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RIP My Friend CHOSIPATI GETONO NYANGETI, Your Country Kenya Was Unfair to You
By Albert Nyakundi Amenya aka The Banana Peddler
After his secondary education in 1983, Chosipati Getono Nyangeti thought he had valid dreams that he hoped would materialise in his beloved country Kenya. Job hunt led him to many cities. Unable to land any, and incapable of starting a decent business, he was soon to understand the endless ills that afflicted his country: Unemployment, tribalism, corruption, hypocrisy and scarcity of everything but mystery. Oh poor man!
May be, higher education would bail him out, he thought to himself. So he returned to school and obtained his first university degree in 1993. Albeit he graduated with second class honours, Upper division, from the University of Nairobi, one of the nation’s prestigious universities, no employment was forthcoming. Not for him, any route that leads to crime, however.
In desperation, but with his pedigree of integrity intact, Nyangeti picked up lowly jobs like teaching at Kindergarten schools in Nairobi. But the going got tougher. In 1996, he relocated to his home County of Nyamira. In Nyamira, the only job he could get was teaching at Nyakemincha primary school, one of the most backward schools in the Country. The fact that he was hired by the BoG, the pay was obviously peanuts.
In the meantime, there was no well-paying company – public or private – that did not receive Nyangeti’s application for a job. As I always say, for you to succeed in this country, it will depend on what you know about who you know. Since the poor man had no godfather or godmother, the best he could get was an aptitude test or interviews.
When he hit 40, despite his troubles, Nyangeti remained a tall, dark, urbane and a good looking man. Because age was catching up fast with him, he had to seek a wife and raise children on his meager income.
As the pressure of family responsibility weighed mercilessly heavily on him, poor Chosipati developed hypertension. The poor man he was, he had no health insurance. He just had no money with which he could manage his condition. In Kenya, it is every man for himself. Each day, he read on newspapers and heard on KBC Radio about the constant pillaging of public funds by politicians, he turned blue and his blood pressure shot up. He felt he could not take it anymore.
Early this year, he visited a hardware shop and bought a rope that ended his story in the early hours of Thursday, February 22, 2018, one week after the day he was birthed.
Chosipati leaves behind seventeen kids (ten boys and seven girls), siblings and several other friends like the Banana Peddler. He leaves behind the agony of living in unjust nation – a nation where people worship money and despise good people like Chosipati Getono Nyangeti who are not privileged. Above all, he leaves behind a tale shared by all unlucky Kenyans.
-Rest in eternal peace my friend Nyangeti-
albertamenya@yahoo.com
(The writer sell Bananas in the streets of Kisii Town)
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