From: odhiambo okecth
Date: Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 2:04 AM

We have just celebrated the 46th Kenyatta Day Celebrations and in his speech, His Excellency the President highlighted areas which he considered had been of major achievement for his government. He noted that matters of security should involve us all. And I agree with him to some extent.

46 years is such a long time, and I bet we need to walk down memory lane with Mr. President. When we attained Independence in 1963, our Founding Fathers had identified 5 issues to deal with; illiteracy, disease, shelter, water and food security among other major concerns.

As I look at these 5 issues, I must appreciate that a lot has been done on improvement on infrastructure. Our roads are being built and that is some very positive effort that we need to appreciate. Commuting between the rural and urban centres is becoming easy and fast. We have also been promised faster internet connectivity and it is sad that faster to the government is 3 years and above. The low costs that were to arrive with TEAMS has ebbed and talk is now on costs coming down 3 years hence. How I wished these were addressed early enough, we would have been addressing other issues of concern by now.
Illiteracy; I doubt whether this has been addressed adequately. Free Primary Education has been introduced and as we write, many children are enrolled in school in pursuit of some education. This has come with its own challenges and the government must put in place mechanism that address the problems associated with FPE; space, provisions, teachers and curriculum. 46 years down the line, we are still experimenting with systems that seem not to work to our best of intentions. This is a challenge we must face and fix.
Disease; That Kenyans do not have access to quality healthcare is a fact. Even our leaders seem not to trust our medical facilities 46 years down the line. Just recently, the Head of Civil Service had to be taken to South Africa for a simple operation; Our Prime Minister is known to always visit Germany for his eye problems; Many of our leaders have died in foreign hospitals seeking treatment. Yet, the common man has been left to die at will. 46 years down the line, it is a sad reality that we have failed to address matters of health for the common man. Health insurance is a mirage.
Shelter; Just 2 days ago, another high rise building collapsed on Kenyans in Kiambu. Several buildings have suffered the same fate. And it is sad that shelter and the need for more houses has been left on the hands of people who have no values. Nairobi is the only city in the world where building codes and regulations are not adhered to. And 46 years down the line, we have a series of unplanned urban settlement, unfit for human settlement at that with no concerns for pedestrians and other non-motorists.
Water; When Mzee Moi took over power in 1978, we started hearing that clarion call of water for all by the year 2000. The year 2000 came and passed and sad as it is, Nairobi has inadequate water supply today. Water trickles into our taps occasionally while some people see no water at all. This has given rise to many water vendors, some in tankers while many are on handcarts, crisscrossing Nairobi to help serve Nairobians with water we no nothing about its safety. 46 years down the line, we have no idea about how we want to tackle water security.
Food Security; The fact that Kenyans are dying of hunger is a world wide reality. People all over the world know that we cannot feed our people as our government officials conspire to sell our maize reserves to the Sudanese. It is known that every year we must extend our hands out to the international community for food support. This is a sad reality 46 years down the line.

These are some of the very basic needs of any human being. And if we cannot get them right in 46 years, what guarantees do we have of ever getting them right with these same kind of leaders at the helm?

Tribalism and nepotism has become rampant in this government. When we came together to campaign for Mzee Kibaki in 2002, little did we know that Mzee will upon assuming office kill our aspirations to be one people. We joined hands and sang in his praise and indeed, when he gave that acceptance speech on 31st December 2002, when he reminded us that the time for everything goes was over, that Kenyans must go back to the rule of law, and that there will be no more road side decisions, we all had a sigh of relief. We knew that at long last, we were reclaiming Kenya for Kenyans. Soon, Central Bank, Treasury and Kenya Revenue Authority were packed by home boys. Then the journey began; pack all institutions and arms of government with home boys. And Kenyans are watching. I bet this was retrogressive.

Security has become a major concern to many people in Kenya. We have daily escapades of car jarkings, abductions and extortions. While car jarkings and abductions can be excused, how do we excuse extortion? In the matatu industry, known people from one geographic region are running a parallel tax collection system which the PSV owners must pay, and the government knows this but does nothing about it. And we keep talking in all public occasions about need to boost security! This is a paradox that is encouraged because the security apparatus at the top most level can conduct a meeting in mother tongue; Regular Police, AP, CID, NSIS are all headed by a qualified team from one region, and as such, cannot stop the extortion ring run by their brothers.

The last puzzle to the jigsaw is impunity championed by the Judiciary. The Judiciary has been so domesticated to an extent that all and sundry do not give a damn about the rule of law. The Judiciary is being used for gate keeping by the Executive. They protect and reward the corruption cartels; they protect and reward those who steal from government and government departments; they refuse to meet out justice to those who infringe on the law, those who ran a parallel tax system- the extortionists.

Judiciary serves the Executive very well. They are used to frustrate any loud mouths; if you are a lawyer, your cases will be delayed and if not, unfavorable rulings are given to you despite the gravity of the law. 46 years down the line we cannot be talking about reforming the Judiciary. We should have had a Judicial System that works; that is beyond reproach, not the kind of thing that we all know works not. Ask Raila Odinga- 2007-8!

I bet we are not all that helpless as Kenyans. We can all rally together and demand action; action from these team that we have tasked with leadership. They must not give us lip service to service delivery as they engage their energies in killing Kenya.

As we welcome the presidential address to the nation on perceived areas of success 46 years down the line, we must address these basic problems with the same vigour with which the government plan scandals, because, all the scandals that we have had are government sponsored.

Odhiambo T Oketch,
Komarock Nairobi.

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Subject: Kenya on auto pilot; 46 years down the line…..