A number of happenings in the near past have jolted me out of my writer's block and compelled me to jot down this piece before my memory is swallowed into the rising cacophony of the day ie, housing levy, rising taxes and the works.
The events were quite revealing, a tad shocking, but not entirely unexpected since we all live in the same spaces and experience life on a day-to-day basis alongside each other.
Kenya is a land of controversies that are entirely human-made. The ordinary mwananchi is the biggest perpetrator of the worst atrocities but, at the same time, the most experienced wolf crier who will always shrill aloud at the slightest opportunity of startling the entire community. Let me pick the outstanding one for lack of a better adjective to describe this gigantic act of treason that is being taken lightly by many.
The sale of stones and gravel as fertiliser has been happening for quite a while, right under the nose of the authorities and within the structures of the agricultural systems. Just picture a situation where ordinary Kenyans mine tiny stones in the form of gravel and diatomite at Kariandusi, sieve them and package them into branded fertiliser bags for distribution to farmers.
Availability of food is a matter of national security; it is a matter of life and death, but an unscrupulous group of people put profit before the nation, profit before life, and they did not care about the repercussions of this illicit trade as long as the colour flows in the right direction; their pockets. This is high treason. If you were to ask me, it is an act of aggression that deserves the most severe punishment since it is a direct threat to the existence of the people.
Before we recovered from this monumental atrocity, we had another spectacle at Gilgil of Kenyans buying well-packaged flour that turned out to be nothing but ashes mixed with ground white gravel. The dubious people behind this trade had an extra offer of 20-litre cooking oil cans that turned out to be blended kay apple juice mixed with a little cooking oil for taste.
Just a few weeks ago, we witnessed another raid in Eastlands, Nairobi, where some enterprising chaps were repacking used engine oils into neatly made replica containers complete with seals and quality control stamps, enough packing to fool even the best of keenest motorists' eyes. In all of these acts of economic terrorism, it is ordinary Kenyans who are involved, they are the connivers and pushers of the scheme.
Ordinary in the sense that they are the loudest when it comes to fighting corruption, they sit at the front pews of their church, they are elected chairpersons of prayer committees and they carry with them an aura of upright personality defenders of the community rights and values, raisers of good families, mention any poker face that is acceptable to society, they will wear it proudly.
All this while, they blame the politicians for “our woes” to give everything around a sense of normalcy. It is pathetic, to say the least, that the average Kenyan will pull all the stops to break all the rules to “help” a friend or a relative who is on the wrong side of the law.
Instead of upholding the rule of letters, the noise will be skewed against letting this one go. The pretext will be courted under labels such as “ it was never that serious,” “ he is one of us,” or such to give the enforcer a guilty feeling trip all this while we all pretend to want a better and upright society.
Dear Kenyan, how do we build a strong nation of value, justice and equity when all the people, ie, me and you, who are in charge of supplying the nation's building blocks, are compromising the structural integrity of those blocks? What expectations do you have when you swap solid concrete blocks for quicksand blocks? Fire-forged stainless steel with next-door twigs?
What role are you playing in the degradation of the construct called Kenyan values as a responsible citizen who wants a better nation? We need to stop the rhetoric and be true to ourselves and the cause. The masses have resorted to swinging with the crowds in a herd mentality that defies common logic. Government bashing and blaming seem to be ingrained in their psyche even when the events happening around them are perpetrated by their brothers and sisters.
Have you tried stopping the wrongdoers as your primary patriotic duty? Stand up to be counted on the right side of history. One thing I will assure you, when you are clear in your focus and stand by the truth, you will not be the most liked person around, but this is a small price to pay.
Be ready to stand for something as valuable as the truth, rule of law and honour and focus on generations ahead. There is hope for a turnaround in a generation or two, but the seeds of this awakening must be planted now. Take up the call and let us build Kenya together. God bless you; God bless Kenya.