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Give the credit where its due.The government is really trying to counter corruption head on.We as patriotic kenyans also need to be supportive to this move in order to clean the mess completely.It cannot be left for Raila and Kibaki alone;for we are the government.Lets report corrupt ideologies to t ...

keneth kaunda okungu, Kenya


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The Standard Blog

A new Kenya in the making

Published on 22/01/2010

By Chris Wamalwa, Philadelphia, USA

Happy New Year everyone! In the mid 1990’s, in the heady days of Kenya’s ‘Second Liberation’ when the streets of Nairobi reverberated with calls of ’Mass Action’ and chants of ‘Moi Must Go!’ I was a rookie Information and Media Relations Officer at Chania Avenue in Kilimani the then offices of the National Council of NGOs commonly known as NGO Council.

Working under the direction and guidance of the likes of Lucy Oriang’, then my immediate boss, Murtaza Jaffer, Irungu Houghton, Elkanah Odembo, Davinder Lamba and Kivutha Kibwana among others, we perfected the art of civic action and social activism.† The now very visible moves around the draft constitution and land reforms (Operation Firimbi) in Kenya has a direct input of the member organizations and staff of the NGO Council and its cousins, the NCCK then under Mutava Musyimi and the Law Society of Kenya.

Backed by the political class populated by the ‘Young Turks’ - Raila Odinga, Martin Shikuku, Martha Karua, Kiraitu Murungi to mention just but a few, we really "kicked ass" during those early days of multi-partyism. Any time Serikali served, we volleyed. Time and chance have happened to almost all of us - moved on to do other things as others move in to carry on the fight. I’m not even certain that the NGO Council still exists.

The point I want to make is that I’m basically one of those people the Kenyan media used to call the "NGO type" - yaani, people who would oppose anything and everything the government does. My instincts are rooted in social mobilization and activism. For a long time, I had very little good to say about the activities of GoK even after moving away to America. After all, not long ago, May 2009 to be exact, I was carjacked in the streets of Nairobi. I however was back this last December and during this trip, I subconsciously started noticing and registering some changes that I wouldn’t have imagined were possible ten years ago

Ten years ago, if you told me that I’d one day drive on roads in Kenya that are very similar to those found in European or North American highways and turnpikes, I’d have told you, you were a worse dreamer than Martin Luther King Jr. Yet, this is how some roads are in Kenya now. I drove from Nairobi to Bungoma and when I was back in Nairobi did some rounds in Eastlands. I did not only find the roads fabulous, the fact that matatu passengers are not packed like a soldiers backpack anymore was indeed intriguing.

I was particularly impressed by how the streets are now lit. One of the changes you immediately experience the moment you land at JKIA if you are coming in from abroad has always been how dark the country appeared. Of course with time you adjust and soon everything else looks normal. Now, Nairobi at night looks pretty much like any other metropolitan city in the world. Jogoo and Outer ring roads are just awesome and this stima thing has spread even into some remote villages like Kimaeti, my home base. Some children in the rural areas who used to learn under trees and wrote in the sand now have roofs over their heads and can even go on with learning when it is raining outside.

I’m told all these have been possible due to the magic of the Constituency Development Fund money. I don’t write this to praise the government for a job well done, for there is nothing ingenious about putting public funds to good use. This indeed should be the norm and not the exception. I write to acknowledge the fact that with focused, committed and good leadership and proper management of our resources, we can all realize our dreams not from America or wherever but from our own country. I write to encourage our leaders to do their job well and always remember that when the cake is reasonably distributed, everybody is happy.

Like any other people around the world, all that Kenyans want is fulfillment in whatever they want to do and an opportunity to provide for their families. Lastly, who came up with this MPESA concept? This is one of the indications that indeed the 21st century belongs to Africa.

--

COMMENTS

1. On Monday February 8, 2010, 23:35 PM , Paul Joseph, United States wrote:

  I would imagine more development could have been achieved without the prevailing corruption and impunity.

 

2. On Sunday February 7, 2010, 1:07 AM , ABMomanyi, United States wrote:

  Chris while I agree with your assessment I would like you to relate the economic value of the development of roads & lights to that of natural resources eg geothermal. In economics We borrow money,use it to exploit our natural resource sell them pay the loaners & use the balances to develop infrastructures. By the way how about telling the public to vote against the referendum due to MPs pay.

 

3. On Wednesday February 3, 2010, 20:09 PM , James Maina, Bermuda wrote:

  Chris, I was beginning to worry about you until you wrote this article about your remarkable experiences in Kenya. Your visit home seems to have widely opened your eyes in many positive ways. Kenya is a very nice country with emmense promises for the future. Soon, we can visit Kenya only carrying the Kitambulisho as the thags continue to be eliminated by all means possible. Yes, roads are v good.

