“Programs alone can’t replace parents; government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children.”
Now THAT is why I like Barack Obama. Not because he’s Kenyan (he isn’t, in any sense that matters), but because he is asking people to take responsibility for their own lives, rather than sitting back and waiting for a government, a corporation, an NGO or a guardian angel to descend with blessings and solutions.
That America, the bastion of enterprise and self-reliance, is in sore need of this message is indeed cause for concern. It demonstrates that all over the world people have built false expectations about what others should do for them.
Here’s another man I like: A. Parthasarathy, a trenchant Indian spiritual scholar who also says it like it is. In his famous book ‘Vedanta Treatise’, he dismisses the notion that we must take responsibility for others. “Your foremost occupation in life should be just to do whatever work you ought to do. That is the beginning and the end of all your obligations. You are not to brood or worry about your own creation of duties or responsibilities. Your real duty in life is to keep yourself mentally self-sufficient, self-poised and self-pleased. All other service that you do is secondary. Your primary service to the world is to keep yourself cheerful and happy.”
His point? That you are of no use to the world if you are perpetually stressed, depressed, repressed. Your contribution to the world is through work and service, and you cannot deliver that contribution without being strong and equable. So look after yourself; only then can you do something for the world.
We need to listen to all those words very clearly here in Kenya, where the dependency culture is frighteningly entrenched. Here, a hundred people seem ready to live off a single one. Here, relatives distant and close crowd into the yards and receptions of ‘big men’, awaiting handouts. Here, we are always looking for someone else to do something for us: pay school fees for the multiple children WE gave birth to; give us a job; give us free land; pay all our hospital bills.
This was brought home starkly to me years ago when I was conducting a restructuring exercise at one our leading banks. A very senior executive, reporting to the CEO, asked to see me in private. He asked whether my team was considering shifting the organisation toward cash remuneration, rather than paying for all the perks the executives were used to: house and car allowances, school fees, home staff salaries, etc.
“Yes, I replied. That is the modern way. You get more cash and fewer perks, and can choose how to spend your own money rather than the company choosing something for you that may be sub-optimal.”
He pleaded with me to abandon this plan. Why? It would be his undoing! He was only able to keep all the hordes of rural relatives seeking handouts at bay by claiming that the company paid for everything in kind rather than cash. If it ever came out that he was given cash to dispose of as he saw fit, he would be finished!
I am reminded of that gentleman when I see the latest hullabaloo in the press. I am profoundly depressed to see politicians of all shades jumping up to claim that their constituencies are the poorest, most miserable and most pathetic in the land. Where else in the world would anyone want to win the race to be declared the most impoverished? This is ridiculous in the extreme, and shows just how far we and our leaders have fallen in our thinking.
The reason for the outcry is simple: the poorer you are, the more handouts you feel entitled to. And so politicians and their constituents are crying foul over the newly published constituency development list, and seeing a ‘dark hand’ in the calculations. I have no idea whether anyone has cooked the list, and it would not surprise me if someone had.
What is alarming is the mindset on display. The only way to get ahead is to parade your poverty and exaggerate your wretchedness! What would those countries that were gifted only barren rocks and hot deserts say to that? Do the South Koreans sit around waiting for handouts? Do the Israelis? Do they think the world owes them a living? No, they are some of the hardest-working people on the planet. They have made the most of their lot, educated themselves and added doggedness and determination to the mix.
I am sick of seeing grown men sitting under trees drinking while their womenfolk carry huge burdens. I am sick of seeing poverty extolled as a permanent condition, rather than a starting-point from which to move forward. The race to be declared poorest is the last one in the world we should want to win.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Poverty as a condition has been etched into our psyche as Africans that we are blind to the enormous resources around us. Where else would you find people begging for food in one district while the other has plenty to throw away? I happen to come from one of the constituencies that was rated as “rich” and I saw my MP complaining that we are poor. It is the common paradox with us Africans that in the abundance of ( water) resources, we (fools) are thirsty! Anyhow, what we need is government intervention to unlock our huge potential with tracts of fertile land on the shores of the largest fresh water lake in Africa. Government is there to do to the people what they cannot do on their own as individuals. That is what we pay taxes for. Our land is rich in mineral resources like gold and oil (which will only be ‘discovered’ when the international oil cartels have pocketed our leaders and signed contracts for exploration). But we are always misled that natural resources are a curse than a blessing. To me it is a blessing because my ancestors were able to settle in the ‘promised land’ but a curse to the multinationals as they will use the presence of the resource to divide the people so as to make their weired profits. All in all, the only way out for us as black Africans is education, education and more education so that we can know how the world economy operates. Today I am a better person because of education, having grown up in a slum set-up. We can unlock our huge potential only if the leadership is willing to make their electorate more informed. But will they do that? I dont see it coming as they prefer to be the only ‘bull’ in the kraal. They’d rather let the sleeping dogs lie so that they can continue being the waheshimiwa among the poor masses.
Sunny, I can’t miss my copy of the SN coz of your mind pricking articles which not only open our eyes to the basic things that people take for granted, but also to enrich our mental faculties. Keep the good work.
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Elias:
I do agree that education is the only long-term driver of development and take-off.
But we must get the right education – that makes us think for ourselves and design our own answers. The current ‘fact-and-formula’ memorization that passes for education will not solve the problem.
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Yes sunny u are a very informal writer.you never disappoint..Corruption is the root of all evil.Its the misuse of state resources that denies kenyans good infrastructure…Another thing about us kenyans is that we never learn
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