Obviously, a National day like Madaraka Day is a great event which deserves to be celebrated lavishly by Kenyans and friends both at home and abroad. In Stockholm, the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia H.E Mrs Purity Muhindi has organized a three hour drinking spree at her residence where the Kenyan community has been invited as part of celebrations to mark this great day.
It is the first time the Ambassador is inviting Kenyans to her residence following her posting in Stockholm about two years ago. It is not the correct time to ask where Purity has been during the past Madaraka days but a few observations will suffice.
While this invitation is long overdue, it is happening under different circumstances. The last time I was at the Residence with a couple of Kenyans following the outbreak of news that land at the residence belonging to the Kenyan government had been grabbed, the Ambassador called police “to arrest us”.
We were not there to demonstrate but to verify that land had in fact been hived off the compound of the residence and awarded to a neighbor who had fixed the fence at the residence by constructing a new one. If you will be there for the first time since the Kinyanjui days, the only fence that separates the residence from a Swedish neighbor along the garage is a new construction that was never funded by the Embassy but which was put up by the neighbor because the old fence “was looking ugly”.
In return, the neighbor was awarded a triangular piece of land that was returned only after a lengthy campaign by ODM-Scandinavia and which involved the Swedish land office and other authorities. It is during this campaign that Purity called police to lock us up but the move failed because we were peaceful while our presence there was not part of a demonstration. Instead of arresting us, police allowed us to use their bonnet to study a map we had collected from the Lands office. I will not be at the residence (the same venue where she called police) in protest and I hope others who will be there will ha
ve a good time.
The police left after a few minutes. The gate was padlocked and we had to view the grabbed land from the compound of the same neighbor who benefitted from the transaction that, according to the neighbor, cost him 2 million Kenyan shillings.
Look at it this way. It is at this same residence where a Kenyan national who was working at the residence as a gardener was denied toilet facilities, forcing him to carry his own waste in a plastic bag for disposal together with other takataka. It was sad when we arrived and found that the Kenyan was actually taking coffee breaks in the garage and his coffee equipment (a cup, sugar, spoon et al) were still on a chair in the garage. That is how savage it got.
The Embassy had contracted the same Kenyan to do extra work for another Kenyan diplomat but when the diplomat passed away in an inferno in Norway, the Ambassador refused to pay him his wage that amounted to 10,000 kr. Despite requests in writing by the Kenyan that he be paid, the Embassy refused to do so. The case is still pending. I will be boycotting Madaraka at the residence in solidarity with this Kenyan who was treated more like an animal which had wondered into the compound of Her Excellency.
THE POLITICAL QUESTION: Then, there is the political issue which might be difficult to understand without the element of principle being brought on the table. According to sources, the Embassy budget for hosting an event of the Madaraka day type normally stands at 50,000 Kr (about half a million Kenyan shillings) depending on whether or not a Hotel is hired and this is normally a 2-3 hour drinking spree in Stockholm city.
Back in Kenya, IDPs are stuck because the government said that there is no money to resettle them. Of cause, 50,000 Kr is a drop in the ocean when compared to the huge amount that might be required to resettle IDPs in Kenya. But it is not small change. How many IDP mouths can be fed with cash being wasted to celebrate a day that has completely lost meaning to the Kenyan people?
Our country has been taken over by imperialist agents who basically control our economy, from the Nairobi Stock Exchange to Kenya Airways (the pride of Africa?). We boast of our country as one of the best tourist destination points in the world and even mention the 1 billion dollars earned annually through tourism but who exactly benefits from the huge profits?
It is foreigners who own the big five star hotels at game parks, beaches, capital cities and other parts of Kenya. Many of the game parks themselves are owned by wazungu who also own or have controlling interests in the tourism industry and other connected businesses so where exactly is our Madaraka which we should be celebrating?
Let me not go into the multinational companies controlling the distribution Networks in our country or the big Western banks we have allowed to keep our money for us when here in Sweden, you don’t see Barclays or Standard Banks. While millions of citizens are landless in Kenya, wazungu are living in luxury in huge Ranches where they shoot innocent Kenyans to death and walk away with murder through our compromised court system so once again, where is our Madaraka which we ought to be celebrating at the residence?
When a foreigner is sick in Kenya, better treatment is guaranteed compared to the poor Kenyan, condemned to die of treatable diseases due to lack of medicine in government hospitals so, what are we celebrating? These are just a few examples.
Celebrating a national day does not just mean rushing to the residence to drink or to feed on snacks continuously for three hours. It is also a time of reflection at what is being celebrated and if I do this in the case of Madaraka, I become sad because millions of Kenyans are homeless or languishing in slums without clean drinking water. Did someone say that Kibera (officially a tourist attraction) is the biggest slum in the world?
Further, Millions of Wananchi in our country are faced with starvation while inflation has hit the 50% mark. The standard of living in Kenya continues to fall on a daily basis as prices of consumer commodities continue to get further from the reach of the consumer.
While the rich continue to speculate with billions at the Nairobi Stock Exchange, the ordinary Kenyan worker is increasingly finding it difficult to live from hand to mouth because the purchasing power of the Kenyan worker has been under constant attack from spiraling prices on the one hand and stagnant wages on the other so what is there to celebrate? On May day, Kibaki refused to increase wages for workers, arguing that there is no money yet in Stockholm, half a million could be consumed in two hours.
For Purity and her corrupt team at the Embassy, the Madaraka day celebration could be a blessing because they will have something to Report back to the government after a period of idleness. At the end of the day, the accountant will be able to twist the figures to see if something small can be left behind for the Madosi and the presence of Kenyans at the function is a plus because it gives the Embassy cover for justifications and promotion of corruption rampant at the Embassy.
The Kinyua container scandal is still fresh while Purity’s attempt to deport an ailing Mr. Cheruiyot (a former Embassy staff member) and family through kidnapping has not yet been eroded from memory. All the same, good luck to Wakenya who will be in the Guest list!
Okoth Osewe
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