Friday, September 29, 2006

Being A Kenyan

Before i whine further.

Drum Rolls

Telkom Wireless phone is the latest!. To hell Safaricom, To hell celtel!

You have lost touch with being a Kenyan, well slap you back to reality with a few tips. This post was inspired by a man in the bus today; he reminded me of how a typical Kenyan thinks.

Whining

Your capability to whine should be above reproach. All your problems stems from the fact that the government has not done something. You whine at the bank queues, you whine because the local askari clamped your car, you whine about the potholes in your estate, you whine about the traffic jams, you whine about corruption, you whine about greedy Mps, In short you whine, whine, whine until the cows come home.

And to make matters worse, you do nothing about it.

If I whine, I am just being Kenyan.


Dreaming

You dream when one of your own is going to be in power. You dream when you will ever get to a position where you can steal as much cash as possible and problems will go away. You dream of when a friend of yours will get to procurement and hence all tenders will go to you. You dream your children getting very rich and sorting all your problems; health, education of their younger siblings e.t.c. If a woman, you dream when the rich man will come to solve the poverty puzzle. You dream that as you are walking a limousine will stop by the roadside and ask you if you would like to go in. You strategically dine in Safari Park to make sure the right person comes and fulfills your getting rich dream.

You dream that the next president will be better than the current one. You dream that he will give you white collar jobs. That he will dish out money, forgetting those who made money last regime, have made more money this regime. It’s all about knowing where the money is.

You dream till you die. Never doing anything about it. Wake up Kenyans.

If I dream too much, I am just being the Kenyan

Drinking

A weekend is not one without favorite nyama choma and beer. Wonder at Breweries 1 billion dollar capitalization. We drink, we make merry. If your birthday we just buy a few beers and celebrate. In fact if you are businessman, you can count your networking escapades in the dark areas of karumaindo bar down river road, at wee hours of the morning. That’s where they clinch the deals.
Again If I drink, I am just being Kenyan.

We are a drinking nation and proud.

More Peculiar habits

Chewing the toothpick long after the nyama is over 2 hours before.

Flashing anonymously

Fighting to get into the matatu and out of it (what’s the hurry brothers and sisters)

Picking the nose

Spitting saliva on the streets (yuck!)

Urinating in places written “Usikojoe hapa”

Always either asking the persons other name or where they come from, then proceeding to make jokes about the tribal stereotypes. Like “Nyinyi Wakikuyu mnapenda pesa”.


Having all these “please call me thank you” from strange numbers.

Borrowing other people’s newspapers to read in the matatu (I am a serious culprit). Go buy your own!

Looking for affiliations with high powered persons (Kibaki is my relative, just imagine)

Insisting on boarding an already full vehicle

Not belting up

Making heroes out of what would be societal rejects anywhere in the world

Throwing stones at real heroes

Asking for services to be rendered and refusing to pay for them (Being in the services industry, I know this one pretty well). Money first, services later! Wonder no more why prepaid services are in vogue. Even KPLC wants to start on prepaid. And for post paid, the deposit is hefty, you are well known defaulters.!

Insisting to be allowed to do something which is not allowed or is illegal.

Much more...to be continued.

5 comments:

  1. Umedinya point! and I have laughed. even if the going gets this bad, we are still allowed to laugh at ourselves, right?

    Some of it is so gross though- nose-picking, public-weeing and pavement-spitting...yuck, yuck, yuck!!

    Maybe if the gava was performing we wouldn't be so gross....ok instead of whinning, i will propose a solution. am organizing for étiquette police- fully paid for by all tax-loving Kenyans! huh!

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  2. so funny..so on point...

    "Making heroes out of what would be societal rejects anywhere in the world" ...lol this was so left field it caught me off guard

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  3. Tis true this list! And that point of people refusing to pay for services rendered, my friend learnt this the hard way. He now insists on a significant deposit before embarking on work for clients, with the balance paid on delivery and no later.

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  4. and with a leader who insists tufaaaanye kaaazi yet, his gava ain't doing jack.

    dudes, n dudelettes let's all stop whining. i'm with you ak on the police. better yet when we see a moron misbehave let's tell him. let's not wait for the guy behind me to tell him...

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  5. Right on, great description of Kenyans. I back you up on drinking. As for the dreams, I think we need them to keep going.

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