These Kenyans! Part I

“One way to read a nation’s psyche is to find out what its people pray for…So it was highly instructive when the priest leading the prayers on Jamhuri Day asked the good Lord to bless Kenya with “oil and other minerals”, amongst other things”. …For the last 40 years, we have been led to believe that wealth accumulation is the only virtue that those who make money the hard way- by actually working- are too stupid to know that the fastest route to riches is through trickery and deceit. Hence we admired swindlers and crooks, people who have hoodwinked the system, grabbed land or stolen from the national coffers. We want to be like them because we believe that being rich is the answer to all our prayers.”- Rasna Warah in her opinion piece “Careful what you pray for; you might just get it” (Daily Nation December 25 2006). “…it is important to add that we are never known as Kenyans to celebrate our success. We doubt everything. We seem to have a pathological problem of low esteem that we never believe that we can do it and when we do it, we think a miracle has happened. It takes time. It will take a cultural change whereby Kenyans will start to believe in themselves and their institutions. Its very unfortunate that we have very low self esteem that we do not believe anything good can come from us.”- James Mwangi, CEO Equity Bank responding to skeptic’s assertion that the bank is a “bubble” that it is “flying under false wings” (Finance Magazine November 2006) “Rarely do we see dictatorships in families in the name of fathers and husbands, religious organizations, schools, popular organizations, and at the global level. In Kenya we seem to know more about presidential authoritarianism because of its visible, oppressive “big stick”. We need to identify the small and perverse dictatorships in our society if we are to struggle successfully for democracy.”- Cabral Pinto in his opinion piece “Wanjiku, the ordinary Kenyan, is not a fool” (Daily Nation December 28, 2006) “I am a visitor to Kenya from Ireland. Last week, after parking at Sarit Centre, Nairobi, I returned to find my vehicle clamped. There are no signs warning drivers that a parking fee is required, and there were no parking attendants. After speaking with a parking supervisor, who just happened to be sitting next to my car, apparently awaiting my return, she insisted that I pay a fine of Sh1,070. After I paid her, she refused to give me a receipt and I demanded my money back. She then took me to an office, not far away, where two officials took my money, and issued me with an unofficial receipt scribbled on a piece of paper torn from a book, advising that I would get an official receipt the following day. Afterwards, a street vendor told me this is a regular ploy, to watch out for obvious visitors, hide from view, and then clamps their cars. When the visitor returns, they demand payment of a fine, insisting they can't issue a receipt until next day. Obviously, few visitors will be able to return the next day, so the money is pocketed by the attendants, according to the vendor. I think this is a disgraceful abuse of position, and is at the heart of the bad reputation Kenya has had for corruption…..” Brian MacCormaic, Letters to the Editor (Daily Nation December 28, 2006) A Nyeri farmer who ushered the New Year in a hospital bed nursing donkey bites says he regrets the death of the animal that nearly killed him. Expressing the deep love he had for the animal, Mr. Peter Wachira, 48, now says it was a mistake to order the killing of the animal that had served him for more than a decade. He had asked the residents of his Gatitu Village to kill the animal from his bed at the Nyeri Provincial Hospital- seven hours after he was admitted. – News item (Daily Nation January 2, 2007)