2019 was rough; I hope next year comes with better promise 

It has been a tough year for a majority of Kenyans. We started with bad news when terrorists attacked the DusitD2 Hotel, before hopping from one calamity to another – from death by hunger to death by floods, death by suicide to death by corruption.

AUCTIONEERS

Had Superman Eliud Kipchoge not wiped away our tears with that “moon landing” in Vienna, Kenyans would have petitioned the government to declare Santa Claus persona non-grata.

This is also the year that our economy saw bad things. Economists have been warning that our economy has been unwell and is about to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. We have always suspected something was wrong despite government officials refusing to let us peek into the books of accounts, so that we could pray for the economy’s healing. Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and Jubilee government’s encyclopaedia of lies.

The consequences of this reality check have been damning. Small and medium businesses closed down without warning, blue-chip companies issued profit warnings, workers got retrenched in their dozens, and families were thrown into depression, as auctioneers made acquaintance with their doorknobs.

PRISON BEANS

You would think everyone was suffering from the withering heat brought about by the tough economic times, but that was not the case. As some Kenyans were going without food to send the little tax to save government from collapse, others were busy eating maize money, drinking dam waters, and interfering with Kenya Power meters so that we stay in the dark.

When they were caught before they washed their hands, they ran to town crying how they were more innocent than a child’s laughter, and that their communities were being targeted. Kenyans were quick to remind them that while we might have more than 40 ethnic groups living within our borders, there was no community called thieves. Indeed, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics confirmed that they had nil entries for that specific community in their 2019 census results.

In many of his speeches this year, President Uhuru Kenyatta reiterated that he had been more at peace since he blocked the numbers of those calling him to save them from eating prison beans. We saw this political goodwill embolden investigative authorities to go after those initially perceived to be cool friends with power. Friday is no longer just a day of the week; it is the day those dipping fingers into public coffers tremble at the sound of every car that comes up their driveways.

RAILROAD

This is a dedication to all Kenyans making ends meet under difficult circumstances. You have been good to your country this year. Even if the government made you relocate to a house with no chimney so that Santa couldn’t bring you gifts, pat yourself on the back for giving your country more than it gave you back. May you never waiver in your demand for a just and equitable society, where every citizen is treated with dignity and respect, and every public official is held to account for the things they do in the dark.

As we limp into 2020, it is my sincere hope that we have learnt from the mistakes of 2019 but, most importantly, appreciated the full effect of braving hostile weather to elect people who build stadiums in the air, an expensive railroad to nowhere, and who cannot even be entrusted with the keys to the village granary.

HANDCUFFS

I hope that the only Christmas gift our politicians received was a bar soap to wash their acidic tongues, and a kerosene lamp to always walk in the light. My prayer, also, is that the animals that died on Christmas Day were only wolves who have been wearing sheepskin, and that the chickens were those that witnessed Peter’s betrayal of Jesus.

As Christ is born in our lives and love becomes the reason for the season, we hope that politicians will love their country first before public money, because Kenyans are tired of videos of grown men and women biting police officers at the sight of handcuffs.

No Kenyan works hard to send taxes to the government so that a police chopper could be fuelled to transport people who should be frog-marched to their nearest police station. We have better things to do with them including saving flood victims and dropping relief food to the hungry in far-flung rural outposts.

RETURN MONEY

 As we begin the new year, Kenyans would love to know  when the Galana-Kulalu food security project will return our money, who ate the Arror and Kimwarer dam cash, what caused the fire at the Homa Bay County headquarters, where land grabbing victims can finally find justice, and how President Uhuru Kenyatta can be helped to see the suffering Kenyans are going through.

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