The rains are here beating us in all directions. Homes and crops are washed away as sadly dozens of people have succumbed to this El Nino effect.
While we are getting drenched and disoriented in this virulence of huge waters, the economy is not giving us any breathing room as the cost of living continues to shoot up and day-to-day existence becomes a struggle even for the artificial middle class.
When one goes from buying three tomatoes for ten shillings to one tomato at twenty shillings, believe you me, even the faintest traces of reason and logic dissolve in despondence as people sink further into penury and hopelessness.
To those patronising malls and partaking exotic meals and choice drinks, these words sound like a play of vocabularies but the reality on the ground is dire.
Nobody likes discomfort, nobody likes losses either, whether you are in business or corporate industries. For those who are inclined to religion, you remember the story of Joseph in Egypt.
Egypt was faced with seven years of plenty followed by seven years of life-draining famine. The Egyptians of yore were saved by the wise planning that involved putting food reserves to cushion against the famine.
When the seven years of drought arrived, “Joseph opened the storehouses” and provided enough food to bring the nation through the famine. His wise strategy and effective implementation of the plan even allowed Egypt to supply grain to the rest of the world during the famine.
Lest I am accused of starting a cult, this reference is meant to highlight the need to plan properly for any eventuality vis-a-vis the need to accept the current realities of scarcity.
There is nothing as painful to a breadwinner as the inability to place food on the table when you have dependants looking up to you as their provider and protector. This is leading to a lot of depression in the family, especially for the man of the house.
Traditional socialisation models have raised men to be strong, not to cry and to always go out of their way to ensure things are right by the family. The contemporary environment is so harsh to productivity, especially to those not on a monthly wage.
There is a rise in homicides and gender-based violence all directly or indirectly attributed to these economic variables that are shaking the family foundations. The populace is losing hope, and this is not a good thing.
There is need for tolerance within the home and re-evaluation of roles and expectations. For instance, it may do good if the couple can all devise ways of navigating through these difficult times by taking extra income-generating activities without looking at “what the people will think”.
If going around hawking or washing houses will put something on your plate, go for it without apologies, diploma or no diploma, degree or no degree. The stomach doesn’t understand shame and quite certainly character is built upon hard work and discipline not necessarily white-collar six figures or political crookery.
Employers with a solid HR policy, kindly consider some kind of intervention where all parties are winners. You may consider taking your employees' children of working age for contract jobs as a way of appreciating your employees and also easing the financial burden of taking care of this cadre of Kenyans.
It may help too if you contract the employees when you are taking in ordinary supplies such as vegetables, milk, or even craft services. Some of the employeeswill gladly provide these goods and services and this will go a long way in cushioning them against the hard dollar.
Think through as many innovative ways of inclusivity so that we can all hold together as a nation. And to you employees, you have a critical part to play too, if your organisation gives you a profit warning, this is not the time for cheap and nonsensical politics and melodrama, take everything in your stride, things will be well eventually.
Don’t burn the bush that has fed you for all these many years and while at it stop projecting your low economy induced anger to management. Be civil and remember it happened in Egypt thousands of years ago and they survived through it.
To the policymakers, those governing the exchequer, this is the time and moment to exempt anybody earning less than $400 per month from tax and consider expanding the tax net for the high networth individuals and industries.
It doesn’t make sense to squeeze the sap out of a young seedling that is struggling to get its roots deep into the soil while you are expecting to get a forest in the next generation.
Protect this vulnerable niche and give them room to increase productivity so that they can get into the tax-paying brackets when strong and able.
When all is said and done, we all need each other, the whole 52 million of us, we all matter in the building and strengthening of our homeland Kenya. God bless you, God bless Kenya.