We don’t learn, do we? Hardly 200 days since the Sachang’wan tragedy and yet we have human torches setting the bushes ablaze at Kapsoit. Now who will this careless public blame? They have been warned numerous times against siphoning fuel from tankers after accidents. But who cares when they can loot and make tidy money without any sweat?
Well until we disabuse ourselves of the mentality of freebies, we will continue to pay heavily for our stupidity both collectively and individually. The hollow justification of poverty doesn’t wash. Claiming that an empty stomach doesn’t reason is no excuse to plunge into hell from which you never live to tell the story.
Human torches
True, the body politics is stinking to high heavens. Also true is the latent complicity and enticement from belligerent tank drivers who jump out of moving near-empty tankers leaving them to overturn so as conceal their fraudulent tracks after selling most of the fuel.
Until we revert to basic human tenets of decency and hard work, breathing torches will continue setting bushes ablaze. That may sound insensitive to those in love of living lies and in denial, but it remains the painful truth with her hands fully stretched begging for a walk.
When I left Nairobi they told
ReplyDeleteMe that America was a land
Of the brave and the free…
These Kenyans must be from the CONTEMPTUOUS kingdom best known for DECEPTION, 'INDUSTRY' and FRAUD. They all must be from the "right" tribe that enjoys undeserved (as illegitimate Kenyans)assurance of protection from kibaki, Michuki and UK. Which other community would want free things? In the UNLIKELY event that these folks were not from the contemptuous fold, it must be because of Mwai Kibaki's complacency in providing for the basic food and pocket money of these Kenyans, no? Oh come on now and don't tell me you don't agree with me.
ReplyDeleteEven those idlers living in Eastlands flats are being targeted for persecution by being asked to PAY RENT. How can they be expected to pay rent when Kibaki stood in the way of the era of utopian 'free-everything' promised by the messianic bumpkin? Let us all go uproot the rail-line to get this unresponsive PNU government doing what they are paid to do. If prof. Saitoti cannot omnipresently ride in every tanker guiding the drivers, they should henceforth desist from FRUSTRATING the other party in government so religiously committed to service delivery and true liberation (from, well.....nothing).
If they dont listen to and heed these not-so-empty threats, we will boycott all matatus belonging to the contemptuous folks, we will stay away from their flats, from their banks (in fact we will be stonning all Equity branches outside Lesotho). Please take us seriously as we have a reputation of doing all the above and more.
Mnanishangazaga sana. Very intersting comedians, you folks!
czechoslavakia is now czech republic and slovakia; central province ought to seperate - they can call it Kingdom of Mumbi - the conflict ends.....
ReplyDeleteWhat do you expect from negros?
ReplyDeleteTaabu, what else do you expect from child-killer kalenjins? I said before these guys are IDIOTS and Taabu is a close example.
ReplyDeleteQn: What is insanity?
Ans: Doing something the same way and expecting a different result
Qn: What is idiocy?
Ans: Burning and raping innocent women and children simply because they belong to a certain tribe
Qn: What is madness?
Ans: Burning the whole of Mau forest because "If we cant have it, then lets all lose it. It belongs to us Kalenjins"
Vikii just stick to your writing style please. Anon 10.39 do not insist on posting garbage.
ReplyDeletethe only garbage is raila but good news is he has a new vip toilet to take his trash
ReplyDeleteThose who got burnt or died did so while engaging in theft of petrol. They were criminals and fate meted instant justice. It should be a lesson to the surrounding community that you can practice impunity of raping and murdering little "kabila adui" girls, but when flames of fate strike they don't know your arrows or your open zippers.
ReplyDeleteTaabu,
ReplyDeleteIt appears when the Kenyan communities are not killing one another and calling it haki yao, they are specializing, each in their own way, in communal suicide.
The Kikuyus are busy chopping each other's heads like automatons.
The Kalenjins can't miss a chance to turn themselves into human torches while stealing petrol.
The Mijikenda are relentlessly bewitching each other.
The Luos are using AIDS as a weapon of mass suicide through loose sex and the primitive custom of wife inheritance.
And the Luhyas are ... (fill the blanks).
