As Kenyans, we are victims of our own idiocy

This column, being my last one of 2016, finds me in a rather pensive mood.

And with deference to the reflective space I am in, I will make a departure from its usual tenor.

Not because there isn’t an ever-increasing number of injustices, absurdities and grandstanding that we continue to be exposed to, nor because I am tired of fighting or occupying my hallowed position on the soapbox.

Normal programming resumes next week.

For now, though, I’m going to shift the attention to ourselves and how we are allowing the circumstances around us to influence the very essence of ourselves as a people.
Let’s talk about playing the victim.

I am not referring to the unfortunate incidents for which the circumstances are largely out of our control, where we just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My interest is in those spaces we willingly and wilfully take ourselves to, in the hope that we will magically reap something that we did not sow, and then turning around and declaring ourselves the victim.

The interesting thing about being in a position where things ‘happen to us’ is that it absolves us of personal responsibility and allows us to cede control to someone else or factors outside of our influence.

As in years past, the scams get more and more ingenuous be it on the political, religious or money front.

And whether it is ‘panda mbegu’, gambling ourselves into millions or the latest real estate scams, there’s always one thing at the back our minds — that partaking in a scheme hatched up by someone else is the magic pill that will take us into that perfect, rich existence that we so deserve.

So we sit back and rub our hands in glee, counting the days until we come into that small fortune.
Then when it all comes crumbling down, we declare ourselves victims.

I forget how many times we have heard all the cautionary tales, yet we still think this is our lucky break, that we can beat the odds, make a quick buck, become instant millionaires.

When the religious ‘panda mbegu’ scandals broke and the media reported it, I, like every sane Kenyan, thought people would shun the churches that were spreading this gospel, excuse the pun.

Alas, when the next worship cycle came round, I heard that it was packed to over-capacity.

There is a chance that those who decided to pay a visit were there to assuage their curiosity and not because they were ardent converts but somehow I doubt that.

Just the other day we saw a man of God, or so he claimed, exhibiting the most debased acts in a church, all in the name of healing.

I hear the church is still flourishing.

I do not mean to pick on places of worship, but there is something that comes with those who invoke the name of God that causes us to lose all reason and exhibit the most inane gullibility.

We buy ostentatious items for those who claim to ‘intercede’ for us. Yet we continue struggling under the yoke of poverty under the ruse that they have a more direct line of connection to our maker than we do.
And then we claim that we have been duped, that we are victims.

Bad things keep happening to us, we shall not only take no responsibility for our actions, we also want others to take pity on us.

Every time someone raises the alarm on how impractical these plots are, they get lambasted for exhibiting envy and not wanting others to prosper.

Recently, it has been the proliferation of gambling and betting.

Now, I realise that this conversation on gambling has gone far beyond reason and as someone said, people will not stop gambling just because statistics tell them the odds are stacked against them.

It’s hard to convince someone that spending their meagre earnings on a less than one in a million chance that they will strike it rich when the gambling companies are flaunting jackpot winners in our faces.

If you’re going to gamble though, have the decency not to blame anyone but yourself when you lose, much less ask the state to protect you.

While I was at some point of the opinion that the government had a role to play in regulation and protecting its citizens, I have since realised that no administration can save us from our own idiocy.

And while we are on this, let’s learn to listen to our gut feelings.

You know, the ones that tell us that we should think twice because the deal is too good to be true.

It doesn’t matter that it looks extraordinary on the surface or how convincing the salespeople are.

Conduct your due diligence until your doubts have been allayed.

This race we are in to always beat our friends and neighbours to the prize is borne of a scarcity mentality and as long as we pander to it, we are guaranteed to never really win.