Thanks for the thoughtful input.

I should explain: I was not being hard on Harambee Stars at all, nor was I commenting on that particular football match. I was attacking the system and leadership around the team, which is a shambles. And it has consequences – we cannot now even qualify for African tourneys.

Equally, Kenya is slowly slipping down many economic rankings, unnoticed by most of us. That is what we have to wake up to as a country, and the more people that make noise about it the better…

But dont you think you were a tard too hard on the stars last sunday? Personally i think that despite the loss, the stars put up a spectacular performance. They made Nigeris look like underdogs. Before i proceed i want to invoke a disclaimer; i do not condone mediocrity, never have, never will. Consider this if you have a chance to replay the match;

1.The referee was obviously biased in favour of Nigeria
2.Kenya was blatantly denied a penalty
3.At least one of Nigerias goals was questionably offside. The ref looked the other way.

As i said i dont stand for mediocrity but lets give credit where its due, Our team actually surprised me with their game despite being coachless!

The people you and me should continue bashing are our sick, incompetent politicians who have botched soccer in this country. Pray why did we have such a pathetic and expensive coach imposed on us? Outrageous!

I long for the days circa 1987 when Kenya would stand up to soccer giants like cameroon, ivory coast. The days of Bob ogolla, Peter otieno dawo, Josphat mulamba, ayoyi etc.

But then that was before our irritating politicians waded into soccer and murdered the sport.

May God save us from the politics of this country.

Thanks for the challenge – appreciated.

Negative – no. Provocative – yes. I am deliberately in the face of those who take us backwards, for they do not want to face the reality. And this is a country very good at not facing up to issues: I recall very well some CEOs I know playing golf when the country was up in flames last year!

Let’s start with the football. Is it really just the case that we “just not good at football”, as you suggest? Have you forgotten that Kenya was once an African giant in the game? If we are useless now, it is not because of lack of talent: it is because we sit back and allow goons to administer the sport. I can accept Kenya not qualifying for the World Cup – but the Africa Cup of Nations?

The same effect is mirrored in the economy. Did the figures I cited not cause you grief? That in terms of GDP per head we are below the average for Sub-Saharan Africa – which is itself the lowest in the world? That we are behind Chad? This is KENYA we are referring to, a country which was once one of the half-dozen African success stories.

Look, there’s a reason for my “negativity”. If we refuse to accept how bad we have become, we are only going to go further down. I feel shame and even humiliation every day about the state of my country – that is why I am on a crusade to put it right. If we all shrug it off, who is going to put anything right? We could be so much better than this.

I also think you do me an injustice when you say I have not offered hope and solutions. A trawl through this website’s archives should prove otherwise. I am a solution-seeker by profession, and do spend a lot of time thinking about what could be done. But first, we have to accept there’s a problem!

Having said that, I accept your point about tempering the criticism. You may be relieved to know that I have been working on an end-of-year article about reasons to be hopeful in Kenya – coming soon.

Thanks again.