A friend of mine said that gods must be angry with us. I personally doubt it. I think, after hating others to no satisfaction, we have turned inward to self-haters.
Not everyone can learn a lesson, that's why for example some people keep on electing bad leaders. truly we get the leaders we deserve
ReplyDeleteby the way in some parts of Kenya when an oil tanker spills its cargo it is considered stupid not to harvest from where you did not plant especially when its free. free is free right or wrong does not come into it, no matter how many times the first lady lambasts the security minister
If this blog lowered its standards and started giving out free lunch vouchers for Kenchic in exchange for publishing gutter trash and tabloid garbage don't be surprised if you get a huge queue of people lining up to enjoy the ride regardless of the lack of substance. free is free no matter where it came from
Taabu or Taboo,
ReplyDeleteYou are looking at this issue only from one side. Have you asked yourself where they take the fuel after siphoning it? It is to people like you who are vehicle owners. If you Taboo found such fuel being sold at half price by the road side, won't you fill your tank and buy the rest together with the jerricans? YOU (middle class) are part of the problem. You provide ready market. So while asking the siphoners to stop their thing, you also stop buying such fuel.
There's no excuse, stealing is a crime, period! Why should the cops just watch when people syphon petrol instead of making propmt arrest and hauling them to the courts?
ReplyDeleteI really think we have a very sick society that even steals from the dying in scenes of car accidents. I have travelled widely in East Africa but this madness just happens in Kenya.
No wonder Kenyans are so hated around Africa, mmmmhh! Shame on us!
This is yet another example of impunity in Kenya. Yes, impunity. People siphoning off leaking gas that does not belong to them. Oftentimes, these knuckleheads do not even try to assist the injured driver and his co-driver.
ReplyDeleteKenyans learnt this disgraceful form of impunity from their first thieving leader, the rapacious thief, Jomo Kenyatta.
It's really funny that everything is seen through tribal prism in Kenya, even when it comes to siphoning fuel from an overturned tanker. If you travel around the world, people will say it's Africans who are daft. In Africa, they will point fingers and say it's Kenyans who are thick. In Kenya, wananchi will just casually point fingers and say it's that particular tribe that is full of criminals or witches or whatever. When you ask the tribe, they will point a finger and tell you it's not entirely the whole tribe, but some CLAN within the tribe. Within the clan they will say it's a certain age group within the clan. Then we'll go a certain family...blah blah blah....I SAY LET'S QIUT POINTING FINGERS. IT'S A KENYAN PROBLEM, LET'S DEAL WITH IT.
ReplyDeleteWhen poor Kenyans see their "leaders" stealing maize, fuel, cemeteries, Mau Forest, KARI land, Govt houses etc ad nauseum, why would you expect them to stop chotaring fuel that has spilt by the road side. I am not saying they are right in doing so. I am only saying do not blame them ALONE. We are all guilty one way or the other. Infact, by buying the fuel from them, we are the ones fuelling (no pun intended) the vice.
ReplyDeleteLebo,
ReplyDeleteCommon sense should guide these people. When the leaders steal whatever they steal they don't die, but when these people chota mafuta they die. That should be enough to make these people think twice no matter how strong the desire is to ape their "leaders."
This blog thrieves on hate and commentators beefing each other. How sad!
ReplyDeleteSome bloggers here seem not to have tasted poverty and they probably have also not seen poverty. Do you know that there are Kenyans who literally do not know where the next meal will come from? Do you know there are many Kenyans who have many children to fend for (both their own and of their relatives who may have died) and they have no steady or even sufficient income to fend for them in a sustainable way? Do you know there are many Kenyans who have degrees and diplomas and have not been able to get a job for several years. Nor do they have any capital or assets to start somewhere. Do you know there are many Kenyans whose lands are under dispute and they can therefore not be tended? Do you know there are many Kenyans who are born in the streets and villages and do not really have anywhere to go or anybody to turn to? Do you know there are many Kenyans who could be something, but due to tribalism, nepotism, favoritism, corruption etc they are nothing?
