By Dr Wandia Njoya
Theory is just a story. That’s it. Others call it a deep story. Every human being operates on a deep story which they may not say aloud, and may not even be conscious of. But it guides the person’s actions.
So if you understand the deep story of the Kenyan elite and bureaucrats, this story of the lock down will not surprise you.
Let me explain. GoK and the elite operate on these stories:
1. Wazungu know everything, Africans know nothing and must implement what the wazungu know.
2.The job of government is to keep Africans orderly enough so that they can be mzungu-fied.
3. The job of GoK is to assure wazungu investors and tourists that they can bring dollars here because Kenya is implementing what the wazungu want
4. The only problem in Kenya is the people of Kenya, since GoK knows the right thing to do, having been informed by the wazungu.
So why is GoK coming up with a lock down?
1. Because there is a lockdown in Italy and CNN is talking about it. So it must be the right thing to do. You’ll hear at the pressers, theyre always talking about WHO and doing a patronizing thank you to local medics at the end. But what are our own medics on the front line saying? Nada. GoK is going like American healthcare business bureaucrats and silencing our medics.
2. The job of GoK is not to protect Kenyans from covid-19 but to maintain law and order. So that’s why they are not telling us about treatment, personnel or food, but about cops, curfews and lock downs.
Also, the rich and miduklas class have a lot of madharao for Africans. They’ve been educated to believe that Africa’s problems are Africans themselves. And no, the rich and miduklas Africans don’t think that they are real Africans. Franco-Cameroonian author Calixthe Beyala has a novel entitled “C’est le soleil qui m’a brulee” meaning “Don’t look at my black skin, I’ve just been burned too much by the sun. I’m civilized like you.” Wale wameshikwa na tamaa ya lockdown are those who drive around in a V8 (they won’t be stopped by police) on empty streets without having to see Africans going around selling tomatoes in the vibanda when no such people exist in the Europe from where the rich brought this virus.
3. The lock down headlines today are for foreign newspapers, wazungu tourists and investors. This government wants to know that tourism and investment can continue after the pandemic. So the lockdown is not about us.
4. For GoK, there is no covid-19 problem in Kenya. The problem is wakenya. You’ve heard this message at every presser Mutahi Kagwe has given. Yesterday he was even talking about the youth “killing us.” Who is us?
So I’m sorry, but GoK can’t hear what we are saying. They cant understand. They are getting instructions from the UN and WHO, and will only hear us when those people in Gigiri and New York repeat what we say.
I’m not making this up. I’ve read and studied this stuff this for years. For the last 10 years, I’ve been studying to answer this one question: why is it that bureaucrats can’t hear common sense?
I cracked the nut only this year, when I was on leave and had more time to read and think.
Look for more details in my interview with The Elephant.
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