Following the death of two American missionaries gunned down somewhere on the Nairobi-Naivasha road last week, the US government has issued another advisory warning its citizens against visiting Kenya.
This is not only unfair but also hypocritical considering that several people including foreigners violently meet their deaths in the streets of New York, Washington and even Los Angeles in the US yet their home countries don’t issue travel advisories against visiting that violent country.
There is no way that the US can convince anyone that the upsurge in violent crime in Kenya rivals what is happening in America today, the terrorist threat notwithstanding.
After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center where over 5,000 people were killed in one day, it was obvious that the US had become one of the most dangerous places to visit on earth yet no country issued advisories against it and now that two of its citizens are gunned down in Kenya, they rush to say the country is unsafe.
For starters, the Americans who met their deaths in Nairobi had stopped and parked their car in a spot notoriously known for hijackings and having a sports utility vehicle, they increased their vulnerability without knowing and being white people in a deserted highway, they became easy prey for gangsters who always assume foreigners carry plenty of cash with them all the time.
The travel advisory will adversely affect the tourism industry in Kenya this year at a time when the country was expecting a record number of visitors but it is comforting to note that American tourists to Kenya are negligible as most of the visitors usually come from Europe.
What would really be worrying is if major European countries were to borrow a leaf from the US and issue travel advisories against Kenya. Mercifully, this is unlikely as the only European state known to side with America without thinking twice is the United Kingdom.
US is definitely a more dangerous place to live in than Kenya has ever been and the American authorities should know that gone are the days they could easily dismiss an African country and everybody in the west would believe them.
Read this awesome African lion safari tale of an unlikely match at the Samburu Game Reserve. Meet also some of the people capable of giving you an unforgettable African safari holiday in Kenya.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Legislator Norman Nyagah Humiliated As He Visits His Kamukunji Constituency Ahead Of General Elections
Kamukunji MP and government chief whip Norman Nyaga will not forget yesterday in a hurry.
He was booed and heckled as he received a hostile reception in his own constituency where he went to visit development projects initiated by the constituency development fund popularly known as the CDF.
This incident was significant because it is just the first sign of things to come. More similar incidences are expected countrywide as current MPs who are in the habit of ignoring their constituencies until election time visit ahead of the general elections. And as they meet a more enlightened voter population who are daring enough to take them to task and even dismiss them in their faces.
It is no secret that a majority of the current 210 elected MPs will not see the doors of parliament again considering their selfishness and poor track record in serving the people who elected them with such high expectations.
In many other constituencies, the MPs literally hide from their constituents and usually sneak in at night in their heavily tinted sports utility vehicles and leave early in the morning for the city after consulting with a few confidants and hanger's on who 'brief' them on what is going on in the constituency.
However, why Kenyans love to hate the current crop of legislators is due to the fact that they have increased their salaries and allowances tremendously in a span of five years and now carry home about Sh 700,000 monthly which is equivalent to US$ 10,000 making them amongst the best paid lawmakers in the world.
This was done despite the fact that Kenya is among the poorest countries in the world where the gap between the rich and the poor is obscene leave alone the fact that about 70% of the population live below the poverty line.
My guess is that 80% of the current members of parliament will be voted out in the forthcoming general elections and what happened to Nyagah in Kamukunji is just a small glimpse of what MPs should expect when they return to their constituencies to ask for votes.
The insensitive legislators are also planning to pass another motion when parliament resumes to award themselves a Sh 1.5 million 'golden handshake' to carry home for serving for five years. Talk of raising campaign money from public funds.
This ploy will not work since the president rejected a hefty salary increase proposed by the MPs last year but again these selfish men and women will definitely think up another way of fleecing the poverty stricken tax payers before they are finally kicked out of parliament for good.
Read this awesome African lion safari tale of an unlikely match at the Samburu Game Reserve. Meet also some of the people capable of giving you an unforgettable African safari holiday in Kenya.
He was booed and heckled as he received a hostile reception in his own constituency where he went to visit development projects initiated by the constituency development fund popularly known as the CDF.
This incident was significant because it is just the first sign of things to come. More similar incidences are expected countrywide as current MPs who are in the habit of ignoring their constituencies until election time visit ahead of the general elections. And as they meet a more enlightened voter population who are daring enough to take them to task and even dismiss them in their faces.
It is no secret that a majority of the current 210 elected MPs will not see the doors of parliament again considering their selfishness and poor track record in serving the people who elected them with such high expectations.
In many other constituencies, the MPs literally hide from their constituents and usually sneak in at night in their heavily tinted sports utility vehicles and leave early in the morning for the city after consulting with a few confidants and hanger's on who 'brief' them on what is going on in the constituency.
However, why Kenyans love to hate the current crop of legislators is due to the fact that they have increased their salaries and allowances tremendously in a span of five years and now carry home about Sh 700,000 monthly which is equivalent to US$ 10,000 making them amongst the best paid lawmakers in the world.
This was done despite the fact that Kenya is among the poorest countries in the world where the gap between the rich and the poor is obscene leave alone the fact that about 70% of the population live below the poverty line.
My guess is that 80% of the current members of parliament will be voted out in the forthcoming general elections and what happened to Nyagah in Kamukunji is just a small glimpse of what MPs should expect when they return to their constituencies to ask for votes.
The insensitive legislators are also planning to pass another motion when parliament resumes to award themselves a Sh 1.5 million 'golden handshake' to carry home for serving for five years. Talk of raising campaign money from public funds.
This ploy will not work since the president rejected a hefty salary increase proposed by the MPs last year but again these selfish men and women will definitely think up another way of fleecing the poverty stricken tax payers before they are finally kicked out of parliament for good.
Read this awesome African lion safari tale of an unlikely match at the Samburu Game Reserve. Meet also some of the people capable of giving you an unforgettable African safari holiday in Kenya.
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