To excel, we must discard the mindset to ‘let things be’

A headline in last Wednesday’s Daily Nation caught my attention. It was something about the city seeking world class status.

Reading through, I saw that a number of stakeholders had come together and endorsed a new master plan – Niuplan – for the city of Nairobi.

Once it is implemented, the city road networks will be expanded, a railway metropolis will be developed and the Dandora dumping site replaced.

This story warmed my heart and I found myself asking several questions. Why do we want to give our capital city world class status only now? We have been interacting with the rest of the world for the last 50 years. We even host a UN secretariat.

Our political leaders and senior administrators have been trotting around the globe all this time. Did they not see how world cities look like? Why did they not feel a little jealous and want to make ours the same?

Apart from a few improvements, we all know how even the Nairobi CBD has looked like for a long time in terms of disorder, impossible traffic jams and the like.

Mundane things
But may be that could be too complicated for most of our politicians to think about. How can they think about such mundane things when they are so busy trying to outdo one another? We, of course, also know that in the past, such infrastructural developments were understood to be cash cows for unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrats.

It is my conviction that any political activity that is only focused on gratifying one individual or a group of privileged – in whichever way – Kenyans and not about the wellbeing of the Kenyan masses is not only misguided but immoral.

That is why it is quite edifying to see some efforts such as the intended implementation of a new master plan for Nairobi, which is home to several million Kenyans, not to mention the foreigners who have to live and work here. As we seek to give our city – and other social institutions world-class status, I would challenge our political class to be a little more sincere and create a political culture that has a world class aura about it.

That will of, course not, be easy given the kind of people in question, and the political habits they have acquired over the years. For them, citizens are just pawns in a game that must be played by a few “ambitious” individuals for self interest. The danger would be if the rest of us who see through it give up and accept this status quo to prevail.

Father Wamugunda is Dean of Students at the University of Nairobi: [email protected]