Obama finally brings ‘maendeleo’ to Nai, but he does know how we rock!

My children like it when guests visit, as that’s when all the fancy dishes that lie in the cupboard gathering dust are brought out and put on display. 

When it’s just us, we make do with the chipped, mismatched collection of cups, spoons and plates. Even my mother has always had a stack of ‘special dishes’ kept under lock and key that are brought out only when ‘real’ guests (not her beloved children) visit for a meal.

Of course there are several categories of dishes for various guests and much as, say, a leading lawyer is distinguished, in my mother’s eyes, he or she pales when my husband or the Bishop come calling.

This is nothing new. It is the same in other homes across Kenya, and probably the whole world. The goodies are brought out to impress guests and promptly put back once they leave. That’s just the way it is.

When former British Prime Minister, the late Baroness Margaret Thatcher, visited Kenya way back in January 1988, she was scheduled to visit some development projects in Kiambu. As a result, Kiambu Road was re-carpeted all the way from Muthaiga right up to Kiambu.

For those of us who used the road every single day, it was pure bliss to suddenly receive a road that went nyweeee all the way home. A similar thing happened in Mumias where a farmer she visited had his home refurbished by the government.

Thankfully, once Mrs Thatcher and her entourage were gone, our beautiful Kiambu Road - and the farmer’s splendid home - remained. They were there to stay – it wasn’t as if they could roll it up and take it away once Thatcher was done visiting. In fact, the road has remained good to this day. I’m sure the local Brits still laugh at the memory.

Over in Eldoret, Moi University was gifted with The Margaret Thatcher Library!

So, I don’t really understand why Kenyans are complaining as improvements are made to our infrastructure ahead of President Barack Obama’s Nairobi visit this month. Roads that had no culverts will now get them; places where huge potholes threatened to swallow both man and machine are being filled; dark streets will be lit up; security will be ‘beefed up’... what more could we ask for?

Sure, there is some level of discomfort being experienced by Mombasa Road users while all these improvements are going on – like having to drive all the way to the airport to  turn around and head back to Nairobi – but it’s only for a short time, folks.

Let’s look on the bright side – once Cousin Barry has come and gone, I doubt ‘they’ (those faceless, nameless people we love to blame when things go wrong) are going to tear up all the new stuff and take them back to the store as happens with the fancy utensils in our homes.

The fancy bits and pieces may last a week, a month or even a year (hallelujah!); let’s just bask in the benefits Cousin Barry is bringing our way. As someone wise once said, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Let us, however, pray that Obama doesn’t wander off on some unscheduled forays into Dandora, Baba Dogo, Ongata Rongai or some smelly alley in the CBD, for that would give him the biggest shock of his life. Or would it?

Let’s not forget cousin Barry has been here before, when he was a nobody, and ridden on a crowded, sweaty ramshackle of a bus stinking of fish with his sister Auma on his lap. He knows how we rock!