SmattaKenya is a platform I use to tell stories about Kenya and Africa the way through my eyes.Of course there are times when i get involved in the affairs and give my own opinion.
Skin sagging, sunken eyes, bonny cheekbones and frail looking bodies of hunger stricken people have been the headlines for the last five days.
Portraying only a fraction of the grotesque situation of drought that hit Kenya’s arid and semi arid areas. No one has been spared old men, women and children in the northern parts of Kenya savor for just one meal among the many that others gulp in mouthfuls.
A section of the media went further ahead to depict exactly how severe the situation has gotten: a television featured a young child who crawling on dry land that has cracked from loss of moisture under the hot suns’ rays. The child appearing too frail to walk but struggling to crawl perhaps trying to run away from the hungry vulture just waiting for him to die.
Another a photo of a woman who had been the face of the story of hunger when it first broke in the newspapers now deceased after succumbing to hunger.
So moving are the pictures that the journalists through the media owners association and some corporate began an initiative to save the millions of people that are faced with death due the continued lack of food dubbed Kenyans for Kenya.
So far the initiative has managed to raise 40 million shillings in a span of two days making the needed 500 million to save more than 3.5 million people saved with hunger.
The situation is drastic and needs drastic measures yet the persons responsible for undertaking the measures seat in their comfort zones of fill oblivious of the harsh realities.
Perhaps it is the reason for being left out of the campaigns to raise funds for the starving Kenyans.
Perhaps another excuse to abdicate their responsibilities.
Evidently continual blame on wrong policies will not in the immediate future save the lives that are poised with this great threat.
It is time for immediate action, send in your contribution, via MPESA (Pay bill number 111111; account number 11111) or deposit in KCB Account No. 1133333338.
Let’s save a life!
our politicians keep on proving time and time again to ordinary citizenry that we can not handle our internal affairs.corruption cases continue to be rampant despite numerous promises by to fight it at all costs.
public service officers have been scrambled for and been made partisan with constant referrals to ethnicity
how many times have we seen them saying that their tribes are being targeted that their are political assassins out to end their careers that their tribes have waited so long to have a piece of that national cake
they forget so soon that the path they are taking was what brought about the post election violence and the internally displaced persons who until now have notg yet been ressetled
it is a pity that these politicians view us as puppets to be toyed around with.they group themselves into opposing factions and declare war against each other in the public eye but behind the scenes they wine and dine with each other at any possible opportunity.
the results innocent Kenyans are turned against each other and at the worst end up killing each other.
Kenyans need to rise above this trivial stupidity
with the current comments made by our learned members of parliament in Kenya and most recently by the minister of education there is need for divine intervention.with the introduction of the free primary education eight years ago parents and other stake holders thought it a relief int the provision of the much needed primary education however with time this has come to be a complete contrast.the number of students that have been enrolled into this system of basic education has more than tripled while the necessary support infrastructure has remained stagnant.the result an overstretched teaching staff and students who are barely shifting through school.some ridiculous bill is yet to be placed in parliament in order to abolish the national examination system that allows students to go on to secondary education.if this is done how are we to grade and quantify these students whose numbers continue to increase with time?will there be another examination system that will replace KCPE as was the case in 1984?or will have students aimlessly proceeding from one class to the next without any grading system whatsoever.it is time that Kenyans let professionals handle matters pertaining to ministerial posts and positions.it is embittering to see politicians fight against KCPE when many of their children have either studied abroad or gone through the British curriculum.if the bill is to be passed then children of the common mwananchi will be left to suffer.the move by the minister to reduce the number of private students going to national high schools is absurd.for one most these children come from humble backgrounds and were able to study only because education was free.unless good economic support structures are established these children might end up being kicked from the school due to unpaid fee arrears.locking out students from private schools who have succeeded is punishing the wrong culprit these children are guilty of only working hard and passing their exams so why punish them by not allowing them into their high schools of choice?the ministry should rather focus on reducing the disparity between public and private schools and improving the quality of education.
When I was young one of the games we used to play was police and robbers this was where some of us would pretend to be thieves and the rest would be robbers. We would set up a scene from which the thieves would steal and the police would chase after them and the game was only over when all thieves were arrested.
Seated in a matatu going towards the western parts of Kenya on this sunny Friday morning, I am reminded of my younger years of how the thieves would strive to evade the police. This time our matatu driver was trying to avoid the police. We were moving swiftly along the highway for quite a distance until a certain point where the driver stopped the matatu and parked along the road to talk to some men idling about.
I was later to discover that these men were actually at work, they were informants and guides. Informing the drivers of both matatus and some buses of where the police roadblocks were and provide alternative routes for evasion of the bribe seeking men in blue. Believe me none of their services are on philanthropic basis but their fees are affordable when compared to what police demand.
The driver being new to the route seeks the services of one such informant, they negotiate on the fee and in a matter of minutes the informant opens the passenger door and orders some passengers to squeeze for him to sit. We travel for less than 500 meters and he directs the driver to follow the tarmac road until the end. The driver gets out to pay him for the services he has rendered and we continue with our journey but in the first five minutes, we could see that the driver was apprehensive and wondering whether the informant had been genuine.
His fidgeting wakes some of the passengers and they begin asking why we were veering of the road. Those familiar to the routine explained it to the ignorant and first timers like me, that they were probably several roadblocks ahead and the driver wanted to avoid the police. Some are unsatisfied with the reply but when become content when they see other matatus and busses ahead following the same dirt road.
I recalled a similar incident occurred when I was travelling on the Nairobi -Nakuru highway and the driver took a diversion around kijabe and we were on it for two hours. At that point I was scared for being in the middle of nowhere with no service on my mobile phone incase of any emergency and that we spent more time on the diversion than we would have for the whole journey on the main road.
It is therefore not shocking that even drivers in major towns and cities have resorted to such hide and seek games with the men in blue and only down their tools for demonstrations when they run out of options or are unable to predict where the police will strike next.
The police need to know that the brighter they become with putting many roadblocks at different points, drivers are becoming wiser and more knowledgeable on their geography. Today’s drivers have become skilled enough to know which dirt road leads to what section of the main road and have a wide array of options incase the police decide to move their roadblocks.
But such diversions leave room for thugs and hijackers to continue their trade. They might board the matatu like ordinary passengers and once it is on the diversion far from the main road and with no network coverage on mobile phones they commander the vehicle.
Many matatu owners are ignorant of the games their drivers play and sometimes the high monetary targets they set for those operating the matatu on their behalf forcing them to engage in such. The police system is also screaming to be looked into with all drivers running away from their presence yet they are to maintain law and order. Acceptance of bribes is unethical and probes should be conducted to reveal those who take part in it with strict penalties.
Unless otherwise don’t be shocked when you board a matatu and find your self off the main highway, they are just playing police and drivers.
Kenyans have for long been taken for a ride by our politicians.It is time that we put an end to this.as at now the taxes that we pay leave the ordinaryMwananchi struggling to survive,our members of parliament have shamelessly increased their salaries regardless of this.it is absolutely absurd to have 349 members of parliament on a 1million shilling payroll.....
