Of re-branding and ‘pigs in lipstick’

President Obama, revered here by some and disdainfully dismissed by others, had this to say about his Republican rival during his campaign for the presidency, “You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig”. This was in reference to the policies being offered by Senator McCain being similar to those of President Bush, thus implying that a vote for McCain was actually retention of the old regime.
The above quote aptly mirrors the goings on of our political parties here at home. Re-branding is the buzz word. Recently our Vice President changed the name of his political party to Wiper Democratic Movement from ODM-Kenya. Reason being, he did not want confusion at the ballot box with people intent on voting for him, voting for ODM instead. He changed his symbol from one and a half oranges to an umbrella. I think an appropriate symbol would have been an old rag or some baby wipes in keeping with his ‘Wiper’ name. Next, the Finance minister proposed changing his party from KANU (Kenya African National Union) to KANU (Kenya Alliance National Union) How clever! I can clearly picture the everyday voter discerning the difference. Our good professor has also has been busy. He held a recruitment drive on a day after a major holiday. How well attended was this affair? We can only hazard a guess.
A central theme runs through all these shenanigans being marketed as re-branding. They are still the same wolves whatever they decide to call themselves. And they want to be put in charge of the hen house called Kenya. I can positively predict that none of the chickens will make it to market.
What ails political parties?
-All are devoid of manifestos addressing the genuine concerns of the citizen. Most manifestos, if they have one, are drafted by lawyers. They are wordy yet say nothing.
-All political parties thrive on the whims of their founder. Remove the founder and that party is rudderless or dies immediately.
-All parties are detached from the grassroots. In the cases cited above, they all opened their secretariats in Lavington or thereabouts. How is the voter in the far flung areas of our country supposed to interact with their party? Well, an answer to that would be, “I will fly in on my chopper two months to election time and then its bye until the next election cycle”.
-All political parties treat campaigns as carnivals. Politicians doing road shows like aging rock stars, atop a truck, music blaring, looking pathetic trying to do the jig in vogue, dishing out blankets and cash. This does not add any value to their campaign nor does it help voters make informed decisions.
This is but a tiny fraction of the ills that plague our political parties and our politics in general.
What way forward?
-We propose manifestos be prepared with the input of those they hope to represent. This can be done through informal polling using samples. The benefit of this is that we can hold politicians accountable when they take positions contrary to our wishes and demands.
-We propose political parties be structured like corporations. That way they are free of personal influences and can thrive and grow long after their founders have departed.
-We propose that political parties have a permanent presence at the grassroots. This will enable party members to interact frequently with their party and party officials can disseminate party policy more effectively.
-We propose a different method of campaigning. How about town hall style meetings? Potential candidates can make their pitch and voters can voice their opinions in a back and forth type interaction. How about televised debates for presidential candidates like those held in North America? This would help voters differentiate the dunce from the well informed as regards their grasp of topics, ranging from the important such as the economy to the mundane such as how do we get our people to adopt a different staple food.
Lastly, and this may be contentious, I don’t think social media such as face book or twitter will any add any significant numbers to any candidates tally. I won’t defend this position, it just is so.
Comments are most heartily welcome.

From theory to practice

Some members of Tuala youth initiative group with their donated football siting atop their home made one. Taken on 14th September.

In my efforts to get involved in local community development, I recently accepted an invitation to attend a fund raising for the proposed secondary school in our locality. They have a shell of the secondary school that was started but construction stalled after the contractor fled with the money half way through. The event was moderately attended and a fair amount was raised. This type of fund raising activity brings forth several troubling issues. Among them is the question of accountability. The money raised sometimes gets ‘misplaced somehow’ and those that sat in the sun baking as they handed over that they did not have, are left with nothing but hopes and dreams. Another issue is following through. As previously noted contractors are notorious for accepting money for a project and then abandoning it half way or not doing anything at all. It is usually difficult to pursue these shady contractors once they have accepted the money. Will the school get constructed in time for next year’s school intake? Time will tell and I will keep readers informed of developments.
I also attended a neighborhood meeting of Rongai residents and business people a few weeks ago. The topic discussed was garbage and sewage. As mentioned in the previous article, on entering Ongata Rongai from Nairobi, you are met by open sewage spewing a green murky liquid substance. It is said many a small animal that had the misfortune to stumble into these open drainage systems has been vaporized, never to roam the earth again.
In addition to the garbage and sewer issues, we also discussed building codes, access roads and a few other topics that were not on the agenda. At the end, the participants came up with four resolutions to adopt and implement. My take on this neighborhood meeting is that while the the nothing is going to be done as we have a very ineffective County Council that in my opinion earns a failing grade in the provision of basic services.
Getting Involved
I have begun visiting neighbors and town residents and have met a few development minded citizens. In the course of my ‘meet the people tour’ I met a group of local youth who work in the nearby quarries loading trucks with stones. A little background is deserved. Kajiado County has many rocky areas that are mined for building stones. At the entrance to our town, which is more like a trading center, a group of youth waits for trucks coming from outside the area. They then hop unto the trucks to be loaders of the building stones that are mined in the hinterland. The truck owners have an agreement with the local youth to provide loading work to them in exchange for buying stones from their area. I met the chairman of this group who shared a little about this group. He told me they are a registered group and have an account where every member contributes a set sum weekly. He told me that recently his group has stalled and contributions were no longer being given as regularly. He heartily welcomed me and told me he would like a visionary to help propel their youth group further. Since community activism is what I am all about, I humbly welcomed his invitation to work with his group in engaging the youth in social and recreational activities. The youth in rural Kenya are prone to partaking illicit brews due to boredom or lack of worthwhile engagements.
One of my first gestures of being involved was donating a football to the youth to play with as they waited for loading work. Previously they had been using a homemade football composed of nylon and bound together by sisal rope. This small token was received with much appreciation. Going forward we plan to start a local football team. Duties have been assigned. Among them are scouting suitable grounds, pricing hardware for the goal posts and approaching corporations for sponsorship.
I will keep readers appraised of developments.

