,

    leave the Taabu's of these days to wallow in molasses worship and whinning without offering solutions like you have articulated here.

    you have stood out Okello from the crowd of crowns like Taabus whose noise making and bombastics have added no value to kk since he unfortunayely discovered this good site..

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  8. Mama and fellow bloggers,

    What bothers me about a conference like this one i the money that was spent to avail top notch hospitality to these dignitaries. While folks are starving in the country, our so called leaders are entretaining foreigners to costly wine and exotic foods. And can you belive that even Moi, that brutal dictator, one of the chief architects of Kenya's decay, can now come to a conference and pontificate on where we should be going? If he knew, why didn't he act?

    Me thinks that was a conference called by folks who have too much time on their hands and no imagination about what to do for starving Kenyans.

    It would help us all if they shut up!

    By the way, there's an anon who has doggedly asked me to comment on the homosexuality issue in Kisumu. Turth is, I don't know the scope of this problem. I call it a problem because with the prevalence of AIDS in that city, if homosexuality is thrown in the mix, we could be facing a calamity.

    I'm not getting into the morality of this issue right now. Allow me to set that aside for another day.

    God bless Kenya!

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  9. We think that, this so called conference was a great gift to the people of Kenyan.

    It is so, because, the three idiots ( Kibaki, Raila and Kalonzo) have clearly admitted they are ignorant of what Kenya wants.

    Having said that, to defeat them in 2012, proper and careful preparation must be done. To solve the challenges we face, there must proper research on proposed solutions, and that cannot be done in a few months or in one year.

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  10. Anon 12:57 AM,

    You simply hate what Taabu says because you are one of the people LIVING A NATIONAL LIE. Your hatred is also inspired by tribal hatred (in your comment you spelled clowns as crowns, that tells us where you are from and why you hate Taabu so much)

    I don't agree with everything that Taabu says but generally he speaks the truth.

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  11. "Samo" aka Sam O
    you said....
    "....all I know is that the Kenya we want has no place for clueless men like Kibaki, Raila, Musyoka, Uhuru, Ruto and the band of MPs who have lost touch with their constituents....."

    then why did we vote for all of them?(with the exception of thief in Chief)

    Why did Steadman poll only LAST MONTH say 65% Kenyans approve Dr Raila and 47% Kenyans approve of Dr Kibaki

    I think this conference "Kenya we want" is good because Kenyans don't know what they want but they talk a good game. Please Kenyans, let us not be hypocrites in addition to being confused and LIARS

    we know if elections were called today it would be RKK or KKR or KRK (Raila Kibaki Kalonzo, Kalonzo, Kibaki, Raila, Kibaki, Raila, Kalonzo)

    Indeed God help us Kenyans, we PRETEND we have changed but inside we are still primitive bushmen with machetes

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  12. What kenyans should do is STOP this pointless, criminal, time wasting conference.......someone should just go and stop it!!!
    There is no such animal as 'The Kenya we Want' I mean how stupid are we.....? kenyans have individual needs that are very diverse and surely how can you be leading a people you don't know?
    This in my view is a program to plan for the 2012 elections.....or one sooner.....some clever guy as gone and figured that if some key issues that kenyans want can be gotten, that would then form the election 'Manifesto' and of course not that the intention is to fulfill them, and in some cases the very wishes will have to be ignored like kibaki ignored the constitution issue in his campaign and other irrelevant and easy to fullfill promises like 6% rabbit in the hat economic growth will then be highlighted and stressed...you see that money is not going to waste, some guys are beeing paid with our money to find a way to continue screwing us......
    RAO and his advisers have no clue about the determination of these crooks to continue pillaging....if you snooze u loose....thats whats going on here..wake up kenyans there guys who's business day and night is to figure out how to screw you so if you do not spend as much time trying to make sure your NOT screwed.....don't be suprised to wake up legally owned by biwot....

    Sir Alex

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  13. This is some of the Kenya that I do not want:

    According to Justice minister Martha Karua, the Judiciary has done very little to speed up the hearing of anti-corruption cases but has been “readily issuing court orders against investigation of suspects purportedly in support of their constitutional rights.”

    Instead of whining and whining, DO YOUR JOB MARTHA. Yes, what the Judges are doing is wrong but who is responsible for correcting this? You. DO YOUR JOB! As the the election thief (Kibaki)you enabled to retain his job via your spirited defense of his THEFT OF THE ELECTIONS likes to say: Fanya Kaaazi.

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  14. What a waste of taxpayers money? For god sake, who the hell came up with this stupid conference of “kenya we want”. For the last 40 years we have been crying of the Kenya we want, and no one seems to listen, and then we go and have this conference? People of Kenya, please listen, we are really morons for electing idiots as our leaders - this is a complete and utter non-sense.

    Millions of Kenyans are starving and more are dying by the day, and we have the audacity to have such conferences. As an agriculture nation we cant even feed our own people, don’t we see what is wrong with these leaders? Are we so blinded by these guys?

    The only way Kenya will ever change is that there is a revolution by the people who demand immediate change of regime and a change of our constitution, and tell the leaders on the country give us results or got to hell…..We can’t be taking shit like this from leaders….What’s the point of having democracy, we might as well have an authoritarian leader who atleast can pout food on the table and ensure people are well fed..and the economy is growing - Maybe we need a foreign leader from another country to rule us….

