Why Kenya should be renamed Dramastan or Sarakasistan

Youth demonstrate during Gen Z protests in Nairobi. [File, Standard]

Whether it’s watching news, watching citizens in their workplace or reading newspapers, Kenya has become the land of drama. In fact movie theaters and Netflix should record reduced subscription.

We should even change the name of the country to Dramastan (after drama) or Sarakasistan after Sarakasi. In my recent trip to Central Asia, I learned Stan means land, therefore Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

Why is there so much drama? Who is benefiting and losing from it?

You can’t keep pace with the Kenyan drama. If it’s not Generation Z demonstrating or disappearing, it’s drama over airport leasing, national health insurance, university funding, housing fund, new Cabinet, and now impeachment. It’s curious why Raila and President are so quiet on DP impeachment. Will they stop it at the nick of time to show who has power?

We can hypothesize  why the drama. Keeping citizens busy is one way to control them. After spending three months at national youth service (NYS) before reporting to the university, I learnt the power of being busy. We were busy from the going up of the sun to the going down. We could even wake at 3 am to go running up to Kariandusi, and somehow learnt to enjoy it. Diatomite mining has resumed at Kariandusi?

My most memorable episode was watering flowers with an umbrella. You could not say it has rained! You had to be busy.

Leading 50 million plus Kenyan souls is not an easy task, keep them busy with drama. As we debate and get annoyed, time passes. Lots of other leaders even in the corporate sector keep their managers and workers busy. Control takes precede over productivity, innovation and creativity.

Busy people are not troublesome. One Kenya man explained to us how he has kept his wife busy with seminars, courses and schooling to have peace at home. Wives also keep men busy too. Any confessions?

Keeping us busy also distracts us from reflecting on what matters. Who is talking of the high cost of living, slowdown in economic growth, joblessness, taxes or national debt?  We even forgot the new cabinet is not new. Drama can also mask corruption deals or injustice.

This reminds me of a story my father told us about a thief who got into a granary at night as the family was relaxing by the fireside. “Who is that?” The man of the house asked. 
“It’s me strangling rats.” The thief responded. Everyone burst into laughter as the thief sneaked out unrecognised.

Clearly drama makes the running the country easier and makes us forget the small things like policemen getting ksh 50 from each matatu, paying a bribe to get services, jobs or tenders.

Who are the losers?

We are all losers by failing to focus on the root cause of our problems and solutions. Problems are not bananas to be given time to ripen. Bananas rot if not picked at the right time. Every problem shrouded in drama needs a solution.

National anger resulting from the drama cloud our thinking and mute our creativity and innovation. These are the key drivers of entrepreneurship, national growth and dynamism. Dissatisfaction and anger reduce our productivity.

The economic system is interconnected, reduction in productivity in one sector is transmitted through the system.

One worry over the drama is postponed investment, as entrepreneurs watch and wait. That cost us jobs. Who want to invest under such supercharged environment?

More worrying is the specter of brain drain. Have you noted the proliferation of study abroad adverts? Even high schools abroad are recruiting Kenya students. Have you noted the pride in relocation? Have you noted the renewed popularity of USA diversity lottery (green card)?

The feeling that economic opportunities are narrowing and freedom is being curtailed is motivating many Kenyans to think of leaving the country. The government effort are reinforcing that with promises of jobs abroad.

Why should that worry us? It’s often the brightest and the most ambitious who leave. They have skills or the motivation to start all over again. Or they may have enough safety net to reset their lives. Who is left?

When the government started the retrenchment programme during Moi era, the golden handshake, it’s the best workers who were the first to leave. Those who got jobs because of their network not skills were left.

Some could argue Kenya has lots of youth and we can’t run out of workers. But it takes time and money to educate and train workers, and it’s expensive to replace them.

There is no doubt that we need to end the national drama, it’s costly to the economy and could easily spillover to the next generation. We need to build national optimism and make Kenyan a country of possibilities, for us and the next generation. Yawezekana-stan or just Swahili Republic would be better names for our no longer young nation. Can you suggest a better name?