Ni sawa Tu

Today i was in a matatu along Thika Road and there was this two guys discussing a host of issues. They were informed guys. from FPE funds ..how the Keroka villagers were demonstrating that their 'son' Ongeri should not step down...which leaves people where are their sons..do they attend school . Do they know where the Ongeri's grandsons are schooling? So they went on to the Thika road construction. They noted how the Chinese companies were doing a great job putting up Mega structures. the banter went on about how some shitty local companies had formed a consortium and were petitioning why the Kenyan govt was giving the Chinese all those multi-billion contracts....Though am a patriot i don't give adamn whether you are a Kenya giving me a shitty service i would opt for a Haitian offering superb quality.
Going back into history you will find the same companies crying out loud today have backlog of cases claiming money for contracts they never did or did shoddily. Though i feel we need to check the Sino-Kenya relationship i think the Kenyan firms have put the pepper in their eyes.
Imagine a situation one local firm won the Thika road tender... they would hurriedly put some funny structure and rush to State House to claim payments...Uncle Impunity would look at them and ask how the damn mavi ya kuku project is going?
Uncle Impunity: so mmeliza kazi...nilidhani ilikuwa inaisha 1912
PA (whoever handles that shit): The project no 214GHG6655 in ... was supposed to end in 2012
UI: (Interrupting PA)..haina haja ya maneno mingi walipe

Engineer A: pay them?! the contract has not meet our standards
UI: Standard kitu gani haina haja kutest barabara bora gari zinapita..lipa wao
CC:(Grinning from ass to ass) Asante mzee ....ile nyumba ya Forest Rd ulisema tutaanza lini?
UI: Mavi ya kuku i have hired Engineers from S. Korea to build that house.

.......So you see the local companies fucked themselves up themselves. The only thing that aches me is that it aint Chinese doing any work on Thika Rd it is Kenyans. The Chinese are only carrying away the profits back home ....the taxes ..we are building the Chinese economy while we are being told they are helping us.
so changamoto ni kwa Kenyan companies. When will we learn to manage our most important national resource : the people. The labour force of Kenya. When will Kenyan companies start paying well their employees so that they can deliver quality jobs as they deliver when the manage is a Chinese or a white man like Michael Joseph or Atul Shah in Bidco
To be continued

The Kenyan Revolution: Drivers and Dynamics

There is near consensus among most Kenyans that there is need for radical change in the Kenyan social, political and economic system. For this to happen, people have unanimously agreed that the only salvation will come from a revolution of the people. People are waiting for a poor people driven revolution. But can the poor institute a revolution in Kenya or is it a mirage. Well in Africa, the poor have instituted revolutions in the fight against the colonialists, though these fights were hijacked and taken over by then middle class and aristocrats of the times. Even the French Revolution was never instituted and won by the poor…holoi polloi.

The reasons why I feel the Kenyan poor cannot institute a revolution are varied. First the system has drummed into them how powerless and helpless they are. The system has ensured that even in instances where the poor are being oppressed it seems and they believe they are being helped. Two cases in point: First, in the matatu industry, guys who frequent upcountry routes must have noticed the PSVs plying those routes are the worst at overloading. Ukikataa kuweka joint you are made to look bad and the guys in the name of kama ni wewe ungetaka tukuache hapa, the poor oblige but the fare haisongi. Ng’o! Another instance is in the workplace, the workers are made to believe how they are being helped. Nakupa msahara ya mia tano. Yet you earn the company 1,000% of your pesa nane salary.

Another reason is that the system has put in place various institutions to ensure the poor cannot institute a revolution: The preacher-man pon de pulpit is everywea everyde to make sure when you are slapped pon one cheek yu fi turn de atha. No resistance. Do not fight for your pie- it is in heaven. The policeman is da to ensure if you fight the big man yu fi bite the bullet (they make no rubber shit these days) and if you are lucky u can do some free hard labour in Big Brother. The teacher man is also dea 25-7 to make sure u catch the Big Man Syndrome. The system agents are all ova the place. It is truly a shitstem. Can the poor man fight and demolish it ….nadda.

Lastly but aint the least is that there will neva be consensus on the revolution modus operandi. While you are fighting for a better salary so as you can pay rent thea is someone who wants your current salary to be able to feed and clothe himself. While u are crying uaself hoarse for your job, someone would surely laugh all the way to heaven with his place in that payroll.

So buoy what is it in it? Who will drive the Kenyan revolution? Will it happen? Can it succeed? What kind of a revolution do we need? I don’t have the answer to all those questions right now. But I believe a revolution can only be instituted, driven and overseen by the middle class. Is there a middle class in Kenya? Who are they? The teachers? The COTU brigade? Matatu drivers? Matatatu owners? You? Me? What will make the middle class yearn for a revolution? Aren’t they too comfortable? Aren’t they part of the system? Methinks they are the victims. And two scenarios played out on 31^st January 2010, which to me are a pointer how the middle class can actively participate in a revolution. One, the demonstration against the killing of KQ pilot Martin Gitehi Njuma. Martin Njuma was mugged and killed at Makaburini area near Bunyala roundabout. His untimely death angered many of his friends and relatives who on Sunday 31^st February 2010 organised a demonstration calling for the Government to act on insecurity along Uhuru Highway and in other roads. The demo has led to act firmly. This is unlike when the people from Mathare and Kibera complain of mugging. Fiends and relatives has vowed to put up a police station at the spot.Two, the Atwoli theatrics. Atwoli has been going around the country with his Agenda Four and he has been sounding a very angry man. He made his Declaration on the same day 31^st January 2010 at Kamukunji proposing some radical shiet.

For the middle class to act it seems it has to get very angry, and then get even more angry. Looks like Kenya middle class is angry and impatient. But is it angry enough. What makes the middle class angry to initiate a revolution cannot be predicted. Maybe the poor can participate in making the middle class in getting angry. Wah…. through the activities of Mungikis, muggers, et al. Heheh I don’t know but the middle class needs to be frustrated by the aristocrats like in the France scenario. Are they fed up with the system…

One of the major reason why the middle class doesn't institute a revolution in Kenya and in other African states like Zimbabwe is selfishness or self preservation depending on which side of the coin u be watching. When the public education system goes awry they transfer their kids to private school. When the public health system goes on its knees thy have alternative private clinics. When insecurity hits your neighborhood you move to safer neighborhood as you can afford. The question is when the middle class reaches boiling point ...Martin's case is a pointer of things to come.

But maybe that won't come in the near future ..maybe members of the aristocracy will bring that revolution if the PSC deal is anything to go by

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No peace till equal rights n justice