Of public spaces and national psyche

There are few places that have their fingers on the pulse of a people as do public transport, newspaper vending points and shopping centres (pubs & salons). Riding in a bus this week, the driver was telling a passenger that he did not come to Nairobi to look for work, but cash... and by whatever means necessary. In his considered opinion, urbanisation is not about work, (there’s enough work in shags, from where he originates). [Heavy!] This mercantile outlook nailed the thinking of many Kenyans. It explains: why a man robs a country blind and is allocated a VIP seat at a national event; why another over-indulged man, after a life of unimaginable affluence afforded by ‘dubiously-acquired’ billions, dies under mysterious circumstances and is accorded a hero’s send-off; still, why another accumulates crazy cash, courtesy of peddling drugs and other illicits, and why our meek response to such colossal misconduct is voting them into elective political office (the tyranny that is democracy is just plain crazy!); why others still, with criminal charges hanging over their heads, remain serious contenders in the race for the highest office in the land. Our choice of leaders speaks more about us, and our values (or lack of the same) than of our leaders. The tragedy is that when majority of the citizens buy into this Machiavellian thinking, moral degeneration seems all-pervasive and a sort of helplessness begins to afflict the moral-minority. My response? A renewed resolve to stand,DAILY. So, help me God!