Re: Nothing works in Kenya, despite all the denials

Tom,

Many cities have challenges with traffic flow; it is not uncommon to get caught up on traffic jams that last forever. Conventional wisdom has it that you should widen lanes to accommodate the extra traffic and facilitate efficient flow. As it turns out, that is not usually the case. Where drivers fail to respect and appreciate each other's right, widening lanes can end up causing more jams than it intended to solve.

The Kenya of today cannot be compared to the Kenya of (say) 1974/1983/1988/1991/1992! The press is free and we have a multiplicity of voices that can be heard. Even the government gets defeated as happened in the referendum and the recent nomination of representatives to the East African parliament! And life goes no - no one goes to jail nor is anyone harassed because they challenged the government!

I was speaking with individuals in Nairobi recently about digital villages and how to bring technology to the people, and how the government can use this technology for information gathering needed for planning and emergency response. Unlike old days, these individuals told me how receptive those in government were in approving their plans to proceed with the project! No one paid a penny to get their files reviewed and approved! And this was done in record time!

Sure there is insecurity (what with the many children that never had a chance for an education under the structural adjustment program - crime correlates positively with lack of/low education), corruption persists (what with the tolerance society provides for this), etc etc. But the mood in many mwananchi is different from what we had back in the years mentioned when things were spiraling to the abyss! There is optimism about possibilities; and even the crime that we see today may taper off to stable levels once the bad guys become overwhelmed by the law, the graduating masses that will come due to free education and economic growth that will give options (other than crime) to people!

I read some place that social psychology itself can predetermine the future: where there is optimism people's positive energy get released for the better; pessimism breeds gloom and doom and dampens the spirit of growth!

We must learn to give credit where it is due; telling lies about what is happening in the country makes one look duplicitous.

If I were the opposition, I would acknowledge where we have been, what good has happened and how I could do better than those I would like to replace in power. Painting that contrast would over mwananchi objective assessment.

Lies and rapid partisanship will not work.

Unedited.

Matunda Nyanchama