Concerns About Cost of Living

After a few weeks of the Ocampo 6 circus, the country has suddenly been jolted back to the realities that face more than 50% of the population who live in abject poverty. With riots already happening in Uganda and Burkina Faso due to high living costs, it was just a matter of time before someone tapped the government and media out of the hypnosis induced by the highly entertaining Ocampo 6 circus.

A friend of mine has a tendency of asking for a rationale for any information you share with him. When you learn some new fact, he wants to know what value does it have to the immediate cause? He says 90% of the information that we share in a day may be interesting, but of zero value to our lives.

In the same breath, I have taken the same view and measure to most of the shenanigans that we are subjected to by our leaders/politicians. So how will Kenya change or improve if we sing patriotic songs off key in Amsterdam? Is the scarcity of maize seeds and fertilizer that is the concern of hundreds of thousands of farmers solved? Nah! How will the hundreds of poor Kenyans living in camps change? I now pay attention to news or commentaries that offer solutions. Political brinkmanship should not be allowed a national platform, especially when the expected outcome is just political careers of three or four Kenyans.

The national platform should only be given to issues that affect the masses and it was heartening to suddenly see on evening news stories on living costs and unemployment that is a concern for many. So what should we expect from our government?

Rations for the very poor? Subsidies? Government issue unga? I am waiting for the evening news to see how we propose to handle this one.