A poor man’s road to gold…
My brother is in the country for a few weeks. A few nights ago, he came over for dinner and we had a lively discussion about Kenya’s recent elections, the post-election violence and roads.
Kaima (my brother) mentioned that the main reason that a government is in existence is to give every citizen the same foundation from which they can build their lives. A great example- the road system in America. There are roads in America- everywhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Los Angeles, or in a really deserted area somewhere in Kansas. Everyone has access to roads.
Take Kenya, for example. Although the government has done well in the past 5 years to pave the country, I highly doubt that over 40% of this country has paved roads. Someone in Garabatonjo (my dad mentioned that there’s a place like that somewhere) has no access to good roads whatsoever. They have cattle, goats and camels (I think) and in order for them to get the products of their hard work to a market that’s interested they must travel hundreds of kilometers on rather useless roads in unsafe conditions. Now what if there were roads- really good roads that would make it possible for a truck to come to this goat/cattle/camel farmer, get his milk and transport it to a market? It would save the farmer’s time, energy and resources. He would have more time/energy/resources to devote to increasing the productivity of his farm.
So as I was pondering this rather insightful discussion, while walking through the streets of Nairobi, I was robbed. I will not expound on what was taken, but rather on the fact that a policeman, an enforcer of the law, was watching the whole encounter and he did absolutely nothing. NOTHING! A family member told me that the policeman’s inaction was probably due to the fact that I did not scream loud enough. Huh! Interesting theory, I thought.
Which brings me to this- who’s fault is it? Is it mine because I didn’t scream enough? Is it the poor man’s fault, who probably doesn’t have enough resources to feed himself or his family and must steal from others to survive? or is it the government’s fault- that they haven’t provided everyone with a base, a foundation from which everyone has the same opportunities?
A poor man’s road to gold?
You got robbed!!! Pole. Africa’s problems, and there are so many are horrific and a burden to even think about. But think about it we must. I wonder what would happen if all the aid charities, NGOs, IMF, World Banks and embassies left Africa alone like completely exited the continent. And didn’t check in for a long time, , for like 50 years. What would happen then? Would we simply crawl into holes and die, or maybe, just maybe, would we first weep, cry, throw a tantrum, and wail at being abandoned, then realise we’re being absolutely childish, that we have to figure out our own solutions ourselves, instead of being hand held, co-dependent infants and GROW UP!!!! Radical idea huh?? I’m proposing it … leave us alone, come back in 50 and see what happens …