If you really fancy a great and working Kenya, do it yourself

The French rugby team was advised by fans watching from home during the 2019 World Cup in Tokyo that, if they had any hope of advancing in the tournament, they should sack the coach and manage themselves.

The frustration felt by the fans was that despite France being a global rugby powerhouse, its game in the preliminaries was lacklustre due to the coach’s poor decisions.

South Africa and England, who played in the finals, came in with a different mindset and stronger management teams, which played a big role in their advancement.

South Africa took the medal home, lifting the spirits of an economically depressed country. Suffice it to say, France reached the quarter-finals.

Many a times, we leave the main role of managing our lives in the hands of those we elect and give them opportunities, time and again, to do so even when it’s clear that they care less about us but themselves.

What Kenyans perhaps need to realise is that the onus is on them to have clean streets, safer neighbourhoods and excellent hospitals and schools. After all, they are the service users.

VOLUNTEERS

I saw first-hand at the Coast General Hospital how Kenyans can get together to support one another in the face of hardship.

Despite what you read in the media, the situation at the hospital, like many others I have visited in the country, is dire.

The shortage of nurses was evident. Instead of waiting for one nurse to go around the 30-plus patients, strangers helped in turning over patients they had never met before, got them in and out of bed, fetched water and food for the immobile ones and ran errands — including processing NHIF for them — for those with no relatives!

I witnessed all this while staying at the hospital with my ailing mother. My contribution was in cleaning a neglected but fully functioning commode.

A few bottles of antiseptics later, it became the wheelchair and moving toilet desperately needed by immobile patients. I hope it is still in use.

In a dogmatic country, citizens would always get excuses as to why they feel neglected.

Either funds are unavailable from the same people stealing them or use state machinery to silence those critical of the failures in service delivery.

QUESTIONABLE LEADERSHIP

That apart, it’s still important to realise that citizens are the architects of their own destiny and better communities.

Hence, if Kenyans, indeed, wish for a greatly functional Kenya, they need to take the reins for socio-economic success by pulling together to make sure schools are equipped for their children and hospitals cleaned up ready for their use.

Looking at how our leaders have let us down, it’s easy to see that politics is overrated.

Many of our countrymen and women get maimed, tortured and killed in the name of politics but, after the election violence, all Kenyans experience poverty spikes, wanting healthcare for the poor, insecurity and runaway corruption.

One is then left wondering what Kenyan politics is for. What or whom are Kenyan leaders leading in the face of economic despair?

With the confusing Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report, ‘Handshake’ malarkey and big buck projects over lack of investment in social programmes, I’m no longer sure whether the country is coming or going.

SUCCESS STORIES

Amid all the negative news and toxic politics, however, positive stories appear from somewhere to warm our hearts.

Teacher Tabichi quietly put his head down and taught his pupils while sacrificing his salary to buy them study materials.

This, in an area supposedly with an MP, who should have used CDF funds to support the school in the first place!

Athletes like Eliud Kipchoge become the icons and ambassadors for the good and great that Kenya has to offer.

All the leaders are left to do is hang on the tailcoats of self-made heroes and bask in the glory of something they never invested in.

‘Stadiums’ has become a byword for empty election promises and not a springboard for sporting prowess.

Perfect communal spirit by Kenyans is found on social media through KoT (Kenyans on Twitter), whom I give my alternative Nobel Prize.

They have been resolute in fighting injustice with the use of just a keyboard. They even shut up Donald Trump (for crying out loud!) following his ‘hotbed of terror’ comment on Kenya.

BE PROACTIVE

If I had a second alternative Nobel, I would give it to lone nurses and doctors who turn up and care for patients in warlike situations in our hospitals with just basic resources at hand.

As we go into 2020 and trudging towards 2022, it’s important for us to learn not to be followers but leaders — that is, of our lives.

Don’t ask what the country can do for you; ask what you can do for your communities, and yourself, to improve the quality of life.

Let us learn to sack the ineffective coach and manage our lives by being the best leaders and elect the leaders that can lead. In the meantime, Happy New Year!

Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. [email protected] @kdiguyo