#UshenziKE our #DiaperMentality via @GabrielDolan1 in @DailyNation: Between us and them stands the siren You are travelling along at reasonable speed and safe distance, when suddenly you are assailed by blaring sirens and flashing blue lights. You react promptly before you are bullied off the road by outriders, and a half a dozen escorts. Yes, someone of importance is passing and you are an obstacle in their route. In the old days, we were expected to alight from our vehicles and politely wave to ‘‘Baba’’, as a mark of respect. Some even felt inclined to salute and sing the National Anthem for they knew that behind those tinted windows was someone rushing to serve you and the country urgently! Nowadays, we are never so sure who has passed in the whirlwind of dust as Cabinet secretaries, governors, county executives and a host of nobodies and new faces feel protected by the Constitution to ram you off the road. As soon as the governors are given flags and the MCAs receive car grants from the President, envisage thousands more given the royal treatment. POLICE AND AMBULANCE In most countries flashing lights and sirens are associated with police and ambulances rushing in an emergency to save lives. In Kenya they would have us believe that politicians are dashing to save the nation. Admittedly, the sirens and lights are often those of an ambulance, but the destination is almost always a private hospital. Rarely do we see public ambulances rushing the sick and injured to public hospitals, as is the case in most parts of the world. All of this illustrates what leadership involves in Kenya, more about entitlement than service; more about putting distance between them and wananchi than being approachable; more about them than about us. This simple example shows how far we have to travel to make Kenya a more equal society. This week social media has been sharing a photograph of Swiss President Didier Barkhalter waiting to board the morning train to work: no fuss, no entourage, no security detail, no inconvenience and no wastage. In the same country 91 per cent of MPs take the tram to work. No SUV fuel guzzlers, no drivers or security detail and no big deal. French President Francois Hollande and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel frequently use the train to work. Pope Francis, too, usually used the train in Buenos Aires and originally had a 1984 Renault 4 in Rome. His handlers, however, upgraded him and he now uses a five-year-old Ford Focus. When he recently visited South Korea, he surprised all and sundry by insisting on using the subway to travel to the stadium for Mass. Of course, he is only following the footsteps of Jesus who entered Jerusalem on a donkey. No one is advocating that the President use a matatu to work. Indeed, whenever he has chosen to fly from State House to the Airport by helicopter, the travellers on Mombasa Road have shown their unanimous approval. Inconveniencing the public and expecting privileged treatment where none is due is the issue. When the sound of sirens and flashing lights are from public ambulances and not impatient politicians then we know that Kenya has travelled far.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 10:03:12 +0000
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