    Isn’t there anybody in Kenya who can understand the plight of our people and start kicking butt in the public and shame these politicians..>What is happening????

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  15. So another dog and pony show....as if we didnt know it was going to happen.

    This conference (or whatever) was quite well publicized. Instead of talking about it much earlier (or even mobilizing to express our disapproval of it), we, as usual, wait until it happens and start the proverbial wailing not uncommon among lakeside indigenes.

    I'm fed up with Kumekuchans' exposed nuts flapping in the wind
    bila mpango! Suck it up or go jump in the lake.

    Pooh!

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  16. shame on them at kenya we want,fk them they can sit at KICC WARM THEY ases and colect 15k for doing nothing while kenyan children have no food,shame on the shame on you,shame on all kenyan leaders.good for nothing lot,bunc of morons,nyani kasoro mukya,insulting kenyans ati kenya we want,with MOI at the for front,kwani this guy for 24 yrs could not figer out what kenyans want.Colect that 15K look at yourself and just think there knyan child somere who will sleep hungry.shame on you shame you all,the kenya we want is the kenyan free of you lot,where no child gose to sleep crying with an empty stomach.FK you all

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  17. and that kenya we don't want conference was equally a waste of time sam

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  18. Namwamba naming of president's wife in parliament just confirms what many of us have always said,- cheap politics and yet we talk of new younger politicians with new ideas..wapi? Very little of what is in the public domain as scandals is factual and no wonder we can't even show evidence of Anglo leasing coz its all politicised and made sensational for our consumption. Kenya with the current politicians belongs to the dogs!!!

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  19. Thanks Sam for the post. The Kenya I want is one where Kibaki's, Odinga's and Kenyatta's and Moi's rest into the sunset.

    We need a breath of fresh air...Kenya middle class, join the poor class so we can take our country back from these arrogant juveniles.

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  20. If only there would be a goodwill moratorium on conferences here and abroad...I mean those conferences like the one Kalonzo Musyoka attended the other day, and the one Raila was at in India and Davos,and the ones Balala is always attending ostensibly to publicize Kenya as a tourist destination like no other. Imagine what that money, for just a six-month moratorium, would do for this nation...I dare add if it's not stolen by the valtures.

    Just dreamin'!

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  21. Where is Phil to defend is god RAILA?

    Raila is nolonger the change we can believe in.

    Yes we can start a new chapter in 2012!

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  22. chill out, it's friday.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NDyNthsK8g&feature=related

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  23. WHY ARE YOU SOO AND SOOO QUITE ABOUT THIS MAIZE / RUTO SCANDAL? IS IT BECAUSE HE IS MZEE PENTAGON THE DEN OF THIEVES?

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  24. For starters and for the benefit of those who purport not to know,this Kenya and want nonsense was the brainchild of the office of the PM.The other two dimwits in this KIRAKA (Kibaki,Raila,Kalonzo) government just warmed up to the idea and became enthusiastic participants.Which leads us to ask,didnt all these three oafs organize spectacular launchs for their manifestos prior to the bungled 2007 elections?Were they launching those fancy sounding dreams called manifestos without having understood or known what Kenyans not expect but want from them?Does molasses being the brains behind this silly conference seriously want us to believe that in over 16 years representing one of the largest and poorest slums still doesnt have an idea that if as a person he cant change their miserable living conditions,what can he do as the PM to change their lives.But as one wag observed the other day maybe RAO has no intention of changing Kibera as we know it,when being driven down Langata road in his official motorcade,he glances across the valley and sees the rows upon rows of thousands of badly rusted tin roofed shacks where 80% of his constituents live and die then sigh contentedly 'these are my votes!'

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  25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfHxEDYQFCc

    HOw can RUTO be lying like this?

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  26. You are so very right! These so called leaders just like hoodwinking kenyans. Yes, after 45 years if we do not know the Kenya we want then something is very wrong. The Kenya we want is that of the elected leaders being answerable and accountable to the Kenyans who elected them in the first place. If they were, they wont be paying themselves hefty salaries and stealing from the public.

    It is up to the Kenyans come 2012 to think hard before they cast that vote. But if they still want to be led by their tribal warlords - then thats the Kenya they will be stuck with - once again!!

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  27. Sam, good post. However, nothing will happen in 2012 or whenever. Forgive me but Kenyans are so "stupid" they will vote in other crooks who will continue to rape our country. Call me pessimistic, but wait and see....

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  28. sam, also criticize the people who are stealing petrol as harshly as those who are stealing maize since corrption is corruption. and this fella should stop the nonsense about kisumu, its just tribal sterotyping is not the kenya we want. with people like him, i know vision 2030 is a distant dream

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  29. God help us,if we still have literate fellows with the mindset of this self proclaimed stastician.I believe he must be gay,thats why he wants to derail our thinking....

    sam this was a nice post.Our leaders, sorry politicians have finally admitted that they dont have a clue of what their portfolio entails,and that they have nothing in store for us.
    Am left wondering,will we ever achieve leadership through politics

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