Skip to main content

Africa's "Our Person" syndrome

Obama somewhere in Afrika. According to one
Afrikan journalist, Obama should do more for
Africa due to his African ancestry

The other day, a senior journalist (I have no idea which organisation ranks journalists though) remarked that United States President , Barack Obama, like his predecessor, George Bush Jnr, had not done much for Africa.

Apparently, Obama, born of an African father of Kenyan origin, making him "our person" . As our person, Obama was supposed to have Africa's agenda somewhere close to his heart, giving it almost as much priority as that of the US.

Africa is yet to come to the reality that Obama is a US citizen, voted in by the good people of US to mind about their concerns. If it involves screwing Africa, so be it.


In Africa, the concept of someone being ours is taken quite serious. We have resigned to fate bestowing luck and charm on others while overlooking the rest. The lucky ones are expected to remember  the unlucky ones, and throw some luck their way.

It is for the same reason that the watchmen at the main gate have become quite a bother. I made the mistake of been quite friendly, and I have paid the cost to become the "boss". Alighting late at night, I am accompanied by requests to "buy them tea." Come Christmas and I was accosted by queries of "wapi Christmas (Where's Christmas)", one would have mistaken me for one of Santa's elves.

In life, I have been lucky, at times, to get favours from people in other services, especially the public sector. It happens when they ask for my name, and notice that we belong to the same tribe, followed by those four words, "kumbe we ni wetu (Alas, you are one of ours)". The recently held Internet Governance Forum was a recent example, where one of "our people" insisted that we should hang out together during tea breaks, and network amongst "our people".

Several institutions, especially government ones, are usually occupied by people of one tribe. In places where there is one tribe, we will narrow down to clans or family, there has to be something about our people.

Politicians are expected to toe this line, and most do not disappoint. The president should fill the army with his people to make it more loyal, no one will care if it is less effective to fight over neighbours. Like Kenya's Daniel Moi, the president also has the duty to ensure that his people have the best of roads, even if they barely have any vehicles, and an airport that will barely be utilised , while the National airport is bursting at its seams with overcapacity.

However, a tribe will be ready to forgive their front runner if he fails in even providing the basic of necessities , as long as he outdoes the other tribes in use of  helicopters, and in pecking order. One Kalonzo Musyoka who has his people fervently rallying behind him, recently marked a silver jubilee in his political career by blowing clouds of dust from a hired helicopter in a constituency that frequently suffers from drought.

I really hope my people shall read this post, and share it to their people. 











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kenyan Beers and Craft Beer Reviews for 2025

It's 2025, and you asked for yet another Kenyan beer review. Let's cut straight to the chase - we keep the many stories for once we are drunk. Right? This year we categorize the beers according to breweries.  Bila Shaka / Bateleur  Flagship is Bila Shaka which is a rich flavoured but bitter IPA with 6% volume.  They focus more on quality and experimenting.  Home to many pleasantly (sweet per 2 people. I agree) favoured beers like Dire Straits, and for the ladies who love it a lot on the sweeter side, there's Honey Badger. These come in at about 5% or so. Jua Kali isn't as sweet as the above and is a mixed rice and barley beer, for some reason popular in the hot coast. Capitan is their bar beer and is a light-ish, pleasant beer at 4% volume and a good time passer when you're there for a long and good night and have things to do the next day. My favourite local brewer and highly recommended, especially Dire Straits. It's a medium beer, don...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu  This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County.  What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket?  Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch.  12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers.  However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi.  The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station.  They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of fre...
Post a Comment
Read more

RE: Appointment as Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to The United States of America

Image: South African marriage courtesy The Telegraph ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/6237922/South-African-man-marries-4-women-at-same-ceremony.html  ) Dennis Kioko, Address Pending. President to-be-elect, Republic of Kenya, Address Pending, Again. Dear Sirs/Madams, RE: Appointment as Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to The United States of America  I would like to draw your attention to news reported across various sections of the press (way behind your daily portraits on the front page) that several Missions to the country are equivalently vacant with the duty of appointed high commissioners having expired. This includes Kenya's High Commission to the United States of America. Among your first duties, having assumed duty as Kenya's president, duly elected or otherwise, will be to appoint commissioners to these missions. It is in this regard that I highly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bible. Why you should read your Bible.

After reading what The Candid Tin man had to say about the Bible on his blog, I felt a disappointed man. In my opinion, the candid Tin man had committed the same errors of omission and commission that have plagued the Bible for centuries. In the beginning, the Roman Catholic church was the dominant church worldwide, and the bible existed in Latin language which common folk like me and you did not understand. Latin was a dead language used by the priests of the roman Catholic church and perhaps a few scholars. The Roman Catholic church aimed at controlling the public's opinion , as the church still does today, and especially their opinion of what was God's word. Therefore, back then, if you needed to understand God's word, you had to consult the Roman Catholic Priests to read the Bible for youa nd then tell you what it said. How well they did this and their intentions remained questionable, with accusations directed at the Roman Catholic Church for mistranslating The Bi...
5 comments
Read more

Eastleigh, the Shopping District of Nairobi

It reached a point where I was getting envious, envious of the Nairobi beggars , the ones who are disabled, mostly amputees. I was not envious of their begging, but more of their begging while dressed in pretty cool garments, more so designer jeans. You see, you cannot beg in designer jeans and expect people to listen to your plight when they are dressed in garments that are almost wearing thin. So after been approached by several beggars who I felt were better dressed than I was, I decided that it was time to upgrade my wardrobe. The first place to look was my dirt-cheap stockist in downtown Nairobi, but I found that when it came to jeans, the stock reminded me of some jeans that I once saw when I was in primary school, popularly known as Savco. Remembering a story I had been told about Eastleigh having a large enough stock of textiles sold at a subsidized price(apparently)by pirates , I decided to pay the place a visit. The place, might be thse source of the billions of dollars ...
2 comments
Read more