Thursday, January 24, 2008

THE KENYAN DREAM

By guest....

Part of the Kenya I want is a Kenya where politicians will
not run rough shod over the law & the will of the people to serve
their own ends. Part of the Kenya I want is a Kenya where my
constitutional RIGHT to elect my representatives in the Government is
not stolen away from me. Part of the Kenya I want is a Kenya where
there are consequences for one’s action and people are held
accountable for what they do.

It was my first time to vote too. In 1997 I was a bit too young, in
2002 I was out of the country so in 2007 I was all bright eyed and
bushy tailed and rearing to go. Without making a political statement,
I’ll say I did not vote for Kibaki. Part of my reason for not doing so
is that I do not feel he has delivered as much as he could have. And
back to the previous paragraph I believe that our leaders NEED TO BE
HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHEN THEY DO NOT DELIVER!!!

My intention as I cast the ballot was that if the next guy didn’t
deliver than he too would have to go. You see it at your place of work
- you’re given your targets. If you do not meet them, with great
aplomb, then it’s not very likely that the company will keep you on
for much longer. We accept this simple truth in our corporate lives,
why are we prepared to settle for less in our country???

I agree with you when you say we should not forget who we are. We are
KENYANS and God has blessed us with much. It is said that to whom much
is given, much shall be expected. Why then do we settle for
mediocrity? I feel that there is one group of people that is to blame
for the current state of things - they are called Politicians. We know
that our politicians (from both sides of the political divide) are
bunch of lying, cheating, back-stabbing, greedy
I’ll-sell-your-mother-for-a-vote b@stards. Here’s the thing though -
And there’s no escaping this one - WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for them!!!!

They lie to us, embezzle our hard earned and hard paid taxes and we
shrug our shoulders and move on? When are we going to wake up and
realize that THEY WORK FOR US!!!! NOT the other way round? Why don’t
we DEMAND more from them? If you had an employee working for you who
operates in the same way that they do, would sit back and let him
continue or would you fire his @ss?

So what am I saying? In my long winded, apologetically verbose way?
It’s simply this.

Yes, the violence needs to stop - we’re only hurting ourselves while
they are protected in their ivory towers (which we are paying for by
the way).

Yes, we need to pool together our resources (money, time, ideas) to
pick our beloved country up from the whole they have dug for us

Yes, we need to continue with our jobs so that the country doesn’t
grind to a halt (and so that we actually have those resources to help
our brethren in need)

BUT

As we do all this,

We need to make a stand for the Kenya that we love.

We need to ‘fight’ for our rights - and by fight I DO NOT mean physically.

We need to bring our politicians in line so that they can learn that
we, the people, are the ones who hold the power and they should work
to serve our interests rather than their own.

We need to understand that this country is a great nation with great
potential AND it will only achieve that potential WHEN we take the
steps to make it do so.

The responsibility is ours!!

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