BRUSHING WITH THE HIGH AND MIGHTY

My days assignment took me to homeground (Machakos) where President Kibaki, in true Kenyan style was officially opening the Maruba Dam. Imagine i dint even know the dam existed until two months ago...apparently it has been there since the 1950s and the way masaku residents die of thirst...another example of poor governance...but i digress...

It was here that i noticed some things...actually i should have noted them by now but i guess today my eyes were opened.

On our way there..Kibaki stops in every town...whats wrong with that you ask..si the guy has to meet the people? yah, except when he does that...all road are closed until he moves to the next place he is going to...and i mean literally closed..all directions...if ur not part of that mercedes convoy...u aint going nowhere. Now for us kenyans who really dont give a damn where he goes or who he is meeting...it can get very annoying...think about that deal breaker you were meant to sign at 11am but ooops roads were closed...cant they find some other way to do this without inconviniencing Kenyans?

Again i digress...

So we naughty press people get into the convoy...its a different world once ur in that convoy...while the rest of the world stops...you are moving...at a very fast speed...and with no roadblocks...imagine a clear road from when you leave your house to when you get to your office or function..how much time ud save..what ud achieve...that is the life of his exellency...that guy probably cant relate when we tell him "mheshimiwa rais, tujengee barabara traffic jam ipungue" How would u when your never in one?

Two, theres a red carpet ready for him to step on wherever he goes...and the limo he travels in probably does not feel potholes and such...so when u talk of dust...he's like...eh??

Then he has like 20 security guards on his detail...always watching him....and i realized today that four others actually watch his car...yap...stationed at four corners of a car...watching it...their lives depend on it....the rest just shuffle around him giving the rest of us mean looks and even arrest us if we dared approached his exellency!! Im not really against the president being secured i know its necessary...but sometimes those security guys make it look like they are protecting Obama...excuse me...no one wants to suicide bomb our president, for what end?

Then came the party-stopper...the MPs singing his praises...asante rais kwa kutuletea maji, asante rais kwa kutujengea barabara...excuse me...it was my tax money that made that dam and constructed that road, not the president! Im sure he is not even taxed!! (by the way, in the new constitution, they all get taxed)

Mwisho, katika convoy..prezo huwanga on his own...as in..theres a buffer between him and the rest of the other convoys...what a life! everywhere he is..the area is cleared..

Now whats the point of all this babble...after all these observations i now realized why they all fight to be in the podium and some even dare to be president...i mean who wouldnt?

1. i get to ride in a limo that is dust free, pothole free..etc
2. i never get stuck in traffic
3. when im travelling im on my own..as in..me and my guards and no one else
4. even when its not me, im given credit for making lives of kenyans better
5. im called mtukufu, mheshimiwa,rais etc

Now, with all this going for me, you can now see why our leaders find it hard to quit or resign...

Which is why we need to change how we treat our leaders...go to other countrys and they are normal people like everyone else...hizi story ya chase cars mia, na traffic jams coz ur passing dont happen there.

I am praying for a new crop of leaders who will not be driven by all these things but to serve...we are here to serve...even in our small capacities...service above self...not the other way round..

Have a servant-like weekend!