Happy New Year! It's been a while. I finally got some things squared away, first was my housing and then my connectivity. I'm now on a roll ....
During the process of looking for new housing in Nairobi I learned so much about the way certain business is sorted out here. Firstly, I wish Kenyans would utilize a website like "Craigslist" more often. There is a the usual "Dealfish" but the information was not complete or what I was looking for was not being advertised. Hence, delaying my progress and forcing me to go gate to gate to look for a new apartment.
With this new adventure of knocking on the doors of every gate to ask if they had availability I learned a valuable lesson of vulnerability in a semi-corrupt society.
I say semi-corrupt because knowing what Kenya used to be and what it is now, it has come a long way. Bribes, fake titles and certificates, etc. are a common thing here. The corruption of the leaders, systems, checks and balances is still visibly present yet it has simmered down over the years.
People are fighting this way of life everyday, but for some this has become the way of life. The other day a police officer happen to stop one of my friends in their cab for no apparent reason. He specifically asked my friend for a bribe in order to "let them go", my friend, who is a not a Kenyan but looks it, denied any bribe to the officer and stood firm on their ground. They tried to reason with the cop but he wouldn't budge and neither would my friend. After 45 minutes of being held up, the cop let them go knowing he could probably stop someone else during that time. My friend was lucky and strong in a way but not many are. Many people give into this behavior, this way of life just so they can move on and make some progress. I experienced it first hand when I was apartment hunting. Some places visibly had availability immediately, but the Realtor or even guardsmen who were the only faces of the apartment with the landlord not being present would blatantly ask for some "commission" just to show me the place or money to "open up" it's availability. I was beyond frustrated with this behavior and like my friend never gave in.
These incident are at a small scale, what happens to the incidents where someone is promising the town a new road but somehow the money disappears and the road is still left unpaved, and dangerous for the citizens? This happens all too often in Kenya along with countless other similar cases that have negatively and severely impacted the people of this nation.
Corruption is a big topic here, especially with the new elections around the corner. Day in and day out I hear locals talking about it. I try to understand where they were before and where they want to go now. Everyone just wants a country united, with the corrupt infested politicians that are running the show out the door. The people of this nation, like most developing nations, want to thrive, to grow and to reach their potential. The Kenyans have so much potential, yet you can see just as you are sitting in a car and driving down the road how much the citizens of this nation have been set back as a result of corrupt and dangerously bad politicians.
About a month ago, former Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, my home state, was convicted of extortion, corruption and the like and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. I remember that day my Facebook feed was blowing up with comments about his verdict. Some expressing their relief but many expressing that "14 years is too much". I took a moment to read all those comments and get some feedback from those individuals that felt like that:
"Well it's not fair to his kids"
"He didn't commit murder"
"That's just harsh for a crime that didn't hut anyone"
Chances are he will likely serve well under 14 years of his sentence but was it really unfair? The old, naive, less worldly me would probably think in the same category as some of those folks that agreed that 14 years is too much. But after experiencing a country engulfed and had stewed in corruption for so many years and the set backs, atrocities that had/have impact the people I immediately had no sympathy for Blago. These politicians, leaders and people in the upper seat need to be help accountable for their actions and decisions.
Sure it will hurt his children, but that is the decision he made, what about those other children who get their school funding, or whatnot cut as a result of a corrupt individual. They were just innocent bystanders.
Sure these politicians do not "commit murder" per se, but with little funding for safety and security, crime escalates, murders reach a high and innocent lives are potentially lost.
Absolutely they didn't "hurt anyone" but what about the individual who purchased a piece of land thinking that it was legitimate but because the deed or title was fake as a result of corrupt systems they have lost their entire life savings and are left homeless?
These kinds of situations snowball into something bigger.
Those 14 years could have set back a state 20 years, just like Kenya, 20 plus years of bad politicians set an entire nation back 30 years.
Luckily, Kenya is catching up quickly but are other nations with similar situations this lucky?
