Accepting low standards breeds mediocrity in our institutions

By Njuguna Mutonya

The Thika Super Highway might be one of the landmark highs of the Kibaki regime and it was a breath-taking wonder to see the presidential motorcades four abreast racing to the Moi International Sports Centre, in Kasarani, Nairobi for the swearing. In it, we see a vision we as a country are headed away from the pot holes and muddy trenches belittling our self-worth for several decades.

We have accepted such low standards in delivery of service that quite often; Kenyans just shake their heads and get on with life. Sometimes, one has to leave his country to realise things could be better by comparing the local situation with the host country one has visited. I remember my anger and constant fulminations against the Mombasa Municipal Council after my six-week tour of the United States two decades ago and the pithy articles I penned ridiculing the city fathers for filth and garbage uncollected for days.

But if I thought that was bad, one should see the city of Mombasa today. The council garbage collectors dispose it in the Central Business District locations like Makadara Gardens, Uhuru Gardens, Majengo Market or Mvita Secondary School. It is with this in mind I greatly welcomed one of the first directives of the new political administration to the police to revive the emergency police hotlines 999 and 112.

Now a few considerations – One, Kenya has been one of the most targeted countries by terrorists mainly because of its proximity to Somalia and because it offers numerous high level targets due to its stability and economic prowess. Two, we have a system of cooperation between the citizenry and the Police Service called Community Police Service in which the public is requested to inform the police voluntarily of any infractions they might witness. That is the point!

In the past, one could easily jump into a phone booth and make that free call and the police would be there in a jiffy. How did the system collapse and why was it never revived even as our exposure to terror was glaringly multiplied by our military incursion in Southern Somalia to battle the Al Shabaab?

It seems the acceptance of mediocrity has crept into the police force and like other sectors, people shrug and move on with their lives. An example is to be found in our eateries and entertainment places.

An investor will pour millions of shillings into a glitzy food or drink outlet but just turn the small covered entrance at the corner and into the toilets where you will be shocked out of your senses by the filth and neglect. This kow-towing to mediocrity should be sorted out using the instruments set out in the Constitution, which allow even the public to sue for the benefit of a clean environment. My new friend “Wash” thinks this addiction to low standards could be an attitudinal problem fed by the rampant corruption in the civil service and fuelled by the lumpen proletarian culture the middle class has adopted.

The absence of basic sophistication among our people is worrying and needs to be addressed either through civic education by Government and civil society or through draconian application of laws.

By directing that the police revive the emergency lines, there is a glimmer of hope the new team in power might address that which feeds our mediocrity in a way that should establish an attitudinal shift which will help us to value ourselves better. The bloated civil service must be made to justify their massive wage bill by providing commensurate service to the taxpayers or they face cuts. This should be a chance for Kenyans to reclaim their space by making those who they have elected to justify that they did not go to Parliament or Senate or even County Assembly just for their stomachs but that they have an obligation to the voters.

To improve infrastructure to world class levels and leave it to be used by Neanderthals in the mindset is to court disaster. How do you feel when you are driving behind a posh car and then – out of the blues all the windows open and out flies soda cans, potato chips wrappings and chicken bones as you navigate that straight stretch approaching Voi? And by the way, that is a family!

The writer is a journalist and consultant