Conjestina and her management are solely responsible for the woes that have befallen her

In the remote past, last week especially, photos of the once famous Kenyan female boxer Conjestina Achieng’ have been doing rounds on social media portraying an image of an emaciated shell of the former boxing star. This in turn triggered my interest and here is my opinion on the same because to this story, there’s more than meets the eye.

The former boxing starlet lives in squalor and is rumored to have been battling an ailment for an undisclosed period. You will forgive me on this piece because I am going to be brutally honest with you.

While I sympathise and empathise with Conjestina Achieng, she adds to the growing list of stars who ended up poor, miserable and desperate despite a glowing and distinguished boxing career. But then, the now infamous tagline ‘tunaomba serikali’ has cropped up once again. When will this end? It should have come to the end after the story of Mzee Ojwang’, the Vitimbi thespian.

I want to say here without fear of contradiction that Conjestina and her management are solely responsible for the woes that have befallen her right now.  My grandmother always says “ukifanya kazi leo na ulipwe shilling kumi, tumia tano na uweke tano sababu pia kuna kesho.”

To say the least, it is appalling that a person like Conjestina earning close to Kshs. 800,000 per match at the height of her career can now turn to the public and ostensibly to the government asking for help. The government owes such personalities nothing. I will repeat, nothing at all.

In our own right we need to take personal responsibility and initiatives to put in place mechanisms that will ensure that once we become indisposed or even old, we can meet our bills and medical expenses without necessarily burdening the government. We must put a moratorium on all these outrageous demands on the government. The government cannot be able to meet the needs of all people in the country as the meager resources will be stretched. One philosopher said, do no ask the government what it can do for you, but rather ask yourself what you can do for the government.

Many of the stars and celebrities, (no all for that reason) who end up crying for help from the government in their dark days have at one moment or the other have been living large and lavishly and in many ways failed to invest their proceeds, in their wee moments of glory. Your expenditure must in its own right portray a person with a modicum of intelligence and foresight that the old days are fast approaching. Days when you will not be making as much as you have been making.

And when I talk of investment, many of you will quickly point out that the star invested in real estate in Kasarani, Nairobi. I implore you to look at the bigger picture. Investing in physical assets is an okay and a wise decision. But how about investing in your health?  Such that when you are indisposed, then the insurance can come in handy and not the usual ‘tunaomba serikali’ which has time and again become a clarion call.

Finally, I will reiterate without fear of retribution that the government should be absolved of any financial burden resulting from the carelessness and lack of proper management of the financial resources by our stars and celebrities. The government owes you and me nothing completely. You are the steward of your own destiny, choose wisely the kind of life you want to live.

This should therefore ring a bell to the minds of our celebrities; stir up introspection and soul searching. Let this be the last time we are hearing our celebrities impudently hold the government accountable for their own irresponsibility. Use your emoluments wisely and invest because the old days are fast approaching. Remember, the government owes you nothing, and I am unapologetic about this statement.