What can we do as citizens to empower individuals to fight corruption and stand up for their basic rights?
During the process of looking for new housing in Nairobi I learned so much about the way certain business is sorted out here. Firstly, I wish Kenyans would utilize a website like "Craigslist" more often. There is a the usual "Dealfish" but the information was not complete or what I was looking for was not being advertised. Hence, delaying my progress and forcing me to go gate to gate to look for a new apartment.
With this new adventure of knocking on the doors of every gate to ask if they had availability I learned a valuable lesson of vulnerability in a semi-corrupt society.
I say semi-corrupt because knowing what Kenya used to be and what it is now, it has come a long way. Bribes, fake titles and certificates, etc. are a common thing here. The corruption of the leaders, systems, checks and balances is still visibly present yet it has simmered down over the years.
People are fighting this way of life everyday, but for some this has become the way of life. The other day a police officer happen to stop one of my friends in their cab for no apparent reason. He specifically asked my friend for a bribe in order to "let them go", my friend, who is a not a Kenyan but looks it, denied any bribe to the officer and stood firm on their ground. They tried to reason with the cop but he wouldn't budge and neither would my friend. After 45 minutes of being held up, the cop let them go knowing he could probably stop someone else during that time. My friend was lucky and strong in a way but not many are. Many people give into this behavior, this way of life just so they can move on and make some progress. I experienced it first hand when I was apartment hunting. Some places visibly had availability immediately, but the Realtor or even guardsmen who were the only faces of the apartment with the landlord not being present would blatantly ask for some "commission" just to show me the place or money to "open up" it's availability. I was beyond frustrated with this behavior and like my friend never gave in.
These incident are at a small scale, what happens to the incidents where someone is promising the town a new road but somehow the money disappears and the road is still left unpaved, and dangerous for the citizens? This happens all too often in Kenya along with countless other similar cases that have negatively and severely impacted the people of this nation.
Corruption is a big topic here, especially with the new elections around the corner. Day in and day out I hear locals talking about it. I try to understand where they were before and where they want to go now. Everyone just wants a country united, with the corrupt infested politicians that are running the show out the door. The people of this nation, like most developing nations, want to thrive, to grow and to reach their potential. The Kenyans have so much potential, yet you can see just as you are sitting in a car and driving down the road how much the citizens of this nation have been set back as a result of corrupt and dangerously bad politicians.
About a month ago, former Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, my home state, was convicted of extortion, corruption and the like and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. I remember that day my Facebook feed was blowing up with comments about his verdict. Some expressing their relief but many expressing that "14 years is too much". I took a moment to read all those comments and get some feedback from those individuals that felt like that:
"Well it's not fair to his kids"
"He didn't commit murder"
"That's just harsh for a crime that didn't hut anyone"
Chances are he will likely serve well under 14 years of his sentence but was it really unfair? The old, naive, less worldly me would probably think in the same category as some of those folks that agreed that 14 years is too much. But after experiencing a country engulfed and had stewed in corruption for so many years and the set backs, atrocities that had/have impact the people I immediately had no sympathy for Blago. These politicians, leaders and people in the upper seat need to be help accountable for their actions and decisions.
Sure it will hurt his children, but that is the decision he made, what about those other children who get their school funding, or whatnot cut as a result of a corrupt individual. They were just innocent bystanders.
Sure these politicians do not "commit murder" per se, but with little funding for safety and security, crime escalates, murders reach a high and innocent lives are potentially lost.
Absolutely they didn't "hurt anyone" but what about the individual who purchased a piece of land thinking that it was legitimate but because the deed or title was fake as a result of corrupt systems they have lost their entire life savings and are left homeless?
These kinds of situations snowball into something bigger.
Those 14 years could have set back a state 20 years, just like Kenya, 20 plus years of bad politicians set an entire nation back 30 years.
Luckily, Kenya is catching up quickly but are other nations with similar situations this lucky?
What can we do as citizens to empower individuals to fight corruption and stand up for their basic rights?
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