If you Google ‘Kenyans
peculiar habits’ or read the book “How to be Kenyan “ by Wahome Mutahi, you
will be hypnotized at some of the things you will find out. If you are Kenyan
you will probably reminisce at some of them. Some are endearing, some are
hilarious and some are downright ugly. Some of the most popular include,
bargaining for everything, punching people to get attention, over lapping,
showing direction with the mouth, thinking that white is might, doing things on
the last minute, using children as beggars, desire to be ordinary (Mwananchi wa
kawaida) and even self appointed journalists taking videos with their phones.
I will tell you why
some of these habits are responsible for the money that could have constructed
the road to your village or built a clinic in your neighborhood or at least
filled a few of those potholes on your way to Eastleigh
but is now back to Treasury. The sad
part is Mr. Githae doesn’t really need that money. In fact, the money is now a
nightmare because our big brothers (donors) are now threatening to withdraw
some of those ‘allowances’ they give us.
When I was a kid, my
parents used to give us money to go and buy stuff. If you brought back change,
you were considered a responsible kid. From then on, you became the new finance
manager at home at least for a while before your dad discovered you really
didn’t bring back all the change, you had used it to buy candy. The truth is
some of these old habits die hard. Some ministers think that returning money is a sign of responsibility although we all know, even from the percentage of
money that is claimed to have been returned, it wasn’t really returned in full. Sadly, the consequences of returning the money are disastrous. His ministry may be allocated less funds come the next financial year and the same minister or his predecessor will be crying foul.
The last minute
syndrome is a generally accepted culture among many Africans. We pay our
bills on the d-day, we file our returns on the d-day, we trans-night so that we
can do well in the exams the following day, of course I know this does not
apply to everyone but a large majority of people. This bad culture cascades
upwards even as people grow older and have more responsibilities. According to Controller of Budget Agnes
Odhiambo, poor planning was one of the major reasons why such a large amount of
money was returned. The ministries did not plan in time and time caught up with
them and they were forced to return the money. She also mentions delays in
procurements, late release of funds by treasury among others.
Corruption
is a commonly used word in many Kenyan conversations. A famous columnist Margaret
Carison said,“I realize that whatever amount of corruption I expose, half my readers
will block it out, although they may get a frisson of joy in the process” I am
sure Mohammed Ali (Jicho Pevu) would agree. We get fascinated and furious when corruption is exposed but lack the will to follow through the fight. People in charge of these dockets
don’t get treated in clinics, they don’t need free malaria drugs, nor do their
daughters need free sanitary towels to stay in school. They are a bunch of
greedy individuals who will spend their time acquiring more wealth and
campaigning for the next elections to make sure they maintain the status quo,
which in turn leaves them no time to plan a good development agenda for the
country. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe leaders are to be entirely blamed for this, I believe they are just a reflection of the society that elected them.
One
of our other major issues as Kenyans, is belief that ‘white is might’. We
have complete disregard for locally made products. We import everything. We eat, drink, wear,
drive, sit on, drive on, and pee on imported products. Local manufactures are
crying foul. We make laws and policies that promote everything imported at the
expense of locally manufactured products. It is very difficult to have expedient
procurement processes if we have to import all the labor, services and products
needed. Our leaders should know that by promoting imported products and
services because it is cheaper for the so called ordinarily ‘Mwananchi’ is a
very shortsighted way of addressing issues. It may solve the problem
temporarily but in the long run you are building a ‘dependant’ nation. There is
a common saying that goes, give someone a fish and you will feed them for a
day, teach them how to fish and you will feed them for the rest of their
life.
Phobia for writing a will is another major issue among many Kenyans.
Majority of Kenyans don’t write a will. Everyone is scared of something, some
are afraid of the dark, others of the light,others of death
etc. Some fears are good others are just irrational. Currently the value of
unclaimed assets in the state custody runs in billions. The state is rich just
mostly lead by self serving individuals, The state doesn't deserve to inherit your
small estate. Succession cases in court are countless. Most people are scared
of writing a will because they feel that by writing a will, one is inviting
death. However, Kenyans need to
understand that by failing to write a will, you will be leaving your dependants
in a den full of angry lions. You will not rest in peace if you leave your
dependants to pay for liabilities they didn’t even know existed, nor is there
any joy in them losing property to greedy relatives because of your lack to distribute your estate properly.
If this country is to achieve the Kenyan dream, we need to critically
look into some of these habits and start addressing them appropriately. We need to sieve them, keep the good ones (in any case that's what makes us unique) but loose those that do not build us. The
last minute syndrome has to go. We need to start making policies that support
the local industries; phobia for legal documents has to be addressed. Corruption,
well let’s not even go there. We need to
lose some of these cultures and start making new ones that our children’s
children can be proud of.
Bikram Choudhury said, “Never
too old, never too bad, never too sick to start from scratch again.”