ReplyDeleteSomeone has said that it is only in Kenya that people will run to siphon fuel from fallen vehicles. Why Kenya? Because Kenya is one of the most unequal societies in the world where a few own everything AT THE EXPENSE of the many. Because Kenya is where poverty, ignorance and disease are actively and intentionally perpetuated. Because Kenya is where there is a law for the rich and another for the poor-where an egg thief is jailed for 20 years and a hen thief is told to pay the fine of an egg.
The poor have nothing to lose because they have almost absolutely nothing they can call their own. Infact, the poor keep on hoping that they can benefit from someone else's misfortune. That is why they will easily rummage the pockets of an accident victim first before asking whether he is alive or dead. That is why they will exhume freshly buried bodies and recycle the coffin and other valuables. Biwott once said that the thing he feared most was to be poor. He must have stared poverty in the face in his early life to reach such a conclusion. And what he saw must have been grotesque. In extreme poverty, there is nothing to rejoice about being alive. You keep wishing you were dead and so you don't fear death. You have nothing to protect, no name to keep, no legacy to talk of. The present is more important than the future. Short term measures is all you think about. The prospect of filling a jerrican with 20 liters of petrol and selling it at 400 shillings is like getting a kilo of gold after winning a grand prix. When you hear a tanker has fallen, you don't think of Sachangwan. You think of how for the first time this year you will eat ugali and matumbo. The issue of a fire breakout does not remotely feature in your thoughts. POVERTY IS BAD.
Someone, tell Kenyans how we can put poverty behind us.
Saitoti should have a report on Lucy's desk by next tuesday.
ReplyDeleteAti poverty? people in rift valley are not that poor, in the sense of not having regular meals. I remember in the earlier incident, a mother said his burnt sons where going home after a day's work of harvesting maize. Their daily food is there. the problem is low iq. Am not religious but now i think religions play a role in checking the excesses of africans. Religion should be there until we have our own Enlightenment. If we were regular users of reason these things would not happen.
ReplyDelete@LEBO
ReplyDeleteWhat a daring rant on behest of the poor! Could you define what being "poor" in Kenya means before unleashing such a tirade? And also tell us what the "poor" you so eloquently talk about do with the rest of their lives when lorries are NOT overturning!
Stop patronizing the poor in such a blatant manner. Are you telling the world that poverty makes one a criminal? Try telling that to the likes of Jirongo, Biwott and maize thieves in that den called parliament. Haven't you noticed some of the best 'siphoners' are usually on pick ups and motorbikes?
So much for poverty! The petrol thieves or rather highway robbers reside on big arable and highly productive lands in places like Kericho and Banana? It all comes down to.... "IMPUNITY!" knowing that you will get away with THEFT of private property, FRAUD AND DECEPTION.
That's why you see dodgy characters drunk on chang'aa laying in wait around Fly Over and Kinungi areas along Nairobi-Naivasha highway, waiting for 'something to happen!' In many instances, it's widely believed they actually "assist" a disaster to happen risking life and limb of totally innocent Kenyans.
Its sad how the lesson isnt learnt, but who are we to judge when we are in our comfy environment? They have nothing to lose as a result of their poverty, the first thing, which is very fundamental, is to influence Kenyan psyche, show them their value, how to defend their interests.
ReplyDeleteAlways goes back to enabling the grassroots, and maybe CDF should invest in civic engagement.
Anon 6:11 and MPesa are two fortunate Kenyans who live in ivory towers. I work among the poor and so I say what I see and feel everyday. If I can jog your memory, Kamotho was told there were people in his constituency with jiggers. He denied. And yet they were right there at his doorsteps begging for alms. By the time someone has jiggers the way we see them in the media, it is a sign of abject poverty. And do you usually see how they are treated? Manual removal and or washing the feet and fingers in water and soap and disinfectant. Others add a drop of kerosene. You ivory tower residents will ask like Kamotho, how can someone lack water and soap and a drop of kerosene? They are there in their thousands, nay millions. A poor person, Mr. MPesa, is one who earns less than a dollar (KSh.80/=)a day. This is the definition according to UN. Are you telling me there are no people in Kenya earning less than 80 x 30 = 2400/= per month? Millions. If now you earn 80/= per day and a gorogoro of maize is going at 100/=, how will one feed the six children and pay for water, transport, clothes etc. Now you understand why someone can brighten up at the thought of having ugali and matumbo for supper!! Anon said they have low IQ. That is an insult and an apology would be in order. In Kenya at the moment you need to earn at least KSh. 20,000/= to be able to just scrape through the month, all being equal (i.e no sickness, no emergency). MPesa the people on the pickup and motorcycles are the ones I was saying is you and me-middle class. The sight of a pickup in a place where a tanker has overturned is a good omen for the poor man. He is assured that his "goods" will have a ready market. And BTW, the people on the pickup and motorcycle are most likely not the owners-they are the driver and turnboy who earn less than 2400/=.
