RISE UP - Save our Beloved Country from Being Auctioned off...!!

Insightful interviews I recently watched on Jeff Koinange’s show Capital Talk aka. ‘on the bench’ – a show I religiously watch - highlighted issues [away from the Ocampo 4 hubbub] that ought to be at the centre of national debate. During these interviews of Dr. Leakey and John Githongo, two gentlemen who have preached the gospel of good governance and who have in their own special ways contributed towards this, brought to mind some pertinent issues that many a times go unmentioned. Though differently phrased both were asked about what they hope to see the Kenya and its people become.

 John Githongo, currently running the ‘Ni Sisi’ campaign that seeks among other things to empower the youth and transform a largely ignorant and ethnically polarized society into a cohesive one capable of making informed decisions on issues of governance and self empowerment was of the opinion that he yearns for a day when the ideals that drive the campaign are realized. He elicited his sadness and almost fell into a paroxysm of tears about how polarized Kenyans were and how this had completely blinded us from being involved in real issues facing the Kenyan society.

Dr. Richard Leakey giving a more elaborate yet detailed response to the same question highlighted some of the current developments in Kenya and why there is need to have an informed society a keen on ensuring accountability and integrity in governance. He called for a closer examination of the ongoing developmental projects in the country, giving the port of Lamu, the Road and Pipeline Construction to Juba, South Sudan as just a few examples. Issues of royalties and the awarding of tenders ought to be scrutinized, the viability of projects and how they stand to benefit the Kenyan people as opposed to lining the pockets of a few scoundrels of justice that are our political and politically correct elites.  

And so it got me thinking… the moment the Hon. Prime Minister stood on the plinth [or the pulpit – nowadays what the hell is the difference!?], and announced the commencement of the massive Lamu - Juba project, the moment KenGen’s Eddy Njoroge announced the start of another phase of the geothermal power project, the moment the President launched the now celebrated thika highway project, the day the Kenyan government got into a very controversial concession to be the sole beneficiary of Ethiopia’s Gibe III power project, just to mention a few of the ongoing infrastructural projects…. How much did Kenya sacrifice? How much of Kenya did we auction away? How much money ended up in the hands of the powers that be and their bed fellows?

Case in point 1: The Ethiopian Gibe III project – a massive investment by the Ethiopian government to supply almost all the electricity generated to Kenya [good from far…I mean with all the black-outs]. However, it emerged that an impact assessment had never been done on what the complete diverting of the River Omo that is the main, if not the only source, of water for Lake Turkana, would do to the lake and as a result the thousands from the Turkana community, who exclusively rely [depend in fact] on the lake as a source of livelihood …and life. Currently as a result of getting into bed with a government with a pathetic human rights record, the Lake Turkana waters are fast receding and the fish are fast disappearing … again what is the worth of the sacrifice?

Case in point 2: The Thika highway construction project. It is no secret that whenever the government markets Kenya as worthy of foreign investment direct (FDI) or not, it further promises to waive the enforcement of our strict labour laws as part of the ‘deal’ – hence the reason why Chinese construction companies win tenders with ridiculously low bids (only for you to hear about a RE-negotiation…. of the contract [oh yes does KenGen come to mind!?] Indeed the number of complaints of violations of labour rights and an utter disregard of labour standards is appalling! Many complaints to labour officials die a natural death. What is the value of the auction!?

It is no secret that these shady/suspect deals happen both in the public and private sector, locally and abroad. Recently [English football fans] may know of Harry Rednapp Tottenham Hotspurs FC Manager being arraigned in court on allegations of tax evasion during the sale of the striker Peter Crouch while manager at PortsmouthFC and an alleged 100,000 British pound bonus secretly stashed away in a foreign bank account named after his pet to avoid detection.  

I have left out the geothermal and other equally dubious projects even at the constituencies’ level that go unmentioned as we insist on the soap opera popularly known as the Ocampo 4 - indeed a theater of the absurd!

The two speakers I mentioned at the onset talked about corruption that is still endemic and which really needs and empowered populace and electorate to fight. Not just corruption in terms exclusively of economic crimes but the more endemic corruption that is in all spheres of life including how we carry out our matters in a laisser-faire and unprofessional way.  

Our country is being auctioned off and slowly being sold off to the lowest bidders that end up making much more than any highest bidder ever will. We really need concerted efforts to stop this, no one else can do this for us, not our politicians, not the compromised “community leaders/elders” and certainly not foreigners (who benefit immensely from our disorder)…. NI SISI!!!!!!!!