Your Excellency, I am writing to you at a time when Kenya is going down the drain. Since you are the Head of State, I am sure you are well aware of the situation in the country.
You have chosen to ignore the harsh economic and political crises, but the world, especially the international media, has noticed the smoke anyway and they are not kind to us at the moment.
They now write headlines such as “An Anti-corruption Plea in Kenya: “Please, Just Steal a Little” (New York Times, November 4, 2015) and “Kenyan officials accused of buying sex toys on expenses” (BBC, November 4, 2015). When our revered scholars like the Chief Justice spell doom and even someone like Mugabe, of all people, himself one of the worst dictators on the globe, claims that Kenyan institutions of higher learning offer degrees in theft, that should ring a bell. Your Excellency, top politicians are tearing the country down. Kenya is in turmoil!
It is against the aforementioned that I write to you. My letter isn’t driven by hate or by a political agenda. I respect the Presidency. Mine is merely a suggestion. You are the Commander-in-Chief and I presume you know better. Your Excellency, I am not writing to take gulps of the oxygen of publicity, far from it. I only want to share my opinion, because I believe in the diversity of opinions. Since I don’t have “connections” to reach you directly, dear President, I shall publish this letter in the public forums in the hope that you may find it.
Your Excellency, Kenya is monetarily haemorrhaging and it’s costing us an arm and a leg. I doubt whether those around you tell you the truth.
They have filled their pockets and they don’t feel the pinch like the rest of us. I am the humble son of peasant and I’ve been through pain. Let me tell you about it.
I am worried. I am a disappointed young Kenyan. I may not sit for my exams at the university. Why? You may wonder. Well, I have not cleared the fees. Those who used to pay my fees have not been paid their salaries. Because of the cash crunch, of course. I am not an economic expert, but I have examined the statistics. For instance, Dr Ndii, among other experts, says we are on the verge of collapse.
Dear President, we all know this crisis didn’t happen overnight. Someone has obviously slept on their job. Consider your inaugural speech, for instance. You transported us to a dreamland where all our problems, or at least a few of our problems, get resolved.
Your energy and eloquence carried us away. Kenya, I thought, would tremendously change under your tenure.
I imagined a new dawn. In your first term even. That didn’t happen though. Instead, the economy plummeted and corruption soared. Most of the promises you made, I am sorry to say, were not realised. The country is bleeding right, left and centre.
I may sound like a pessimist, but I think I am just a realist. Insecurity is at its acme, interest rates at the peak and the shilling has lost value against the major currencies.
Allow me to digress for a moment, Your Excellency. Let me share a recent experience. In September, I visited my parents in north-eastern Kenya, in the small town of Modogashe. What I thought would take a week took an entire month.
I encountered candidates who were behind in their syllabus, desperately roaming the streets. There were no teachers. And it was not only because of the prolonged national strike.
Those children were victims of the mass exodus of teachers from north-eastern Kenya following the rampant attacks in the region. I could not really watch. I tried to help them.
Mr President, you know what horrified me even more? The bumpy ride and spooky, billowing dust you encounter when you travel to the region 53 years after independence. That is what professional medics constantly remind us is hazardous to our health. I think it is high time the government fixed the roads. It rained while I was there and the downpour wreaked havoc. The roads were closed due to their dilapidated state.
What do you think, dear President? Is that the pain my people deserve to endure? Do I have to undergo this entire physical and psychological trauma every time I visit my parents?
Back to where I began. The Cabinet secretaries you have appointed, after rigorous interviews perhaps, have disappointed us a great deal. They have gone on a looting spree, in broad daylight. What is all this impurity, dear President? What happened?
Your Excellency, you can trash the opposition and the critics but the reality is a different thing altogether. It is an open secret that all is not hunky-dory. The ball is in your court to decide our destiny. There is no time to bark up the wrong tree. Save our country before it is too late.
I know you don’t want to be a one-term president, but I am afraid things would not go the way you wish if you do not make immediate amends.
I believe you can. Many Kenyans have lost hope but you can still rekindle it. Kenya can rise from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix. My president, I conclude with hope that this letter will reach you even if through the grapevine. Thank you.