Chances are that you have often gotten very upset with vendors on Nairobi streets who tend to block the entire sidewalk meant for human traffic and thus make it very difficult for anybody to walk the streets comfortably.
But let me introduce you to another angle of this problem that few have talked about. A family's sole breadwinner leaves home for work as usual one morning and does not return in the evening. The family searches for them in all police stations within the city and in the mortuary also. They never find them. One month later they appear on the door step of their home with clean shaven heads. It emerges that they were arrested by City Council Askaris and thrown into a cell in one of the two notorious police stations in the CBD, namely Central Police Station and Kamkunji. The spend the night there and appear in court early the next morning where they are charged with hawking and sentenced to one month in jail or a fine. Since no relative is in court and the money they had has been stolen by the Askaris who arrested them, the breadwinner ends up spending a month in the "cooler" with hardened criminals ad if they happened to be women, you can be sure they will be raped. And yet their only crime was trying to but bread on the table.
Do spare a thought for hawkers next time.
The really interesting thing here is that when the Narc government swept into power, one of the first things that was done was to attempt to deal with this hawker menace. However this attitude did not last very long.
It is quite likely that if the next government is formed by ODM Kenya, history will repeat itself. Campaign rhetoric followed a brief period of pretending to be doing something.
There are a few basic facts the government seems to have ignored in their attempts to deal with the so-called hawker menace.
1) No attempt has been made to deal with the ailment so far by either the current Kibaki administration or the Moi administration before it. Instead the government has concentrated all its' efforts on the symptoms.
Why do we have a hawkers' problem in the first place? Why is there such a huge unstoppable migration from rural areas to Nairobi? Answering these questions will lead you directly to the real ailment that produces the symptom called hawker menace. The entrepreneurial spirit in hawkers can be tapped and used in a positive way by investing heavily in small business 'incubators' where the best of these budding entrepreneurs can be given facilities under which their businesses can incubate and grow to create employment and wealth for the country.
The old 1960s idea of throwing them to some field that is too small and too far away from their regular clients to be of much help will not work. We now require lots of creativity and imagination which can easily turn this menace to a major asset.
2) Major industrialists the world over including Kenya's own biscuit baron, Mandatally Manji of House Of Manji started out as hawkers.
Kenyans have been taught to admire people with massive wealth without caring how that wealth was accumulated. The result is that we have little respect for honest entrepreneurs, let alone budding ones who have got no contacts to bribe for big government contracts and who my have not been around during the coffee boom to make huge overnight wealth smuggling coffee.
Kenyan industrialist, Mandatally Manji started out as a part-time hawker in the Karatina market (near Nyeri). The best future Kenyan entrepreneurs are now hawkers. So why do we choose to hit them in the head with heavy clubs and throw them into police cells with dangerous criminals, instead of finding a way to nurture their entrepreneurial zeal?
3) Whatever approach is decided on by both the government and those enforcing it must be consistent.
We have heard stories of hawkers stabbing and even killing City Council Askaris. It is important to try and find out why it sometimes comes to this. City council askaris are known to be very corrupt and it is not unusual for one to demand a bribe just hours before a major raid which they are already aware of. Thus the same officer you bribed with your day's sales a few moments earlier, after being assured that you will be able to operate in peace for the rest of the day ends up arresting you a few hours later. Imagine how you would feel. Personally I don't condone bribery and this principal of mine has been put to the test many times. It is very difficult to live in Kenya without having to remove a bribe, but it is not impossible, as I have proved.
There would be a lot of respect for city council askaris and the government of the day, if both were not corrupt ad were consistent in the way they dealt with hawkers. As it is both have a different approach when they are either soliciting for a bribe or for votes and when they are not. So why would we not expect hawkers to fight back?
Quick Question: Remember the elite Kanga squad that was credited with the infamous Standard newspapers raid? They've now been disarmed (asked to surrender their weapons). This effectively means that the once dreaded police unit is now no more.
But why now, and so many months after they carried out that shocking raid on the Standard offices?
It is the approaching general elections, stupid.
Join in the raging debate over this thorny Luo-Kikuyu relationship issue
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========================
See also the 2 Problem Tribes in Kenyan politics
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Saturday, October 21, 2006
The Damage The November Referendum On The New Constitution Did To Hopes Of Healing The Luo Versus Kikuyu Problem
It is now very clear to me and should also be to other regular readers of this blog that the vast majority of Kenyans prefer to ignore tribalism believing that if they do, it will go away - one day soon. It is the old proverbial ostrich burying its' head in the sand and firmly believing that the rapidly approaching bush fire will go away as a result.
If you carefully read the comments at our (ongoing discussion on the Kikuyu/Luo prejudicial hatred) you will notice that some folks even get upset that I have mentioned the subject at all. There are those who strongly believe that by discussing tribalism, I am being a tribalist.
But as the November referendum over the proposed new constitution proved, tribalism and more specifically the Luo/Kikuyu prejudicial rivalry can be catastrophic in Kenyan politics. Actually the damage that the referendum did towards any future hopes of healing this politically motivated hatred and mistrust between these two major Kenyan tribes was major.
