Kenya is a 'man eat man' society

Kenyans are indeed a resilient lot and nothing can attest to this more than the recent Rio Olympics fiasco.

Our athletes - under the most humiliating of circumstances piled on them by their officials - still went ahead to make the event the most successful in the history of the country; astonishingly going beyond the call of duty.

One newspaper columnist marvelled at what Kenyans can put up with in their daily struggle to survive in a country in which authorities only exist to milk the resources that the people work so hard to produce.

Is it a wonder that Kenya is ranked among the most taxed nations in the world?

Kenya is a country where State officers award themselves hefty emoluments against the country's GDP and get away with it despite public protest.

This is the country in which the President is helpless against his Government officials who steal public money every day despite his spirited calls against the vice.

Kenyans take it in their stride the debilitating effects of corruption in Government, which has occasioned one of the world's most unequal societies.

A "man eat man" society in which the down trodden are financially hemorrhaged in punitive taxation to pay for the lofty lives of the elite.

Incidentally, these same elite also enjoy the luxury of evading taxation.

Bank lending rates are beyond the affordability of the masses that still have to contend with paying high cost of electricity and fuel, and still pay high taxes.

Faced with all this, the people having lost the good fight to the ruling class resign to a life of apathy.

GRAND CORRUPTION

It is no wonder then that the people look on and continue with their lives as county governments take root as the second tier of grand corruption.

They understand that no amount of protestation will right the wrongs in a society that is continually spinning out of control in matters of integrity.

The people are being short changed from every direction. The recent revelations that police officers are transacting millions of shillings through their electronic money transfer service is yet another proof of the rot in society.

It is plain clear that the officers use their positions to engage in corruption, accumulating massive wealth at the expense of service delivery to the people of Kenya.

It is the reason if you called the police under distress, they will ask a litany of questions, probing the possible financial benefit of coming to your aid.

It is not uncommon in Kenya to purchase the services of police officers in the pursuance of justice. The alternative has been the mushrooming of vigilante organisations that hold the people ransom in many villages in Kenya to a point of carrying out extra-judicial killings under the very noses of security officers.

Even the church is no longer a place of refuge. It is in churches that we hear of misuse of funds meant to benefit the congregation.

Churches no longer preach salvation, but glorify wealth and do not even bother to expound the virtue of honest gain.

In fact, the Church to some extent stand accused of putting too much strain on members financially, which in turn has ruined the lives of their adherents.

This begs the question as to where to turn to in a failing society.