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Monday, June 11, 2012

“THE SLAVE NATION”- LESSONS FROM THE “KABOGOS” AND “SONKOS “OF AFRICA


“THE SLAVE NATION”- LESSONS FROM THE “KABOGOS” AND “SONKOS “OF AFRICA

An American satirist Dorothy Parker was full of sayings wasn’t she? And I got one that really got me thinking a lot. “I don’t know much about being a millionaire, but I’ll bet I’d be darling at it.”
Kenya now has green horn Mps- swimming in money called William Kabogo and Gideon Mbuvi Kioko alias Mike Sonko.
THE FLASHY KENYAN MP MIKE SONKO
PARTY LEADER-MARTHA KARUA, MP KABOGO AND MP SONKO
              
They are the new walking ATMS- similar, as both are fabulously rich, staged dazzling campaigns and won, ran on the same party ticket and their opponents claim they could be distant  relatives, who share a multi billionaire friend in politics and in business.

MP KABOGO
But then again, hasn’t Africa seen this? Ask any African statesman and he / she will tell you that this isn’t new. I do not know what their merchandise is but I respect the mere fact that they are astute businessmen and if we were all like them, maybe Kenya would have no need for vision 2030.
Forgive me, however, I must confess, like framed English cleric Charles Caleb Colton; “many speak the truth when they say that they despise riches, but they mean the riches possessed by others.”
But again, I want to be rich as Kabogo and Sonko, but I am constrained by the mortal fear of what Leonardo Da Vinci warned; “he who wishes to be rich in a day, will be hanged in a year.”


But then, how many of those who have tried to be overnight millionaires have we hanged? You guessed right-none! That is why we have commission of inquiries almost the age of our forefathers that have inquired nothing. Because I ma unaware of any who has been hanged, I am still tempted to push my luck through.
I suspect, however, it would be burdening God too much trusting Him to walk me up this ladder to the honey- pot in a year or two. It may take the rest of my life waiting on God to bless me to the point I do not hanker for sh. 1 million and to make myself the “mister IMF” for the less fortunate.
You see, in my pride of Africa land- Kenya, money really does earn one respectability, a place at the high table, the choicest meals, the choicest sitting places, powerful friends, human nature which is like a prostitute in the Dark continent as only those who can pay the bed get it and a million fanatical beggars praising you as they wait eagerly for the bread crumbs.
As a former colleague asked another; “will KBC play martial music when you die and how many shops will close in your village when you die?”
The “Sonkos” and “Kabogos” of Africa are greenhorns. They always eye what is ahead of them, even before they attain what is before them. Vying for an Mp seat, you will hear them say that they are now eyeing the senate or governor. They claim they won’t pocket a cent of their salary but will instead divert it to the projects in their constituencies. They come with promises of free education, free electricity connections- all in the name of wooing the voters.
MIKE SONKO-AH RASTA MAN
This brings me to the question which if I had an opportunity to seat with them I would ask. But since I am not seeing that happening anytime now, I will ask it here; what is this God-blessed business that makes sh. 1M equivalent to the sh. 10 coin we grudgingly throw to street beggars?
But then again, I have 2 worries about the “Kabogos” and “Sonkos” in politics; first, money and generosity do not necessarily make one a better leader and we need leaders who can “uncurse” us from the curse of depending on the being fed fish to teach us how to fish on our own. This is because; the dependence they create will make us their own beck and call slaves.
This is because many such leaders will live in gold- encrusted homes, cry about how poor the poor are, and still scramble for C.D.F and other state largesse and fruits of corruption.
So, until Africa stops being dazzled by the rich man’s and woman’s ‘chapaa’ (money), and bartering our votes for cash, we shall remain one big slave family pretending to be free. We shall even lynch the pickpocket but sprawl over ourselves on the ground when our legislators pass by.

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