Yesterday I dragged my tired self to Java, Galleria for my usual Sunday evening coffee date. 2 waiters and a waitress passed me several times in a span for 25 minutes before they could take my order. I sat right outside the door for crying out loud. No, they didn’t notice me until I asked if there was a spare waiter they could send to my table and what time he/she would be available. I offered to wait or I make my coffee.
The look I got from the waitress was atrocious. She sneered and proceeded to drag her feet as she brought me the menu. Honestly I felt disgusted.
According to her and the people in the surrounding tables, I was being a nuisance. I was disturbing the status quo. I could almost hear someone say I had a stick up my sh!thole. I should shut up and wait till they felt like serving me, right?
At this moment, it hit me. Kenyans don’t like upsetting the balance.
We can’t pull a ‘Libya’ or an ‘Egypt’ for crying out loud. We don’t like our peace disturbed even if it is for a good and common cause. Try speaking out against discrimination, or demanding for what you’ve paid for or is your right and everyone will distance themselves and you are branded as the town’s mad man. We can’t unite ourselves to work for a better Kenya, Organizers of KenyaFeb28 can tell you this.
Kenyans are fine with being fine. Nooo, doing better is just so much work.
When civil societies are up in arms shouting themselves hoarse about rise in taxes, we curse and cringe at the thought of how bad traffic will be on that day. We get mad at how they are wasting our time and money.
Most Kenyans didn’t participate in #KenyaFeb28 because we’d be busy at work, or have better things to do, or as some asked ‘Who cares’ or ‘What next’?
How many times has the price of fuel been hiked yet we can’t down our tools and take to the streets to show the government who’s boss? I mean it is JUST 4 shillings up, right? What is 4 shillings anyway? *Shrug*
How many times has bus fare been hiked just because it is raining/there’s traffic and we rush in like fools instead of standing strong till they stop this madness? How many times did we board overloaded vehicles because we didn’t care our own safety?
How many times do we bribe our way out just to avoid inconveniences that will eventually stomp out corruption?
As I write this, the Ocampo6 arrived back in the country this morning and are expected to host a rally at Uhuru Park. 40 plus MPs accompanied the 6 suspected perpetrators of the 2007 Post Election Violence to show their support.
These MPs don’t care about the injustice that led to the Hague process, they are setting up shop for 2012 by aligning themselves with the Ocampo6 for influence.
Another crazy one flew off the handle doing shuttle diplomacy using taxpayers money, MY MONEY, to gather support against a process I fully support.
Being the complacent Kenyans that we are, we will put our feet up and fold our arms as we whine about this rally and the participants. Come 2012, we will choose these same guys because we are brain washed to believe they are the ones we know: better the devil you know, right?
Else we will butcher each other while the same leaders who incited us go have high tea at The Serena patting each other’s backs. They’ll go on to doze off in Parliament as they get siting allowances and are raise their salaries at free will.
I was shocked when some IDPs were interviewed on their thoughts on the ICC process and one says that The Ocampo6 should be brought back to Kenya and forgiven!!!?? How now brown cow?
The ‘middle-class’ of this country who are the majority are failing us. The ‘low-class’ fights and throws stones, uproots railway lines while the ‘middle-class’ stays indoors where it is safe. We blame the low-class people for all the disturbances but we forget they are reacting to a situation. Rise in food and kerosene prices affect these families a hundred-fold.
Don’t for a minute forget that it is money from the middle class people which will pay taxes to repair any damage caused these uprisings, not the low-class’ people’s income because they are not taxable.
I can’t speak for our leaders because they make me sick and we keep re-electing them and that is how we got ourselves in this mess in the first place.
As for the ‘high-class’, they just don’t care. They live in the leafy burbs and all they can hear are the birds chirping in their backyards or their horse’s neigh in the stables, not our cry for freedom.
Come on Kenyans! Let’s get off our high horses and start scrubbing. Go on, get your hands dirty.
This is your country: quit acting like you are just visiting.
*Lights off*