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Some Kenyans believe that you can never get anything done for you especially in public institutions if you do not know someone who works there… And if you do not know someone who works there, you need to know someone who knows someone who works there.
It begins when a child is born. Someone looking for their children’s birth certificate will ask – “Do you know anybody at the Registrar’s office who can get me the birth certificate?” He will ask a friend who is remotely connected with issuance of this document. The ‘needy’ parent has waited until the child is of school-going age and it is now that he is looking for this vital document. The birth certificate should have been collected soon after the birth of the child. This is a man who has now become ‘needy’. He needs the birth certificate desperately.
After obtaining the birth certificate he will also ask a friend “Do you know the headmaster of Nairobi Primary School?” The Kenyans who suffer from “Do-you-know-somebody” syndrome waste valuable time looking for services which they could obtain without knowing somebody. It could afflict people who seek various services: transferring the ownership of a motor vehicle, the retrieval of medical records at the National Referral Hospital for an un-pending appointment, replacing a lost ID card, sorting out a minor traffic incident, looking for a passport, getting an approval for building plans, getting an admission to the police college, military college, National Youth Service... Normal mundane calls for some Kenyans to know somebody sound a lot like “Unajua mtu Sheria House?” (Do you know anyone at the State Law Office?) Looking for a job? Do you know someone… therefore canvassing. Do you know somebody at the driving test centre?
Thus it is sometimes frightening the number of people you might need to ‘know’ in order to get along in Kenya. Some Kenyans therefore are faithless; they have no faith in their own institutions. “Do you know a priest who can perform the burial rites for my brother?” His brother was not church-going therefore had no one to perform the religious duty of the burial ceremony… This knowingsomebody syndrome becomes corruption because of the favoritism that is practiced when you have to know somebody.
Nonetheless, the situation is changing slowly. Practically, the government through parliament has implemented bills to create and give autonomy to the Anti-Corruption Authority and the Anti-Corruption Councils. For visibility, they for example have put up posters in government buildings declaring ‘This is a corrupt free zone; Services in this building are free; Do not pay a bribe’ and many other such notices… But for the people who have lived for more than two decades in such a paradigm, attitudes will certainly be difficult to change.
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Ordinary people cause or inflict unforgivable injuries. Ordinary people make the villains we disdain. But ordinary people save people’s lives everyday. And ordinary people forgive unforgivable injuries. Politicians and Priests are ordinary people. Hence if you will, I want you to ponder an experiment by Stanley Milgram conducted in the 70s (which any Psychology student will almost always be ordinarily put through). Unfortunately, Milgram found that majority of us would inflict pain and obediently continue to inflict pain despite the knowledge that we were inflicting this pain and could to some extent grapple with its metrics.
I admire every good parent. Despite knowing their child’s shortcomings and weaknesses, they almost always will love their child unconditionally. I liken Africa to that child; personally, I will admit that there have been ashamed of that child’s disease and poverty, its corruption and unemployment issues, mismanagement, famine and perpetual seeking of aid. There are other times Africa has ‘has done us proud’, its wise sayings and culture have taught me and shaped me, its peoples have embraced and accepted me, it is my home. And as you grow older I guess this duality gets more acute, tearing at who you are and what your dreams and aspirations are. Consequently, like Milgram’s subjects, we find ourselves doing some things we really should not be doing; especially if it is an institutionalized bad practice – like corruption.
But systems and institutions have always been ‘bigger’ than an ordinary people. And yes, they exist – oppression is real, whichever forms it comes in. Nonetheless, ordinary parents accept their children unconditionally even if they have to acknowledge that these different faces of this child exist. I guess it’s something we ought to try with Africa – shun her depravity yet love her humanity – given that the above description was a realistic depiction of many Africans’ lives. And this really is the silver lining. 35% of those in Milgram’s experiment said ‘no’ to the experimenter. Ordinary people take a stand even though they be fewer. No one will create jobs if Africans do not; injustice will not be addressed if we are intimidated to silence; no one will clean the mess if one of us does not. As one lady writer* puts it, ‘I sit on the edge of my son’s bed and look at how much he’s grown already and realize… that when he goes out into the world, he’s going to be the kind of man he wants to be…’
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Writer Profile
Gachara Irura
I'm Gachara Irura. I'm a 25 year old Kenyan - just completed University and I'm presently working at a Microfinance-institution in Nairobi, Kenya.
I have two passions: music, and computers, in that order. My profession is within the ICT industry (studied computer science), but I've heard ICT is not a profession as such...
I'm interested in seeing SME's, especially in the developing world, earn the respect they deserve in driving development within the economy. Financial empowerment also plays a role in democracy. I hope this can be realized in my lifetime :-).
I enjoy movies, reading and, of course, listening to music!
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