What was most worrying was how the simple issue of voting "yes" or "no" over the proposed constitution got so emotionally charged and divided even younger generation Kenyans who until then had found a way to ignore the Luo/Kikuyu nonsense and were working and living together as Kenyans. The result is that the two communities voted on opposite sides with few bothering to read and judge the constitution on its' merits or flaws. The result is that things have never been the same again since the referendum.
I urge you in the interests of our beloved country to leave a comment at our (ongoing debate over the Luo/Kikuyu thing), preferably one that suggests possible solutions or ideas to help heal this serious ailment that the nation of Kenya suffers from.
Join in the raging debate over this thorny Luo-Kikuyu relationship issue
(Please scroll down to the bottom of the page (and click on the "Post A Comment" button) to post your comment.)
========================
See also the 2 Problem Tribes in Kenyan politics
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If you carefully read the comments at our (ongoing discussion on the Kikuyu/Luo prejudicial hatred) you will notice that some folks even get upset that I have mentioned the subject at all. There are those who strongly believe that by discussing tribalism, I am being a tribalist.
But as the November referendum over the proposed new constitution proved, tribalism and more specifically the Luo/Kikuyu prejudicial rivalry can be catastrophic in Kenyan politics. Actually the damage that the referendum did towards any future hopes of healing this politically motivated hatred and mistrust between these two major Kenyan tribes was major.
What was most worrying was how the simple issue of voting "yes" or "no" over the proposed constitution got so emotionally charged and divided even younger generation Kenyans who until then had found a way to ignore the Luo/Kikuyu nonsense and were working and living together as Kenyans. The result is that the two communities voted on opposite sides with few bothering to read and judge the constitution on its' merits or flaws. The result is that things have never been the same again since the referendum.
I urge you in the interests of our beloved country to leave a comment at our (ongoing debate over the Luo/Kikuyu thing), preferably one that suggests possible solutions or ideas to help heal this serious ailment that the nation of Kenya suffers from.
Join in the raging debate over this thorny Luo-Kikuyu relationship issue
(Please scroll down to the bottom of the page (and click on the "Post A Comment" button) to post your comment.)
========================
See also the 2 Problem Tribes in Kenyan politics
Get more help with you invention ideas by reading this invention ebook by a man who has sold millions of units of his own inventions.
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Saturday, October 14, 2006
ODM Kenya's Thorny Membership Issue
All is not well with the one political party where most Kenyans have placed their hopes on. Indeed the main problems now threatening the stability of this political force all point to one basic and fundamental principal of a democracy which the government of the day continues to ignore for obvious reasons and nobody wants to address.
The issue is wrapped up in the following simple question;
Can democracy thrive and mature when the electorate and its' leaders are allowed to belong to more than one political party at the same time?
The answer to that question should be obvious. It is a resounding "NO".
But what can anybody do when even the President has been linked to several different political parties who all claim that he is their candidate for 2007?
ODM Kenya is a political party. But at the same time it is a coalition of sorts bringing together a number of political parties including LDP, a faction of KANU, numerous MPs formerly linked to NARC etc. Yet in the dictionary political party does not mean the same thing as political coalitions. Coalitions of parties are usually hastily put together after an election that produces no clear winner.
The biggest thorn of contention with ODM Kenya right now is whether the party should accept corporate membership or insist on individual membership. Raila Odinga believes that individual membership is the way forward.
It will be ironical if this issue of membership and not the presidential nominations does the most damage in the widely predicted demise of ODM. In my view the cause will still be Narc Kenya.
Quick Question:
Why are all these grand plans about the future of the Kenyan economy, blah blah, coming out now and not in 2003 when there was enough time for us to have seen the implementation being carried out?
It is the general elections, stupid.
==============
Join in the raging debate over this thorny Luo-Kikuyu relationship issue
(Please scroll down to the bottom of the page (and click on the "Post A Comment" button) to post your comment.)
========================
See also the 2 Problem Tribes in Kenyan politics
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The issue is wrapped up in the following simple question;
Can democracy thrive and mature when the electorate and its' leaders are allowed to belong to more than one political party at the same time?
The answer to that question should be obvious. It is a resounding "NO".
But what can anybody do when even the President has been linked to several different political parties who all claim that he is their candidate for 2007?
ODM Kenya is a political party. But at the same time it is a coalition of sorts bringing together a number of political parties including LDP, a faction of KANU, numerous MPs formerly linked to NARC etc. Yet in the dictionary political party does not mean the same thing as political coalitions. Coalitions of parties are usually hastily put together after an election that produces no clear winner.
The biggest thorn of contention with ODM Kenya right now is whether the party should accept corporate membership or insist on individual membership. Raila Odinga believes that individual membership is the way forward.
It will be ironical if this issue of membership and not the presidential nominations does the most damage in the widely predicted demise of ODM. In my view the cause will still be Narc Kenya.
Quick Question:
Why are all these grand plans about the future of the Kenyan economy, blah blah, coming out now and not in 2003 when there was enough time for us to have seen the implementation being carried out?
It is the general elections, stupid.
==============
Join in the raging debate over this thorny Luo-Kikuyu relationship issue
(Please scroll down to the bottom of the page (and click on the "Post A Comment" button) to post your comment.)
========================
See also the 2 Problem Tribes in Kenyan politics
Use Software To Earn Millions From Adsense And Blogger
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