Slumber not, dear mother land.

Above photo: Once majestic Nairobi Railways, its frontage has been turned into a terminus for public transport vehicles. I took this on the 17th of September.

As ardent readers of my blog know, I was based abroad from the start of this very informative transformational blog. I am back home ready to assist and do my part in building this yet-to-be great nation. A sage once told me: “Even that America that people are fleeing to, was once barren and bare. Pioneers made it the way it is now. So build your America here in Kenya.” These words of advice, coupled with the fact that all my ideas for development can only be implemented while I am on the ground, made me transplant.
Initial Impressions
Kenya has changed these years I have been away. There are very few clunkers on the roads.There are some nice cars here and there but the vast majority of people still walk or take public transport. Nairobi has become overcrowded. While not rundown, its beauty has paled due to lack of maintenance. It is not a pleasant experience walking around this once great city, former pride of East Africa. On the positive, it is cleaner than it was during the former regime. People don’t litter for fear County Askaris may pounce on you from out of the blue. And gone are the days when women used to cook chapatis outside Times Tower building. There is no smoking on the streets; they have designated smoking areas where people huddle together like chickens during a storm to puff away, inflating their lungs with noxious fumes.
There are many more people especially the youth; sadly they have taken to aping western culture in song dance, dress and mannerisms. Generally, people are well dressed especially the ladies. Clothes, new and used are in abundance and it is thus easy to dress decently.
As for the roads, I have not been to see the famous Thika road and don’t intend to. A major modern highway leading to nowhere serves no purpose and we will be paying for it several generations down the line. What we need are feeder and access roads leading to densely populated areas or areas where commerce takes place. Other roads are still the same. There are no new roads in my area, Rongai which is outside Nairobi. The town has become very densely populated, trash everywhere, traffic a night mare with speeding drivers and non obedient matatus.
As regards communication, everyone has a phone. I mean from the tech savvy generation, up to the old grandma out in the country. Safaricom is very dominant as a supplier of mobile telephone service. Their Mpesa mobile banking system probably has more users then all formal banks combined together. Internet connectivity has improved tremendously according to those I asked. There are many internet capable phones being offered at affordable price points and the youth have taken to them in droves. Internet cafes are still popular as the price of a laptop or desktop is still prohibitive.
As is obvious, our greedy politicians have not bettered their ways, they are busy feeding themselves oblivious of their starving electorate. Recently without fanfare, they unanimously agreed to dip into the emergency reserve fund to pay their back taxes. And a day after a fire tragedy in one of the Nairobi slums, the Cabinet passed a resolution to shift the date of the next General Elections from August next year to December of the same year. The excuse given was flimsy at best. These are not the leaders that will transform this nation. Local Government is even more ineffectual. I will deal with them in the next article.
All in all, I am very optimistic about my motherland but we need a concerted effort with every ones involvement to propel this nation forward. Development will not take place with a centralized form of Government and the new Constitution is already stumbling out the gate as regards its implementation. Hopefully a new Government under a devolved type of administration will fare well as regards delivery services but it will only be driven by a completely new set of servant leaders. So my fellow Kenyans, choose wisely at the next Elections. To this end, we suggest an intense campaign geared towards civic education. I plan to start a civic education program and will be contacting civil society bodies for teaching materials.
Going forward I plan to post more development related articles and interviews with regular Kenyans. The tale of Kenya needs to told and I am optimistic this story will have a happy ending.
I sign off with this well intended Moi era Slogan that somehow went awry: “Peace, Love and Unity.”

Banana juice gold mine

A very fine initiative from our Kenyan youth