ReplyDeleteWhat do the poor do between tankers overturning? They are scrounging around, doing odd jobs here and there...and praying that a tanker falls in their neighbourhood. POVERTY IS BAD.
Lebo,
ReplyDeleteYou are very articulate albeit intelligently biased. Now come to think of it if you REALLY work among the poor. It means their status is your source of livelihood. Yours is then akin to the NGOS who will make sure a problem is never solved to keep them relevant.
So Bw. Lebo unless you clarify with very clear conscience, your moral high ground is nothing but an elegant edifice founded on quick sand. You are more part of an ENRICHED problem instead of the solution.
Bottomline siphoning fuel is not justifiable no matter the academic niceties you throw at it, ama?
there is need for a thorough overhaul of our societal values,sad indeed we have sunk to the level of tribal semantics-even where people's lives have been lost.How to achieve the change is the million dollar question,have no idea.....
ReplyDeleteTaabu,
ReplyDeleteThe gist of my communication is that IT IS WRONG FOR ANYBODY TO BE INVOLVED IN SUCH ACTS AS SIPHONING OF FUEL FROM TANKERS. Both the rich and the poor. Your thread targeted blame only to the poor. And I have taken time to show you that between the poor and the others, it is easier to understand why the poor seemingly rush to their deaths without a care in the world.
Your assertion that "It means their status is your source of livelihood" is not only misplaced, frivolous and unwarranted, it also means you read what you wanted to read in my piece(s). My pieces of 4;36 and 8:13 both ended with the words "Poverty is bad"
Anon 9:05, I hear you. My suggestion as to how we can achieve the change is
1. Empowerment-Kenyans must be given the right and sustainable environment to maximize their potential. This includes information, rule of law and resources.
2.Kenyans must change their attitude from get-rich-quick to enjoy-your-sweat.
3. Politicians must not be given too much space to decide for Kenyans. There should be modalities of them LISTENING to the common man before talking about anything. Economic policies must be such that they work with or without politicians. For instance, Ministers should be technocrats, not politicians.
4.Kenyans must cease their tribalistic tendencies and embrace nationalism. Meritocracy should be the mode of operation
These virtues will not come automatically. We must demand for them.
Hey heard that state hse is on a murdering mission? Gitobu lipuad the thng in parliarment 2day! Ni kubaya! Na bado!
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between being wealthy and leading a quality life.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that Kenyans, whether from Coast, Western, Central or Eastern want to be wealthy as fast as possible (preferrably without sweating). Kenyans do everything to get to this status.
What we dont know is that no amount of money satisfies. Another point what Kenyan oversee is that you need protection or a hiding place after stealing and robbing.
The robbers whether of white collar or bloody types end up leading a very crude life and maybe dying (or burnt to death as now in Kericho).
Kenyans must be told this. Any sort of crime must also be punished.
You can enjoy quality of life, if we would be ready to work hard for our money.
Any post/s breaking the house rules of COMMON DECENCY will be promptly deleted, i.e. NO TRIBALISTIC, racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit, abusive, swearing, out of topic, impersonation and spam AMONG OTHERS.
ReplyDeleteHow often have I met dirty comments against Kalenjins, Raila and Luos in this blog. Kenyans must learn to respect one another.
There is a difference between being wealthy and leading a quality life.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that Kenyans, whether from Coast, Western, Central or Eastern want to be wealthy as fast as possible (preferrably without sweating). Kenyans do everything to get to this status.
What we dont know is that no amount of money satisfies. Another point what Kenyan oversee is that you need protection or a hiding place after stealing and robbing.
