From: Arnette Wambaire

Orina,

These are deep questions whose anwers is you and me.. We all need to practise true responsibility to the humane part of us. As the mswahili said ‘kidogo kidogo hujaza kibaba’, this means that if we each do what we deem to be right by all of God’s creation, we shall become a caring people. More questions to be answered:

1. Why scramble for a bus while there is a queue? Men are the worst culprits here as they usually get into the buses (especially since Monday the 14th of April) as only the heavy bodied human can shove and shove without a worry of whom they are stepping on or showering with their sweat. Heard some women loudly asking which meal the men are going to cook so that they can shove
rather than act responsibly by queueing…

2. Why throw papers, fruit peels, water, bottles etal from a moving vehicle without care of who is driving behind you? Can we not be good binners???? Dispose your trash responsibly and we have a clean environment. A lame excuse a lady used when i gave her a lecture on her yacky behaviour is that there are people employed to sweep roads and if no-one throws trash haphazardly, they wont have work to do! This one truly did her schooling inside a hole not even under a tree!!!!

Orina, I hear you loud and clear….. Let us all act responsibly and we shall become a country we are fondly proud to live in (not what Mutua wasted my tax on printing banners to claim i should be proud to be a citizen here).

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Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:18:37 +0300
Subject: Re: what the hell is eating us?
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Cyprian,

This has been our concern, all of us who care about Kenya.

To solve the issue of tribalism once and for all, we must find a way of encouraging all Kenyans to work together. In crafting the Grand Coalition Government, that is exactly what the government has done. Even though some of us did not approve of a bloated government, but if that is what will kill tribalism and bring Kenyans back together, then I am for it.

It hence needs the support of all the young Kenyans, be they 21, 24, 28 or whatever. We must join hands to slay this monster that is tribalism together once and for all.

2. In coming together as Kenyans, we must now collectively face the challenges that are facing Kenya without apportioning blame. It is not time to play holier than thou. We all know that the prices of essential commodities have gone high in the recent past, and this cannot be blamed on the youth.

This is something that the new government must face head on. It is not the wish of any government to inflate prices. Circumstances are forced upon governments to have no control over prices of essential commodities.

Now that we have the cabinet in place, let us all support them, and in so doing, demand for services. That must be the responsibility of all the young people of Kenya, indeed of all Kenyans, not just the young people.

True, Uhuru Kenyatta was misguided in throwing the PSVs from East of Nairobi away from the CBDA, but I do not see how this has become the problem of the youth.

I did personally complain about that move immediately it was made, and I am now happy that we have Musalia Mudavadi and Mutula Kilonzo to deal with that. Kenyans must demand that they solve the transport impasse so created by Uhuru.

Mungiki is a social menace, and the faster it is uprooted the better for all Kenyans. I was disappointed today when the president in his address to the newly sworn cabinet, failed to address the issue of mungiki. Yet, they have made Nairobi and Central Provinces come to a halt!

I thought that maybe the president knows something about mungiki that we do not know. The only consolation is that Hon Mwai Kibaki is done, and he will never again seek leadership of Kenya. If he is the stumbling block to the complete extermination of mungiki, time will tell, now that we have a new cabinet.

4. Kenya was almost becoming a failed state. Now that we all know what stealing can do to a country, it is time we all came together to demand a new constitutional dispensation that cannot allow the police to take orders from an election loser.

Kenyans must forever remain eternally vigilant when it comes to electoral matters. Let the best person win, and have him sworn in without much ado. We must all know that Kenya is more important than individuals.

7. There you go. The Prime Minister has just been sworn in today! How can he be answerable to crimes committed by other people. Please, let us not drug the Prime Minister in someone else’s mad. Kibaki has been in charge all this while as mayhem reined.

Face him and ask him all that. Let Raila be judged by his performance from now on, and let him not be condemned on the failures of other people.

That is being honest.

8. The new bloated cabinet has just been sworn in today. Honestly, how can be judge it as useless? It is time we called a spade a spade and faced reality without double speak.

11. In his acceptance speach today, the Prime Minister said that we must all start a new beginning, shun hatred, tribalism, and get down to work. He even said that the mungiki problem must now be solved.

The President on his part never tackled the issue of mungiki. Again, it is a question of being honest. The mungiki question must be answered by Kibaki, and not Raila. That is his baby, and when they kill people and he does not talk, Kenyans must not pass the buck.

12. The youth of Kenya must join all Kenyans in supporting this thing to work. We will achieve nothing by throwing spanners into the works. And Cyprian must now join the Grand Coalition, and help where he can, to make it work.

If we must criticize, let us engage in constructive criticism that will help the country move forward. If that need that the youth must unite to advance the wheel, so be it.

But let us not pull backwards as the train moves forward.

15. Rallies will not solve our problems now. We must all go to work, and help put bread on the table. Going to a rally to talk about things that can be solved, before we give this cabinet that much need chance to perform, is counter productive.

Lastly, I want to appeal to all Kenyans, not just the youth from which Cyprian belongs, that time has come for all of us to pull Kenya out of the mire. Let us all join hands, and in the Harambee spirit of the late Jomo Kenyatta, pull in one direction.

Odhiambo T Oketch
Komarock Nairobi

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From:odhiambo okecth
Date:Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:42:03 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: what the hell is eating us?

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From: isaac thiga

Hi,

I really second Orina’s facts!! Whats really eating us? Illiteracy? Lack of common sense? Lack of positive vision? Lack of positive imaginations? What is happening? Are we so accustomed to negative issues until we have become immune?

A few historical facts also throw us into darkness! In 1967, Kenya’s GDP was better than Singapore. Today, just google and the pictures will tell you the story.In 1970s, Kenya was at par at a bit better than some Gulf countries. Today, we are happily extending our
arms to beg for aid.

What’s really ailing our country? Lack of brains? No way! Lack of awareness of what’s happening globally? No way.

As a country we are faced by myriad of problems and unfortunately, as we fight for cabinet positions, Mungiki..etc, the world is moving on. That’s a fact!!!

On oil, did you know that some gulf states had budgeted to sell oil at less than 70usd per gallon?
Where are we now?

A country, a company, or even a home is as good as the leadership (not politician) in it!

What we have is a crop of selfish politicians? What do we do?

Lets continue with the debate.

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Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:35:47 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: what the hell is eating us?