I was listening to Governor Alfred Mutua the other day on television after his three-week trip out of the country, during which, as he explained, he was seeking investors for Machakos.

I thought of our MCAs who make trips to Singapore to see ‘development’ and return even thicker than when they left, some forever banned from these countries for reprehensible wannabe behaviour like pawing waitresses. I thought of the way both garbage and street families have spilled into the CBD, including right up to Mama Ngina Stree,  right outside City Hall.

By contrast, Machakos, ever since Dr Alf Mutua took power, has become a clean, well-lit place, with a people’s park, ambulances, cleaner clinics and plans for boreholes. And I was impressed when the governor said he was soliciting 2,000 jobs for Kamba youth in the United Arab Emirates.

After all, as that Infotrak poll revealed the other day, unemployment is the biggest headache among our youthful population today.

To my surprise, upon going to the social media pages, there were the usual (thankfully, a minority) naysayers, the ‘dream killers’ that we are going to be tackling head-on today in this article.

“Kwani anafikiria all that Kamba youth want is to be housemaids in the Middle East?” asked a notorious female supporter of a certain senator from ‘Eastern.’ “Afadhali Mulu Mutisya!” said another wannabe who, from the profile picture and birthday, was born several years after Mulu Mutisya expired.

Mulu Mutisya? Seriously?

Let’s just say there are too many Nairobians and indeed even worse wannabes out there in the sticks, who are only too ready to murder the dreams of fellow Kenyans. In fact Kenya, is the country where the ostentation of peacocks will be ridiculed for their bright and shining feathers, but an owl of parliamentarians praised and re-elected, in spite of their dark arts such as cooking up mileage claims.

I have personally never bought into that ‘still waters run deep’ saying. Sometimes the quiet folks trying to look all silent and wise are just scared to open their mouths, lest everyone discovers how shallow the so-called still waters really are.

Look at deathly quiet MPs in Parliament like Elijah Moindi of Nyaribari Masaba and Mary Keraa, the ODM Kisii Women Rep (let me focus on our Abagusii lest I am accused of ubagusi against another community). Keraa in Kisii means ‘be quiet’ and Mr Moindi may as well be based in India for all his ‘active’ parliamentary contributions; but surely no one is elected to just come to Nairobi, keep calm and wait to eat a salary at end the month.

Dream killer wannabes for artistes are those absolutely useless critics or jealous under-performing fellow poets or peers who will trash one’s work while proclaiming themselves more ‘talented’- yet they produce little or no work so that when the public are told one day they died, someone says – “But I thought Evans Patel died way back in 2009?”

Wannabe dream killers are those green-eyed folks who when one begins a business, will point out how competitive that business is – “there are cartels on that route that will finish your matatu” – and how terrible your location, or if it is a matatu, route is. “You will not be granted a visa for going to Rongai.”

These wannabes are the office dogs in the manger who do not want to see a former colleague occupy that corner office as General Manager. They would rather the new boss was out-sourced than for a peer to be promoted. They pee on every plan, and poo poo on every new idea – and people like these have always been there.

Thomas Edison, when he was toiling to ‘discover’ electricity, was mocked by wannabes who mistook his eccentricity for insanity. The Wright Brothers, before their ‘bicycle’ flew in 1902, were made fun of as the ‘Wrong Brothers,’ because their crafts crashed so often in the open fields, to the wannabes’ glee.

Next time some mediocre wannabe wants to rain on your parade, remember this paragraph from Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though chequered by failure; than to rank with those poor in spirit, who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because their lives are grey twilights of existence, where there is neither valorous victory nor devastating defeat.”

tonyadamske@gmail.com