The robbers whether of white collar or bloody types end up leading a very crude life and maybe dying (or burnt to death as now in Kericho).
Kenyans must be told this. Any sort of crime must also be punished.
You can enjoy quality of life, if we would be ready to work hard for our money.
Poverty is not the causal issue here but is both a cause and consequence for the irrationality in our schizophrenic society called Kenya. The bigger cause, though, is the culture of impunity and absence of ethics that permeates Kenyan society. As they say, a fish rots from the head down.
ReplyDeleteFor starters, the richest Kenyans are invariably people who amassed property and wealth they did not work for; the Kenyattas, Kibakis, Koinanges, Mois, Biwotts, Njoroge Mungais, NEVER worked for the wealth they possess.
So why are we surprised when poor Kenyans desperately try to emulate the Kenyan rich in this cycle of impunity by siphoning gas that does not belong to them in total disregard of the patent dangers?
It is clear that there is a total lack of self-awareness and self-restraint among the citizenry despite countless examples of disastrous trailer fires.
My solution? First, start by holding the richest Kenyans accountable for every wrong they havecommitted since Kenya's independence. Make the Kenyattas, Kibakis, Mois, Michukis, Biwotts, account for every shilling and acres of land they have stolen.
Second, create statutes and laws and penalties that will make it a criminal offence for anyone found stealing (siphoning) gas from an overturned vehicle. Arrest on the spot.
Wole Soyinka's The Road
ReplyDeleteAN IDIOT CALLED TAABU DELETED THIS BUT I WILL REPEAT AGAIN AND AGAIN
ReplyDeleteTHE BIG CONNECTION
GERMAN NAZIS HATED AND KILLED THE JEWS;
AHMADENAJAD HATES THE JEWS AND WOULD LOVE TO OBLITERATE THEM;
RAILA WAS TAUGHT BY THE GERMAN NAZIS, ESP ONE HEINZ, DURING HIS YEARS OF STUDY. THATS WHY RAILA WORSHIPS AND ADORES GERMANS, JUST LIKE AHMADENAJAD;
KIBAKI REJECTED AHMADEENAJADS PROPOSALS DURING HIS VISIT TO KENYA THATS WHY HE TURNED TO RAILA;
RAILA READILY WARMED TO AHMADEENAJAD AFTER HE WAS ANGERED BY THE US FOR BEING DENIED ACCESS TO WHITE HOUSE TO TAKE A PHOTO WITH POTUS;
AHMADENAJAD IS RAILAS FRIEND, THATS WHY THE FORMER MOUNTED FOR HIM A GUARD OF HONOR YET HE IS A MERE MINISTER;
AHMADENAJAD IS THE CHIEF PATRON OF AL SHABAAB AND HAS BEEN WARMING TO KENYA TO SOFTEN US IN OUR ANTI TERRORISM STAND ON SOMALIA BY OFFERING CHEAP OIL;
RAILA IN HIS GREED HAS FALLEN INTO THIS TRAP WITH PROMISES OF CAMPAINGN FUNDING AND SUPPORT IN 2012 FROM IRAN;
DURING RAILAS VISIT HE BREIFED AHMADEENAJAD ON AL SHABAABS PROGRESS AND EVEN ADVISED HIM ON PEV BEFORE ANNOUCING VICTORY IN THE JUST CONCLUDED ELECTIONS;
THAT RAILA IS NOW AN ADVOCATE AND SUPPORTER OF AL SHABAAB IS NO NEWS SINCE HE HAS PREVIOUSLY SUPPORTED ISLAMIC RADICALISM; HE INCLUDED IN HIS MANIFESTO A SETTING UP OF SHARIA COURTS IN NEP AND COAST 'FEDERAL STATES
A partisan tribalist said
ReplyDelete"How often have I met dirty comments against Kalenjins, Raila and Luos in this blog. Kenyans must learn to respect one another"
Well, how often have you met dirty comments on Kambas, Kibaki and Kikuyus in this blog? Well maybe THEY dont deserve respect.
Peleka ujinga yako chooni, respect is mutual
Mpesa
ReplyDeleteWell stealing is a crime....unless its an election. . . . . .
Sir Alex