Opinion: Referendum is not for the common ‘mwanainchi’

Since the return of "Baba" the media has been all about dialogue and referendum. I have been watching the panels, TV interviews and so far have not seen anyone from the so called opposition explaining what they aim to achieve with the referendum.

My opinion is the referendum is not for the common ‘mwanainchi’, standing on a podium ranting out your views is not the “mwanaichis’’ word. Me the "Mwanainchi" (the owner of the country) together with my fellow “wanainchi” the 42+ tribes of Kenya all we want is clean food on our tables, clean water flowing from our taps, electricity that is affordable, schools that enlighten our children and not over burden them with heavy bags on their backs and nothing in their heads.

There has been too much talk of late about corruption, have the politicians calling themselves “wanainchi” stopped and asked why the cops put up road blocks just to get some cash from reckless drivers and mostly matatus? Have the "wenye inchi" stopped and asked themselves why the parastatals are not producing? And many other questions?

This is why I think corruption will never end, a member of parliament is earning close to a million Kenya shillings and goes to work almost half of the year. A teacher who teaches a class of 50+ students might end up pocketing 20,000 shillings at the end of the month. A policeman walking at night in the notorious estate of Dandora might pocket 15,000 at the end of the month.

Yes I know the next point is that teachers are not corrupt, but surely do you expect the teacher to take the 15 shillings a student has been given by the parent to buy mandazi at break time? Corruption in schools does occur but only during the form 1 intake.

Police man on the other hand is out and about meeting the mwanaichi havesting money from the revlers by selling beer to them past the "Mututho time".

As long as the Gap between the rich and the poor is brought close enough, corruption will still be there.

I have worked with certain government institutions where during a board meeting the board members each walk away with a minimum of 20,000 shillings per sitting. Whenever there is a board meeting and no allowances were proposed, the board room is practically empty, come the day the allowances have been allocated the boardroom is packed. In the same organization a watchman who works 12hrs a day 6am to 6pm walks home with 8,000-10,000 a month.

As I said this are my opinions, as a “mwanainchi” I feel that the issues being raised are not worth us wasting our hard earned money on a referendum. As a “mwanainchi” I do feel we have deeper issues that need to be addressed if we are to go for a referendum rather than IEBC. Cost of living has gone up almost everywhere in the world having a referendum that doesn't provide money for the local “Mwanainchi” does not help us.

To ease the cost of living, have the county governments make revenue hence the national government can concentrate on other issues, allocating more funds to the countries will not aide in devolution, as the white man once said do not give a man a fish show him how to fish and he will help you later on when you do not have enough fish to feed your family.

Devolving the security forces is not the answer showing appreciation to your security forces is one of the answers. Security in any country is key, though so far I have not heard anyone thanking KDF for stopping hijacking of people from Lamu. Our security forces have not acted quickly enough and one can say we bought cars and motor bikes but are they comfortable, has anyone ever walked to a policeman and asked him how his day is? Has anyone ever offered water to the policeman who stands all day at Nyayo stadium roundabout under the scotching sun, and offered a bottle of water? Hence in terms of security we have all failed. I bet most of us, the so called new generation or the generation of selfies do not even know our neighbours.

Make the wages of the teachers and security service attractive to the common mwanainchi and reduce the hefty wages given to the members of parliament.

Ministry of land should publish a list all government owned land a list of unclaimed land to allow for local and international investors buy unclaimed property that is unclaimed through open public tender.

As I said this are my two senses and hope that Kenya will one day, the media especially try and sell our beautiful country to the world and stop politicising everything.

Why can’t we keep our doctors in the country? Why can’t we keep our teachers in the country? I go back to my earlier point our wages, the wage scale in Kenya forces our doctors ou of our land, the wages in Kenya forces our teachers out of our land and the wages in Kenya keep our politicians in our land. The “Mwanainchi” referendum should be used to change tactics, attract more teachers attract, attract more security personel, and attract more doctors and make it less enticing to become a politician so as to make it a continuous economy, I do not have to close my shop every 5 years in Kisumu and relocate to central just to wait for the elections to end. Elections should just be a by the way not a show stopper or an economy stopper for some of us.

I hope one day to read on the newspaper or to watch on the television different counties meeting and discussing how to benefit the common “mwanainchi”, instead of MCAs foreign trips to Dubai, the MCAs as an example to tour Machakos, to tour Mombasa.

#KenyaWeAreNotOne