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It’s been long since we caught up for an evening chat over a glass of something but I understand that you are now the president and literally have the wight of this country on your shoulders (or so to speak).
You remember in our previous encounters at our regular joint I had told you about my ambitions as a young boy in lower primary school … maybe you don’t quite remember, so I will jog your memory a little bit.
As a little kid just about six or seven years old I was fascinated by planes. I remember the first time I accompanied my dad on a flight to Nairobi and boy I was so excited. The pilot even let me take a picture with him wearing his cap (or what do they call that thing they wear on their head?) … since then I was convinced that I wanted to fly planes.
When I got to class four or five I started having more realistic dreams based on my subject strengths and passion. Not that flying planes isn’t realistic – it is for those who are in to it. So later on I was fascinated by law (I still am) and then journalism. Journalism it is for now though I don’t practice it in the mainstream media and maybe I can still go to law school because my love for law has never died.
By now I know that you are asking yourself why I’m I taking so much of you precious time with details of my boyhood dreams. Well, it’s not for nothing. I am just drawing your attention to some boyhood dreams that you still hold on to and refuse to let go even though we all know that they are not realistic.
I understand how you came to promising class one pupils laptop – that was a boyhood dream just like myself dreaming of flying a plane at class one. But you are now the president, you are not campaigning anymore and this country has very real needs that apparently do not include laptops for class one.
My buddy Uhuru, sorry Mr. President (though that sounds to formal for friends like you and me but I will just call you that for now) teachers are on the street – they are asking for their allowances and they seem so determined. You have also not paid them their June salaries and they are mad!! These same teachers are the ones to implement your laptop project but here you are at a deadlock with them. They also think that it is an absurd idea (as a friend I’ll tell you I agree with them – this may mean loosing our friendship because I know how close this is to your heart).
So what do I want you to do? Well how about we slash the money you have put aside for the laptops and use it to pay our teachers then invest in something cheaper like computer labs in all primary schools and have our children exposed to them from class 3. This will give you time to train teachers who will handle this project but also make the teachers go back to class. I tell you it is a win-win situation and nobody will fault you for that – not even your fiercest opponents in CORD.
Then I hear you want to tax our unga Mr. President (I am now getting used to calling you that). That is a very bad idea sir. That will cause riots and chaos everywhere. You remember the Unga Revolution? Those guys might be back on our streets again!! But this is not all about fear of riots sir, any responsible government would prioritize feeding its population sir. Even failed states like Libya had very good policies on food prices and subsidies for their population.
Sir you need to focus!! Kenyans are not ready for the tax burden you want to put on them.
I hope that you will consider my proposals. Please pass my regards to Maggy and the little ones. I saw Ngina is becoming more active with charities 🙂
Regards,