 

4. On Wednesday February 3, 2010, 0:06 AM , James Mutunga, United States wrote:

  To Chris and many others, you can actually send $$ directly to MPESA account with poapay, a service with as good exchange rates as moneygram etc. You can even send it direct to an a/c in a Kenyan bank, no wire-transfer fees. A friend introduced it to me, I love it.

 

5. On Tuesday February 2, 2010, 9:08 AM , samuel mulwa mbobu, Ghana wrote:

  Transformation is possible when people become aware and demand for their rights. We still have a huge task ahead as a nation. It would help if as citizens we take leadership, not just for paid office, but for accountability, reaching out to others, modelling society as our duty. It requires more than the government to right things. We can all be part of the solution in creating the Kenya we want.

 

6. On Monday February 1, 2010, 14:56 PM , Lichina Wa Libale, Kenya wrote:

  Just an indication of how much things have changed. As recently as the year 2002, the mobile phone was a foreign concept reserved for the high and mighty. Exit the suffocating Nyayo Era and now there is an explosion of technology. With a focused leadership, Kenya can go very far.

 

7. On Monday February 1, 2010, 13:43 PM , Madi sheyumbe, United Arab Emirates wrote:

  The country is improving so much, we have addresseed.one important matter that has not been addressed. Exploitation is one area which has not been addreseed. More especially in the health sector.

 

8. On Friday January 29, 2010, 18:32 PM , hassan said, United Kingdom wrote:

  People talk about corruption ,poor leadership,tribalism,nepotism among other barriers that hinder development but hardly do we see attitude problems that prevails in Kenya being addressed.Let us first change our thinking and borrow the positives we see from other parts of the world before we start dreaming that a brighter Nairobi skyline equates development.

 

9. On Friday January 29, 2010, 6:37 AM , Anthony Ndungu, United States wrote:

  I agree with you Chris that we have finally embarked on the right track for development after almost thirty years of dictartorship in the nyayo era. Much of the development going on in Kenya right now like building roads, communications development and so on are things that have been overdue and denied to Kenyans for a long time due to bad politics and greediness by our leaders.

 

10. On Wednesday January 27, 2010, 19:16 PM , Elijah Monda, United Kingdom wrote:

  Chris, i do agree with you most roads are much better than what we were used to: pot holes and mud. My worry though is if the good roads will be maintained or are we to start witnessing old scenes again. 1960's pictures of Nairobi show a city with street lights and road marks. we have taken long to get to where we were in the 60s but finally we're there.

 

11. On Wednesday January 27, 2010, 1:38 AM , shem mwangi mukuba, Kenya wrote:

  Kenya will only change when all the former members of single party dictatorship are replaced by a new corrupt free clique of politicians. But how can we do this when our playing grounds are not level. The corrupt rich send their children to quality schools, and sometimes even buy exams for them. They then corruptly place them to strategic govt jos,eventually abbeting more corruption.

 

12. On Tuesday January 26, 2010, 23:01 PM , MOSES LEMUKOL , Morocco wrote:

  Chris,am really impressed by your article! As it is always good to give the positive view of things still much is in a mess that needs to be healed:corruption,uncountable scandals name them.Unless all these stumbling blocks are cleared we will never achieve our dev goals,vision 2030.Kenya will develop when leaders forget thier ethnic origins and fight for the common gud of the kenyan society!kudos CHRIS

 

13. On Tuesday January 26, 2010, 13:31 PM , Dennis Langat, Australia wrote:

  Chris, its good to be positive about own country but there is still alot to be done. it does not take much to clean the city or even to stop the insecurity, come on man a friend of my father was shot dead by thugs last week and as usual no one knows who did it. Does it happen in the US?Sometimes I wonder whether our leaders or African leaders in general ask themselves if we are a cursed race.

 

14. On Monday January 25, 2010, 23:04 PM , George Wairungu, United States wrote:

  This is responsible journalism. Let facts be facts whether they are good or bad. I am particularly disappointed by some seasoned journalists who see everything on the left of Y axis and below the x axis.

 

15. On Monday January 25, 2010, 21:05 PM , Kenneth Macakiage, United States wrote:

  I cannot agree with you more, I visited Kenya in 2007 just before the election and again in December of 2009. The roads have improved quite a bit and a lot more constructions are going on. Many city streets are being expanded as well as rural roads. I was particularly impressed by the Nairobi-Nakuru road, Nairobi-Mombasa road (smooth and not a single pot-hole), Naro-Sotik road same thing. As I drove past small towns I noticed some had street lights…..kind of things which were reserved for major cities only. Even though it is not ingenious putting public funds in to good use, we have to acknowledge and credit the good work that the government is doing.

 

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