‘SERIKALI TAFADHALI’ MANTRA

From Narok, all the way to Homa Bay, the common man is dejected, disillusioned and hopeless of the government, where the presence of a camera presents a god send opportunity, to ask the government, in the trademark serikali tafadhali mantra.

From Karachuonyo, where the use of public coffers is open to plunder between the leader and his cohorts, starks a sore reminder to the people to seek the intervention of the government. Where a cowshed-like structure, is disguised a tourists’ resting place and a nurse’s home, dilapidated even before it has been finished. It would surely require the intervention of the government.

A check across Karachuonyo constituency portrays a people who are tired of the plunder of the public resources. The area member of parliament and his cohorts, for selfish gains, have misplaced the priorities of the people of Karachuonyo.

One of the priorities of the people of Karachuonyo is water. The women trek long distances to existing water reservoirs, which, sadly, are heavily silted. They share this with their animals and this poses a danger of disease outbreak.

One of the dams, Kubondo, is such a case of heavy silting. Animals sometimes get stuck as they quench their thirst, brewed by the searing heat. Here, the locals have but one thing, serikali tafadhali.

At Bomet town, the situation is the same. Samson Kosgei, who has been a tout for a quite some time, has seen a lot of challenges plaguing the people of this small town.

“The police are harassing us. Each road block they ask for something.  And the roads are dry (meaning no passengers) and what we get goes to the police at these many road blocks,” he spoke after almost everybody in the town had declined to offer an interview.

“we want to government to come here and help us,” Samson Kosgei added. When the interview was over he came asking for something small for the interview.

In each of every county, the sight of a camera presents the people an opportunity to ask the government something. This signals the plight of a people who are too tired of its own leaders that they seek intervention of the national government. The devolution hasn’t brought so much as it had been anticipated.

The people on the ground, those who are so close to being not classed by the society are the lot that suffers the most. Their ignorance on matters that concern them make them prone to abuse by the county governments, who plunder resources on matters that don’t help them at all. Such is the state at Karachuonyo, where leaders use money to purchase useless things such as teleconferencing equipment to a people whose priority is clean water.

However, the blame can be largely placed on the people who have decided to be led like sheep by their leaders. It’s the duty of every citizen to demand better services for themselves and not resort to the clichéd mantra, serikali tafadhali.