Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: Globalcitizen12 on March 01, 2016, 01:35:10 PM
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Letter to the President
By Paul Karanja
Mr President,
I am a father to a 6 year old girl and 2 years old boy. Last year I had an experience with my daughter that I will not forget.
My daughter’s bicycle had been faulty for a period and she kept on requesting that I fix it. My response every time she made the request was. “I will do it”. This went on for sometimes until one day I came home and I found my little girl with pliers trying to fix the bicycle. I was very embarrassed. I had failed in my responsibilities as a dad and the message that I communicated indirectly to her was “you are on your own “. You can be sure that I did not rest that evening until I fixed the bike.
You might be wondering where I am going with this story. Figuratively speaking you are the father of the nation. That is why on the 9th April 2013, Kenyans and the world at large watched as you were given the instruments of power to lead our country. You need to ask your press team for the video of the swearing in ceremony so that you see how excited and optimistic Kenyans were on that day.
Fast forward to three years of your leadership and Kenya lies like my daughter’s bicycle on the balcony. Kenyans for a period now have been requesting their “father” to fix the “bicycle”. Unfortunately Mr. President, what we have heard from you is “I will fix it”. You have said this very many times until we no longer take you serious. The message is clear WE ARE ON OUR OWN.
I know the argument will be, this bicycle cannot be repaired by you alone and that each one of us has a role to play. To some extent I agree but just as a reminder the instruments of power are only in one person hands and that is you Mr. President. You can imagine how hopeless we feel when the person we expect to show the way does not seem to know the way either. The other day while driving behind a matatu I saw this sticker “do not follow me I am also lost”. Listening to your speech yesterday while addressing the water students in Israel it is clear that the forest is too thick and even our leader is not sure what to do.
The major defect on the bicycle is “corruption”. We were very excited when you read a statement and spoke tough when unveiling the list of shame. What we did not know is that this was just another ploy to delude the Kenyans that something is being done. Nothing came out of the list of shame but instead corruption seems to have been fuelled. Even after our pleas and cries for the president to do something, what we got instead is a rebuke from you that the bicycle is doing okay.
http://www.kenya-today.com/opinion/paul-karanja-letter-to-president-uhuru-kenyatta